MRCC and Sample Accurate Clock

[nicuronium]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about picking up the MRCC for MIDI routing duties in a small but expandable hybrid setup with a DAW running Live or Reaper at the centre. The MRCC would route to a variety of synths and sequencers that take MIDI clock e.g. NDLR, Beatstep Pro, Keystep Pro, OpSix, MegaFM, Matriarch, Sequential Poly etc. Ideally these would all also return their MIDI note info back to the DAW for the option to record it.

For a more reliable clock I'm keen to incorporate sample accurate clock and so have been looking to slot another unit in between the DAW and the MRCC to achieve this. I'm leaning towards the E-RM/Floatingpoint Instruments Multiclock but have also been looking at the JMK CLOCKstep:MULTI, Midronome, Expert Sleepers USAMO, and SND ACME-4. My idea is that the E-RM MC would run its up-to-four separate manually shiftable MIDI clocks to the MRCC which would then send to whatever gear needed them. The DAW would send MIDI note info to the MRCC either via the MIDI/audio interface or the E-RM MC USB then MIDI out. MIDI note info could be returned to the DAW from the various hardware units using the same path in reverse.

A few questions:
1. Does anyone have any experience using the MRCC in such a setup as above (specifically using sample accurate clock)? Can they confirm such an approach is viable and could they share any tips?
2. Any big issues with MIDI latency resulting from using the MRCC in such a way?
3. Any specific recommendations for sample accurate clock devices in conjunction with the MRCC?
4. I've just finished watching Steve's very helpful series of MRCC video tutorials. It was a shame there was not one covering setting up the MRCC with a DAW. Just wondering if anyone could direct me towards any helpful pages or videos that covers this in detail (especially Live/Reaper)?

Apologies if the above has been covered previously. I did search the forums to find some references to elements of the above but nothing to answer my specific questions in enough detail.

Thanks so much in advance!

[Jesse Johannesen]

The round trip latency (PC to MRCC out the DIN port, back into DIN port and back to the PC) takes a pretty consistent 1.5 to 2 ms, if I remember correctly. I haven't used the MRCC with an ERM /Sample accurate clock, so I can't really reply to that.
Funny thing about the lack of DAW vids is that Steve doesn't own any DAWs that I'm aware of. Pretty sure I'm the only one in the company with a DAW actually. I haven't had any luck getting Reaper up and running, so I can't help there, but I have live and it's pretty simple there. You just pick which Virtual ports you want to monitor and send to in the Preferences menu, and make sure the boxes are checked for clock sync and transport, then in the channel strip you can set input ports and channels and output ports/channels.

The only tricky part is wrapping your head around the routing system for the Virtual Ports. It's like this:


PC connection
|
MRCC PC IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 PC Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12


MRCC DIN IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 USB IN A, B, C, D, USB OutA1-4, B1-4, C1-4, D1-4 MRCC DIN Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

You can connect any of the bottom row inputs to the top row inputs, or the bottom row outputs. You can connect any of the top row outputs to any of the bottom row outputs. The top row is what you connect to in the computer, but then you still need to take the extra step to connect the PC ports to the other ins and outs to pass signal to and from hardware devices. Feel free to reach out to me via the Support@conductivelabs.com email if you need any help with it. I can take a minute to set up a zoom call and show you if it's not clicking here.
Jesse

[nicuronium]

The round trip latency (PC to MRCC out the DIN port, back into DIN port and back to the PC) takes a pretty consistent 1.5 to 2 ms, if I remember correctly. I haven't used the MRCC with an ERM /Sample accurate clock, so I can't really reply to that.
Funny thing about the lack of DAW vids is that Steve doesn't own any DAWs that I'm aware of. Pretty sure I'm the only one in the company with a DAW actually. I haven't had any luck getting Reaper up and running, so I can't help there, but I have live and it's pretty simple there. You just pick which Virtual ports you want to monitor and send to in the Preferences menu, and make sure the boxes are checked for clock sync and transport, then in the channel strip you can set input ports and channels and output ports/channels.

The only tricky part is wrapping your head around the routing system for the Virtual Ports. It's like this:


                                                            PC connection
                                                                    |
MRCC PC IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12      PC Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
                                                                   

MRCC DIN IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 USB IN A, B, C, D,      USB OutA1-4, B1-4, C1-4, D1-4 MRCC DIN Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

You can connect any of the bottom row inputs to the top row inputs, or the bottom row outputs. You can connect any of the top row outputs to any of the bottom row outputs. The top row is what you connect to in the computer, but then you still need to take the extra step to connect the PC ports to the other ins and outs to pass signal to and from hardware devices. Feel free to reach out to me via the Support@conductivelabs.com email if you need any help with it. I can take a minute to set up a zoom call and show you if it's not clicking here.
Jesse

Thanks so much Jesse, much appreciated! All you've said makes sense conceptually - I'm sure it will be clear after I've read the manual and played around a bit. I'll definitely be in touch as you've kindly suggested if I'm still having problems.

Cheers,
Nick

[oldgearguy]

The round trip latency (PC to MRCC out the DIN port, back into DIN port and back to the PC) takes a pretty consistent 1.5 to 2 ms, if I remember correctly. I haven't used the MRCC with an ERM /Sample accurate clock, so I can't really reply to that.
Funny thing about the lack of DAW vids is that Steve doesn't own any DAWs that I'm aware of. Pretty sure I'm the only one in the company with a DAW actually. I haven't had any luck getting Reaper up and running, so I can't help there, but I have live and it's pretty simple there. You just pick which Virtual ports you want to monitor and send to in the Preferences menu, and make sure the boxes are checked for clock sync and transport, then in the channel strip you can set input ports and channels and output ports/channels.

The only tricky part is wrapping your head around the routing system for the Virtual Ports. It's like this:


                                                            PC connection
                                                                    |
MRCC PC IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12      PC Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
                                                                   

MRCC DIN IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 USB IN A, B, C, D,      USB OutA1-4, B1-4, C1-4, D1-4 MRCC DIN Out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

You can connect any of the bottom row inputs to the top row inputs, or the bottom row outputs. You can connect any of the top row outputs to any of the bottom row outputs. The top row is what you connect to in the computer, but then you still need to take the extra step to connect the PC ports to the other ins and outs to pass signal to and from hardware devices. Feel free to reach out to me via the Support@conductivelabs.com email if you need any help with it. I can take a minute to set up a zoom call and show you if it's not clicking here.
Jesse

Thanks so much Jesse, much appreciated! All you've said makes sense conceptually - I'm sure it will be clear after I've read the manual and played around a bit. I'll definitely be in touch as you've kindly suggested if I'm still having problems.

Cheers,
Nick

I have a pair of MRCCs and an E-RM.

My connection is - one audio output from the computer (via an Aurora 32(n)) goes directly into the E-RM.  Two E-RM outputs go to the MRCCs (one each).  The 3rd E-RM goes to the Koma Komplex, and the 4th goes to the Squarp Hapax.  For things that need to be locked/clocked tightly, I try to minimize the amount of things between the source and destination.

Inside the MRCCs, I route the E-RM clocks to things like synths, drum machines, arpeggiators, etc.  The DAW and Hapax also use the MRCCs for routing MIDI (not clocks) to other devices as needed.  If something needs both MIDI dat and clocking, it'll typically come through the MRCC from the Hapax.