Syncing a Pocket Operator to Clk Out on NDLR

[Seteef]

Hello there,

I'm trying to sync my Pocket Operators from the clock out on the NDLR. I read tangentially on another thread a comment from Jesse that he tried to sync with PO and it worked fine. I, however, must be doing something wrong. 

I have the PPQ set to 4 (as Jesse he said the PO wants) and the PO set to SY2 (as illlustrated in the PO manual), but nothing happens. It just freezes on a step and won't progress any further. 

I've tried various clock out divisions but that doesn't seem to alter the situation. The NDLR is playing, and the PO is obviously receiving something, but it is stalled. I'll go through the sync options (1-5) and it'll play on Sy1, then stop on whatever step its on when I go to sy2. 


The NDLR is playing when I'm doing this. Am I missing another step on the NDLR? Or the PO?

Thanks!
Steve

Hey Steve, Jesse here. 
It's been a while since I did that experiment, so the details are hazy, but the first thing to consider is that the NDLR clock out is (probably) a mono output and the PO inputs are stereo, so there may be some issue with that at the core. I know I have a bunch of hosa stereo to mono 3.5mm splitters and it's possible I used one of those to make sure the correct channel is getting the signal, but I honestly don't remember. It may be that I just patched a stereo cable into the clock out of the NDLR and that worked, too. If it's not working on any of the sy settings it is most likely not getting the signal on the correct input channel though is my best guess. I suggest looking at the manual for the PO you're using and seeing which channel it likes clock on. 
I've got some time tonight I can sit down and try this out again and see if I can get it to work. 
Jesse 

Jesse

Hi Jesse, 

Thanks for your response. I scrounged up a stereo 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor and connected it to a mono 1/4" to 1/8" cable and now the PO is tempo synced. Hadn't thought about NDLR being a mono output. So, thanks! 
It brought me to another issue though. There's no way to sync start/stop. From googling, it seems I'd need a gate out into the PO. So, its all up to how deftly I can click play in time with the NDLR. Not always the easiest thing to do when your arps are constantly playing polyrhythms off each other ;-)
Perhaps I could sync the NDLR to a keystep and use that for a gate out. But then, I'm losing being able to use the rock solid clock of the NDLR. 
Thanks for your help!