How to sync all this lovely madness?

[jochenp]

I was wondering if there is any way to sync all these toys/keyboards/drum machines
I'm not interested in buying expensive midi-kits, there has to be a better way
for example, if you construct some sort of oscillator with a photoresistor and a led that blinks, is there a way so sync it with the beats of another keyboard?
I imagine that something should be possible like with the +5v pulses on old drummachines?
I want to use my toys in a live-setting and syncing them up with midi is too expensive, sampling them to my pc is too lame and not syncing them is just not an option
See my problem?

[Gordonjcp]

Syncing to MIDI is easy.  You need a microcontroller with a serial port, and a bit of code that counts MIDI clocks and outputs a pulse based on that.  How you actually get the keyboard to run in sync varies from keyboard to keyboard, but if you find some sort of tempo clock and start/stop control you can wire into that.  An opto-isolator like you use for MIDI would be a good idea.

[voodoolikeudoo]

Syncing to MIDI is easy.  You need a microcontroller with a serial port, and a bit of code that counts MIDI clocks and outputs a pulse based on that. 

don't suppose you have a link to a schematic for something like that do you?

[the_zombiest]

You could always build a 555/4017-based sequencer.
They're erratic and quirky, but that's half their charm.
Casperelectronics and Sailormouth both have schematics on their respective websites.

[jochenp]

I don't want to sequence these toys per se, I want their clocks to run in sync with eachother

[Matt the Modulator]

Another way is to rather than sync the toys together which will require a slightly differant circuit for each sound toy.  you could set them all off gibbering or oscillationg and use a rythmic gate to give the apearance that there are in rythmic sync??.

I use a midiclock to trigger converter which produces a trigger at 16ths 8ths 4ths and 2nds of the tempo. I then trigger a doepfer envelope generator which controll's a vca (volatge controlled amp) with the sounds going into it
and the sounds are in rythmic sync or sounds as they are. many synjths have exteranl inputs to the filter which also goes through the vca. hope this helps

[Gordonjcp]

Here's a site with a big list of PIC-based projects.

http://www.audiomulch.com/midipic/

[jochenp]

I use my ER-1 as gate sometimes, but this is not really possible with drumloops from casio's and such
Could you be more specific please gordon? I checked out that site (I came across it myself a couple of times before), many of the links are dead and I don't really know what I'm looking for.
The "midi-in" projects seems to be about triggering events with midi, not really sync clocks. Is what I'm trying even possible? I'd think it would require some 555 circuits that communicate which eachother somehow to be in sync.

[Gordonjcp]

Right, what you want to do is instead of triggering an output on MIDI events, trigger them when you receive a MIDI clock.

There are four Systems Realtime messages - Stop, Start, Continue and Clock - that are relevant here.  When you get a "Start", reset your counter.  Every time you get a "Clock", bump the counter by one.  When the counter reaches a predetermined value, toggle the output state and reset.  The clock pulses are sent at 22ppqn - "pulses per quarter (crotchet) note"

So, if you wanted to fire an output on every crotchet note, you'd turn the output on when you got a "Start", count six "Clocks", then turn the output off for another 18 "Clocks", then back on again for six, off for 18, and so on.

As for the dead links, archive.org is your friend.

[jochenp]

I have to admit I can't follow you there. Maybe you think I'm trying to do something more complicated than it I actually want
Take for example a Casio Keyboard. Most of them have "drum loops" and a stepped potentiometer to determine the speed at which these are played back.
Now, is it possible at all to sync this speed with the midiclock(BPM) of my sequencer/sequencesoftware?
I don't have to have the possibility to sequence the notes or anything. The "on-beat" start of a loop would be nice, but not strictly necessairy. Is this possible without too much programming skills? I know how to program Java (somewhat) and learning a new programming language would not be TOO hard, unless it's an advanced/difficult language...
I know I'm asking for a lot of "holding my hands" here, but with the information you gave me I don't even know where or how to start.

[noystoise]

it might be easier to sync your sequencer to your casio. what casio are you trying to mod? you said you can change the tempo with a potentiometer? maybe you could make your own presets with more common bpm's.

[jochenp]

I'm trying to sync multiple casio's/toys, including a CA110 and a hing hon EK001
I thought about making my own presets, but you can never get it exactly right and they should sync up for quite some time (2min+), so a small mistake could result in a trainwreck on a livestage

[Gordonjcp]

Can you very quickly stop and restart the sequencer on the casio on every few bars?

[jochenp]

Can you very quickly stop and restart the sequencer on the casio on every few bars?

Yeah I guess that's possible,
you suggest some switch to automate this? Would be a very crude solution though