MIDI Clock Synchronization

Cantabile Solo and Cantabile Performer Only.

MIDI clock allows Cantabile to synchronize it's timing with and external MIDI clock source, or to acts as a master to which other devices can synchronize their timing.

Setting up MIDI Clock Syncrhonization

Before MIDI clock synchronization will work you need to select which MIDI ports Cantabile should use. Selecting an input port allows Cantabile to synchronize to incoming MIDI clock events. Selecting an output port causes Cantabile to send MIDI clock events to that port.

Other options include:

• Tempo Detection Responsivness - how responsive Cantabile should be when detecting incoming MIDI clock tempo. Choose between:
  • Fast (but unstable)
  • Balanced
  • Slow (but stable)
• Send MIDI Clock Tempo while Stopped - normally Cantabile doesn't send MIDI Clock tempo ticks while the transport is stopped. Enable this option to have tempo transmitted while the transport is stopped.

Note: When "Send MIDI Clock Tempo while Stopped" is enabled there will be a small amount of tempo jitter when switching between playing and stopped modes as Cantabile re-synchronizes to it's own master transport.

Synchronizing to and External MIDI Clock

To synchronize to an external MIDI clock, choose "Sync. to MIDI Clock" from the master transport drop down:

When enabled, you'll notice that the options to select tempo are disabled, as are the transport controls (Play, pause etc...) since these functions are now controlled by the external MIDI clock device.

If you enable MIDI clock events on multiple MIDI input devices, Cantabile will monitor all selected devices for clock events but only respond to one at a time. While one device has an actively playing transport, other device's clock events will be ignored.

Synchronizing External Devices to Cantabile

To synchronize external devices to Cantabile's MIDI clock all you need to do is select one or more devices in options and Cantabile will automatically send MIDI clock events. Refer to the documentation of you other device for information on how to configure it to synchronize to an external MIDI clock device.

If multiple MIDI devices are selected for MIDI clock output, clock events will be sent to all selected devices.

MIDI Clock Passthrough

When Cantabile is configured to synchronize to an external clock source and configured to send MIDI clock events, the incoming clock events are passed directly to the target devices (as opposed to Cantabile deriving MIDI clock events from the incoming events).