Anybody using MI Grids clocked by Metropolix? Specifically, any ideas about optimizing ppqn settings for use with Metropolix?
I’m still kinda noob-ish and haven’t approached ppqn’s at all. Currently using Metropolix as master clock to 4ms QCD, then out from there. Found I need to 4x the clock speed from Metropolix for Grids beats to make sense. Am I oversimplifying? Have a feeling ppqn’s could a big topic and I have a lot to learn. Thanks in advance.
Metropolix will output sixteenth notes (4 ppq) from the CLK output with default settings (CLK OUT = /1).
On the other hand, Grids can accept clock as either 24ppq, 8ppq, or 4ppq. The behavior you’ve described sounds like it’s set to 8ppq currently…
Right, as al2o3cr says, Grids accepts three different ppq options. If possible, your preference should be 24 ppq, because that allows Grids to have the greatest timing resolution - at lower resolutions, some of the finer timing is nudged onto the pulse. As the manual for Grids says: “using the 4ppqn clock might distort the patterns that use 32-th notes; and using 8ppqn or 4ppqn might distort the patterns that use triplets”.
So prefer higher resolution; if you’re willing to operate your Metropolix at high bpms that’s simple. I don’t want to operate my Metropolix at 720 bpm to generate 120 bpm 24 ppq pulses, that gets too counter-intuitive to think about, so I’m stuck with lower resolution timing, and the sacrifices the Grids manual describes, because I don’t have a clock multiplier.
Since you have a QCD and it sounds like you have the channel handy for this purpose, I’d set it 6x and set the Grids to 24 ppq for the best results. It can also be really useful to send a reset signal to the Grids as appropriate, so that things are realigned periodically if something goes amiss … unless the amiss-ness is desirable or intentional.
Wait a dang second. I’ve been using less and less of my Mx outputs lately, maybe I can finally live with Transport C and get some clock multiplier outputs. Too bad there’s no 6x…
Thank you!
Excellent synopsis. I reviewed the Grids manual, but didn’t quite understand. You clarified it nicely. Thank you for your help!