Alesis Perormance Pad Pro & Sonic Cell

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DEVO-UK
Posts: 154
Joined: 21:14, 16 August 2011

Alesis Perormance Pad Pro & Sonic Cell

Post by DEVO-UK »

i have just bought one of these and it sounds quite cool but one drawback is that it only has a midi out, so i cannot have the SC play the sounds

i intend to have a drummer play along to the midi files played from the SC and will probably just keep the bass drum in the SC midi file for timing

the alesis however has a three track sequencer and i wondered if i could get the alesis sequencer to trigger start the current SC midi file at start

that way i could program all the bass drum bits in the alesis, have the drummer play along on top and have the SC running the backing tracks at the same time

does anyone know if this is possible?
rcraven
Posts: 629
Joined: 14:36, 9 September 2007
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: Alesis Perormance Pad Pro & Sonic Cell

Post by rcraven »

DEVO-UK wrote:i have just bought one of these and it sounds quite cool but one drawback is that it only has a midi out, so i cannot have the SC play the sounds
With Midi out you can use the Pad to trigger any sounds (not only drum sounds) in the SC.
And/or you can connect the audio out from the Pad to the SC audio in (one channel or stereo) and add reverb and other MFX and mix it with the SC.
Or you can do both and layer extra sounds from the SC onto the Pad sounds.

The Pad has audio in so you can do the reverse and put the audio out from the SC into the Pad, but I think the other way around would be better.
DEVO-UK wrote:i intend to have a drummer play along to the midi files played from the SC and will probably just keep the bass drum in the SC midi file for timing

the alesis however has a three track sequencer and i wondered if i could get the alesis sequencer to trigger start the current SC midi file at start
The are basically two ways that you can sync up sequencers using midi
Midi Clock/Songpointer - the Pad and the SC use this one
Midi Time Code (MTC)

There are two ways to stop and start a remote system
Midi Machine Control (MMC)
System Real Time message - the SC uses this

The Alesis manual doesn't give details about the Midi, which is typical of Alesis, so I can't say definitely that the Pad will output SRT messages. If you have a PC and MidiOx plug the Pad into a PC and see what it outputs. Just a quick start then stop on the Pad.
In Hex

F2 data data is the song position pointer.
FA Start
F8 is the timing pulse and you'll see a lot of these
FC Stop

FB is continue - which you might see if you are not back at the start

As you have them both at hand, connect the Pad to the SC with a Midi cable switch the Pad to Clock out.
On the SC go to the system menu and set the SYNC MODE to SLAVE and then go to the SC Player page and press start on the Pad .
Both should start and you should be able to vary the tempo using the Pad.
You should also be able to play the Pad and if it is on Midi channel 10 it will play the SC drums.

All the best

Royce
DEVO-UK
Posts: 154
Joined: 21:14, 16 August 2011

Re: Alesis Perormance Pad Pro & Sonic Cell

Post by DEVO-UK »

Thanks Royce

Sooooo helpful
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