Hello Forum,

I just picked up an Alesis SR18 drum machine that I use when practicing from home. I’d like to be able to drive the tempo of the drum machine directly from the S90XS using tap tempo (yes, the SR18 is only 5 feet away but I’m lazy and also trying to become more proficient at the inner workings of MIDI!)

Is this possible? So far, I am unable to get this to work. Maybe my understanding of MIDI beat clock is wrong, but here’s what I’ve done so far:

- S90XS MIDI OUT connected to SR18 MIDI IN on Channel 1 (I can play the drum machine from the S90XS, so the basic MIDI setup is correct

- S90XS set to use its internal clock and send MIDI clock ON.

- Alesis SR18 set to receive MIDI clock ON.

My understanding is that the S90XS should now continuously send beat clock messages, which the SR18 would use to adjust its tempo but so far the SR18 just continues to roll along at 120BPM.

Is there anything else that I’m missing?

thanks!

If S90XS MIDI Sync is set to ”internal” and Clock Out is ”on”, that should be sufficient for clock transmission from the Motif’s end.

Basic questions, “just to make sure”:
1) When playing something (sequence, arp) on the S90XS, are you able to change its tempo?

2) Is MIDI In/Out on the S90XS set to MIDI (not USB)? See page 137 of the Reference Manual.

Thanks 5pinDIN. I also have a Motif ES Rack so I tried connecting it as a slave to the S90XS and voila, I can change the arp tempo as you’d expect. So the problem seems to be on the side of the SR18. After further online research, it seems others have had the same problem with the SR18, but at least I know that my S90XS works as it should.  😃

bosoxok - 29 November 2015 09:46 PM

Thanks 5pinDIN. I also have a Motif ES Rack so I tried connecting it as a slave to the S90XS and voila, I can change the arp tempo as you’d expect. So the problem seems to be on the side of the SR18. After further online research, it seems others have had the same problem with the SR18, but at least I know that my S90XS works as it should.  😃

Since you previously mentioned that you can play the SR18 from the S90XS (making my question #2 above unnecessary - ooops), and S90XS tempo changes are recognized by your Rack ES, it certainly does appear that the problem is at the SR18 end.

I found this…
http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/sr-18-tempo-slave-problem
...which does indeed seem to confirm that there’s a known problem.

It might not hurt to get in touch with Alesis and ask them if there’s a remedy.