Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › Tap/Clock input device for Super Pulsar
- This topic has 36 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 6 months ago by Flick (EHX Staff).
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February 16, 2019 at 12:54 pm #85877OkuloParticipant
I recently bought a Super Pulsar having been seduced by Bill Ruppert’s excellent demonstration video and I am enjoying using it mainly just by almost aimlessly messing with the settings. I need to go back to the manual frequently as only a little bit at a time sticks in my head.
However, there is one specific thing which I would like to figure out, how to synchronise the tempo with my recordings. I am working on my own, so I don’t have a drummer to follow the tempo, I have to set it in my recording device, a Zoom R24 in which I can then select a temporary drum pattern (I intend to replace this in Logic when I have finished recording).
The problem is that the tempos drift apart and it would be useful to use the Tap/Clock input but this is outside my technological comfort zone. What is the Super Pulsar expecting, MIDI, audio? I have spent several hours trying to find a definitive answer online but get frustrated when the answers I find are subsequently contradicted by something else I read.
Is there an inexpensive device which I can use to provide a clock signal so that I can set it to match the project tempo, i.e. numerically rather than by tapping? I can find very sophisticated and expensive midi devices which supposedly perform this function but surely there is a simple device which is basically a metronome with an appropriate output.
February 16, 2019 at 9:41 pm #124832OkuloParticipantI just spent another few hours trying to find answers online and have been on the verge of buying a couple of devices but thought I’d wait until I had a reply to this post and in the meantime, I had a crazy idea which I am anticipating some stick for even thinking.
Why not connect the headphone out from an old iPhone to the Tap/Click in jack and run a metronome app and see what happens.
Well, the app I have has several different sounds and I worked my way through them and the results were not promising but suddenly, as I reached one (which I couldn’t hear because the audio was going to the Super Pulsar), the LED started to pulse at half the metronome rate. When I listened later, it was the one which closest resembled a click but sounded a little tinny.
I’m quite astonished that it works. I can’t synchronise the tempo with the drums track but as long as it is in time, I can sort that out later in Logic.
Having played around with this for a while, the Super Pulsar takes about ten seconds to pick up the tempo so I am going to see if I can find a metronome app with a clearer click.
February 17, 2019 at 12:44 pm #124834OkuloParticipantOh, well, that didn’t last long.
I found some other metronomes with more distinct beat sounds and they didn’t work and when I went back to the one I had used before, that didn’t work anymore either.
Back to the drawing board.
February 18, 2019 at 1:24 am #124836OkuloParticipantI just ordered one of these:
https://truetone.com/time-bandit
I’m hoping that it is compatible as the website says that it is ‘[em]Ideal in the studio and on stage, the Time Bandit takes the sound of a click track or metronome and converts it to the type of signal that most delay pedals with an external tap tempo jack can read.[/em]’
February 18, 2019 at 2:46 pm #124837Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorAlthough we have not tried the True Tone Time Bandit it should work with the Super Pulsar as its TAP input is by default set up to work with external footswitches that most delay pedals with tap tempo jacks use.
Just one note on the Super Pulsar: the TAP/CLK IN jack can handle both external switches like the Boss FS-5U or it can be set to handle clock pulses like created by metronome apps and DAWs. From the factory, the Super Pulsar is set for External Switches on this jack. If you connect a metronome to the TAP/CLK IN, make sure to set this jack to its Clock In mode rather than External Switch.
Page 12 of the manual explains how to change between External Switch and Clock In modes. Here’s a link to the manual: https://www.ehx.com/assets/instructions/super-pulsar.pdf
February 18, 2019 at 3:35 pm #124840OkuloParticipantThanks for the reply.
Since yesterday, I can’t get any response from the metronome output and I have just tried again with both settings.
The instructions in the manual are quite unambiguous but my Super Pulsar does not behave precisely the way stated. When switching modes, it only blinks rapidly for about half a second rather than two seconds. Sometimes it does nothing at all other than alternate the Wave Invert LED status. Does it matter whether the Super Pulsar is in Normal or Preset mode when changing the input? I can’t find anything in the manual about that.
I’m hoping that I haven’t broken anything by experimenting, I suppose I will find out tomorrow when the Time Bandit arrives.
February 18, 2019 at 3:43 pm #124841Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorClock-In mode is saved and recalled with presets so I would recommend you exit Preset mode and experiment in normal live mode until the Clock-In jack is working to your satisfaction. Once it’s working well then save the setting to a preset.
Set the Super Pulsar to external switch mode for the Time Bandit and use a TS cable to connect them together.
February 18, 2019 at 4:16 pm #124842OkuloParticipantThanks.
I know that when it was in Normal mode and set to Clock In, the metronome did not have any effect. Is there an ideal metronome kind of sound to trigger the tempo? I assumed it would be something with a short and distinct attack and decay.
I can’t figure out why sometimes I can change the Tap/Clock mode, even in Normal mode, and sometimes I can’t. The only way to force it to work seems to be to cycle through the Normal/Preset modes but that doesn’t always work. Also, the manual says to hold the Wave Invert button down but in my experience, the TAP switch has to be pushed almost instantaneously.
Anyway, I’ll report my results tomorrow.
Thanks again.
February 18, 2019 at 5:27 pm #124843Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorQuote:Thanks.I know that when it was in Normal mode and set to Clock In, the metronome did not have any effect. Is there an ideal metronome kind of sound to trigger the tempo? I assumed it would be something with a short and distinct attack and decay.
Yes it needs a simple pulse to trigger the clock. So the simpler the sound of the metronome the more likely it will work for the Super Pulsar. It’s really expecting a clock signal that might be received from something like a modular synth.
Quote:I can’t figure out why sometimes I can change the Tap/Clock mode, even in Normal mode, and sometimes I can’t. The only way to force it to work seems to be to cycle through the Normal/Preset modes but that doesn’t always work. Also, the manual says to hold the Wave Invert button down but in my experience, the TAP switch has to be pushed almost instantaneously.We’ll have to look into the Tap/Clock Mode change. It might be a software issue here.
February 19, 2019 at 4:15 pm #124847OkuloParticipantMy Time Bandit arrived today and it works perfectly.
It is absolutely amazing to play through the Super Tremolo perfectly synchronised with a drum track – the Time Bandit has a reset button so I can hit it during the count in if necessary.
Without the Time Bandit, I might not have discovered just what a brilliant pedal the Super Tremolo is, though I feel that a numeric tempo would be the only thing that would improve it. I think that tap tempo is okay for delay and reverb etc. to get the tempo close but tremolo is so much better when it is locked to the rhythm.
By the way, on that signal path, I’m playing:
Platform > Deluxe Big Muff Pi > Deluxe Electric Mistress (slow) > Grand Canyon (drum ping pong) > Super Pulsar
Nice dark and grungy.
February 19, 2019 at 4:59 pm #124848Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorGreat to hear. Thanks for the update! Nice signal chain by the way!!
February 19, 2019 at 5:15 pm #124849OkuloParticipantThanks.
I have a parallel signal which is:
Platform > Hot Wax > PolyPhase > Cathedral (as of today’s delivery).
Plus I have a Mel9 on a third. I’m hoping to get a C9 at some point.
Everything actually goes through the Mel9, the dry signal is split by the Platform and they all (five signals – two stereo one mono) go into a Zoom R24 where the fun gets entangled.
March 14, 2020 at 2:55 am #125923OkuloParticipantApologies for opening a year old thread but I have been having problems synching my Super Tremolo for a while. I’m pretty sure that the click is getting to the Super Tremolo okay but for some reason, it is just ignoring it.
The Time Bandit has an input which into which I send the click from my Zoom R24 and the output from the Time Bandit goes to the Super Pulsar; this way, there should be total synch with the drum track. I know the click is getting to the Super Pulsar via the Time Bandit because when I accidentally mixed in the drums, both the Time Bandit and the Super Pulsar went a bit crazy trying to catch the rhythm and when I mixed the drums out again, they both went back to normal speed but unfortunately, whilst the Time Bandit catches the click perfectly, the Super Pulsar is out. I don’t know how to measure the slippage but it seems like about a quarter note every 16 notes or so and sounds awful very quickly. I’ve tried feeding the click straight from the R24 to the Super Pulsar but it doesn’t help.
I’ve restored the Super Pulsar to factory settings and made sure that it is set to Click In. It’s a real shame because when it worked, it was fantastic – now I am having to use my Mod Rex for tremolo which has a solid dial-in tempo and is fantastic for its versatility but doesn’t give me what the Super Pulsar did in terms of wave control.
I found another thread which said that the revision of the board may be a factor with a similar issue but mine is Rev E.
And I spotted The Smiths Easter egg on the board.
March 16, 2020 at 1:33 pm #125930Flick (EHX Staff)ModeratorWhen using the Time Bandit to provide sync to the Super Pulsar, the Super Pulsar must be set to External Switch mode, not Clock-In mode. You mention in your last post that you set the Super Pulsar to Clock-In mode. Change that back to External Switch mode. The Time Bandit’s output signal mimics a switch rather than a clock signal.
One other suggestion to try: to ensure you’re getting a good signal between the Time Bandit and the Super Pulsar, start by using the Time Bandit’s internal tempo setting. Disconnect the Time Bandit’s CLICK IN jack and turn the knob on the Time Bandit to set its tempo. Ideally you should see and hear the Super Pulsar’s tempo update as you change the Time Bandit’s tempo.
One important note: the Super Pulsar uses tap tempo averaging. To ensure the Super Pulsar is correctly following the latest tempo from the Time Bandit, allow 4 seconds between each Time Bandit tempo change.
March 16, 2020 at 1:51 pm #125931OkuloParticipantThank you very much for the reply. I’ll try again as soon as I can but just for clarification, I have tried both modes on the Super Pulsar; External Switch and Click-in. I focussed on Click-in in my post because I mistakenly thought that that was the correct mode. I only resorted to trying the Click-in into the Time Bandit out of desperation, really. Ideally, the fewer necessary connections the better for reliability.
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