How to use the Rebirth MIDI 2 sync


See also
Lesson 1 A simple sync example
Lesson 2 Song pos, start, cont
Lesson 3 Using as a song sequencer for Rebirth

Demo Song Uses Buzz as a ReBirth song sequencer



Settings / Connecting Rebirth and Buzz

The Rebirth MIDI machine is a generator. Although it's not generating any sound itself it must be connected to the master. Otherwise the machine will not send any syncs. If you use Rebirth and Buzz on the same station you need a virtual MIDI loopback device like "HLD" or "MIDI Yoke".
To choose the MIDI device on the Rebirth MIDI machine right click on the machine and choose "Settings".
Don't forget to enable the MIDI sync feature in Rebirth. Set the same MIDI device as used in the Rebirth MIDI machine. For remote controlling enable "Remote MIDI Control" in Rebirth and choose an MIDI channel. Enable "ReBirth standard mapping".
Be sure you have your MIDI channel enabled in Buzz's preferences.



Machine Settings

MIDI Out Device
This is the used MIDI device. You can change this like described above.
MIDI channel
Set here the MIDI channel which is used for sending the controller and note on/off messages for remote controlling Rebirth. On Rebirth itself you must set the same channel for the remote controlling.
Sync Adjust
With this value you can shorten the delay before the sync clocks start to run. Normally you don't need to change this value (I hope). Background: Because of the wave buffer there's a short delay between the time a Buzz machine generates a sound and the time you hear the sound (depending on the wave device settings). The Rebith MIDI machine must delay the MIDI clocks for this time to run in sync with the audio output. You can shorten this calculated delay with this setting in case the MIDI timing is not correct.
Song position unit
Switches the song position meaning between Standard MIDI beats and ReBirth Bars. It's usefull to select "ReBirth Bars" when working with ReBirth.
Start on Play Button
This is a new feature. If enabled the Rebirth MIDI machine will capture all mouse clicks on the "Play" button of Buzz (note: only mouse clicks, not the F5-Key!). So you don't have to put the start/continue command in the patterns.
Hint: After finishing a song I would suggest to add the start/continue commands to the patterns anyhow.
Just for the case you want to play the song with a separate Buzz Player (the button hook doesn't work then).

Background: Buzz does not tell a machine when it's starting to play. But my machine needs this information for sending MIDI Start/Continue. So you must scribble the start or continue commands in the patterns for the machine or you use the Start-on-Play-Button-feature.


About Audio Devices

Device Sharing
If you're running Buzz and Rebirth on the same machine both programs must share the Wave device. This works only with DirectX on most sound cards. The old MME drivers does not support wave device sharing. But some sound card drivers can emulate more than one MME device so it could work with MME too.
Recording mixed output
You probably want to record your song as a wave file if you want to publish your work. Some soundcards (like the SB live) have a recording source called something like "What U hear". This will record all mixed output (of all the sources) which you currently can hear. With this you can record the mixed output of Buzz and Rebirth.


Troubleshooting

Performance
Running Rebirth and Buzz on the same computer needs a fast one, of course. I've started to write the Rebirth MIDI machine on a 233 MHz AMD. It was enough for testing but not for real using. On a fast computer the timing seems to be more stable (well on my 450 MHz now).
Wave Buffer
Play around with the wave buffer latency in Buzz and Rebirth! I've noticed some problems with latency times greater than 100 ms. I'm using 50 ms.


Lesson 1 A simple sync example