Hints for use with intelligent interfaces
It may be necessary to experiment with the MTC/MMC routing if you have an
intelligent interface such as the MOTU MIDI TimePiece or Opcode Studio. With
my MIDI Express I have the routing so that the VS is not connected to
the "output cable" MTC input but all "input cable"s and all "output cable"s
are connected to "computer A". The separate Sync Input is then set to
read the MIDI Express port instead of the VS itself. This is not
necessarily the optimal setup but the program seems to work Ok. The reason
for not connecting the VS directly to the MTC input is that the MIDI
Express takes a couple of bars to lock to the time code before sending on
the MMC Play command to the computer. Since the program uses MTC only to
provide position information on the screen this locking-in process is not
necessary and it is more useful to have an immediate feedback of the song
position.
Additionally, the program will respond to MMC commands from the VS (if
it is in MMC Master mode) but these commands can be swallowed by the
interface and not passed on. In general, however, the program works best
if the VS is in MMC Slave mode and so this is not too important.
For the MIDI Express it is not necessary to set the MMC Output to be
different from the VS Output, however this option exists in case other
interfaces route MMC differently.
For those not experienced with MIDI (and who haven't read through the
whole of the VS manual!), MTC stands for MIDI Time Code and is
used for syncronisation of different sequencers/recorders. VS-Console can
recognise MTC and use it to display the song position in the same way that
the VS displays it on its own screen. MMC stands for MIDI Machine
Control and is used to transmit Play/Record/Fast Forward/Rewind commands
(plus Song Position messages, but MTC is necessary because the VS
should be set to MMC Slave so that it can be controlled from the program;
as MMC Slave the VS cannot send MMC messages, only receive them).