Mastermind and timeline tempos not syncing

J

J Logan

Member
sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm a new pbc owner trying to use the pbc as a master for midi clock. Basically want my timelines tempo to be controlled by my preset non on my mastermind. Everything works great controlling my timelines patches except the timeline was not accepting the bpm changes.

I went into the timeline global settings and turned the midi cl on which I believe is the midi clock and then it would change but the tempos were not the same. I had a bpm of like 70 on the mastermind and timeline was showing 90bpm. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
 
Are you using the Strymon Nixie editor with your Timeline? I ran into a similar issue when I started using Nixie. It installs a beta firmware on the Timeline that is compatible with Nixie but there is a bug which causes midi clock to not sync properly. I had to roll back the firmware on the Timeline and stop using Nixie for the time being. I'm sure it will all be fixed in a future firmware release but for now that was the only way I could get it working again. I use alot of programmed tempos so there was no way I could live with it not syncing properly. Hope this helps.
 
The timeline is exactly 23 bpm faster than the PBC settings, I guess as a work around I could subtract 23bpm from my presets
 
well scratch that it depends on the tempo, the higher the number the greater the difference. Works the same if I tap the tempo into the PBC vs the preset. Also the timeline tempo led has an odd double flash to it as well.
 
I really wish they would hurry up with that Nixie update. I have the Timeline as my main delay, and I would like to add a new reverb with midi control to my Mastermind rig. The buggy Nixie firmware makes me want to switch to two Eventide H9's.
 
Oh wow... this seems to describe the exact problem I've been having. How do you roll back the firmware?
 
Here is the instructions, I cant upload the .syx file but if you PM me your email I can forward it to you. You can also get it from strymon. This is a known issue with nixie they are aware of it.
 

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Hello all,

This is a known error with the Nixie beta firmware. When we were adding Nixie compatibility, the display was inadvertently changed to show the calculated time of the repeats, and not the quarter note clock being read. So, for example, if you had the TAPDIV set to 8th notes, sending 100BPM clock will display 200BPM on the TimeLine, because 8th notes are twice as fast as quarter notes. This will be fixed in the live release (this is still beta firmware).

I would like to point out that the sound is identical between this firmware and the old firmware. Only the display has changed, not the actual audio processing. I have compared them side by side on two different TimeLine's fed with the same MIDI clock, and the outputs are exactly the same. It is purely aesthetic.

Anyone who would still rather revert can feel free to email us at support@strymon.net, and we will provide the firmware files as well as the instructions that are posted above.

While I can't go into much detail about status updates with Nixie or stable firmware releases, we haven't forgotten the project and are working diligently on an update. We are a small company, with only one software engineer developing Nixie (among other projects) and one firmware architect, who does firmware for all of our products; old and new. We do appreciate the patience as we work everything through.
 
That is great news, I am very excited about being able to use nixie again on my strymons. Another bug I found ( that you may be aware of ) while using the mastermind is on my bigsky. If I tried to use the kill dry and run it in parallel, it kept getting reset on preset changes. I had to back into the global setting and keep selecting kill dry. I rolled back the firmware and that solved my issues. Once both those issues are sorted, Ill be able to use nixie again with mastermind PBC based pedalboard. Love what you guys are doing and thanks again for the encouraging response.
 
Yes, this was another bug with the firmware. The BigSky (and TimeLine) will always think KillDry (and Spillover, as it happens) is set to OFF, no matter what it is actually set to. This is fixed by going into the Dry Sig/Spillover menu, setting it actually to NORMAL/OFF, then back to KILL/ON. Killdry/spillover will then work as it is supposed to until you disconnect power. Every power cycle you will have to go through this procedure again. Reverting as you mentioned also will fix the issue, but then you can't use Nixie =p.

These are in fact the only bugs we have found on the firmware side with Nixie. Anyone not wanting to update for fear of bugs may not really mind if they don't use spillover/killdry and Midi clock (or if the clock issue doesn't bother them). We haven't found anything wrong with the Mobius firmware either, so that's a pretty safe bet to not revert.

Also, for anyone already using Nixie who wishes to revert, you can just drag and drop the firmware file over the pedal and Nixie will load it up automatically. Then just cancel out of the dialog box at the end asking you to re-update to the beta version. The current stable firmware can be found in the FAQ's on the support page for each pedal.
 
Guys, I'm posting here b/c I have a similar issue...hopefully this is the right place to post.

I have a button assigned as TAP tempo for the Timeline and the light on the PBC is setup to flash with tempo. The button works and DOES change the tempo on the Timeline, but the BPM that briefly displays on the PBC does NOT match the tempo that the timeline ends up on. For example, I can tap on the PBC and it will read 86.0 BPM but the Timeline ends up reading 88.2 BPM. Sometimes the difference seems to be greater or smaller, and it's random as to which way it leans.

I just tried again and with the PBC saying 101 BPM, the Timeline is reading 109 BPM for example.

I recently contacted Strymon and reverted all of my Strymon pedals back to "NON Nixie" firmware....so that's definitely not my problem. Is it normal for there to be a little discrepancy when doing TAP tempo through MIDI? Honestly, it's not the end of the world if this is the case...just thought I'd ask so I could understand better. I've attached my PBC file just for fun...
 
Are you using CC messages or MIDI clock for tap tempo? (Easiest way to tell is, check the MIDI Clock parameter in PBC MIDI settings, if it's set to Master, you're using MIDI clock)

There is going to be some inaccuracy, but the MIDI Clock method of doing tap tempo will be more accurate. Using CC messages will be a bit less accurate, because the pedals probably average the taps differently than we do on the PBC.
 
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