Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “How to trigger the MS-101 / MS-1 sequencer from the RD-8 trigger output”.
Hello, I’m Robin Vincent and welcome to multi music technology. Today, I’m gon na show you how to make the rd8 trigger the MS 101. Oh yes, now I know that sounds easy, but it’s not because it doesn’t work, but it does and then I can show you how to get it to work, but it doesn’t seem to work out of the box, which is a bit of a head-scratcher it. So the rd8 from behringer at CMS, 101 from behringer and sync works.
Fine. You can sync the two together. I did a video all about that, but using the trigger outputs on the back to create an interesting rhythm on the MS 101 sequencer cannot be done until I show you how.
Why would I want to do this? Well, because it’s awesome, do you count tree a little bit of this, because what happened right, I was inspired by a guy called Gerald. I was literally on stage with a guy called Gerald on Saturday night at synth, fest and amongst all the stuff that he did. He took a trigger out of his t, ro 8, that he uses plugs it into the sh o 1a that he uses and created this rhythm just put together a couple of notes. He wasn’t doing a sequence of note. Hold rest note, tie rest stuff. You just put in eight notes and patterned it up on his D ro8 and off.
It went like that. This great rhythmic melody, that’s that’s moving the sequencer along with every time. You put something into the pattern here and I stood there go well, that’s awesome! I should do that, that’s amazing, so I got straight home.
Well, when I got straight home, I plugged the RDA into here went oh, oh and now spent the last number of hours trying to work out exactly why it doesn’t work and how to resolve it. And I believe I have so that’s what I’m gon na share with you in this quick video. I hope quick video. The first thing to say, though, is about the trigger outputs on the RDA. Now these trigger outputs on the back here, one two, three on quarter-inch jacks.
These are designed really truly for running other drum modules. You know drum modules are sort of thing you plug electronic pads into that kind of thing, so they’re on quarter-inch jacks. They go into the trigger inputs on other things and they trigger those. That’S what they’re, for so plugging it into the MS 101, is not necessarily what it’s designed to do.
However, the fact that it works with the AOA and the 101, the roland ones – and it’s such a fantastic and groovy thing then you’re – expect it to work with the clones of those devices. Would you not anyway? The first thing to say, though, is that I could not find in any of the documentation in any of the videos of behringer have done on the rd8. What the trigger outputs actually respond to, because the idea is that you create a pattern here and it goes out of the trigger outputs. But on what channel do you create those patents? It does not say it driving me nuts.
However, digging around into the sh-101 manual and hearing other people talk about that, and in fact, Gerald mentioned it on Saturday night – is that it’s the accent Channel the hand, clap channel and the cowbell Channel. Those are the ones, so those three channels correspond to trigger out one two and three on the back and the idea is you’d pick hand, clap, you’re right in your pattern. You turned down the clap and you’re now triggering something else, but I thought that was a useful piece of information just to give you the start with, because it took me ages to find that out and it seems like an obvious thing, a line you could have Put in the manual that just says the trigger outputs correspond to accent, hand, crap and cowbell and you’re done and you’re off. You don’t have to worry about it, but you know so what I’m gon na do I mean I could give you the easy answer. The easy answer is to do with envelopes right, but we’ll get to that in a minute. I’Ll just show you what’s happening and how you resolve it all right so step one we’ll take trigger output, one! That’S the only way. We’Re gon na worry about trigger output. One because the rest are the same and that is run on the accent Channel and I’m gon na take that and I’m gon na plug it into a drum module to show you it triggering stuff.
Now, if I turn down the volume on the rd8, so that’s not doing anything. I’M just gon na have accent going to the drum trigger. It’S that simple. It’S not this all right see! That’S the rd8! This is my drum module over here.
So the triggering totally works good, absolutely and totally works. However, when I take that trigger – and I plug it into the external clock in on my MS 101 and hit play – it does nothing, it does nothing now. If I take my trigger output, I’ve got on the back here and plug it into the external sync pouch, on the back that one there, the clock out to miss one, no problem got another video on that. But if it’s coming out of the trigger output, you get nothing nothing at all. So that’s the problem we’re trying to solve.
So what I did next was wondering: how can i trigger the MS 101 through something else I mean I can use a clock out from another device. I can use it from the rd8. I can take a clock from say something like the very gate over here clock out, so we know that it works, but it’s just not being moved along the trigger from the RTA.
So let’s try something else. So I’m taking out of one of the gate, outputs that works, so I can change. So all I’m trying to prove here is that the MS winner won’t does absolutely and totally respond to triggers or gates or something coming into its external clock input, and it advances the sequencer step by step rather than just clocking around clocking around it’s going one step. Then another step another step depending on the trigger. So why isn’t that doing it? Why isn’t that well to solve that problem, you need to look at it on a bit of a scope, so I’m going to bring you in and we’re going to do that. Here’S! My scope, this fella here, so let me take the output of the rd8 and I’m going to plug that into the top part of the scope, see that still plugs into our drums, and you can see the triggers yeah. You can see. Those are triggers now we’ll take this output from here.
That was just triggering that drum I’m going to plug it into the MS 101, and we get nothing so it’s plugged in over here to the MS 101, nothing nothing! It’S all right now, something that was working was like the gate out from here or the clock out from here. So let’s have a look to see what that looks like on the second scope, so take the clock out see this is the clock out signal. This is the trigger, so the clock out is a much wider signal which has given us a clue as to why this is not working. If I usually gate out on the number two that’s similar, but I actually have control over the pulse width of that and I wonder if that will make a difference.
So that’s coming in to number two I’m going to take this. This end plug it back into the MS 101, so that is working with this know. If I can remember how I do this, I can change that pulse width to bring it down to be more like a trigger. I mean, as you can see this trigger, even its smallest pulse is a lot wider than the trigger that’s coming from the RDA and that’s still working, but this is it.
Let’S just have a look at some other triggers in my system, so, for instance, get a trigger out from my random rhythm. As you can see, it’s also wider. It’S working so it occurred to me essentially that this trigger is it’s just too sharp. It’S not giving the MS 101 enough voltage for it to decide that it’s something it needs to react to. So how can we improve upon that? Well, the answer has to be an envelope or something of that nature. We need to increase the width of this pulse. That’S what we need to do so if we take that output plug it into say an envelope I’ll go an envelope up here and take the output of that envelope. You can see that this envelope has been triggered by the rd8 press.
Stop it stops, but it’s now controlling the MS 101, because I’ve applied a little bit of envelope. No, I can. I can shorten the envelope a bit until it stops working see. The envelope is now too narrow and the MS 101 is no longer picking up, but as I increase the decay there, you go there’s a long and complicated ways in order to do it so just to summarize to keep to get some kind of handle on what This is all about.
The rd8 trigger output is too sharp to trigger the MS 101. So instead, if we trigger an envelope, the size of that envelope can trigger the MS 101. Instead, it’s ridiculous and a bit stupid that these two cannot communicate with each other. Just normally off the shelf out of the box with a single cable, you know and of course they can, if you’re just sinking, if you’re just sinking, that’s fine, just use the sink out the clock out and the clock in.
But if you want to do the clever, a guy called Gerald stuff, which is awesome by using the pattern on here to control the pattern of the sequencer, then you’re gon na have to do it via an envelope or some other form. You can also, as I say, use the hand, clap or the cowbell the trigger outputs to and trigger outputs 3, but otherwise there you go. And yes, I have updated the firmware on the rd8 and it is a pain in the ass. If you’re on Windows, you have to do some strange hack, where you update some USB driver, we’re using some strange application from nowhere and then you’ve got a hold something in the back where you turn it on. You know: yeah, hey Lee! I have done all that. I I don’t know how behringer can fix it other than making the trigger pulse longer. I mean it says in the manual the trigger pulse is set to 1 millisecond, so, presumably that’s just that’s just too small or the MS 101 is too sensitive or not sensitive enough. However, I can trigger it with anything else.
Anything else. I’Ve got the sends out, a trigger is he’s working, so why that doesn’t? I don’t know there? You go, that’s my workaround. I hope that was helpful. I hope that information overload of stuff is helpful, and now we can just move on with our our acid acid, rave dance, dance party, [ Applause, ], [, Laughter, ], .