H9 tempo clock to quick (>0.5 secs ahead on 60 bpm in 10 minutes)

[jayron]

Hi all and especially the Eventide staff!

I have already since I start using the Eventide H9 stompboxes (about 2 years now) the impression that they are not precise on the BPM. When I select the same BPM on the stompboxes as on an external metronome/click (when playing in the band I really notice this clearly) it get’s already within a minute out of sync (my H9 BPM clock is ticking quicker, regardless of which H9 I tap in my chain).

Yesterday I did an upgrade of my pedalboard and was reconfiguring my setup with 3 H9’s in chain (I only use these 3 H9’s running the latest OS 5.6.0) and was testing that the first in the chain should send the BPM Clock to the others which works fine. Then I selected the BPM to be exactly on 60 BPM (by dailing it) and started a stopwatch on my iPhone to see if and how long the seconds on the stopwatch matched the 60 BPM on the H9. It clearly showed that the H9 was quickly running ahead of the stopwatch and after 10 minutes it was even more than 0.5 seconds(!) so >30 beats ahead of the stopwatch on an iPhone.

I can imagine this has to do with the frequency on the electricity net (normally 50Hz or 60Hz) on which the H9’s are powered from but then I really would urge Eventide to implement a calibration setting on the H9 stompbox in which I can sync it to be the best possible in sync with other metronomes. Especially when travelling between different nations where the frequency on the electricity net can differ again of course.

So my request is: Please Eventide implement a clock calibration setting in the H9 stompbox software so I can adapt it.

Second request and question is: Is the BPM clock only working with whole BPM’s or is it exactly on the tap (so for instance it shows 120 BPM on the display which is tapped 120.36 BPM) if not… Please Eventide implement a BPM clock which works exactly on the tap (so for instance 120.36 BPM instead of 120 BPM straight)

Really need this as I’m playing more and more with clicks in the band and sometimes need to keep tapping the tempo while playing a certain piece with a WahWah effect or such to be precise on the beat.

Thank you in advance for taking my question seriously!!! 

[nickrose]

The tap tempo on the stompboxes is really designed for syncing up delays and modulation to the beat, and for this reason does not offer special accuracy. 0.5 seconds in 10 minutes is better than 0.08%, so it's not all bad. This is plenty good enough for most purposes and cannot easily be improved.

The MIDIclock output is timed by the internal crystal, not the mains frequency. Because there are only 24 MIDIclocks per quarter note, it is hard to get high accuracy. For this reason, a calibration setting would not be helpful.

If you need greater long term accuracy, as it appears you do, you should consider an external precision source.

 

[jayron]

Thanks for your response Nick. In case there is no calibration option possible or considerable to be develop to manual correct the timing of the crystal what is an external option? (I mean, when I set the BPM manually equal to the BPM of the external click, I run into the same issue getting out of sync). Hope you understand my struggle expescially with the fixed BPM’s which are used with playing tracks along the live band.

 

 

nickrose wrote:

The tap tempo on the stompboxes is really designed for syncing up delays and modulation to the beat, and for this reason does not offer special accuracy. 0.5 seconds in 10 minutes is better than 0.08%, so it’s not all bad. This is plenty good enough for most purposes and cannot easily be improved.

The MIDIclock output is timed by the internal crystal, not the mains frequency. Because there are only 24 MIDIclocks per quarter note, it is hard to get high accuracy. For this reason, a calibration setting would not be helpful.

If you need greater long term accuracy, as it appears you do, you should consider an external precision source.

 

[nickrose]

My suggestion was that you should consider an external precision source, and sync the H9 and everything else to it.

If you chain the units, you should set the H9 to THRU, rather than one of the other modes.

Since what you are trying to do may be beyond the capability of guitar pedals, this approach cannot be guaranteed, but would probably be your best bet.

 

[camn]

One mans advice- 

When I am playing with some electronic tempo-master.. I do my best to recieve master clock from that device. 

 

When I am playing to a Drummer.. even if he or she is playing to a click, I use a tap tempo on my board, and during almost any lull in the music I re-tap to ensure accuracy. This ensures my effects are on tempo if the drummer is perfect.. as well as ensuring I am on tempo if they are NOT 🙂

 

I would never rely on co-inciding matched bps to actually be in sync, even with rackmounted equipment… much less with a stompbox. You might get lucky some times.. but eventually you will blow it.

 

my 2cent

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