unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.

So, after five or six years of recording electronic music purely in a 'studio' fashion, I'm going to bite the bullet and start playing live.

At the start, I am going for a minimal, portable setup - two DMGs, with an iRig mixer so there's minimal changeover time between songs. Something like this:

The question is... there are some tracks where I'd like to beat-match and transition over a bit more seamlessly between songs. I know the tapping A trick, but I'm struggling with how to synch the two Game Boys. For example...

* I set the green DMG to Master, and the white DMG to Slave, and start both playing. The Green DMG goes first.
* Song on green DMG finishes. I beatmatch the white DMG, and then slide it over so that the white DMG is now playing through the output. All good.
* I go to load the next song file on the green DMG - at this point I lose synchronisation between the two.

How do I get around that problem? From reading, it seems like other people have different methods. Any tips?

TetrisEffect
Offline

create multiple songs in single LSDJ projects for each gameboy...?

urbster1
Offline
Naptown

as a preface, i haven't played live, but wouldn't you press start on the slave first? like press start on slave and get "wait", then start playing master, both start playing. at some point before the master finishes then change the slave to master, and load the next song in the first master (if the next song hasn't already been set to slave sync then set it to slave). press start on new slave to get "wait" and when the new master plays the next chain you should now be in sync right? i just tested this and it seems like it should work, although it will probably take some practice

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
TetrisEffect wrote:

create multiple songs in single LSDJ projects for each gameboy...?

That would mean re-writing all of my existing tracks, so that's no use sadly.

urbster1 wrote:

as a preface, i haven't played live, but wouldn't you press start on the slave first? like press start on slave and get "wait", then start playing master, both start playing. at some point before the master finishes then change the slave to master, and load the next song in the first master (if the next song hasn't already been set to slave sync then set it to slave). press start on new slave to get "wait" and when the new master plays the next chain you should now be in sync right? i just tested this and it seems like it should work, although it will probably take some practice

I can't quite wrap my head around how that would work, but I'll give it a bash and see!

Shifty Pixlz
Offline
New Zealand

The best suggestion I can think of is to do what I've been planning to do for a while... get/make two arduinoboys and sync both gameboys to a separate midi clock source...

That also gives you the ability to add other synchronised devices to your live setup later if you wanted to.

Ledfyr
Offline
Sweden

I have thought of using two GBs with variable clock mod and beat match using the clock mod pots. The pitch is affected which may not be desired (or could be a totally cool effect smile). Note that the sensitivity of the variable clock boards out there might not be fine enough, could be worth researching if you're interested in doing this.

Shifty Pixlz
Offline
New Zealand
Ledfyr wrote:

I have thought of using two GBs with variable clock mod and beat match using the clock mod pots. The pitch is affected which may not be desired (or could be a totally cool effect smile). Note that the sensitivity of the variable clock boards out there might not be fine enough, could be worth researching if you're interested in doing this.

That's actually an awesome idea! People have been mixing vinyl without matching pitch for decades with no problems smile
You'd just want to make sure to add a minute or so of not-very-melodic beat at the end of each track for you to blend the next track in on top of.

I think ideally you'd want at least 1bpm of precision to make it easier on yourself (not having to constantly tweak the bpm during the mix).

Last edited by Shifty Pixlz (Oct 5, 2016 8:01 pm)

The One Electronic
Offline
Detroit
unexpectedbowtie wrote:

I go to load the next song file on the green DMG - at this point I lose synchronisation between the two.


This is the issue. In order to get both slave and master back in sync, both gameboys have to come to a complete stop and then start up again like you would initially. So basically what you want it essentially impossible in terms of having two gameboys perfectly synced for all your songs.  The only REAL solution is to make one save file with multiple songs on it--pretty sure that's how Cooshinator does his sets.

What you need to do is start syncing the old fashioned way--with your ears. Don't forget to use the heck out of tempo adjust and transposing to get your songs flowing together. wink

Cooshinator
Offline
ohio gozaimasu
The One Electronic wrote:

he only REAL solution is to make one save file with multiple songs on it--pretty sure that's how Cooshinator does his sets.

Nah that'd take up way too much space lol. I often just play a transitional bit with my gp2x, but when I can I often have the slave set to the proper tempo and then switch it to master (it should still sound in sync), then I stop the old master, switch save files, and stop the old song at the same moment I start the new one. If you wanted to be extra fancy I'm sure you could start the new save out in slave mode, switch to master, and do another save switcharoo on the other gameboy.  I always do song mode but I imagine live mode should work too. Oh and this technique is for 2xlsdj, but it probably works just as well for 1xlsdj

Last edited by Cooshinator (Oct 10, 2016 2:24 pm)

Saskrotch
Offline
Chicago IL

Modded 4 way connector
GB 1 Master (no audio)
GB 2 Slave
GB 3 Slave

atomsmasha
Offline
perth, WA

pretty much what cooshinator said. i just set the incoming gameboy to master once the previous track has been faded out, haven't had any issues with this method yet!

egr
Offline
Abandoned on Fire
Saskrotch wrote:

Modded 4 way connector
GB 1 Master (no audio)
GB 2 Slave
GB 3 Slave

Boom. This. You could even program in tempo changes.

e.s.c.
Offline
IL, US
Saskrotch wrote:

Modded 4 way connector
GB 1 Master (no audio)
GB 2 Slave
GB 3 Slave

yeah, surprised it took that long for someone to mention this option

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
Saskrotch wrote:

Modded 4 way connector
GB 1 Master (no audio)
GB 2 Slave
GB 3 Slave

Oooh nice idea. Any wiring diagrams etc out there for setting this up? I'd need to get another 4 way connector and a third USB cart, but could be a neat solution.


urbster1 wrote:

as a preface, i haven't played live, but wouldn't you press start on the slave first? like press start on slave and get "wait", then start playing master, both start playing. at some point before the master finishes then change the slave to master, and load the next song in the first master (if the next song hasn't already been set to slave sync then set it to slave). press start on new slave to get "wait" and when the new master plays the next chain you should now be in sync right? i just tested this and it seems like it should work, although it will probably take some practice

Just for the record, tried this out, and it worked great. Thanks a lot!

Last edited by unexpectedbowtie (Oct 28, 2016 1:11 pm)

urbster1
Offline
Naptown

awesome! glad it worked out