Hi all.
I’ll try to make this to-the-point. (ha-not)
I am trying to make sets using pre-made stems from a computer. Each sample is meant to be looped.
If the loops are precisely cut on the PC (to the exact sample of the .wav), and triggered by hand at the same time on the S2400 with looping turned on, then they still eventually run out of sync (it takes a few minutes to be perceptible and I assume is because of floating point rounding errors or something).
The situation gets worse when these samples are bounced to mono, or resampled to 12-bit (needed often to make things below 2MB). When either of these operations are performed, the result always seems to be rounding down, so a sample of length 12.000+00 in the sample editor becomes one of length 1.999+xx. This makes the resulting loops fall out of sync much faster. Faster than they can conveniently be mixed between in a live set without very adept DJ-esque operations of the pitch fader.
There is a function in the loop menu (enable loop mode, then shift+A on a given track) wherein a given phrase length can be stipulated (ie loop start: 0.0000 slice end: 12.0000), and also a binary function “Lock start&end” can be turned on. I was excited by this, but it doesn’t seem to work. I’m guessing because samples that are rounded down never make it to 12.0000, and so are not triggered appropriately.
I have tried workarounds. For example, just programming every loop across multiple banks to trigger simultaneously when “run” is hit (and then retrigger once the pattern length has expired). This has its own problem: my s2400 chokes if more than like 10 samples are triggered simultaneously, a problem which never occurs in when I trigger things by hand which is more fun anyway.
I have been investigating this issue for a while. I might well be missing something, but if not, then the S2400 needs a patch. Either it needs a (fairly rudimentary) mechanism to sync looping samples to a master clock by simply shaving off tiny remainders or adding silences every cycle (outside of live loop mode, which is not appropriate for my uses), or I would also accept just being able to trigger every track simultaneously without the firmware crashing.
Anyway. TL;DR
I have the ability to trim things perfectly on my laptop, but I cannot seem to achieve a steady state sync of a number of loops/stems such that they are perceived as remaining “locked” indefinitely. (Although tbh SOMETIMES with some files everything seems to work fine!)
Sorry. I’m probably incoherent. It’s late. Appreciate any feedback. I can record a video later if it helps.
Super much love, etc.