justindavidow

Hi folks!

For anyone who comes across this; yes; you can sync Pocket operators to any gear that has a GATE OUT (with some caveats!) See this in action (if that's your thing):

Pocket operators accept a gated pulse as a clock under the following conditions:
Vpp: <5V, >0.6V
Ts(MAX): 0.125s
Hz: PPEN (Pulses Per Eighth Note)

Out of the box; The deluge cannot be connected directly to the input of the pocket operators. (technically it may work but the 5V output is RIGHT at the limit of the Pocket operator input. I don't recommend plugging a typical modular gate input into the input; ANY transient is likely to damage the input!)

Using the PO as the sync clock INPUT for the Deluge won't work; the PO only generates a ~1Vpp output sync clock; which is not high enough to trigger the 3.3V input clock detector (AFAIK)

To get output sync working; you'll need to build a simple voltage divider
to get this working reliably; (or alternatively a gated hysteresis clock; ideally active and optically isolated) a pair of 10KΩ resistors work great. (there's negligible current, ~250uA, requirement from the divider; the PO inputs are typically 10K+Ω input impedance. Technically you could use a 33KΩ/10KΩ as well; you'd get 1.16V from the divider and everything should work fine. (This may sound complicated; but it's literally two resistors.

The Ts listed above is a MAX; ideally the pulse length needs to be shorter then this value. I have not put much effort into determine what the Ts(MIN) is (which is what would determine the fastest tempo that can be maintained in sync) Here's some rough numbers looking at an oscilloscope with sync chain setup and being monitored:
1/64'th@60BPM ~= 62ms
1/64'th@120BPM ~= 31ms
1/64'th@240BPM ~= 14.5ms
1/64'th@368BPM ~= 9ms
1/64'th@416BPM ~= 8ms
Any faster then ~416BPM on the deluge appears to cause loss of SYNC (intermittent beat skipping); so it looks like Ts(min) on the pocket operator side is ~8ms pulse length) The above values do not line up with actual wall time of a 64'th; (1/64@1BPS =15.625ms but the actual gate pulse appears to be ~4x this length for reasons I don't understand)

• Make sure the gate output is set to 5V 12V, even with the divider, is still >Vpp(MAX)!
• Connect a cable from the GATE OUT (any channel you like) to the wide edges of a voltage divider
• Connect a cable from the narrow band of the voltage divider to the pocket operator input
• Set the first Pocket operator (if chaining) to SYNC MODE 3 (or SY2 if it's the only/last PO in the chain)
• Create a CV track on the Deluge; zoom into the smallest resolution you can (64'ths works) turn on cross screen and place a 64'th note on pads 1+9
• Press play on your pocket operator (it should be in SY2; so nothing should start playing until it receives clock)
• Press play on the deluge; adjust your BPM and listen to your PO follow!

Gotchas:

• If you pause the pocket operator; pressing play will start at the beginning of the pattern.
• If you stop the deluge; the pocket operator pauses in place; and will continue on the next sync pulse.

Edit: Fixed link formatting

My experience thus far is pretty shallow (only had my Deluge for a week) but so far it's one of my fav sequencers for other gear.

As a "brain" that sends MIDI/CV out to a pretty solid array of gear, it lends itself well to running the show. Being able to start / stop midi/CV tracks to the clock and using the "song" layout to sequence all sorts of gear works well for me!

The built-in synth engine is pretty solid for a two oscillator synth (plus noise) and the incoming midi control is pretty solid. To be honest, for a "studio situation" IMHO Ableton Live's stock instruments have basically all the same functionality. (That's not to say that I dont like the synth engine in the deluge, im just slow and it requires a bit of playing around with to get exactly what I'm after, but again: I've only had the thing a week!)

As a portable synth/seuencer/sampler, it's pretty solid. (The sampling is a bit of a pain currently, with the lack of anything beyond time/ear to trim samples / etc, you really want to have a computer handy to get the most out of sample management IMHO) the sampler has a few awesome features promised though, looking forward to 2.1!
I personally really like the sampler in the Digitakt, it's one of the best implementations for slicing / sample management I've seen yet. The Deluge sampler always feels a little clunky to get a trimmed sample that I'm looking for.

Personally, if I'm out and putting something together on the go, the Deluge is master and a few external devices (microgranny/volcaFM on Midi, pocket operators on CV/Gate) and audio all goes back to a plain old H6.

If sitting at home with a workstation, Live is the master and everything syncs from there. (Typically just via the midi-over-USB for clock sync) which is just the way I work.

@VJFranzK said:
Possible answer - sync up a Volca by midi, and use it's Clock out?

I have a Volca FM; but im not a fan personally.

The PO's do not accept a "start" or "play" message in any way, so as long as the clock is running, the pocket operators continue playing.

If the deluge is connected via MIDI to the Volca, the midi start / stop and clock messages will start + set the speed of the volca's internal sequencer and the speed of the sync output.
However when you stop the Deluge, the volca's stop their sync pulse for about a second, and then they continue at their built in set tempo rate.

Personally I find this a huge pain in the ass, and don't personally find the Volca sync very useful.