QC not following MIDI clock

Quad Cortex
1

Hi,

I can’t get my QC to follow incoming midi clock.
I know MIDI clock is flowing correctly through the QC as it passes it through MIDI thru to other pedals.
However, the QC is on internal tap tempo and doesn’t follow the incoming MIDI clock.
Also, the tap tempo LED is red (I’ve seen in videos that it could be green and blue when following MIDI clock).

There aren’t many MIDI settings on the QC and I feel I’ve tried everything. Could the unit be faulty ? Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Cheers

2

The Midi Thru functionality is weird on the QC, I would focus on experimenting with that setting to see if it’s causing the sync issue. However, that’ll be a problem for your other devices if that is the culprit.

3

Thank you for your reply.

I feel like the MIDI Thru / MIDI Out works as intended :

  • When MIDI Thru is ON in global settings, MIDI clock is passed to the next pedals in MIDI chain, but QC cannot send MIDI CC through preset midi out option.
  • When MIDI Thru is OFF in global settings, it is the opposite : MIDI clock is not transmitted but I can use Preset midi out to dend CCs to pedals in the chain.

That is a bit frustrating because of course I would like the best of both worlds : MIDI Clock transmitted AND send Preset MIDI Out.

Anyway, my problem is more straightforward and, as I see no post on the subject here, I’m afraid of having a faulty unit. Or maybe I’m missing something obvious… :
Whatever the MIDI setting QC never syncs to external MIDI Clock
The connexions and MIDI cables seem OK as I am able to pass MIDI clock to other pedals through QC via MIDI Thru as stated above…

May I ask, what is the normal LED colors for tempo ?
I saw a 2022 video where it seemed like green was for internal tempo and blue for MIDI sync.
On my unit, tempo LED is always red. Does that mean something ?

4

@Julien It does seem like something is not right with your set up.

When the tempo light flashes blue, they your QC is synced to external beat clock.

I’ve never seen red. I wonder if that means there’s a midi loop happening or something like that.

What do your midi settings look like on the QC?

Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 12.16.01 PM
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1 Like
5

I keep a Disaster Area SmartClock Gen3 on my pedalboard along with my QC and I’ve never been able to get the QC to receive the MIDI clock. (I use the SmartClock with external Boss delay pedals on my board.)

I’m away from my QC at the moment, but I’ll keep checking in on this thread.

6

Thanks @sleiweke !
The culprit was “Enable MIDI clock out” set to DIN.
When set to OFF, LED flashes blue and QC follows external clock :partying_face:

To wrap this up :

Set-up (only using MIDI through DIN, no USB):
External MIDI Clock → QC DIN MIDI in
QC DIN MIDI out/thru → External Device

MIDI Thru ON + Enable MIDI Clock Out OFF :

  • LED flashes blue (or green if no clock received)
  • QC is synced to external clock
  • MIDI clock is transmitted to external device
  • Preset MIDI OUT does NOT transmit CC to external device

MIDI Thru OFF + Enable MIDI Clock Out OFF :

  • LED flashes blue (or green if no clock received)
  • QC is synced to external clock
  • MIDI clock is NOT transmitted to external device
  • Preset MIDI OUT does transmit CC to external device

MIDI Thru ON + Enable MIDI Clock Out DIN :

  • LED flashes red
  • QC is NOT synced to external clock (internal tap tempo)
  • External MIDI clock is transmitted to external device
  • Preset MIDI OUT does NOT transmit CC to external device

MIDI Thru OFF + Enable MIDI Clock Out DIN :

  • LED flashes red
  • QC is NOT synced to external clock (internal tap tempo)
  • QC internal clock is transmitted to external device
  • Preset MIDI OUT does transmit CC to external device
3 Likes
7

I am having the exact experience that you are having.

If MIDI Thru is on, then my delay pedal receives the MIDI Clock attached on the MIDI In on the QC, but sending Program Change messages does not work.

If MIDI Thru is off, MIDI Clock does not pass through, but sending Program Change message works.

My tempo light also flashes red.

8

Yes, it’s a bummer. It means that QC cannot transmit an external clock and Preset MIDI commands at the same time to MIDI devices. It would great if QC could merge incoming MIDI and internal MIDI to the OUT port.

9

Found the feature request on the forum : Merge MIDI IN messages with QC Preset MIDI OUT when MIDI THRU is enabled
It seems it is on Neural’s roadmap…