Is there a way to sync HT2 to any other devices?

[kaibuster]

Even if it means splicing my own link cable for my TI84+ whatevers an option?

[nabulator]

IIRC probably not? HT2 uses both channels on the serial connection for stereo audio. Conceivably, you could forget about stereo and a single wire for whatever sync signal you want. It would probably be a new feature though!

[kaibuster]

IIRC probably not? HT2 uses both channels on the serial connection for stereo audio. Conceivably, you could forget about stereo and a single wire for whatever sync signal you want. It would probably be a new feature though!

Okay im following so far - what about for the TI84+ models that have a usb port. any way to sync through there?

[utz82]

The solution suggested by nabulator may work. You'd have to reserve one channel to send triggers. I haven't tried it though.

HT2 disables USB on the 84+ because power consumption is too high when driving both USB and the link port, resulting in a RAM clear. I do want to experiment with this eventually though.

[kaibuster]

I understand what you each are saying and thanks for the helpful info so far! I'll just have to do a deep read on the manual to understand how to trigger on the free channel.

Would definitely be worth doing a dive on this topic eventually

[irrelevantdevices]

Any advancement on this topic? I would love to somehow sync the TI to other instruments - currently using an Arduinoboy with a couple of Gameboys - any idea if there's a way of using that? If not, what are my options?

[utz82]

No advancement so far, unfortunately. I'd love to get back to working on HT2, but I've been far too busy with other projects the past years.

Anyway, you could try to construct an el cheapo CV trigger signal like so:

• Pan Channels 1-3 to the left, pan the drum channel to the right, or vice versa.
• Create a custom drum sample (drum E) in FX pattern 20. You'll have to experiment a bit to get something that mimics a trigger. Maybe just FF 00 or FF FF 00 could work. Then add E drums to your track as needed and connect the respective output to a trigger input.

I haven't actually tried this, so no guarantees.

[irrelevantdevices]

Hi again, I've been talking to retrokits about other possible ways to sync the TI - they pretty much said the same thing. However they did also suggest the following:

"If you use the TI serial port you use another output from the TI than the audio to send the clock, so you can keep your tracks stereo and could send at 24 pulses per quarter note directly, but : it would require coding on houstontracker, not sure if the developer fancies that.

If you use the RK601 you can just make a midi clock out of the audio pulses you send, easiest is to just plug that into a computer and a daw to keep in sync, if you have more midi hardware you can plug it into a RK006 but if you don’t want to use the RK006, just with 5v power, a few resistors and a midi cable attached to it it can work (but it might be a bit technical to set up)."

I must admit it's a little over my head - but thought I would ask if it would be possible to modify the code to utilise the other output or is that a ridiculous suggestion? (I'm not even too sure if my question makes sense!!)

[utz82]

Hi, in theory using eg. the USB port on TI-84+ would be ideal for a clock signal. Unfortunately it doesn't work in practice. Having the serial and the USB port active at the same time draws too much power, causing the calc to crash.

Any other solution would inevitably involve either sacrificing one of the audio channels, or tapping a signal directly somewhere off the TI's circuit board. I'm hardly hardware-savvy so I can't really advise you on the latter.

[irrelevantdevices]

Okie dokie - thank you again!!

[mrglennjones]

No advancement so far, unfortunately. I'd love to get back to working on HT2, but I've been far too busy with other projects the past years. Anyway, you could try to construct an el cheapo CV trigger signal like so: - Pan Channels 1-3 to the left, pan the drum channel to the right, or vice versa. - Create a custom drum sample (drum E) in FX pattern 20. You'll have to experiment a bit to get something that mimics a trigger. Maybe just FF 00 or FF FF 00 could work. Then add E drums to your track as needed and connect the respective output to a trigger input. I haven't actually tried this, so no guarantees.

hello again dude, id like to try this out... and sync to pocket operator, can u possibly give us a brief video tutorial or guidance how to do this please?

[irrelevantdevices]

I would also really appreciate something if this sort of possible!

[utz82]

I don't have any synth gear I could try this on, so I can't really make a useful video tutorial. But, as per above, what you could try is this:

1. Create a custum drum sample in FX pattern 20, consisting of a single pulse. You only create this pattern, but you don't use it in the sequence directly. You'll have to experiment with the value, maybe lower it a bit (FE, FD, or whatever), or use FFFF instead of FF00. A lower value means a longer pulse.

2. In another FX pattern (that you're going to use in the sequence), pan all 3 tone channels to the left, and the drum channel to the right with FX command 195. Then put drum E whenever you want to emit a trigger.

You now should have a CV trigger signal on the right channel. As I said, I have no gear to test it on, so use this at your own risk. The signal might be too loud or too quiet, so in any case I'd recommend passing this through a mixer before plugging into your synth gear.

You obviously can't use the drum channel as such anymore, unless you reset the panning as needed (FX cmd 100 resets all channels to center).

[mrglennjones]

I don't have any synth gear I could try this on, so I can't really make a useful video tutorial. But, as per above, what you could try is this:

1. Create a custum drum sample in FX pattern 20, consisting of a single pulse. You only create this pattern, but you don't use it in the sequence directly.
   ![pt20](https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/5324866/307469866-a15c1ccb-966e-43bf-9b2b-54dac45b974d.png?jwt=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.NCjDA2c9XqPPHFzHKfNi1gKhQUXWFmjFR72vDcU05IY)
   You'll have to experiment with the value, maybe lower it a bit (FE, FD, or whatever), or use FFFF instead of FF00. A lower value means a longer pulse.

2. In another FX pattern (that you're going to use in the sequence), pan all 3 tone channels to the left, and the drum channel to the right with FX command 195. Then put drum E whenever you want to emit a trigger.
   ![pt00](https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/5324866/307469864-2a2a520a-1000-4175-a950-5d6965c71d80.png?jwt=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.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.vP7lHuxD0LJAj-Ws-GukiU7kzTQbzcQvfK8Nmt53rdQ)

You now should have a CV trigger signal on the right channel. As I said, I have no gear to test it on, so use this at your own risk. The signal might be too loud or too quiet, so in any case I'd recommend passing this through a mixer before plugging into your synth gear.

You obviously can't use the drum channel as such anymore, unless you reset the panning as needed (FX cmd 100 resets all channels to center).

many thanks for this, im trying it out first with a pocket operator, not quite there yet!

is the fx for all tone channels left and drums right E170 ??

[mrglennjones]

im definitely gettting some playhead movement on the pocket operator when press the enter/start button on the ti-83 plus!

but it seems just not right...

[mrglennjones]

[utz82]

Hmm, I think it should work with less pulses than what you have in pattern 20 right now. One or at most two pulses should be enough. I assume it might rather be a problem of either the signal not being loud enough, or the signal needing to be inverted.

In any case, all tone channels left and drums right should be 16A.

[mrglennjones]

Ok thanks, I'll check it out and do some further tests