Cubase and VCV Rack Timecode Sync Issue

Cubase
1

I wonder if any one can shed any light on this. I’m using VCV Rack Pro in Cubase 11 and have noticed that if I send timecode from Cubase into a clock module (Impromptu Clocked, for instance), there is a discrepancy between my metronome and any audio generated using a gate from the clock module.

I’ve made a video to demonstrate. In the video I have Cubase set to internal timecode. The Midi-CV module is recieving timecode from Cubase and sending 24 PPQN to the Clocked module, which is sending a gate to the FM-Op module. The pulse coming from the FM-Op module should be perfectly in line with the metronome, but as you can hear - it is randomly offset, depending on where the timeline is when you press play.

There is a thread on the VCV Rack forum discussing this issue, which seems only to be a problem in Cubase. No one there has really come up with an answer though.

I would probably have attributed this issue to VCV Rack, except that I have had exactly the same problem using the sequencer in Arturia’s Moog Modular instrument.

I hope someone can help with this. There are many other ways to sync VCV Rack and Cubase, so it isn’t a problem that can’t be worked around, but I’m really curious to know what’s going on.

2

Hi ianjturner
Did you find a solution?

3

Kind of. I do it like this…

Trigger Buffer

I have the CLK/N divider in the MIDI-CV module set to whole notes. The CLK/N output goes to the Trigger In on the ML Modules Trigger Buffer module. The Trigger Out on that module goes to the clock’s Reset input. The MIDI-CV module’s CONT output goes to the Arm input on the Trigger Buffer module.

This way - when you press play in Cubase from anywhere in the project that isn’t the start point, the Trigger Buffer will arm and then wait for a pulse from the CLK/N output - which will be on the first beat of a bar. The clock will then reset itself and be perfectly synced to Cubase.

Overly complicated - but you only have to set it up once and save it as your default.