External Sync (MTC)
PXR can chase MIDI Time Code (MTC), locking its playback to an incoming timecode stream from a DAW, sequencer, or other device. That keeps PXR in lockstep with, say, a video timeline or a recording setup. This is an advanced, experimental feature, so it sensibly stays off by default until you go looking for it.
Set it up in Settings → Sync (⌘,).
Turning it on#
- Go to the Sync tab.
- Choose the MTC input device (the MIDI input carrying the timecode). Use Refresh if it is not listed.
- Turn on Wait for MTC (slave to external timecode).
Once armed, PXR waits for incoming timecode and then locks its playhead to it. While chasing, the timecode is in charge, so the usual play, pause, and seek controls politely step aside.
Reading the status#
- A small pill on the transport bar and a readout in the Sync tab show the state: Free (not armed), Waiting (armed, no signal yet), or Chasing (locked).
- The incoming timecode and its frame rate are shown live, and the LCD bar shows the frame count.
Fine-tuning#
- Time offset for current song: shift the incoming timecode by a set amount, with a frame-rate selector. PXR can tell you the detected rate and offer to adopt it.
- Advanced: a Drop-out timeout (how long to wait after losing the signal before stopping) and a Coast window (how long to keep going on PXR's own clock through a brief gap).
- Reset sync settings clears the saved source and disarms, which is the quickest way to recover if the picker gets stuck.
Note
If the timecode disappears mid-song, PXR sends a MIDI Panic automatically, so no notes are left hanging while it waits for the signal to return.
Related pages#
- MIDI Input for choosing input devices.
- PXR Log has an MTC Diagnostics mode that logs every timecode gap, useful when reporting a drop-out.
- Settings Reference for the full Sync options.