Triggering a 202

Hi all. Through a combination of swaps and lucky purchases I now have a 606 and a 202, and hopefully my 707 should be arriving today. Hooray! But. I've never had to sync all these together before.

Now I've had a look around here and found some very useful threads (one where CMA had just got his 606 was especially handy) and I'm going to try my best-looking MIDI cables after work to sync the 606 and 202 - if that doesn't work I'll head to Maplins on Saturday. But I've got a question left that I haven't been able to get an answer for:

Is there a way of triggering the 202 in the same manner you can trigger a 101 via its EXT CLOCK input? i.e with a 101 you can set up a sequence and then trigger it with a rimshot out per step. The 202 doesn't have an EXT CLOCK of course but I did find a pretty incomprehensible post elsewhere about using the tape sync socket in a similar fashion (I think).

Or coming at it from the other direction, can I drive the 606 from the 202 in a similar way?

Hopefully by the weekend I'll have enough DIN cables to have everything running from the 707 (I'll be looking out for one of the Y-split DIN leads that Chris recommends) but I'm interested in this kind of triggering as an alternative 'production method' (I use the term loosely) as I expect it can lead to some unexpected results.

I'd also be grateful for any 202 tips that don't involve opening it up or burning it in a giant wicker 303. I might get it modded further down the line but for now I want to explore it in its natural state.

Cheers for any help.

Neither the 202 nor the 606 has a "clock" input like the 101. It only responds to 24PPQ sync signals, like DIN Sync or FSK24 (AKA the tape sync interface, which I've never used).

Cheers for that, it's what I was afraid of. The first MIDI cable I tried worked, so the 606 and 202 are now happily married. The 707 should be waiting for me and I'm guessing that's going to bollock the whole thing up, assuming I want to use it for MIDI... unless I can have the 707 controlling the 202 and the 202 sub-controlling the 606. One of CMA's split DIN cables ought to fix everything, so if I can't get anywhere tonight I'll look into getting one of those.

The 606 is fantastic! Rack up the tempo so the pattern covers two beats at 150bpm, add a couple of fast rolls and then fade single tom & snare hits in and out and tweak the accent, that kept me busy for hours. The 202 just sat there complaining that I don't know how to program it properly yet.

You don't need a split DIN cable since the 202 has independent Sync24 Ins and Outs. In fact, it has 2 outputs, so if you got a Tb-303 or Cr-8000 you could just sync it up from the second out on the 202. Just make your 707 the master, then send the Sync24 output to the 202 in, and from one of the 202's outs to the 606.

Sounds like you have an awfully pretty combo, there. I've been after a 202 for a long time now, but I don't quite think they are worth the $700 people are asking for on eBay. If someone has one or knows someone who is selling one for a reasonable price, please PM me!

I lucked out and traded one of my spare MPCs for the 202, but of course now I'm more tempted than ever to throw my credit card at a 303...

Anyway, thanks for the reply. The good news is it all works like a charm - I must have been pretty discerning or lucky with my MIDI cable purchases in the 90s because they all seem to work fine as DIN sync cables. As you suggest, the 707 controls the 202 and that controls the 606... it's so sweet.

I haven't really given it a good workout because I've been trying to get my brain around the 202 sequencer. The manual is entertaining but not especially useful and at the moment every time I get the result I'm aiming for I end up losing it all on the next edit - the step values seem especially keen on resetting themselves.

But I'll get there. I spent most of Friday night playing with the 707 with the sound running through my Kaoss Pad 3. I'd always thought of the 707 as a pretty dull option - it was the DIN / MIDI link that drew me to it - but like the 606, the accent and level controls combined with the TR-Rec programming make it a really nice 'performance' drum machine. You just need some FX or liquor to pretty up the kicks.