M-Audio Biport 2x4s [36/48] Smpte midi time code tutorial

In order to route data between the application and specific ports on the

BiPort 2x4s, select (from within your application) the appropriate drivers

of the above list. Many newer applications (Cakewalk Pro Audio for

Windows, for example) will allow you to select and access all the BiPort

2x4s ports within the same session. Other applications will limit the

number of input and output drivers you may select at one time - for

instance, Master Tracks Pro 6.0 can only handle two MIDI ports at a

time.

SMPTE/MIDI Time Code Tutorial

This section gives a brief tutorial on various SMPTE topics. This section

is not by any stretch of the imagination an exhaustive treatment of time

code or syncing. Instead it is included to make the BiPort 2x4s SMPTE

functions more understandable.

What is SMPTE (Time Code)?

SMPTE is a time coding standard, which was developed in 1967 by the

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) to be used

in video editing. SMPTE attaches a unique time stamp (80 bits of infor-

mation) to each frame of video or film. SMPTE readers may then extract

that time information and synchronize other devices to it. Because

SMPTE may be encoded as an actual audio signal, it also lends itself to

audio applications and can be read from audio tracks for synchroniza-

tion purposes.

The SMPTE Time Code consists simply of:

Hours : Minutes : Seconds : Frames.

Therefore a typical SMPTE time code reading would be:

01 : 25 : 42 : 17

which represents the time 1 hour : 25 minutes : 42 seconds : 17 frames.

The original SMPTE Time Code was Longitudinal Time Code (LTC).

“Longitudinal” means that the code is laid down in a continuous audio

stripe along the length of the tape (longitudinally). The BiPort 2x4s is

designed to write this longitudinal time code (LTC) as well as read and

convert it to MIDI Time Code (MTC).