2 Quick Reference
If you can’t wait to get your new ACME-4 going this is the place to start. Clicking on the keywords will
lead you to more detailed information.
First you have to connect a power source to the ACME-4. Then you have to decide on a clock
source. You can choose between analog clock,USB Midi clock and the internal clock generator.
When working with a computer in the studio you will probably use the analog clock input. The use of
the USB Midi clock is recommended only for test runs because of its low accuracy. The internal clock
may come in handy to run your hardware without booting the computer.
To synchronize the ACME-4 to a software sequencer you have to feed it with either Midi clock or
with an audio clock signal comming from a track that you have created for that purpose. Load a
clock sample from our website into that track and route its output to the audio channel the ACME-4 is
connected to. In order to clock the ACME-4 properly the sample has to be triggerd every 16th note.
On our website you find predefined clips (Ableton Live) and regions (Apple Logic) to do this.
Before starting your software sequencer please make sure that it is set to the same measure as
the ACME-4 and all slaves connected to it. On the ACME-4 the measure is selected with the rotary
measure switch.
You can now start your software sequencer at any given position, but you should make sure that
the song position pointer starts on a bar of your track. If you wish to use the internal clock generator
of the ACME-4 simply press the grey clock button. In either case the clock LED lights up and the
ACME-4 starts after one bar of lead-in. The clock LED remains lit as long as a clock is received or
generated.
Now you can start making music. Upon start-up the ACME-4 is always in manual mode, mean-
ing that all parameters are set according to the positions of the frontpanel controls. It is easier to
begin with a single clock channel to get aquainted with its functions and controls. Disabled the other
channels using their Run/Halt buttons.
Set Swing Pattern to position 3 for a 16th swing. Now turn the Swing fine control slowly clock-wise
and you’ll hear the even 16th steps being played later in time. Turning the control ccw will shift them
forward in time. Try other swing patterns as well. A table with the 12 default swing patterns can be
found here. You can create your own patterns using the editor software.
With the Shift fine controls a clock channel can be time-shifted in very fine increments up to a 32nd
note forward or backwards. The Shift 16th controls allow time-shifting in 16th steps, up to half a bar
forward or backward. With the Tempo switches the channels can be set to double or half tempo.
Tempo changes will always occur at the beginning of the next bar.
The setup mode is used to set permanent fixed time shifts for each clock channel, to compensate
for technical latencies of devices connected. One can also select some options for the DIN-sync and
analog clock outputs there.
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