MIDI Clock (A.K.A MIDI Beat Clock)
MIDI Clock is a protocol built on-top of MIDI, that allows for music equipment to synchronize their tempo with each other.
It was invented in the early 1980s, and has been widely adopted by the music industry since then.
As a result of being built on-top of MIDI, it follows a client-server model, where one device is the "master" and controls the tempo, and all other devices follow the tempo of the master. It also requires explicit configuration to be set-up between devices, and needs to be connected via a physical MIDI cable, or another MIDI-based transport such as a USB-MIDI connection or RTP-MIDI.
Since the invention of MIDI Clock, more modern alternatives such as Ableton-Link have been developed, which are much more widely-adopted by newer applications and devices, and require less configuration to get started.
Comparison with MIDI Timecode (MTC)
Whereas MIDI Clock is designed to synchronize the tempo between devices, MIDI Timecode is designed to synchronize the playback position of media between devices. They are related protocols, and often used together, however they are not interchangeable.
If you wanted for example to program a fully time-coded show where the lighting and visuals are synchronized to the music, you would need to use a full timecode protocol such as MTC instead. See our full list of timecode protocols in the Protocols section of the knowledge-base.
See Also
- Ableton-Link - A more modern and robust alternative.
- MIDI - The protocol that MIDI Clock is a part of.
- MTC (MIDI Timecode) - A related protocol that is used for synchronizing audio and video.
- OS2L (Open Sound to Light)