Preliminary set-up:

You must have the external hardware connected to your computer in some fashion. There are different ways to attach external hardware to your computer. Examples are:

1. Through your sound card (if it includes MIDI ports).
2. Through the USB port. There are many external MIDI router devices available that use your computer's USB port to transfer MIDI data.
3. Through another dedicated MIDI device connected to a parallel port, serial port, or a MIDI PCI card.


If you want your hardware to sync to ACID PRO:

1. Configure your external hardware to chase to MIDI timecode or MIDI clock.

2. In ACID PRO, set up the MIDI routing. From the Options menu, choose Preferences. On the Sync tab of the Preferences dialog, choose an output device for MIDI timecode or MIDI clock (depending on what you plan to use) and click OK.

In ACID 2.0:
* To generate MIDI timecode, from the Options menu, choose Generate MIDI Time Code (or press F7).
* To generate MIDI Clock, from the Options menu, choose Generate MIDI Clock (or press Shift+F7).


In ACID 3.0:
* To generate MIDI timecode, from the Options menu, choose Timecode, and choose Generate MIDI Timecode from the submenu (or press F7).
* To generate MIDI Clock, from the Options menu, choose Timecode, and choose Generate MIDI Clock from the submenu (or press Shift+F7).


3. That's it! Click the Play button in ACID PRO to trigger your external hardware.


If you want ACID PRO to chase/trigger playback to the MIDI timecode output of your hardware:

1. Configure your external hardware to generate MIDI timecode.
2. In ACID PRO, from the Options menu, choose Preferences. On the Sync tab of the Preferences dialog, choose an input device for MIDI timecode. Click OK.
3. In ACID 2.0, from the Options menu, choose Chase to MIDI Time Code (or press Ctrl+F7). In ACID 3.0, from the Options menu, choose Timecode, and choose Trigger From MIDI Timecode from the submenu.
4. That's it! Press Play on your external device to trigger ACID PRO's playback.


Troubleshooting tips:

* The most likely problem when things are not triggered is that the MIDI is not being routed correctly. Double-check your MIDI routing. For example, if you are sending MIDI timecode out of Output A, ensure that Output A is actually being routed to where you think it is going.
* It may be necessary to set up MIDI trigger points on your external hardware. A trigger point starts playback at a designated point in a sequence or audio track. The hardware waits for this specific time in the MIDI timecode stream (for example, at exactly 30 seconds).
* ACID PRO functions much better as the "master." This is especially true if your ACID PRO project includes tempo changes. If you have a project that includes tempo changes, it is recommended that you use ACID PRO to generate MIDI timecode or MIDI clock.