Time Code

Time Code
If your MIDI interface can translate SMPTE Time code to MIDI Time Code, Metro can respond to the SMPTE times of supported frame rates. When you choose the Time Code command from the Setup menu, Metro offers the following options:

MIDI Time Code Type

choose Time Code from the Setup menu and select the MTC frame rate you want. The following MTC frame rates are available within Metro:

24 Frames per Second: Film frame rate standard
25 Frames per Second: European video standard
30/29.97 Frames per Second (non drop): NTSC video standard
30/29.97 Frames per Second (drop frame): NTSC video standard with built in frame dropping for wall clock accuracy in broadcasting.

Display Incompatibility Messages - check the Display incompatibility messages checkbox to instruct Metro to bring up a warning prompt when an incompatible MTC frame rate message is received while syncing to incoming MTC. Uncheck the Display incompatible messages checkbox to ignore frame rate incompatibility warnings.

SMPTE Start Time - each Metro Section can have a unique SMPTE Start Time. If you want a Section to start at a specific SMPTE time, you can enter a SMPTE Start Time in the Hour:Min:Sec:Frame:Bit fields. For example, if you want a Section to start 1 hour, 12 minutes, 13 seconds, 12 frames, and 3 bits into a film, you would enter an start time of 01:12:13:12:03.

Since each Section can have a unique SMPTE start time, the Time Code dialog displays only the SMPTE Start Time for the selected Section; you'll see the corresponding SMPTE Start Time for the selected Section displayed in the Counter of the Transport window.

Wait 'N' Seconds Before Stopping on Dropout - enter a number in the Wait 'N' seconds before stopping on dropout field to specify a 'freewheeling' time in seconds for when Metro is synced to external timecode. Setting a time value greater that 0 is useful to compensate for tape dropouts. Experiment with this setting if you're experiencing problems with tape or SMPTE dropouts.

Tolerate 'N' Errors Before Syncing - enter the number of syncing errors Metro should tolerate before syncing to external timecode. Experiment with this option if you're experiencing problems syncing Metro to external time code, or are running a slower CPU. Metro's default setting is 1.