# What does time mean in Sonic Pi?

**URL:** <https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/what-does-time-mean-in-sonic-pi/4509>\
**Category:** Support, Help & Resources\
**Created:** [October 16, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/what-does-time-mean-in-sonic-pi/4509 "2020-10-16T14:41:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![Martin](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/martin/32/157_2.png) [@Martin](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/Martin)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/what-does-time-mean-in-sonic-pi/4509/8 "2020-10-16T19:53:02Z")

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Hi @soxsa

> I was looking at getting some hardware to act as a primary clock, like a BeatstepPro or similar,

I don’t think that you can make SP listen to some external clock at the current state.

I have made some attempts to actually go the other way round and use SP as primary clock to sync a [Fates](https://llllllll.co/t/fates-a-diy-norns-dac-board-for-raspberry-pi/22999) (a small music machine based on Raspberry Pi and [Norns](https://monome.org/docs/norns/) software).

My setup actually works quite well with some lines of code:

```ruby
use_bpm 60

live_loop :clock do
  midi_start if tick == 0
  4.times do
    midi_clock_beat port: "midi_usb-usb_midi_1"
    sleep 1
  end
end

```

`midi_usb-usb_midi_1` is refering to the 1 port of [this little device](https://compasflamenco.com/midi-c-3/midi-usbusb-p-4.html) I am using to connect to usb hosts (my laptop and the Raspberry Pi Fates device).

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