SYNC 2 Ableton instances on 2 Macs via MIDI/USB

[Amdur Eledhwen]

então, here's my issue.
Perhaps I am just a little too impatient and thereby reluctant to seriously comb through all obvious possibilities to do the job, yet I have encountered all sorts of "this-does-not-work-in-ableton-live"-issues before and it's probably best to post the Q here:
Am I am now using two Macs separetly, let's say WE are, because this is what it's about, working simutlaneously on joint projects. Hence I will need to sync them, whether we use Live/Live or Live/Logic etc., here's the technical data:

Mac Tower (using FireFace and a 4/4 MIDI-Interface)
Mac Book (using a simple Audio Interface)

the aim is to synchronise both macs in either direction (variable master/slave, though one direction—preferably the first—should do the job alright); I am not able to use Wifi-connections because the MacPro does not have any means to connect to wireless networks, thus it will have to work via USB/MIDI. Perhaps this is all too easy yet I have not synchronised macs in years and never before with Ableton...

1) ABLETON LIVE (MacPro) <---> MIDI Interface (ESI M4U via USB) | OUT 4 ---> Audio Interface (TASCAM US-144 via MIDI) <---> ABLETON LIVE (MacBook via USB)

2) ABLETON LIVE (MacBook) <---> Audio Interface (TASCAM US-144 via USB) | OUT 1 ---> Audio Interface (FireFace via MIDI) <---> ABLETON LIVE (MacPro via Firewire)

In the preferences dialog I can merely activate/deactivate MIDI-ports for synchronisation but it seems i cannot explicitly send a MIDI-Clock from one port and set the receiving port on the other Mac. I have activated the "Out 4" output-port of the MIDI-Interface on the MacPro and likewise the input port on the MacBook to receive the MIDI-Clock. Activating the EXT-button on the receiving Mac has Live waiting for incoming data to start playing but unfortunately nothing happens when I hit play on the sending Mac or change the BPM... there is no sign of incoming MIDI-data at the top.

— does it matter which other ports I have activated for MIDI-Clock?
— what about the "Track" and "Sync" buttons in the preferences dialog? both activated?? just sync? not sure about it...
— what am I missing?
— does this work at all? should it work this way?

...perhaps this isn't the right forum to further ask about the options for syncing Live to Logic running on another Mac? This would be of even greater interest for me as for syncing Logic to another Logic instance does not seem to work anyway....

thanks in advance for suggestions and guidelines!
Æ

[swishniak]

master: select output "synch" on whatever midi port
slave: select inch "synch" on whatever midi port

(no track or remote)

you can also use a ethernet cable - create a network and shoot it over that way. will free up a midi port. i did it the other day and it worked great.

[Amdur Eledhwen]

you can also use a ethernet cable - it worked great.

...cheers. yea that sounds quite seductive, saving MIDI-ports...... though I've heard the ethernet-synchro appears to be more fragile and less reliable. I personally experience the most dubious of phenomena with ethernet-connections, and this is only talking of file-sharing at home. Aynway, I will give it a try, just perhaps you could give me hint on where to actually activate the sending of MIDI-data via ethernet in Live!? thaaanks!

yes and oh, the synchronisation has eventually worked, though in a peculiar, rather disatisfying manner: the external clock is now coming in (yellow button lighting up), the BPM does follow, though veeeeeery slowly and sometimes ending up at wrong values (not just alternating between 158.65—159.51 instead of 159.00 but actually resting at 159.98, strangely, resulting in shifted tempi and clips running out of sync), the most inconvenient aspect though is the following: the clips within the slave-environment start blinking after been triggered, but never stop blinking and thereby never start playing. Never. The only way it worked is by switching off EXT-control, start the clips, then re-activate EXT — just that one has to time the start of master-clips according to what the slave engine provides, which equals brainfuck when thinking a few steps ahead... the only way Live seems to actually create an internal Clock (orange button beneath incoming tempo-indicator) is if it starts with EXT off, this orange button does not light up any longer after EXT has been turned on and play is hit by the master device.... quite strange all this! and once the tempo is out of sync, it will remain out-of-sync and cannot be corrected—if one chose to stop all clips in the slave environment in order to relink to the master Clock then the clips will not trigger anymore (for there is no internal Clock anymore). CONFUSED!!

what's going on? I can basically ONLY play clips on the slave Mac when they have been triggered before (with EXT off, thus in master mode itself). Surely this isn't right!? It can't be!
Had this before, any clues?

Æ

[paulmaddox]

Unfortunately, midi sync with a computer as the master will never work well as PCs/Macs cannot output stable midi clock.

The solution (albeit not a cheap one) is one of the Innerclock boxes ( http://www.innerclocksystems.com/ )

This is a good demo of their stuff in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg5K0zpS5Q8

I don't work for them btw - just a happy customer!