midi out of sync

[Flange]

Ok so Im hoping that one day I will actually be able to make some music with ableton instead of spending all my time figuring out what is wrong.

Latest problem - midi recorded from external synth loses time after about two or three bars. the notes are quantised but it goes out of time. I don't understand why this is happening. Doesn't happen in pro tools at all. AM I hearing lag?? How do I make it sync please?

I have read the manual and it doesnt help.

[infernal.machine]

http://www.ableton.com/answers/external ... g-problems

[Flange]

http://www.ableton.com/answers/external ... g-problems

I read this already. It doesnt help. I have no idea what I am supposed to do with the track delay or the midi clock sync delay. How much am I supposed to delay?? Why do I need to do this. The notes are perfectly quantised and should play back in time. I don't have this issue in pro tools. All I have is one track with one external instrument how can ableton possibly be struggling to keep up?

[infernal.machine]

Then go use pro tools.

Christ...

[Flange]

Then go use pro tools.

Christ...

Um so because the only information available is not helpful you think its appropriate to be rude? Its really unnecessary. I want to use ableton its just I am struggling alone to figure out how to. There is not a lot of help online unfortunately.

Anybody else can offer some real help please?

[infernal.machine]

I'm sorry, but part of being a good producer is being able to solve problems yourself. If you're not willing to put the time in and fail for a little while, you'll never get any better and you'll never grow as a musician. You can't expect someone to come along and help you every time you need to wipe your ass.

That being said, since you're new to Ableton, you're still in the phase where you have to get all your equipment sync'd up, which for me took a couple weeks of trial and error. For the problem of MIDI delay specifically, I can only recommend you slow down and take the time to really understand all the aspects of live's interface, especially the Audio/MIDI preferences stuff. I'm sure you will find a simple fix to your problem after you put in a little more effort.

[Flange]

I'm sorry, but part of being a good producer is being able to solve problems yourself. If you're not willing to put the time in and fail for a little while, you'll never get any better and you'll never grow as a musician. You can't expect someone to come along and help you every time you need to wipe your ass.

That being said, since you're new to Ableton, you're still in the phase where you have to get all your equipment sync'd up, which for me took a couple weeks of trial and error. For the problem of MIDI delay specifically, I can only recommend you slow down and take the time to really understand all the aspects of live's interface, especially the Audio/MIDI preferences stuff. I'm sure you will find a simple fix to your problem after you put in a little more effort.

Ok firstly I don't claim to be a good producer. You do not know me and so you really shouldn't make assumptions about who I am or what I am trying to achieve. I have now been sitting here for over 6 hours today and made zero music because I have been trying to figure out how to make this programme do I what I want.
If thats not trying to problem solve I don't know what is. Also part of problem solving is having the internet to search and question those with perhaps more knowledge.
Sadly people like you find learners like myself an irritant. What I don't really get though is why if you find people with less experience to be such a irritant do you hang around forums answering stuff? Why not just ignore what you don't like or don't even go there in the first place. Makes a lot of sense really.
I actually don't think its about being a good producer. Its about not having the information needed at hand that really should be easily accessible for ableton customers.
I hate to say this again as ableton fanboys get the shits about it but with pro tools everything is completely different and runs so seamlessly because all the information is there for every step of the way. Its not so with ableton unfortunately. I wanted to come over to Ableton as I think it has some great features that pro tools doesnt have however I am finding the learning curve really really difficult because of inadequate information for what should be really simple things.

[audiofeen]

@Infernal machine,,
Seriously.. you are down right rude, if your not gonna help then don't bother to post. NO RESPECT AT ALL.. and you have been here for 10-11days as a member.. hmmm i wonder oh yes i know your a troll, i wonder how long before this account get deleted by the mods for your glowing personality.
Crawl back into your hole troll

@Flange,,
I have been using ableton for years, and the midi timing sucks personally i record in the audio and midi on 2 separate tracks and either chop them up to loops or time stretch the whole audio file for said instrument.
If you a just triggering midi notes from live's sequencer it shouldn't drift out so much maybe you need to play around with the delay compensation in preferences/ midi sync/ midi ports..
as capitan happy above has said it can take some time to play around as it's different from every computer and sound card combination.

Good luck..

[Flange]

@Infernal machine,,
Seriously.. you are down right rude, if your not gonna help then don't bother to post. NO RESPECT AT ALL.. and you have been here for 10-11days as a member.. hmmm i wonder oh yes i know your a troll, i wonder how long before this account get deleted by the mods for your glowing personality.
Crawl back into your hole troll

@Flange,,
I have been using ableton for years, and the midi timing sucks personally i record in the audio and midi on 2 separate tracks and either chop them up to loops or time stretch the whole audio file for said instrument.
If you a just triggering midi notes from live's sequencer it shouldn't drift out so much maybe you need to play around with the delay compensation in preferences/ midi sync/ midi ports..
as capitan happy above has said it can take some time to play around as it's different from every computer and sound card combination.

Good luck..

Thankyou audiofeen for your help and also for alerting me to the fact I was being trolled. I didn't realise After a while it seemed to fix itself which is weird. I guess if it happens regularly I can slave ableton to pro tools and do my external synth stuff there. Id rather not but if I can't do it properly in ableton then I may have to.

[andydes]

Not sure what someone who doesn't think people should ask for help is doing here in first place. This forum is 80% about helping others.

Anyway I'm unsure of exact problem here. Could you say what equipment you're using-computer, interface, synth?

Are you recording midi notes from synth and trying to play back? Are you using external instrument device? Are you trying to sync Midi clock?

Have you done the relevant tutorials?

Getting everything to work together can be a mine field. The more information you can give us about the problem and what you've tried, the less arsey responses you'll get.

[audiofeen]

No problem at all thats what this place is for, not to get talked down to because you asked a question or need some advice.. just put them in their place next time and don't waste to much energy on them
The midi timing in ableton is a joke (also most audio software) and in this day and age it should just work solidly.
I like you and many other users have fought many problems over the years and i completely undertand the frustration of sitting there for 6hrs and trying to solve everything, I'm not sure what use your using in your set up but i have also found some plugins really mess with the timing,

good luck, I hope you get some music started today

[Flange]

Not sure what someone who doesn't think people should ask for help is doing here in first place. This forum is 80% about helping others.

Anyway I'm unsure of exact problem here. Could you say what equipment you're using-computer, interface, synth?

Are you recording midi notes from synth and trying to play back? Are you using external instrument device? Are you trying to sync Midi clock?

Have you done the relevant tutorials?

Getting everything to work together can be a mine field. The more information you can give us about the problem and what you've tried, the less arsey responses you'll get.

Hey andydes,
I am using an macbook pro 16GB 2.2 GHZ SSD. RME UC interface and I have an virus indigo2 synth plugged to the midi in/out of it. I am using external instrument device in ableton and in the device I have the settings as follows - routing target = fireface UC port, midi to = channel 2 (Im using multimode on synth so its different channel for each patch) , Audio from (output 5/6 of fire face). So I have it all working and yes I am recording midi notes from the synth and its all quantised. Then when I play it back after a few bars it drifts out of sync very noticeably. However I noticed later that it fixed itself for no apparent reason.

I have been reading a bit about delay compensation and latency etc but to be honest I don't understand it at all. I have no idea how to figure out how much I need to adjust etc. It all seems very cumbersome.
Im not sure where the relevant tuts are. If you mean the getting started ones, yes i have done them including the midi ones.

[trevox]

I have a similar laptop and generally have no midi weirdness unless I am doing some more advanced midi routing using M4L - there the problems really start! I use mostly hardware synths (using external instrument plugin) and have rarely had to compensate for delays. If you use external instruments, Live should automatically compensate by the audio buffer amount. So forget about that stuff for the moment as you should not have to touch it.

To further a point already made - when I do come across issues, it is generally because I have done something or something to do with my own setup and it is not necessarily an inherent problem in Live. For instance, I spent 2 hours pulling my hair out and eventually realised that the midi port settings on my DSI Tetra VST was set to the wrong port, causing issues with another synth on that port. That's not really something anyone or any manual can really help with! Not saying your issue is like this - just an example.

To troubleshoot, load up an synth in Live (any softsynth will do). Are you getting issues? If not, check settings on your virus - is it sending out a midi clock? Are all midi settings in the virus as they should be? In midi preferences, try turning the midi in/out ports "On" only (turn sync and remote off). Determine whether you need sync and remote turned on for all midi ports and leave anything unnecessary off.

[Dr.Cane]

Hi,

Have you tried to adjust the "track delay", the "MIDI Clock Sync Delay", "Sync Type" and "Hardware Latency"?

You'll find "track delay" at the bottom of the track in session view and to the right of the track in arrange view. If you can't find it, reveal it by pressing the "D" at the right side of your main view.

You'll find the "MIDI Clock Sync Delay" and the "Sync Type" in preferences -> MIDI/Sync by expanding your input or output by pressing it's corresponding arrow to the left of the name.

"Hardware Latency" is found at the bottom of your "External Instrument" device.

Also, if you're recording, be sure that you're aware of the state of your "Record Quantization", found at edit -> Record Quantization.

Or maybe you're running OSX Lion? read this:



Known Issues
We have found an issue that causes Live to freeze when sending MIDI out, either to external hardware or internally via the IAC bus.

We are currently working on a solution for this problem, which we will release in a bugfix update as soon as possible. Until this update is available, we do not recommend updating to Lion.

Note: the freeze only occurs when multicore support is enabled. As a temporary workaround, disable Multicore/Multiprocessor Support, which can be found in the CPU tab of Live's Preferences.

We have recently released a new beta version - Live 8.2.5b1 - which solves the above issues. It is available here:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167743

[Muzik 4 Machines]

worst part of it: the delay is variable, it's making my live show a living hell too, i'd really like them to get their head of their asses and fix it, not everyone uses vst live, some people use real synths