How well does Live handle external midi sync?

[six_wax]

Can it adapt to changing tempos? How does it behave when midi clock is yanked, cut, or faltering?

I have a rock solid external drum machine that I do a fair bit of programming on, that I would like to incorporate with Live into my, well, live setup. Any experience or advice?

Thanks!

[sparky sanchez]

Good question, I'd just give it a go and see!
s

[bigbass]

hmmm, i just found out, that u have to set the desired tempo in live first, then switch to external clock. no other way seems to work, if ich change the external tempo, live does not respond to this... but it works if u use live via rewire (tested with logic), tempo changes as u change the logic tempo.

bassy regards,
benjamin

[Rhythm Logic]

iI've recently begun incorporating Ableton into my live p.a. rig (running on a G4/500 PBook) - previously my rig consisted of all hardware (TR-909, Akai S1100, RM1x, Nord Rack 2, K-Station, FR-777...). I almost always used the RM1x as the master clock, but since I was not very successful getting Ableton to slave to the RM1x's clock I started using Ableton as the master. Much to my delight, Ableton actually does a great job of running as the master clock - tempo changes and all. My first gig with this set-up will be July 26th, so hopefully it'll work out well (if not, it'll be back to using the trusty old S-1100 for samples until I give Ableton another shot).

[Lukas]

I have incorporated an ibook into our once totally hardware rig. We use a 909 as master. If you mess with the latency offset you can get it to pretty much lock right on. I'm using the built in sound so there is some latency but it will chase the clock and eventually catch up and stay on as long as you dont reset the master. I found this to be one of the greatest things about live. Now the computer can be incorperated into our rig and if it fails it doesnt really matter atleast everything else will keep going. I have had more luck with it synching on my ibook than on my pc and the pc is much faster.

Lukas Scott
www.technoiraudio.com

[ringmod45]

hi lukas, check these 909 midi out mods, they might be useful to you


The 909 outwardly seems well equipped for midi output with it's two midi ports, but Roland cut corners in the implementation by only using a single output transistor to drive both ports, so many 909 owners find they can't use both ports at the same time.
This modification resolves this problem, by adding separate transistors for each output socket.

here is the url,

http://www.colinfraser.com/tr909/909mods/909midi.htm

also check out the other mods they very useful. hope this helps.

regards,
RM