Syncing 2 laptops - Advice needed re: drum machines!

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:44 pm

Will this work? Just want to clock the slave lapper off the master basically, no bpm changes or anything in the set, just need a midi clock.

I'm running live on both, DJ battle style.

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:00 pm

Can anyone tell me if this will work in theory?

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:43 pm

That looks absolutely sound.

Just set the master Live to transmit MIDI clock to the Novation, and make sure the slave Live is set to see MIDI clock arriving at the "MIDI/USB cable" interface. Slave Live in EXT Sync mode. Should all be good.

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:50 am

Nice one thanks. Thought it would, just wanted to be sure before I go for it

Cheers

Fledz · Post by **Fledz** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:16 am

Post pics and tell us if it works when you set it up!

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:48 am

I will. Can't wait!

theque · Post by **theque** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:01 am

hey pitch black, do you sync your computers similarly for live shows ? if so do you get any timing issues?

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:40 am

Sorta simillarly... in my case BOTH instances of Live are chasing MIDI clock from my keyboard controller, instead of one being the master/the other the slave. There is a little bit of "timing slop" between them, ie if I play just the metronomes of the two machines together, they flam and phase and shift around a little. No more than a live band of musicians though, so it's all right.

I put this down to the fact that the two machines are a G4 and an Intel, running a Multiface, and a Fireface respectively. Also the amount of slop appears to be "load-dependent", two empty sets with the metronome switched on will lock ultra-tightly, while the gigging sets (110 tracks x 250 scenes, +/- 2Gb of clips) will exhibit the timing slop.

Once again though, this "slop" is absolutely no problem in the real world. If anything, perhaps it adds a "live feel" to our gigs. You notice it metronome-vs-metronome, but not music-vs-music. Interesting phenomena, though.

theque · Post by **theque** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:51 am

thankd for the reply pitch black, i have always had problems getting a tight and reliable sync, i am just about to upgrade computers so hopefully this will help. fingers crossed

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:01 am

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Live does not always output reliable sync (MIDI clock), many threads suggest this... can anybody chime in here? I only ever have Live chasing MIDI clock.

kingpixel · Post by **kingpixel** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:27 am

Hi everybody. Very interesting post. I have the same "problem" (is not a real problem, i just can't find the right word lol) as allyb303. I am new to this and completely clueless. I need to synch 2 laptops. The image below shows what i have and i need you to help me understand what i need. Trying to understand ollyb303's scheme i suppose i need the Pillip rees midi thru connected with a usb/mid cable to the slave laptop and a midi cable to the controller of the master laptop. Am i right? Could you point me to the right device i need? That would be fantastic.

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:19 am

The only device you need is a MIDI cable.

Assuming you want the left computer to be the master, and the right computer to be the slave, connect the MIDI OUT of the M-Audio to the MIDI IN of the Novation.

In the "master" Live's MIDI preferences tab, where it says MIDI Ports, enable Sync in the Output field of the M-Audio.

In the "slave" Live's MIDI preferences tab, enable Sync in the Input field of the Novation.

Now, if you look in the top left corner of either Session or Arrange view on the slave computer, you should see EXT in the parameter box next to the tempo display.

Click EXT so that it lights up and you should be good to go. Pressing play on the master Live should now stop and start the slave Live, and the slave Live should keep in sync.

kingpixel · Post by **kingpixel** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:32 am

Pitch Black wrote:The only device you need is a MIDI cable.

Assuming you want the left computer to be the master, and the right computer to be the slave, connect the MIDI OUT of the M-Audio to the MIDI IN of the Novation.

In the "master" Live's MIDI preferences tab, where it says MIDI Ports, enable Sync in the Output field of the M-Audio.

In the "slave" Live's MIDI preferences tab, enable Sync in the Input field of the Novation.

Now, if you look in the top left corner of either Session or Arrange view on the slave computer, you should see EXT in the parameter box next to the tempo display.

Click EXT so that it lights up and you should be good to go. Pressing play on the master Live should now stop and start the slave Live, and the slave Live should keep in sync.

Christal clear!! Thank you so much Pitch Black!!! And keep up the amazing work!!!

ollyb303 · Post by **ollyb303** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:31 am

Please help me someone.....

ollyb303 wrote:Will this work? Just want to clock the slave lapper off the master basically, no bpm changes or anything in the set, just need a midi clock.

I'm running live on both, DJ battle style.

So, actually got round to hooking all of this up last night and... disappointment

The Master is definitely sending midi clock and I can see it arriving at the usb midi cable (This one). The slave is set to external and is receiving the midi clock. When I hit play on the master, it starts both, stop stops both. Both are playing at 160bpm.

So why the disappointment? Isn't that exactly what I was trying to do?

Well, yes, but they're not in time!!!! Not even close.

They're obviously both playing at the same speed so they are consistently off-beat, but it's not workable for a live performance in any way!

I really need good, tight sync - we're playing techno, so it's important for the beats to line up exactly - and this just isn't it.

The master is running xp sp3 and live 7 and I have no noticable latency with my faderfoxes, the slave is running vista and live 7. I also tried taking the Rees through box (and the foxes) out of the equation and syncing the slave (via the midi usb cable) straight off the novation nio, but this was no better.

Any ideas anyone? Could it be the usb midi cable causing the problem? Would a different midi-usb converter be any better? Could it be vista (I'm not vista-savvy and keen to blame anything on it!)?

Or would I be better off using midi over ethernet?

This thread talks about it, but I couldn't even find all the programs DJYoshaBYD mentions (found midiclock/midiyoke but google knows nothing about midivialan!) - Is this even the best way? I never used midi over ethernet/lan before so know very little about it.

I REALLY need to make this work so any ideas would be very gratefully received.

jonathanm · Post by **jonathanm** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:04 am

Have you tried going straight from the nio out to the oxygen in?

could rule out the usb/midi cable...

:edit: oh....no in on the oxygen then......

Can you borrow something with a midi in to try what i just said?

Syncing 2 laptops - Advice needed re: drum machines!

Syncing 2 laptops - Advice needed re: drum machines!

Re: Syncing 2 laptops for performance

Re: Syncing 2 laptops for performance