Live's Midi Synch Issues/Bugs discussed on CDM

[3phase]

yeah yeah..syncing sucks.. but mainly because the nerdish software departments jsut dont bother and dont invest a single braincell in the item...

roger linn had the issue solved perfectly backl in the late 80´s..but today?


best way is to freesync applications.. thanks to modern computer timebase algorythms, a cubase on pc actually has the same 120 bpm as an ableton live on a mac...

this wasnt alltimes the case...

however.. we cant make too much practical use out of it since ableton is horiible lame and unstable how it reacts to start commands..

theoretical an ableton live band that gets a synchron start comand and just runs theire laptops in free sync on the same speed should be able to perform perfectly... however... if you send a start command to 5 ableton instances all of them will start at a different time.. they dont give the start command any special priority... when the program thinks its ready it starts...

Osc wont help with that conceptional bug at the base...

However... looking in detail how many features in ableton life work and how long they sometimes need to realize bugs... its a bit like a wartburg car...

the revenge of the DDR for techno

[Cryptic UK]

please post your system specs. what computer you have, if you can post that chipset it uses I think that's helpful. also what devices are involved, how they're connected and what clock settings you use in Live. is it the same for Live as master and slave?

you should be open to the notion that it might be fixable by you with some setting you've overlooked. Live can be stable but it's known to also be unstable.

Have you ever come across this problem before?
if so, did posting your system specs help? hows that going?
do you have perfect sync? If so then please post your system specs so we can all get the exact same setup.

[UKRuss]

What's people's experience running outboard sync'd to Live then?

I have me macbook and me ultralite, two synths connected via midi to the ultralite, midi set to external on the synths and 'sync' seleced i the midi prefs in Live.

The lil 'Ext' light is on.

Then the synths should be synced to Live's Midi Clock (A-Station and Korg micro XL)

Are we saying that this kind fo set up the sync doesn't work?

i haven't had time to test really as I've just been recording audio from the synths and manipulating that as audio clips in Live, however, when running midi out to the synths all seems OK in terms of start/stop, just not sure about the tempo and arp rates etc.

[smartass303]

i just always *dj synced* live.
i had no problems, sometimes you have to retrigger the whole lot but it is possible.
it depends on what you want to achieve.
ive even seen people syncing live to the dj and playing back to back wit him.
everythings possible.

but

if you want rock solid sync via a *wire* you need these clock things i heard.

303

[AudioMekhanik]

5 years ago I was synching two Dell PC laptops together via an M-Audio MidiSport 2X2 and I NEVER had synch problems, delays, etc.....and we were pushing loads of loops and effects. Not sure why others are experiencing problems - maybe the older versions of LIVE had better sync?

Anyway ironically I just got another PC laptop and I'm having trouble getting LIVE to generate beat clock or whatever the protocol is these days. My set-up is as follows if you can help:

Live Lite Digidesign Edition version 7
IBM ThinkPad
Dual 2.0 Processor
2 Gigs RAM
Windows XP Pro
M-Audio MidiSport 2X2

Thanks,
The Mekhanik

[hps909]

midi timing is all over the shop in live 8 ... not so much sync coz i don't sync sequencers but actual midi timing to quote a mate " my oven clock keeps better timing than ableton"

i run kick drums off my akai s3000 1/4 note drums timing drifts all over the place. i bump up the track delay by 50 - 60 ms to keep stuff in check then it drifts again back to 0 ms back again over the space of a minute ... live 8 mac os x 10.6.2 imac 3.06 ghz firewire through a TC konnekt 48

[AudioMekhanik]

OK hps909 I see what you're referring to now. Yeah that seems like a bummer and I can see why everyone is frustrated. I don't use MIDI in Live so I can't say I'm frustrated.

But, I just found out the Lite version I'm using does not generate Beat Clock. My $5 drum machine from 1988 does.

The Mekhanik

IBM ThinkPad (Dual 2.0)
2 Gigs RAM
Windows XP Pro
M-Audio MidiSport 2x2

[Machinesworking]

i run kick drums off my akai s3000 1/4 note drums timing drifts all over the place. i bump up the track delay by 50 - 60 ms to keep stuff in check then it drifts again back to 0 ms back again over the space of a minute ... live 8 mac os x 10.6.2 imac 3.06 ghz firewire through a TC konnekt 48

What do you use for the MIDI connection?

[Tone Deft]

midi timing is all over the shop in live 8 ... not so much sync coz i don't sync sequencers but actual midi timing to quote a mate " my oven clock keeps better timing than ableton"

i run kick drums off my akai s3000 1/4 note drums timing drifts all over the place. i bump up the track delay by 50 - 60 ms to keep stuff in check then it drifts again back to 0 ms back again over the space of a minute ... live 8 mac os x 10.6.2 imac 3.06 ghz firewire through a TC konnekt 48

don't use track delay, use midi clock delay. also, which midi clock type are you using?

in Clip View does the loop length have any orange numbers in it?

[ethios4]

When syncing PC to PC use Lan, when slave-syncing other gear use Midi or USB.

How do you accomplish this? (LAN connection)

[chilleddreams]

I sync my Korg Electribe to Live (Korg is Slave) via MIDI cable. I have no sync issues and no drifts.

You have to set the correct MIDI delays in the settings. If you change the audio latency later, you may have to adjust the MIDI sync again. Don't use track delay. That seems to have no effect. Also the delay setting for the 'Externel Instrument' seems to have no effect. But delay in Live's MIDI settings works fine.

For adjusting the MIDI timing delay I use a drum track with battery and a drum track pattern on Electribe. The Electribe is routed through Live as 'External Instrument'. Once the delay is perfect, I'm done. No need to re-adjust.

[hps909]

midi timing is all over the shop in live 8 ... not so much sync coz i don't sync sequencers but actual midi timing to quote a mate " my oven clock keeps better timing than ableton"

i run kick drums off my akai s3000 1/4 note drums timing drifts all over the place. i bump up the track delay by 50 - 60 ms to keep stuff in check then it drifts again back to 0 ms back again over the space of a minute ... live 8 mac os x 10.6.2 imac 3.06 ghz firewire through a TC konnekt 48

don't use track delay, use midi clock delay. also, which midi clock type are you using?

in Clip View does the loop length have any orange numbers in it?

i'm not using midi clock or MTC to sync.. the sampler is not a sequencer . it's straight up sending midi note on/off in 4/4 time to a sampler .. the sampler is on it's own midi out from the interface ... and it drifts out of time over time.. my loop points are set correctly...

cubase 4 on the same computer using the same interface works properly

[hps909]

i run kick drums off my akai s3000 1/4 note drums timing drifts all over the place. i bump up the track delay by 50 - 60 ms to keep stuff in check then it drifts again back to 0 ms back again over the space of a minute ... live 8 mac os x 10.6.2 imac 3.06 ghz firewire through a TC konnekt 48

What do you use for the MIDI connection?

5 pin din out of konnekt 48 into sampler the old school way

[Machinesworking]

5 pin din out of konnekt 48 into sampler the old school way

What are your settings in Live?
There are a few things to do right away, turn Track Monitoring to off on the track you're recording the sampler into.
Play around with having Delay Compensation turned off while recording the Sampler.
There's a setting to lower the buffer size of plug ins etc. I'm not certain, but I imagine this works with the External Instrument plug in as
well as software instruments.
Make sure that the settings Audio Preferences’ Overall Latency adjustment has been made, which is described in the built-in program tutorial on setting up the Audio Preferences
Other things too, but that's a start.

Thing is the way you describe the latency, it sounds more like Jitter, but at 50+ milliseconds, that's ridiculously high.
What's your buffer setting in Live?

[kb420]

With all of the problems that I have read about over the last few days: midi export resolution, midi sync, and general 8.1 bugs, I sincerely hope that the Abes are in no rush to put out a Live 9. I would really rather them work out all of the kinks and make a super stable 8 before they even begin to consider another update.