Ableton Forum

Hmmmm I have suddenly lost the ability to send MIDI clock to my external devices. I have my portable rig setup & sitting right next to my studio rig while I am learning Live - portable rig is acting fine. On both systems the little red led on the control bar between EXT and TAP dutifully blinks red when the set is running, but I can see that there's no MTC arriving at my keyboards or drum machines. MTC is enabled on both rigs - everything on both is set up identically down to the last detail as far as I can tell. When I went to bed last night this was working! I am sure I have some tiny switch flipped the wrong way. Stepping through the lessons, watching the movies and querying the manual but nothing has the answer. Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks

these might be lame.. but...I'm gonna ask anyways...

is everything physically connected ?

did you try and reset your system?

what os?

what midi interface ?

is it's output 'sync' enabled in the prefs.?

is the other rig's input 'sync' enabled..?

huh?

MIDI Clock and MIDI Timecode (MTC) are two separate protocols. Make sure you have either MIDI Clock OR MTC selected on both devices.

hope this helps

3dot:
is everything physically connected ? YES
did you try and reset your system? YES- have reset everything. Not just that, but if I run Logic all my boxes sync perfectly
what os? MAC OSX 10.6.2
what midi interface ? eMagic Unitor 8

is it's output 'sync' enabled in the prefs.? YES
is the other rig's input 'sync' enabled. YES

Pitch Black:
MIDI Clock appears to be the default in Live. Other than turning sync on for the MIDI interface I had not messed with it and it was working fine yesterday. I have since tried MTC, but this makes no difference and anyway, on page 488 of the manual it says "With respect to MIDI Timecode, Live can only act as a MIDI sync slave, not as a master" - so for that reason MTC is not an option for me - MIDI Clock is what I need and what I have it set to for all ports on my MIDI interface.
Is there something I have to do when setting up a track / maybe something in the I/O section? of the MIDI track in the Arranger? Just baffled.

check your cables, change them out one at a time, make sure they're all seated well.

Cables are not the issue since the entire rig works fine in Logic - all external devices sync perfectly.

DigitEDawg wrote:3dot:
is everything physically connected ? YES
did you try and reset your system? YES- have reset everything. Not just that, but if I run Logic all my boxes sync perfectly
what os? MAC OSX 10.6.2
what midi interface ? eMagic Unitor 8

is it's output 'sync' enabled in the prefs.? YES
is the other rig's input 'sync' enabled. YES

Pitch Black:
MIDI Clock appears to be the default in Live. Other than turning sync on for the MIDI interface I had not messed with it and it was working fine yesterday. I have since tried MTC, but this makes no difference and anyway, on page 488 of the manual it says "With respect to MIDI Timecode, Live can only act as a MIDI sync slave, not as a master" - so for that reason MTC is not an option for me - MIDI Clock is what I need and what I have it set to for all ports on my MIDI interface.
Is there something I have to do when setting up a track / maybe something in the I/O section? of the MIDI track in the Arranger? Just baffled.

..I'm guessing either try and move the preferences.cfg and reload live...
(you can always copy it back if it doesn't help...worth a try)
or a complete uninstall/reinstall..(including the emagic)

btw ..you're not running live +logic together..are you?
if so one may be hogging the emagic..

does it send ANY MIDI out ?..is this only a timecode problem ?

so many questions..

Not running Logic and Live at the same time. Preferences.cfg didn't help - now the little external MIDI red led doesn't blink at all - which means to me that there is no MIDI out. My Maschine is seeing clock though - but that's happening through USB. Nothing going out over MIDI cables. When I shut Live down and run Logic, all is well. Damn, this was working yesterday.

I out the old preferences.cfg back in and took a look at it - paramaters had not changed from what I had done in the new preferences.cfg. I just turned on Track and Sync for Input and Output 1 on the Unitor 8 Port 1 and now EVERYTHING is working again! WTF? This is exactly how I have had it configured last night and all day today! Maybe one day before I turn 70 I'll be able to cut just one track with this beast.

So if I understand you correctly, MIDI clock is getting out from Live via USB but not via your MIDI Interface?

If Live is happily sending MIDI clock via USB to the Maschine, it would seem to suggest a problem in communication between Live and your MIDI hardware.

What MIDI interface are you using? Are its MIDI Clock Out parameters set exactly the same in Live's prefs as your Maschine?



<EDIT> ah, glad you got it working! Sometimes, variations on the old "switch it off, switch it on again" are the best answer...

BTW, this is a handy free MIDI Monitor app that lets you track what is going on with all your MIDI apps and hardware - highly recommended!

http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/

It lets you see what MIDI messages are coming into your computer from each input or device, and also lets you "spy" on the MIDI being sent from apps to your MIDI outputs.

glad that helped though..
this stuff happens on rare occasions..where the cfg file gets screwed up...
I recommend you send a bug report about this if it happens again..

+1 for what PB said
and btw...
I'd also check using an alternate MIDI/usb cable...
90% OF THE TIMES IT'S THE SIMPLE THINGS !

DigitEDawg wrote:I out the old preferences.cfg back in and took a look at it - paramaters had not changed from what I had done in the new preferences.cfg. I just turned on Track and Sync for Input and Output 1 on the Unitor 8 Port 1 and now EVERYTHING is working again! WTF? This is exactly how I have had it configured last night and all day today! Maybe one day before I turn 70 I'll be able to cut just one track with this beast.

nature of the beast.

I feel ya...
for some reason somewhere I'm getting midi feedback (I think) it wasn't there before and the only connection to the synth is a midi in cable. I'll fix it soon I might learn something, I might not. computers - hate 'em. someday something better will come along, it has to, fcuk this siht!!!


cool to see Ableton's International Halp! Force at work.

PB - Thanks for the support - If you are ever tempted to come over the Light Side (Logic) , I'll be happy to be your guide!
That is a handy little MIDI tool - the outbound MIDI spy is very cool.
Best!