Midi Clock + RME Hammerfall + Nord Modular

henry · Post by **henry** » Sun Feb 02, 2003 8:01 pm

I have a strange behaviour when trying to sync external gear (Nord Modular in my case) using Live as master: Depending on the hammerfall's buffer size setting (latency) i can only reach a limited amount of bpm without losing sync completely.. e.g. with buffer=1024 i can only get as high as about 110 bpm maintaining steady sync.

it looks like live is only capable to send midi clock information once per buffer cycle.. that's strange, because when i use logic audio everything is rock solid.. and when i use my laptop's internal soundcard (MME driver) i get a huge latency but still i can sync fine.

can somebody out there reproduce this behaviour or am i the only one??

My setup:
Dell Inspiron PIII 800MHz
RME Hammerfall DSP Multiface (Driver 2.432)
Win XP Pro
Live 2.0.1
Nord Modular 3.03

thx
henry

andreas · Post by **andreas** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 6:17 pm

hello,
im getting similar weird behaviour here also with
rme hammerfall multiface (trying to sync a nord modular too,
by the way!)

with low latency settings everythings ok, but with higher buffer
(>20ms) i get a wobbly jittering clock signal!
seems like the amount of 'jitter' is just about equal to asio buffersize!

im not quite sure if this was the same in 1.5 or not..

regards
°/andreas

henry · Post by **henry** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 8:19 pm

alright i'm glad (and sorry for you, andreas) to hear that. it really does look like a common problem then..

i made another test: choosing the highest buffersize (186ms) i can even see the midi out light coming on in sync with this latency time.. definitely not good.

not sure if ableton or rme is to blame for that though... seeing logic audio work flawlessly forces me to some conclusion however....

henry

Hexdump · Post by **Hexdump** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:23 pm

same setup with same problems over here!

3phase · Post by **3phase** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 12:53 pm

same with me...the lowest latencys are the only ones that give propper midiclock...on multiface with mac Powerbook

Hexdump · Post by **Hexdump** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:34 pm

reactivating this thread as the problem is still unsolved for me, even with 4.1

its not only affecting midi clock, but ANY midi data.. basicly, the bigger the latency the whackier the midi timing. i even tried different midi interfaces - its always the same :( i really have trouble understanding why latency should affect midi timing at all..?

i wonder if this problem has to do with the audio interface. is anyone having the same problem on other hardware?

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:27 pm

I have been using live for 3 years now and in my early days of using live owned a Mpc 2000 which i would try and sync up with my powerbook and or desktop G3.
I had the same issues you are talking about ie really poor sync stability.
~I never found a cure.
~ i just gave up trying to sync anything with ableton externally
TR 909 303 etc etc....................

Disapointing i know but ............. i dont have an answer for this one.

I do know that when i use to take out my old Atari st into live situations it was rock solid timing wise and i never experienced a crash.
Sadly my experience if using Apple Macs (10 years worth) when trying to sync ext equipment has been pretty varied with different software cubase vst 32 etc etc .......... none of those experiences getting near to the Atari ST stability.

Sad but true

Hexdump · Post by **Hexdump** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:43 pm

jamief, thanks for reporting in

may i ask you what type of audio interface you're using?

jamief · Post by **jamief** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:06 pm

Hexdump wrote:jamief, thanks for reporting in
may i ask you what type of audio interface you're using?

using audiophile pci buss 24/96. runs fine no reall issues