Sync delay difference between external gear and ableton drum rack

[tapetwelve]

Hi.

I have the BSP sequencing my Minilogue and my Microbrute through seq 1 and 2 respectively directly via midi (not through ableton), and sequencing an ableton drum rack with seq 3 through usb. To sync the ableton metronome to the BSP seq 3 i change the midi clock sync delay within the Ableton Midi settings (-48.5 ms), as you have to do with a lot of midi connections. But when i do this, seq 1 and 2 are out of sync with ableton metronome, and when i correct it to be in sync with seq 1 and 2 (-9 ms), then seq 3 is out of sync. It seems that either seq 1 and 2 (controlling external gear via midi) OR seq 3 (controlling ableton drum rack via usb) can be synced to the ableton metronome.

[tapetwelve]

No one else come across this problem and found a solution? Really?

[I grec]

Hi tapetwelve,
When you say "seq 3", I guess you mean "Drum sequencer", right?

• Ableton Live is known to have issues (out of phase) when being slaved (can be corrected with the delay setting you are speaking about, I think)
• I think the major issue comes from your audio card latency. Try lowering it in Ableton Live (less than 10ms latency is mandatory).

Best,
Y.

[EO2]

Hi,

How about sending all signals to Ableton Live using USB - then route the channels out to the synths..
That way they *should* all have the same issue, at least

I use the 'External Instrument' device to pass midi out again.
3 tracks in a group - receiving channels 1, 2 and 10.
Send out on the same channels.

See if you still get a difference in timing between the sequencers..
And if there is any delay between Ableton and the 3..

Sidenote: If you only have 1 regular Midi out from computer (typical) - you can make a split cable to connect more synths.
Just grab 2 midi cables, expose the wires on the middle of the cable and twist together the pairs. Gives a 1 to 3 cable.
That cable would work for splitting signals out (usually) - but it can never work to combine signals in..

Also, there are two other options for dealing with delays in audio; Track Delay, and External Instrument's Hardware Latency.
Not sure, but I think the track delay just makes an offset in sound playback - without looking at the midi-sync stuff.
Recording audio of a short sample on all tracks can show how the timings are.

And there is also Driver Error compensation in Audio settings - if the soundcard itself could have a delay?
(On Macs you can also check select which soundcard clock to use. Might not exist on windows though, or driver dependent.)

Feels like the sync is not perfect, and I'm not sure what is related to Ableton and what is BSP (and what is just  midi).
Ableton starts to fast (using mackie control and EXT sync). BPM changes over time, more than I'd like.

- Midi mapping the transport controls and tempo manually will let you use Ableton bpm, but still use play, stop, etc. on the BSP.

So, I avoid using sync and just set same bpm and rely on starting at the same time.
I suppose it might drift, but less it seems than when using bpm calculation..!?
(Quantization to 16's might be able to cure quite short drifts/delays - but only if recording the midi when playing live.)

I hope running all through Ableton will let you see what is going on : )

Cheers!