Live recording

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

Hi everyone,
I have a little problem recording Loops with the Digitone in Live Rec mode. For example, if I want to record a bar loop, Digitone remains silent for another bar before going to Play. If I set 4 bars … same thing, 4 bars of silence and then the loop starts. At this moment all my instruments receive the Ableton clock through a Motu midi card, according to you what could be the problem?

#2

It could be that Ableton did not continuously send out midi-clock. Maybe the DN was waiting to some start/play command from Ableton. Maybe you manually stopped play by stopping the recording … :thinking:

1 Like
#3

First step diagnosing would be to check if the problem persists when the DN isn’t hooked up to anything else. Try looping with it standalone and let us know.

#4

Hi everyone and thanks, the problem is not associated with the registration because these days I don’t register, I’m trying some ableton effects to improve the sound, and I use only the Play and Stop commands. Today I tried to use the internal clock of the digitone and it worked well, I came back in “slave” and in this moment it continues to work well, but it is not the first time that I have this problem. Actually I have several problems with the clock, and they are present both with cubase and with ableton: If I record an arpeggio with the digitone I don’t hear the first note while I play, but when the digitone is in loop the note is present. The digitakt instead often starts to play a step after the metronome, and my Mpc Live almost always starts out of sync and often even a synth. I send in play, I realize that the mpc is out, stop, play again and all the instruments seem to be well synchronized. I’ll have to investigate, maybe the midi card isn’t very responsive…

#5

If you play live, I would recommend to check out an external hardware clock like those


or

#6

Thanks, interesting these devices, today however I will try to use ableton in slave and I will give the clock from one of the elektron or mpc, maybe something changes

#7

Have you checked to see if PREROLL bars are off? Page 36 of the current manual.

#8

thanks Electromatic the preroll is off, but i found that the problem is more generic, because all my devices are out of sync. I have found that somehow the clock is influenced by incoming midi controllers, even when they do not have any midi clocks.
Two examples: I have remapped a Kontrol s4 to use it with ableton but the transport keys start the clock late. Sometimes I use the laptop’s space bar, and the clock is a little more precise. Last test of these days: I set a knob of a Roland synth to adjust Ableton’s pre-listening volume, from that moment on the mpc, digitakt, digitone, all start at different times. Solution: yesterday I opened a new project in ableton in which I have not yet mapped any controller, to press play I only used the space bar, the sync is not really perfect but there is, and the instruments all start together immediately.
I have been trying for weeks to create work projects in ableton in which I use a lot of compressors and saturators to enrich the sound, but only now I understand that the problems with sync begin when I finish mapping all the midi controls.
Does anyone have any idea what happens? Could the problem be that the various controls are all connected to a USB hub? I use the Overhub, a kontrol s4 and a Motu microexpress are connected to this, currently they are the only devices connected to the whole laptop, plus a Roland FA-07 that sometimes I connect to the PC but at the moment it is connected to an input of the Motu, I use it to play the mpc, the Digitone and the pc, but FA-07 doesn’t send any clock or even midi-thru. Too many midi links?