There are a few threads that mention sync problems with the octatrack and Ableton live. But most of them are a few years old and alot of people have problems with the a4 and Rytm as well.
I have my analog keys and Rytm midi synced to ableton with no problems at all. Sync is super tight even on the first beat and i could not be happier. The Octatrack is however an older machine with a different USB card and older software so i’m afraid it wont be as good.
Would be super helpful if people here who use Octatrack and ableton live could share their experience to help me get an idea of what to expect in terms of midi sync if i buy one:) Thanks guys!
On the Octatrak USB is not used for MIDI, therefore is not related to sync at all.
For me sync the OT through MIDI DIN is the same as the AF and RYTM also through MIDI DIN.
In my setup Ableton is just an accessory for some samples and or fx (vocoder, etc), for that reason the Elektron boxes acts as Master Clock, and Ableton is not really a slave, actually I used it more as a Sound Module. Because I wan to control everything from the boxes, I have MIDI notes on the OT sequencer that triggers clips on Ableton, this way I can mute un mute (etc.) them from the OT. Ableton is manually set to the same tempo I’m working on the boxes, and clip’s quantisation are set Off, this way all runs at same tempo but clips aren’t quantised to Live but to the Octatrak.
The biggest problem with MIDI clock is electrical noise/interference. If you are using MIDI clock as sync, when something disrupts the MIDI Clock continuity Ableton and your boxes will be out of sync, and the only way to re sync is pressing stop then play. Working as I described before will release you from that problem. Anyway this work for me because Ableton plays a secondary roll on my workflow, so depending on your kind of workflow this approach could work for you or not.
Ok didnt know the USB port didnt handle Midi. Good to know!
I wonder what would work best.
Connecting the octatrack to the analog keys midi out to pass the clock the keys get from ableton or to connect the Octatrack directly to my soundcards midi out to get clock that way.
All i really need is for someone to say it works just as good as the other black machines;P
I think the best you can do is use the MIDI OUT of the AK and control the Octatrak clock with the AK clock.
AK can be slaved to Ableton’s clock and at the same time it can generate and send it’s own MIDI clock to the OT, which I think it will be better than re-send the Ableton clock by using AK MIDI THRU.
AK/AF does an amazing work mastering OT, so if your AK works just perfect as Ableton’s salve, the OT will works just perfect also being Slave of the Slave.
Go ahead! And if ti doesn’t works I refund your money.
You should use the midi thru of your ak to the octatrack.
I have my setup in 2 ways. I use the octatrack and an MPC as gbravetti talks about with reason. In this case the octatrack is master, I sequence and sample a bunch of stuff with it and the MPC from reason.
Then I use the 2 as slave from live, I have push 2 to use live as a mixer/ effects and I also,add some synths or guitar in there.
Both work well for me.
I have the best results by syncing the A4 via overbridge USB and then use the midi out of the A4 for the octatrack.
The A4 syncs perfect. No latency at all, at least at lower buffer sizes.
The Octa is always a little delayed, I can’t get it perfectly in sync. But I barely hear it, I can live with it. After recording into live I put a warp marker on the first transient and fix it to the first count. But it’s just slightly delayed.
The set up i’m after is a hybrid set up based on 2 use cases.
Case1: I have the AK and AR connected to the ins of the Octatrack and everything is synced to ableton and audio can be passed on to the soundcard via OT outputs.
Case2: The computer is turned off and i can record and jam by changing my headphones from the soundcard to the Octatrack.
The main issue i see from case 1 to case 2 is that i have to switch clock source and rewire shit.
In case 1 with ableton the AR and AK can be synced from ableton via usb independently and have AK send clock to Octatrack.
In case2 i need to change the AK to be the master and have that send sync to both the AR and OT.
So my question is: Is it possible to sync both the AR and OT to AK trough midi? Then if no clock is recived from Ableton the AK would just generate it’s own and sync the rest of the gear. Can i use both midi outs of the AK to sync OT and AR? Or do i have to use a splitter?
