Sync from External Clock Reading at Double Tempo

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

I have the following hardware:

Analog Four
MacBook Pro OS X 10.8.4
MOTU MIDI Timepiece MTP AV interface

I’m attempting to sync my A4 to Ableton Live. When I have the Sync going to the MIDI port that the A4 is on my MOTU MTP selected in Ableton Live’s preferences, the A4 receives clock, but the tempo it’s receiving is double what it should be.

When I uncheck the Sync option in Ableton Live, the A4 still responds to the Ableton Live transport and it will initially be the correct tempo, but it gradually drifts.

Is this unusual? Has anyone seen double clock speeds with Ableton Live and/or a MOTU MIDI Timepiece?

Thanks

#2

Double clock speeds usually happen when the clock is getting sent to your slave device twice.

Make sure that you’re only sending the clock through one port, and not duplicating it. As a way to troubleshoot, you might want to take the MOTU out of the chain. I suspect it’s the culprit in your case :slight_smile:

Cheers, hope this helps !

#3

sorry for the multiple posts, this forum is incredibly sluggish. My bad.

#4

Hi secretmusic, thanks for the reply.

I can’t very well eliminate the MOTU because it’s my MIDI interface :wink:

It seems like this is happening with both of my Elektron devices, the Octatrack & A4, but not my other hardware devices which receive clock.

Hmm…

#5

you can connect the A4 to your Mac via USB directly…

as secretmusic said, the problem is very likely a wrong setting in a software you’re using, which ends up sending the clock signal twice.

multiple apps sending clock to the motu?
is a4 connected via usb and ableton sends clock to both the motu and the a4?
etc., etc., you get the idea…

#6

yep - DIN + USB sounds like the issue, could it be a loop with both send and receive ?

#7

as Void pointed out, try USB to the A4.
at least as a way to troubleshoot and isolate the problem.

some gear reacts differently to receiving multiple clock signals, which may explain why some of it is not freaking out. The Elektron stuff is certainly sensitive though :slight_smile: Break the issue down to its simplest form to make sure you got everything right, as it is very difficult for us to help you out without knowing that you have isolated the issue. Cheers !

#8

This is 2021 and someone’s post from 2013 helped solve my problem. I’m posting some extra info here for anyone else that finds this.

My clock in the RYTM was going double the speed of the clock in the Reaper DAW.
I discovered it was because the MIDI track that receives a send from the recorded MIDI track and then sends it to RYTM also had an input set to all MIDI inputs. So this track was receiving another clock and sending double clocks to the RYTM.
All of this was happening inside the DAW, so be careful because it’s possible to send multiple clocks to your hardware from one DAW via USB in this way. Make sure your Elektron only receives one source of clock via USB, from only one track in your DAW.