Just found this piece of information which is pretty important if you’re intending to sync Ableton as clock slave from your external gear :
I set it to “g” (for good) and it’s so much better. The initial 2 bar drift you get when set to the default is gone, and it’s actually usable.
I have DT as master, sending clock over USB and it’s working great.
Helped me out, hope it helps someone else.
Wow - never knew this existed! And it’s not listed in the overview of the options.txt.
Although my clock sync is fine since 8.2.5 (MIDIBox Seq as master), I’m keen to try out the different options with other clock sources.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Hi Dustmotes,
The link doesnt seem to work anymore (for me anyway). Are you able to elaborate on this or is this an old feature now? Im getting drift with external sync but can’t seem to find any reference for what you mention.
Thanks
IIRC this is used to configure Lives midi clock algo with the line -_MidiClockSlave= in the Options.txt
-_MidiClockSlave=b (midi clock timing bad)
-_MidiClockSlave=g (midi clock timing good)
Not sure if there were other settings.
Here’s a list of settings for Options.txt
Edit, found all:
This basically stands for the “quality” of the master clock signal:
n = normal: variable jump threshold optimized for not-so-bad clock signals
g = good: for very good signals (detecting small changes quickly)
b = bad: optimized for bad signals (very high jump detection threshold)
a = adaptive: using an adaptive jitter filter, no jump detection
Default is a.
Perfect. Seems to not be officially supported with Live 11 but it still seems to work the same. Without it the clock is far more unstable. Thanks so much for this.
thanks man!
can you explain to a beginner how one would adjust the options.txt for ableton to configure the midid clock timing good? thanks in advance!
You simply find the options.txt file in the preferences folder (windows) (if there is none, create it with a text editor and save it to that folder) and then you add/change options.
In case of configuring the midi clock algo, I‘d just try all possible settings, one at a time and check which one improves timing/is the most stable and reliable setting.
So maybe start with pasting
_MidiClockSlave=n
into options.txt, save it and run Live.
Next try
_MidiClockSlave=g
then
_MidiClockSlave=a
then
_MidiClockSlave=b
Edit
Here‘s where you‘d find the options.txt
Windows
\Users[username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live x.x.x\Preferences\
MacOS
/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live x.x.x/
amazing thank you will def try this…do you recommend ways to slave ableton to external drum machine via mid? am using the midi usb uno cable…i feel like midi over usb is def causing drift/jitter along side ableton’s clock…the machine im using only has midi din options (in/out/thru) and it doesn’t work well for the productions when its being slaved to ableton…loses its feel and groove. THANK YOU really appreciate the options text info!
Actually since I started doing techno a few years ago, I don’t use any clock sync at all. I set my hardware sequencers to the same tempo as Ableton Live and manually start/stop everything. Those simple techno structures with all the subleties and details are extremely vulnerable to sync issues. They break apart very easily.
Whether you’re syncing hardware to Ableton Live or syncing Live to hardware - I can only recommend to experiment and try out what works best for you.
For syncing gear to Live, I’d invest in the Expert Sleepers Usamo or if you have more gear the ERM Multiclock.
I’ve heard good things about Ableton Link, there are even converters to integrate non-Link devices.
Ableton Link does not have the traditional master/slave concept, everyone can change the tempo and for many it seems to be a revelation in terms of syncing gear.
Sorry for the very generic answer, but that’s basically what I found out - there are simply too many factors involved to recommend any specific approach other then experiment and see what works in your system.
What exactly are you using and how did you connect/setup everything?
thanks so much for your reply!….yuh i was going to just avoid sync all together and manually start/stop everything by programming silence in the beginning of the production on the drum machine with one single snare hit so i can line the stems up in the DAW. Set up is relatively simple but preserving the groove/swing of the drum machine productions is essential and the drum machine doesn’t like to be synced to a master clock it works better as the master.
Using MacBook Pro (2015) with UAD Apollo 8 duo & a KORG EMX 1 and a UNO USB/MIDI sync device….Ableton communicates really well in external mode and responds well with the EMX but the tempo drift is significant (especially at the start and then it slowly calms down but still has minimal drift). We also use the Analog Rytm slaved to the EMX (which works great!) for additional drums.
The productions can be quite dense & are put in to song mode on the EMX…Could be anywhere from 30-60 stems at times and preserving the groove is super important.
With the techno you are multi tracking stem by stem in your productions or have a machine with multiple outs and do it all at once?
Depends on the track. Some tracks are more fm and wavetable which I like to do in software (FM8, Ableton Operator, Massive, Ableton Wavetable, Surge and others), while others are mostly analog synths, drum machines and OT.
I usually use individual outs where I really need them (for mixing, individual fx etc.), but try to record just the stereo out whenever possible.
I like the way the Analog Rytm sounds summed through its stereo out compared to its individual outs and also found that the groove can get lost when I‘m dealing with multiple recordings from individual outs and try to align them in the daw.
Those tiny, tiny differences (in theory negligible) tend to add up.
I used to record from individual outs in one take, but it didn’t work well for me either. The clock drift meant I wasn‘t able to edit and overdub as much as I‘d have wanted to do.
What I do now is, I record small sections into my daw (intro then 32 bars, the next 32 bars, a break etc), from individual outs if needed. Makes overdubbing and editing much easier, because it minimizes issues from potential clock drift and also makes arranging easier for me.
I‘ll probably get the ERM Multiclock at some point, though.
Very cool! Yuh I’ve noticed with the rytm the stereo mix is different from individual outs if you’re using global effects (like comp and distortion)….so i caved and just bought the multiclock earlier to day gonna get it tomorrow and start tracking this week….I’m hoping for stable tempo syncing over midi….the multiclock can be slaved to the EMX (which is controlling the rytm as well) and then go USB into ableton….I’ll def do a post let peeps know how it goes! Thanks again for the help and info