Good day to all,
I am facing some strange situation.
I am sending clock from Digitakt to Maschine (slaved to DT) through a MOTU UltraLite Mk3. From there I am sending MIDI notes, CCs to 4 KORG Volcas.
What happens is the clock is not received by the Volcas…
Although I can send notes and CCs from KeyStep and DT through Maschine to the 4 Volcas, it seems the clock stops being sent from MOTU UltraLite Mk3 to the Volcas.
MOTU clock set to internal.
Should it be SMPTE?
MIDI routing:
KeyStep OUT to DT IN
DT OUT to MOTU IN
MOTU OUT to MIDI IN thru box to the 4 Volcas.
Midi clock set to internal on the Volcas?
Does the Motu have a midi thru function? It seems to, because you can play the Volcas from the Keystep?
MIDI clock set to Auto.
Only options are:
Auto
Internal
Nevertheless when I remove the MOTU from the MIDI chain, DT clock is sent to the Volcas without issues…
MOTU has a MIDI thru function indeed. Thing is it only serves when used in stand alone mode. In any case thru is activated as I can play notes and send CCs from both KeyStep and DT…
That sounds strange. I don’t have a Motu interface, but I know the UltraLite Mk3 a little, because a friend of mine has one.
Cue Mix software doesn’t have any midi filtering capabilities, right? So no options to filter clock for example?
Nope 
I wonder if the fact that Maschine is slaved to DT, it might (or not) stop sending clock out…
SMPTE as clock in the MOTU?
Wouldn’t work, SMPTE is timecode stuff.
Usually midi thru just forwards everything, that comes into the midi in and if it works when you take the Motu Ultralite out of the chain, then it’s probaply something the Motu is doing (or not).
Thanks for your help @Schnork
There are other sources for clock in the MOTU setup app:
Digital
SMPTE
Internal
DeviceN (had never seen this one before…)
I’ve checked the manual, the clock source settings are for the digital audio clock, not midi clock. Leave it set to internal.
Didn’t find any settings regarding midi clock. The midi thru in stand alone seems to forward any incoming midi messages.
Do you have any other gear you could check if the Motu forwards midi clock through the midi thru? Another synth?
This way you could rule out that the problem is on the Volca side. Somethings certain combinations of hardware just don’t work well together.
True enough 
Other alternative:
KeyStep OUT to DT IN
DT OUT to thru box IN (Midi Solutions)
Thru box OUT 1 to Merger (midi Solutions) IN 1
Thru box OUT 2 to MOTU IN
MOTU OUT to Merger IN 2
Merger OUT to thru box IN
Thru box out to 4 Volcas
Do you need the Motu for DAW work or why do you want it in the chain?
If the Motu doesn’t have to be in the chain you could just go Keystep -> DT -> Midi Thru Box -> Volcas ofc.
In the drawing you made, you have the midi stream from Keystep and DT split, send through the Motu and then merged with itself again.
Actually I don’t know how a midi merger behaves if a midi stream is split and then merged with itself again.
But if it works, it works.
Actually I am relying on the MOTU for its onboard DSP (EQ, Comp and Reverb).
So you don’t need the Motu to output midi, right?
You just want to control the onboard fx?
Then you wouldn’t need to merge after the Motu anyway.
Keystep -> DT ->
Thru Box -> Motu
------------->Volcas
That’s correct. Working DAWless.
I am also working with Maschine, therefore I also need to pass MIDI to it.
Sorted 
MOTU UltraLite Mk3 does not pass the clock received at IN. The 2 MIDI IN and OUT are not physically connected.
Solution: open an empty track in DAW with MIDI IN as IN port and MIDI OUT as OUT port.
Voilà
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I thought it had midi thru functionality in stand alone and I’ve read in the manual it indeed does. Strange if it doesn’t pass midi clock, but it does pass notes and cc fine.
You’re probaply adding additional latency this way.
It does indeed have MIDI Thru (in stand alone only).
MOTU support confirmed it.
Thing is I am fighting to set up a track in Maschine to pass that clock…
Still fighting
Still no luck…
I have not been able, so far, to route the MIDI clock sent to Maschine (by DT) to pass through the OUT MIDI port of my MOTU (UltraLite Mk3) so as to start/stop my Volcas…
Any help would be appreciated.
MOTU support confirmed that IN and OUT MIDI ports were not physically connected*. A MIDI track has to be opened in Maschine for this purpose: I have tried any combination of IN and OUT MIDI ports at sound and group level in Maschine… To no avail.
*The Thru function on the MOTU UltraLite Mk3 makes this available ONLY in standalone use.
Set motu to external clock. If it’s set to internal, It won’t send the clock from DT.
The clock setting relates to the digital audio, not midi clock.
From the Ultralite Mk3 manual:
Determines the clock source for your UltraLite-mk3. If you’re just using the analog ins and outs, set this to Internal. The other settings are for digital transfers via S/PDIF or synchronization to time code or other audio devices.
CONNECTING AND SYNCING S/PDIF DEVICES DAT decks and other devices with S/PDIF digital I/O will sync to the UltraLite-mk3 in via the S/PDIF connection itself. Just connect it to the UltraLite-mk3 via the S/PDIF connectors. When the device records a digital audio signal (from the UltraLite-mk3), it will simply synchronize to the clock provided by the digital audio input. On the other hand, when you transfer audio from the S/PDIF device into the UltraLite-mk3, you’ll have to slave the UltraLite-mk3 to its S/PDIF input.
Clock Source The Clock Source determines the digital audio clock that the UltraLite-mk3 will use as its time base. The following sections briefly discuss each clock source setting.
Internal Use the Internal setting when you want the UltraLite-mk3 to operate under its own digital audio clock. For example, you may be in a situation where all you are doing is playing tracks off hard disk in your digital audio software on the computer. In a situation like this, you most often don’t need to reference an external clock of any kind.