AR and A4 losing sync!? Can anyone explain this?

Elektron Gear
#1

I have my AR mk2 as the master sending PC info on channel 16 to my A4 mk2.

I’ve made sure the Len and Chng settings match on both machines, and have the AR set send Clock, Transport and Prog Ch.

They’ll stay in sync with each other for an undetermined amount of time, but then the A4 will start to change a bar late.
At this point I have to stop both and hit play again but that doesn’t always work.
Switching them both off and powering back up puts them in sync again… until the same thing happens again.
Obvs this is majorly frustrating… and I can’t figure out if there’s something obvious I’m overlooking. :man_shrugging:t2:

Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

#2

You didn’t state explicitly whether the AF is set to receive clock and transport messages.

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#3

I’ve had weirdness with both AR->A4 and A4->AR, not clock sync, but slow patten changes. I’ve found A4->AR much more reliable. Looking at midi messages they’re all sent, so I assume it is a bug on either/both boxes in terms of execution/timing.

(I wrote about it here Are Progran Change msgs sent when chaining patterns? - #13 by igtheflig)

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#4

Yes, the A4 is set to receive clock, transport and pc from the AR.

#5

I read what you wrote, sounds similar to what I’m experiencing.

The only other thing I noticed was that one of the patterns that was regularly throwing out the sync has a Track part set to 1/2 timing… I’m still experimenting.

#6

are they both showing same tempo speed when connnected

#7

Yes, same tempo is showing on them both, with the slave device showing the lock symbol next to the tempo.

#8

You mentioned ‘PC info’ in the original message, what does that mean? do you have other devices connected?

#9

I just meant Program Change Send/Receive is set up correctly in both devices’ Sync page.

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#10

whats the OS?

#11

Are you using Turbo midi? I just spent some time comparing A4 out -> AR in (normal midi) vs A4 -> AR in, AR out -> A4 in (turbo checked). There are some differences in behaviour off the bat (I’ll record a quick video later)

For example, I have some bank G. In normal mode I do this: go to G4 on A4, then I hit song mode on AR and double tap stop on AR, and it goes to the start of the song I have prepared on AR, while A4 remains at G4. I hit play on A4, and AR starts playing the song, while A4 plays pattern G4. All good.

In Turbo mode I can’t play the song on AR. Hitting STOP twice on AR to go to the start of song mode doesn’t change the pattern to the start of the song. I can manually change to the first pattern in the song on the AR, and press song mode, but when I hit play it jumps to G4 (the pattern on A4.)

I don’t say this to suggest it is your problem, but I do suggest you try turbo mode. Their does seem to be some inconsistency in the implementation of these boxes at least.

#12

I guess, this may be the problem. If you use sequential pattern change, the pattern on A4 will play to its end, before changing to the new one.

#13

I have them both set to INF length and to CHNG after 16 beats, so I thought that should keep them in sync for the changes.

Pattern sync AR & A4
#15

It varies, but I thought ‘16’ makes it change at the end of the current bar you’re in regardless of your positioning within the pattern.

As I said earlier, it works perfectly when it’s working, it’s just when it slips and the A4 stays a bar behind that it’s an issue.

#16

Maybe try length 64, not INF and test that.

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#17

All I know is, it never werked right. Until I started moving the change message back.

#18

Start with a clean project, default pattern lengths, only change the midi settings, see if it works.

#19

I have the exact same problem with the AR and A4

#20

It works totally fine when you set pattern length to NORMAL. But once you choose to set length per pattern synchronisation is off.

#21

Do you have any of the individual tracks set to lower resolution timings? So instead of 1 do you have 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8th?
I found that this caused issues…

Also, for people saying go A4>AR, while that might be more stable I MUCH prefer to have the AR as the master for several reasons (mainly for the ergonomic layout of the AR’s Bank buttons and that it feels more natural having the drums/tempo/beats in control of the clock/transport).