I searched for this but nothing really answers my basic question. What, have you found, is the best way to use Ableton Live alongside the OT? I tried syncing both ways today and maybe I’m doing something wrong but, Live will not communicate with the OT very nicely. I want to be able to sample from Live and run the OT through Live and have them in perfect sync. Basically I want to be able to add guitars, bass, or anything else and have a choice whether I want to slice up and mangle samples or add more straightforward pieces of music. Using Push with Live, I can record guitar or bass loops on the fly but I want the option to sample those tracks into the OT without having to stop everything. There has to be someone doing something similar and believe me, I’m not trying to get someone else to do the work for me. I’m really trying to get this going here by myself. I even have an iConnectAUDIO 4+ so I know I have the right equipment. I’ll do some more experimenting. Just wondering if anyone had anything to add.
Not sure if it helps, I have the octotrac as the master, set ableton to external sync, have the audio routed out of my computer through an external audio hub and into the octotrack. Set the ot’s thrus to recive ableton, and out to my headphones, or I have another external sound card to rout through to speakers. T
So the eight midi tracks, control stuff like sampler, analogue ect in ableton so everything’s in time (including the a4;ar) then I put say a piano to recive note from push only as a kinda lead, plus I can do the loops on the fly from ableton into a track into octotrack.
So I guess octotrack as the brain, and ableton works as a plugin works very well for me.
I seem to be one of the few who seems to get on ok with Live (master) and OT. Current set up involved an Octacapture, AK and MnM along with Push & Maschine.
I’m at work so will keep this shortish (plus I haven’t done much musically for a couple of weeks due to work) but basically I have tracks in Live set up for “sends only” that I load vsts/samples into. These tracks are routed to the Octatrack for sampling/mangling with the OT’s two stereo outs on their own tracks within Live.
By using sends I’m able to bounce stuff around and have a bit of fun.
Have decided to give an MPC2500 a go so will be adding that to the mix and will likely change up how I approach things but as things stand, it’s really fun being able to fire audio around via Live and capture at will on the OT (or, just use FX).
It doesn’t sync perfectly, things rarely do, but I don’t see anywhere near the issues many other seem to have so clearly just a lucky one.
That’s rather vague, can you be a bit more specific about what the problem is.
the problem is when I send midi clock from OT to Live, it is always late. Also, when I try to send transport control from the OT to Live, nothing happens. I still have to push play in Live which kind of defeats the purpose.
I know this is asking a lot but could you tell me exactly how you are setting up midi control on both devices? (OT and Live) I feel like there is probably some small setting I’m overlooking.
After much trial and error, I settled on slaving the OT to Live. I started the other way around, but didn’t like Live’s latency and response to tempo changes. I’ve got a consistent tight sync now, with minimal jitter. Everything is reliable to within 1/20th of one millisecond. No external sync gen or anything.
So the two critical settings are Live’s audio driver delay compensation (preferences - audio tab), and the midi sync offset of whatever your clock source is (preferences - midi tab). Getting those dialed in is key.
My setup is relatively streamlined. Live is master. The OT slaves, and receives audio from Live, which goes through a Thru machine, then the OT master goes back into Live, for one-at-a-time, or summed, tracking. Midi clips in Live can be recorded into the OT, or vice-versa, recording OT’s midi into Live. I use a midi keyboard to play directly into either OT or Live. iPad is also connected, though latencies tend to be too high for real-time drum sequencing with it. External hardware synths are clocked too, and are recorded on-time. I guess the goal was to be able to have either the OT or Live act as the “main” arranger, for full flexibility.
Other than recordings of the iPad, no audio needs to be adjusted after recording. It’s all spot on the grid, and perfectly looped in the OT too.
My setup relies on an iConnectivity iCA4+ and an iCM2+ for all the routing. I can offer specifics if it would be helpful - overall I’m pretty happy with the timing and performance of my setup right now.
I have the iconnectaudio4+ I think looking into those live settings is going to be key. It’s starting to come together though. I got Live successfully slaved to the OT but after a while the timing started to drift. My solution was to put Beatseeker on an audio track which monitors a steady kick drum coming from the OT. This actually works much better and keeps Live’s timing a little tighter. The only drawback is I have to keep some sort of rhythmic signal coming into Live from the OT. Any tracks from Live that I want to sample into the OT are sent out from cue in Live which is routed to the iconnectaudio4+ 3/4 output. This way, as long as everything is in sync, I don’t have to monitor that signal coming into the OT. So far this is working for me but I’m sure an issue will pop up soon. The next phase is sending midi to Live’s instruments from the OT. Haven’t tried this yet. Zac, if you could send me your routings and midi/audio settings in Live and iconnectaudio4+ that would help me tremendously. For example, midi sync offset/audio driver delay compensation/etc. I think I want to try it your way - Live being the master. It’s getting better though and I’m having fun which is really all that matters
Once I get home, I’ll see what I can put together for you. It may not be completely applicable in your case since I’m additionally using the iCM2, but maybe it’ll give you some ideas.
@joeyfivecents: Here are my current settings. Routing is as follows -
Midi:
Live clock out on USB1 (Bear in mind that the computer is actually on the port “USB 2” in iConfig.)
Live clock goes out iCA4 DIN port to OT midi IN.
OT midi OUT goes to the iCM2 IN.
An iCM2 OUT goes back to the iCA4 midi IN.
Another iCM2 OUT goes to an external synth.
The only reason another midi box is in play (iCM2), is that I couldn’t resolve a midi feedback loop when connecting OT midi in and out from the same source. There’s probably a fix in the iConfig settings, but I haven’t found one that works in this bi-directional midi recording scheme I’ve got going.
OT also receives midi from a controller keyboard (HST1) in the OT midi IN.
Live is also listening to HST1.
Audio:
Everything is monitored through the OT.
iCA4 1 and 2 OUT go to the main monitors.
iCA4 3 and 4 OUT go to OT input A/B.
External synth goes to OT input C/D
OT Main Out goes to iCA4 input 1/2.
Live and an iPad are submixed in iConfig and get sent out on iCA4 3/4 to go to the OT on input A/B, as above.
If I want to monitor Live without the OT turned on, I have to listen to the monitors, or plug headphones into the iCA4.
If I try to sync straight from/to ableton with OT it’s useless with latency etc. But if I rewire ableton through Sonar x3 it’s solid. Maybe you can find a demo of x3 or something and try it out to see if that setup works for you too. It’s actually pretty cool, lots of functionality by having ableton/sonar/OT all running and connected to each other for in/out. And if I remember correctly you can also drag/drop stuff between sonar and ableton.
Thank you Zac!
Thanks for posting this. I don’t have quite the same setup, but I’ve been rethinking my workflow and wishing to get tighter sync with Live, so this gives me a few ideas.
Also, since a few people have mentioned using Push in this thread, how do you find it works for you using your hardware instruments? I’m imagining it’s pretty seamless once you dial in your sync and configure parameters in Live.
Did you adapt the MIDI clock sync delay for your clock input ?
Did you adapt the MIDI clock sync delay for your clock input ?
https://www.ableton.com/de/help/article/synchronizing-live-midi/[/quote]
No but I’m going to do this as soon as I get home. Thanks for pointing me to the article.
If you cant get it working dont hesitate to contact Ableton’s support! Theyve helped me so many times
Also, since a few people have mentioned using Push in this thread, how do you find it works for you using your hardware instruments? I’m imagining it’s pretty seamless once you dial in your sync and configure parameters in Live.
I can’t speak to using Push, since I don’t have one. But it is just a controller, and my controllers are working fine with this setup. If you were referring to hardware instruments like an external synth - yes, they work great after sync offset and driver compensation settings are dialed in. Hardware can be tricky though: I found, for example, that a Volca Sample does not work for me as a drum machine synced to the OT, owing to the slight amount of hardware latency it has. Without being able to send it a separate clock with a tiny bit of offset, I was never going to be happy with using it like a drum machine. I believe there are some devices out there that let you dial in offsets for each midi output port, but they are way beyond what I am willing to spend.