Clocking, sync and jitter issues frequently affect Elektron and non-Elektron hardware alike—from DAWs and USB interfaces to modular synths and pedals.
This thread is a space to troubleshoot problems, ask questions, or share practical approaches or theoretical studies on device timing performance.
Should add latency for completeness
Here’s one of my favorite tips!
If you want real time sync of devices, then you are in the unhappy world of clock, sync, jitter, etc. as this thread describes.
If all you want is to be able to precisely edit a take later on in a DAW, you may only have to sync the audio clocks of the two devices in question in order to do so. This is because most devices use the high frequency clock in their audio converters as their understanding of the overall timebase.
For example, I used to connect my MPC 1000 to my MOTU interface over S/PDIF. If I selected S/PDIF as the clock source in my DAW, and then hit record, I could trigger an MPC song at any time, finish the recording, trim up to the visual front of the first wave, then set the DAW tempo to whatever tempo I used on the MPC, and that recording would be perfectly on grid forever.
This doesn’t normally work because of drift, but if you get both devices seeing the same audio clock (from which they both get their understanding of the tempo), then you can avoid drift without having to clock sync at all (as long as you only care about being able to sync everything up after you do your take).
This same trick works on Elektron gear with multitrack output using the Overbridge standalone app’s tape recorder feature.
Can latency fall under “sync”?
ie. "I seem to be experiencing latency between my Tonverk and DAW. How have some of you gotten things to sync up nicely?
Ultimately if I have kicks on step one of all my instruments and daw I want them all ‘in sync’
How that happens takes into account latency , jitter , sync etc and probably lots of configuration headaches so maybe 1 thread ‘to rule them all’ is handy ?
Let’s hope!
Latency is the time delay between an audio signal (or a control signal like a midi note on or clock tick) entering a ‘system’ (a computer audio interface/DAW, digital effects processor, digital instrument) and a signal exiting that ‘system’.
If you have multiple ‘systems’ operating in parallel with different latencies then they won’t be in sync, unless you delay the signal of the parallel ‘systems’ to the timing of the ‘system’ with the largest latency.
So I’d say that latency can often cause bad sync.
And this happens automatically in DAWs right? Since different plugins have different latencies. But in hardware land it might need to be accounted for.
I recently learnt that you can hover the name of devices/plugins in Ableton to see its latency
Yes, if the DAW has PDC plugin delay compensation.
Though imo some DAWs keep track of the varied latencies and compensate better than other DAWs
Getting weird pops in playback? The issue is most likely the word clock.
I recently added an ADAT device that gives me an additional 8-in, 8-out at 48kHz in my studio and it’s all via the glass ADAT cable and the BNC/SDI cable connected for word clock sync. Clock had to be set for that, luckily I work at a spot that uses SDI cables regularly so that was easy enough.
Clock can be a problem for folks for sure. It’s a weird area. Pops and clicks can be the result of wonky clock signal or devices competing to be the master in the situation, so they kind of collide in disagreement unless you do it right - one device has to be the master. Imagine being on a roller coaster ride, the carts have to go up the first big hill in order. You don’t want many different chains carrying the carts up running at the same speed but out of sync, it’ll derail everything.
The basic idea is that you need a steady clock otherwise while things are running at the right rates they won’t be in sync running at those rates. You don’t want many sources of truth, you want one that everything agrees on. So something has to be the master. Some devices have great clock and should be the one running the show, others not so much. But something needs to be the master and everything else needs to be downstream. You also generally can’t (or at least should avoid to remain sane). daisy chain clock devices. That’s where a dedicated clock device can help, but that’s getting further into the weeds than your average small studio space would usually be.
I guess for that specific problem you could also use a midi splitter
Not in my example - I’m talking about word clock for audio sync (ie, ADAT) rather than MIDI timecode (MTC). But the concept is the same - MIDI devices need to have one that’s the master. At least in my experience I believe they are very different things.
I have about six synths daisy chained off a single Cirklon port.
I have an MRCC I’ve never managed to figure out how to integrate.
I don’t plan on adding more hardware. And I haven’t been able to notice any drift or latency issues and have sided with simplicity, so I haven’t come back to the table since experimenting with it.
I figured if Elektrons have 8 or more tracks per box, running off a single port, I should be okay with the synths that are daisy chained unless I get into a lot of aux events.
When daiychaining midi. The important factor is if the chain is made up of hardware thru’s or software thru’s.
Hardware is just repeating the same signal -no latency
Software thru is taking the midi signal decoding it and redigitizing it which will cause a latency.
Ok that’s good to know. The only devices getting software clock is Ableton to the Cirklon. And Ableton to Push.
It is not always so obvious. Some midi gear does software thru even if you wouldn’t expect it. Some older gear that are also really slow at handling midi digital decoding in general…
One bonus effect of using a midi splitter is that you don’t have to have all devices turned on just to use the “last in the chain” 
Ok, so yeah. That’s annoying and I always feel particularly gross expensing so much energy. This winter I’ll give it a shot along with setting up my patch bay!
Also applies when sending midi data (notes etc.) so not just clock or sync
Wobly synk is sometimes swing