I use Ableton 10 Suite to keep a ton of old gear tight from a sync perspective. Every other synth works perfectly apart from the Digitone. The notes play out of time. If I drop the clip into the track for my 101 or 106, the timing is perfect. When I drop it back into the Digitone channel, it’s out. I have it set up on clock receive so that should work? Help!
Don’t know about the Digitone, but Ableton and the Digitakt don’t play nice together over midi. It’s probably the same issue. Is it just latency on the notes, or does the timing seem to phase in and out or jump around?
That doesn’t sound good. It’s definitely latency as it improves when I drop the buffer to 32. Even then however, it’s still slightly off and of no real use. Ironic that a number of 30+ year old synths keep perfect time via a midi thru box yet a brand new Digitone doesn’t!
Try using anything else to control the Digitone via midi. If you still have an issue you should open a ticket with Elektron.
I’m probably repeating what was said previously , try different methods to send midi to digitone,
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Direct via usb midi
Via an interface through din midi
Place it at different points in midi chain or use multiple outs if your interface can do it.
There are lots of numbers that can be tweaked in ableton , latency and track delays etc,
Ultimately you might be better capturing the audio and getting it back in sync.
Personally I haven’t used it via midi , but if the ‘yeolde worlde’ devices are spot on , and latest clever tech has issues , it’s not so good. , especially if this is a very normal way to work , it doesn’t sound like you are doing anything unusual to find a rare quirk .
Also perhaps it’s the audio being heard that is delayed , not specifically the triggering of the notes via midi. ?
So worth checking if audio is ok via headphones , analogue mixer , digital audio into ableton ?
Maybe turn off clock receive , or run it with empty pattern .
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Thanks for the advice. I tried triggering it via the audio interface and got the same issue (cutting out the thru box). Using the internal sequencer is fine. It just seems to be Ableton that it doesn’t like. I have Logic too, so I’ll give that a go. It’s definitely not a chain problem or the set up in Ableton, at least I don’t think it is (everything else is perfect). If I can’t trigger it via midi and Ableton it’s not really any use to me or my workflow.
I was using digitone with my tt303 last week , I got the feeling it wasn’t quite right timing wise but nothing scientific , it just didn’t seem tight (triggering notes from digitone or using built in sequencer on tt303)
I thought it might be just one if those evenings when everything sounded rubbish.
My expectations were that it would drop seamlessly into my workflow. Sounds like you are having problems too? I just double checked and it’s not an issue with the soundcard audio in. When I hit the Digitone keys it plays back immediately via Ableton. Seems to be midi receive that is the problem.
Were you able to test it with Logic?
Was planning on using my digitone with Logic but if the midi is off I’d rather save the frustration and not even bother.
I might’ve just had a bad night , I wouldn’t quote my experience as proof of midi / audio issues on digitone. I’ve tried overbridge beta into ableton and I don’t know enough about all of the various parameters to comment either way on its success / failure . I mostly render off audio into usable stems , avoiding real-time trigger or timing issues.
Seems to be a multitimbral issue with the 4 discreet midi channels feeding into one audio channel. If I drag an external instrument in and link it into the individual midi channels, timing is perfect! Hmmmmm. Need to sleep on it!
Seems to work fine with Logic and a Focusrite Clarett. My Digitakt kept perfect time with Logic too, absolutely no issues. I managed to cure Ableton and the latency issue too.
How did you cure it? I can’t figure this out. It seems to work find when triggering midi sequences from Ableton live, but when running the sequences from the Digitone sequencer it’s all over the place, and often the amount it’s out of time changes!
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I created external instruments for each channel and one overall audio channel for output. The audio level for each channel was controlled inside the Digitone. I didn’t even use the Digitone sequencer as standard midi sync was bad enough! I actually sold it. Great machine but it didn’t fit my workflow. Replaced with a DX100!
Ah Ok, Thanks. I’ve tried external instruments and also shifting the midi clock output in Ableton Live’s preferences. This seems to be working for now…
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Anyone know why this only seems to work in sync with an external instrument?
Use of the Ableton external instrument device allows Ableton to delay-compensate the incoming audio according to the total latency of the Live set, and allows you to adjust for additional hardware latency. It doesn’t latency-compensate midi clock though. This is why many people like to use external sync boxes - when the latency of the Live set changes, like when you add plugins to a track, the whole rig will remain synced.
The Digitone as USB soundcard adds 15 ms of latency in Logic Pro X. That’s a lot. I can’t use it when the sum is about 25 ms of latency. That’s just too much
Is there anyway of lowering it?