Digitone + Rytm Midi problem

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

I am having trouble getting my Digitone and Rytm to sync over midi + overbridge. I am using Live 11 and have managed get the Rytm and Digitone locked to bpm but when I use my Rytm to control playback the DT sequencer does not engage. If I select ext sync switch within ableton, the DT sequencer will then respond but the BPM goes crazy and slides all over the place.

I have the DT set to receive clock and receive transport. The Rytm set to send clock and send transport. I have a midi cable from the Rytm Midi out to the DT Midi in. They are also both connected via usb to my PC. Both are set to Midi+Usb.

Please help, it’s driving me nuts as I still want to use the DT sequencer for param lock etc.

Thank you in advance.

#2

Hey, just taking a wild stab at it but is DN looking for transport from ableton because you have midi+usb enabled? Try changing DN to midi only and see if RYTM transport starts the digitone sequencer, if it does then (not sure how it’s arranged in ableton but) see if ableton is still set to send transport to DN and if it is, disengage it then try going back to the midi+usb setting in the DN midi setup menu.

#3

Thanks for your reply Shiggninpit. I’ve had a play around with what you suggested. It does seem as though Ableton is causing the problem. I tried the sync without ableton in the chain and the digitone seems to be in sync and seq following transport of rytm.

Do you know the way to setup this menu in ableton? I have unchecked all boxes to start fresh

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Thanks!

#4

Sorry I kept saying digitakt it was early. Unfortunately I’m not an abletonado so we’ll have to default to someone else’s expertise here but I’m glad you’re getting somewhere with it, that was just what jumped out at me though.

#5

Haha, no worries at all! Thanks for your help, i’ll get there eventually :’)

#6

Let me take a closer look at your image, hold on a moment.

Honestly, with Ableton I’m not sure, I don’t want to steer you wrong. I think if you have a physical din midi link between rytm and the dn then ableton should not be sending any midi, it should just be receiving midi. That’s what makes sense to me, so having the out ports set to rytm and dn respectively feels redundant, can’t be 100% sure though.

I’d say if you want ableton to be the go-between, you’d need to remove the physical midi connection and change both devices to usb only, but I would think that would be more prone to latency between the two devices. Just my best guess here though, so if someone has something else to say I’ll default to that.

#7

Ahh yeah that does actually make more sense. Especially if I have ableton set to ext sync. So ableton just will just be receiving the midi transport from rytm when I hit play? Ontop of that the DT will receive the transport and engage its sequencer?

#8

Believe that sounds better, especially since overbridge DOES send the track data over usb so it seems like you need midi+usb to use overbridge, so my thought would be that ableton should be receiving midi but not sending and that way it’s still getting it’s transport start and ideally clock synced from RYTM as the clock source (I believe that’s how you intended it).

I’m just thinking general midi stuff here though, like I said I’m not much with Ableton specifically so you may have to shape the clay yourself here unfortunately :smiley:

#9

Maybe it matters if the DN is in Overbridge mode or not?

#10

Could be, but as overbridge is an audio tool and not the clock sync it’s probably not going to cause the instability they’re describing.

#11

if I were you I’d set both DN and AR to receive clock and transport from Live, when you do the Ext over usb it’s not so stable to put it gently.
you can still use the midi tracks to send midi info…

if you use OB in sync mode, i.e. clock+transport on then all you need is to turn on Track for DN IN:

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if you don’t use OB in sync mode you should also check the Sync columns for Out

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#12

Should the din midi cable be removed from between AR and DN in that scenario you’ve described where ableton is both clock and transport?

#13

doesn’t have to, you can quickly use the RECEIVE MIDI FROM setting in the MIDI SETUP [FUNC+MIDI] to set if to usb/din only or together

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#14

So as long as the port setting is correct then it won’t matter?

#15

yep, that’s right, if you set it to MIDI it will only respond to DIN, USB only to usb and both are both…

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#16

Thank you! Will try this now. Wish me luck haha!

#17

Unfortunately DN sequencer is still not responding when I control playback through AR. I can see they are both bpm locked and I have adjusted settings as suggested :frowning:

#18

the point was to make ableton master transport, if you want transport from rytm then sending it via usb to ableton is not optimal.
if you press spacebar in live does it start both devices?

whenever I tried using rytm or dn as external clock for live it was jittery and unstable, if you want sync them standalone then midi din is preferable, otherwise it’s better to make live master clock

#19

Spacebar plays only the DN for some reason (sorry ins and out / midi is super confusing for me)

#20

so, if you use overbridge you can discard all the midi setup settings and just use the sync from the OB plugin, just make sure both are set to receive midi from USB in the devices and make sure you have the OB plugins set to clock+transport:

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if you have this in your OB plugins you don’t need any midi setup in Live, it should start and stop with spacebar press from Live

if you don’t use OB then you’d need to setup the Live’s midi setup to Sync for Out for both DN/AR and set the DN/AR midi setting to receive transport/clock and receive midi from USB

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