Midi synchronization problem between the Akai Force and the Eketron AR2

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

Good morning,
I use an elektron analog rytm mk2 (midi in) and an akai force that I plug into (midi out) master, I constantly have the bpm of the electron clogging, it cannot stay at a Fixed BPM. Can you help me resolve this issue? It’s very annoying because I play an entire song on the Akai Force and at the first drop the Elektron AR is not synchronized. Should I use an external synchronization box like the ESI M4U eX?
Tempo used: 155BPM

Thanks in advance.

#2

The first thing that you should do is verify in the Elektron’s settings menu that the AR MKII is set to receive both clock and transport, not just transport. If they start at the same time (transport) but are on different clocks they will drift very quickly, as you describe.

#3

Thanks for you response.
There are only clock receiver and transport receive enabled currently.

#4

I don’t have first hand experience with the Akai Force, but when I read your post I instantly thought that you would first want to know how stable the clock is that the Akai Force sends. A real quick search on the Akai forum finds some research into it:

https://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=214354

If your clock out results are anything like that guy’s results, then that’s going to be a problem. You might start by making sure you have the latest firmware, etc. and take it from there with other examinations of the clock. Your results are only going to be as good as the clock that’s being sent.

1 Like
#5

I though about this too…
@tresholdonthesea did you try to set rytm as master? and if the Akai is the problem but you still want to use it as master maybe you should consider external clock…
rytm should not have issues following a good clock, I use Digitone as master many times and it’s always solid, never had problems, so maybe flip them or see if you can do something about the Akai midi out…

#6

try pressing ‘playstart’ on mpc, then ‘stop’, then ‘play’. should sync ok after that

#7

FWIW one of the reasons I sold my MPC Live 2 was the MIDI clock accuracy was not great. It was fine for external synths playing poly parts/pads etc that weren’t that exposed if the timing was off, but syncing external drum machines was really frustrating. Gave up in the end.

I don’t know if the Force OS and hardware is different to the MPC Live platform but if there is a crossover, I would suspect the issue lies with the quality of the clock from the Akai box.