MIDI timing discussion

[t]

@Open_Mike

I however just use my ears and am experiencing very tight sync between Elektrons.

That‘s correct. There are two ways in which a device can sync to external MIDI clock:

1. When using external clock, the internal clock is not used and the sequencer progresses with every clock message received. In this case a resolution higher than 24 ppqn is not possible, and any swing or “micro-timing” would depend on the clock signal. This is what older and “simpler” devices do.

2. When using external clock, the device derives a tempo value from the received clock messages and uses that to sets the tempo for its internal clock. This is what most modern or more complex devices do.

You Elektron boxes use the second method. Because in that case the tempo is derived from averaging multiple clock messages, any jitter in the clock messages has no impact on the stability of the internal clock.