Hi. In a attempt to understand my model samples and how it swings separate channels or not
I have sent midi via usb to ableton
2 closed hi hat samples
2 patterns length 4 notes
Same trig duration
All notes on grid
Track change and conditions the same
On the midi recording it shows as the sequences start off they are out of time when i zoom in close, they are never tight on time
As the midi recording proceeds i turn track swing
And on one track notes disappear (swing ? 
) and on the other it stays the same pattern BUT when i zoom in NEVER do two set of notes trigger at the same time
Any ideas what may be going on? Do i have incorrect midi expectations that the track timings should be tight?
This has more to do with MIDI generally than Ableton or M:S. Apologies if I’m telling you something you already know but MIDI is a serial protocol, which means messages are sent one after the other instead of at the same time, which means the recipient is also processing them one at a time too. Consider that the messages are also being sent as they’re generated, with no consideration for timing - so if a bunch are sent at once it adds to the queue and slows the whole thing down. Add to that timing over USB and I’m not surprised that you’ve gotten some wonky results. MIDI sucks!
I don’t think there’s any foolproof way to conduct the tests that you’re trying to do without having to adjust for fluctuations
thanks for your thoughts, this is news to me.I thought such midi sequencers were tight on what they sent and capable of sending tight in time note data for multiple tracks.I appreciate it is a lot of info to send BUT midi sequencers have been around and done the tasks you mention for years.
Is it you view point or experience that the same midi protocol is going on internally midi wise as well ?
just curious as got the samples slaved to cycles clock and wondering if those micro anomolies are likely present when they triggers samples/machines? or is it a external sync issue?
This has always existed. It would be more pronounced when trying to sync Ableton and M:S, but it’s not really noticeable when you’re syncing two hardware boxes via midi cable. But also some amount of timing fluctuation isn’t usually a big deal in my opinion.
Internally I don’t think it uses midi to trigger the engines and as a result the timing is quite good. But the anomalies you mention are more to do with how much midi information is being sent by M:S to Ableton, the further latency introduced by the USB connection, and Ableton’s trying to stay synced to the clock coming from M:S (because the midi clock messages are being sent in the queue with everything else, which means it is just inherently laggy).
In short, what you’ve encountered is entirely normal and more a result of how you’re trying to record the midi to observe the swing, which introduces latency. There’ll be more info about this in other threads, specifically the Ableton threads and any of the hardware midi clock threads (ERM Multiclock, Nome etc)
really appreiate your furtehr thoughts.putting it into ableton via usb was not to triggers vsts but for analysis only.im using the cycles to sequence a hardware neutron and 303 (which its great for)
