Hi GHRS, not at all, these topics are complex and I am happy to shed some light on it if I can. While setting MIDI clock latency in Ableton directly is an option, it comes with a lot of downsides.
Omniclock generates an independent clock stream that follows the timeline so tightly, that even if your CPU hangs, once it recovers and playback continues, our clock stream will still be in sync. (This is not behaviour I have seen with any other MIDI clocking system so far… Generally a CPU hang means restarting the timeline.)
As long as plugins you add report their latency correctly, our clock will generally stay in sync. The exception I have seen is if you add a high latency plugin to the same channel Omniclock is on. We recommend to use a dedicated MIDI channel per OMniclock instance so this is a fringe case.
We also added shuffle patterns to OC which were inspired by the timing behaviour of various loved hardware drum computers / samplers. These add a new playground for experimentation as they all feel different. My personal favorites are 9x9, LM-DRM and 12 Bit.
Start/stop doesn’t work when inside the Ableton MIDI clock settings, which seems like a big oversight. This means getting things in the pocket becomes very difficult without lots of trial and error opening and closing the preferences window.
Also entering numbers in Ableton or rotating an assigned MIDI dial to Omniclock are very different ways to go about this. The second IMO leads to better results faster. It is more intuitive and it helps not to look at the screen for me.
Why is the Gridlock II legit, but E-rm snake oil? Seems to be based on the same principle of taking sample accurate audio to convert to a stable midi sync signal?
Gridlock II is not only a clock, its usb midi, cv/gate, din syn interface, you will get precise clock for hours with no drift, that is not the case with E-rm, you need to keep fiddling with the damn thing, also is does not do midi events, which means recording midi in your DAW and playing back the midi to your analog machines all in nanosecond sync, no need to do keep recording audio and moving files around, that is how we did it ages ago.
We get it, you love Innerclock. Your posting is a bad look for Innerclock though, most people will see you as a tryhard for Innerclock. It doesn’t help that the guy from Innerclock has come to defend his 2k plus device.
Im thinking of getting the E-rm or Floatingpoint Multiclock as its called now. What kind of fidling around? I dont need midi or cv out of my daw anyways.
I have an Expert sleepers Osamo now that kind of does the job.
Most people have not been doing this for decades, Gearspace and countless other forums for decades have posted about this subject, some of us have been on there and read all the frustration, and how they just gave up and went into the DAW, that is the same thing that happened to Neil Young at some point he got tired of AD/DA and clocking and said you know what just plug me into the tape and let me record. Yes I am trying hard to help people not to spend hours faffing around, buying different midi usb pieces, and through boxes, then off seting in abelton then not lining up, go watch Ricky Tinez videos, freaking 4 videos 30 minutes each and he gave up, clearly you are not reading the post and conversations back and forth, and you have not been diving in, your comment adds nothing, you dont talk about your experience, no one needs to get the unit that is NOT the point of the conversation, Omniclock can not do what it says it can do end of story. The test results are up there, dont waste your time and understand how the DAW architecture works. Folks NO ONE is writing proper drivers for any of the midi usb devices because it takes time and midi class compliant is just not sufficient. Roland makes UM-one USB midi, its class compliant and it also has a driver, why would they do that, because they know the issue, sbx boxes anyone ? UM-880 anyone with driver back in the day. God help us.
then you can get InnerClock SynGen its been around for over 25 years. You set it and forget it, Osamo is what I started with, all his stuff is pain to set up if you are not using Abelton, on Modwiggler there is so many posts, its just overwhelming, Os is super smart guy, he makes some great stuff but for sequencing 10-15 machines in studio and having it availabl for clients, we can not screw around with timing and hours wasted. Octatrack is good enough for small things, but Octatrack also performs so well when its being clocked properly, that is because at least they spent some money on design.
What’s the difference between the E-RM and Gridlock II with regards to the actual sync technology (putting number of I/O and MIDI routing aside). Appears both use audio for DAW sync etc
Gridlock lI looks pretty nuts for a studio and should prob have its own discussion thread
Not understanding the shade for the Multiclock in the slightest. Excellent device, set and forget in my experience, works great both with and without a DAW. Not as comprehensive as the Innerclock stuff, but the price reflects that. Indispensable in my studio. If you’re considering one and the price and features work for you, don’t even think twice.
Thanks. I also tought it seemed good. But i see alot of people not really understand how it works in some videoes and reviews. Like they didnt use the audio sync signal and compared it to different products not in the same category.
Another thing i havent seen on anything other than Multiclock is the possibility to stop and start a “channel” in sync. Seems like a perfect solutions for programming 303’s.
SND ACME 4 you can stop / start in sync, double tempo and half tempo, individually for all 4 channels. They recently started remaking them. Its pricey mind but built like a tank and also has option to use 2 of the 4 channels for Eurorack with reset. USB powered etc. No MIDI map / filter though
Regarding the Gridlock II (presume you own one etc) can you answer any of my questions. I see the manual is not ready yet for download. Much appreciated
Do the USB ports can provide power? Eg plug in launchpad / OP-XY etc
Can you lock / reserve the USB ports like the MioXL so you can unplug / replug devices without upsetting the routing
Also if one was to plug in the Oxi One (3 virtual USB MIDI ports) or Hapax (16 virtual USB MIDI ports) would they appear in the Gridlock app for configuration and routing and is their a limit.
When recording in the DAW does it start a bar or two late like other multiclocks? This makes loops / clips on the fly less spontaneous
Hi — probably best not to make this a regular thing on the thread, but I’ll answer these direct questions here.
USB ports / power
Yes — the ports provide power and are designed for external hub support, up to 8 x MIDI devices. For a larger setup you’d typically run them into a powered hub rather than bus-powering everything directly, but the power is there for devices like a Launchpad or OP-XY.
Port Reservation
Yes — Fixed Hub Port Allocation, so you can unplug/replug devices without upsetting the routing.
Oxi One / Hapax Virtual Ports
Oxi One MkII lands here next week so I’ll test multi-virtual-port enumeration (and whether there’s a practical limit) and report back. We have a few Hapax users so will check with them too.
Record Start Latency
No — instant start even with different latency-compensation values per outgoing port.
Manual’s still in progress — happy to take the rest over DM.
I really dont think its hijacking ANYTHING. This is all important, relavant info in a pretty niche subject. its for a ongoing problem that effects a whole range of setups and use cases.
I welcome any and all discourse.
I’ve never seen a more glowing review of any musical equipment on Sound On Sound than the aforementioned GridLock II, with an Innerclock rep who is most graciously providing pearls of knowledge before swine.
I am most appreciative of the information provided in this thread. Please pay no mind to the inhospitable peanut gallery.
You are late to the party, go look over to Gear Space and read what has transpired for the the past 20 years, you got everyone chiming in on the subject along with manufacturers, I spent the past 7 years buying everything under the sun to get my groove back that I had without even thinking about it, in the late 80s and 90s, and yes I made and produced hundreds of records, it is sad that people just want instant gratification because they believe a DAW can do everything, it can’t and it will never, Dawless Set Up is all the rage now, what happened to the digital age? why is Eurorack even a thing if we have VCV rack. Software developers have hijacked music, and people are lost, during the typing of this post another Plugin was released, that absolutely no one questions, their overhead is so little compared to a hardware company.