I seem to be able to use external MIDI keys with the A4, no problem.
But sequencing notes using the Ableton piano roll seems to be dreadful.
If I’ve got two notes right next to each other, the second note just doesn’t play.
All sorts of buggy, terrible playback.
Can’t think why; it seems like such a basic task. I’ve tried with both USB to USB, and USB to MIDI (using a USB to MIDI cable).
Any thoughts? I can sequence all of my other analog synths with USB MIDI quite easily.
It seems to be that it won’t play a note if it’s exactly the same as the previous note.
This is problematic when I want to have one bar looping a continuous note. The second time around, it’ll just cut off. Third time around, strangely, it’ll produce a “blip” of the note, then cut off.
So, so frustrating.
Are your notes ending at the exact time as the next one starts… I came across this issue as well with a different synth tho. Some synths are more sensitive to it than others.
If the note end and note start (of the next note) are too close together, in combination with midi jitter they can get confused and hence why some notes cut others off… Try shortening your notes a bit in piano roll and see if it still happens.
The fix I found was using a different interface, both cheap ones but one worked better than the other.
It happens to me too, sequencing the A4 from Ableton 9 is just not really happening. It’s unfortunate, but I’m not sure how it was with the previous OS and Ableton 8. Maybe it could get better with time and a few fixes ? I seem to remember that it was tighter.
For now, using the internal sequencer seems to be the way to go.
On a side note, the A4 is not the only guilty synth doing this. Overlapping MIDI notes can cause confusion in quite a few modules.
Thanks guys. I found a solution! MIDI, nope, USB MIDI, nope.
But when you use the TM-1, the MIDI works perfectly. No missed notes or anything.
I read this post before I got my A4 a couple of weeks ago, and being a Live user I was a bit worried, but i’m happy to say I have had zero problems.
I have no problem sequencing MIDI notes in Live over 4 tracks with rock solid timing and none of the issues mentioned above (such as looping continuous notes).
The timing is all kept bang on with Live’s auto latency comp that’s built into the external instrument device.