Sub 37 and OT Sync

Elektron Gear Octatrack
1

Sorry to come here with what seems like an easy question. I’ve been using both of these for almost a year and never had this problem until today. It’s really messing with my recordings and frustrating me a lot.

My setup right now is based around an Octatrack, Sub 37. OT sends MIDI clock, transport, and note data to the Sub 37, the Sub 37 has everything (EGs, LFOs, Arp) synced to the MIDI clock coming in. The output goes into the OT as a Thru channel, and the output of the OT goes through an Analog Heat and into my interface.

I’m running into an issue where the MIDI clock is drifting slightly, and I’m not sure on which end. Looking at the sequencer on the OT, it looks like the notes sent to the Sub 37 are sent a little too late (like a few ms), but that messes with the synced sequences happening on the Sub 37.

I’ve tried everything - double checked every menu on each of them, restarted both, used init patches on the Sub 37 and a new project on the OT, but it still happens. Anyone have an idea why this would be?

EDIT: I should mention that I didn’t just set up this configuration. It was working for a few weeks until yesterday.

2

This sentence above, how exactly have you come to this conclusion?

I doubt the clock being sent is late, more likely the sub37 is responding slowly for some reason - other than adding another piece of gear to the equation in a bid to eliminate processes i’m unsure what to say. Is there another synth you can try?

3

Here’s how to fix the issue: unplug all the leads, switch everything off, have a latte, return and just plug in the OT and the Sub 37.

set the External Sync settings of the Sub 37 to internal, set the Midi Clock and Midi Transport on the OT to off.

connect one Midi lead from the OT to the Sub 37.

Set the Sub37 to external sync.

Set the OT to transmit Midi Clock and Transport

Hey presto, fixed.

4

He did state that the setup had previously been working? This doesn’t help eliminate any of the potential issues. If any of these settings hadn’t already been set this way then he wouldn’t have any sync at all

5

Hi, make sure you have on the sync button on the sub37 if not you won’t have any sync

Regards.

6

Hi all, thanks so much for the replies. I tested with another synth and that synced fine, so I jumped to conclusions saying the OT sent the note data late; it looks like the Sub 37 is receiving it late, or receiving a clock signal that is slightly off than what the OT is sending.

The sync button on the Sub 37 is on. I’ve tried new MIDI cables and rewiring the whole setup. Still running into the problem, but at least I now know more specifically what the problem is.

EDIT: Did some more experimenting after doing some quick googles searches. This whole time I’ve been testing with the sequencer on the Sub 37, but if I use the straight arp it works perfectly. It even seems to work perfectly if I don’t have rests in the sequence on the Sub 37. So maybe from now on I should create those more complex sequences on the OT sequencer instead.

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