Syncing DFAM & Ableton

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hey guys, got an odd syncing issue, which I feel I understand but can’t help feel it shouldn’t be behaving this way.

So I tried to sync my dfam with Ableton in 2 methods.

  1. Creating a sound source (Single square wave) and sending it to adv/clock in a 16th note pattern

  2. Used Ableton’s CV tool utility clock out

Both work as expected, however when I stop playback and start again it starts from where it stopped and usually off by two beats so for example where a kick was on time to start Beats 1 and 5 of the 8 it’s has now been thrown off to beats 3 & 7 (usually where the hat sits on 4x4)

Having been puzzled by this, I discovered in a moog video you must stop the run/transport button and advance the sequence to the 8th beat, always before starting the the track again so as it falls roughly on the 1st down beat.

I just can’t help feel there is a more intuitive way to wire this so as I can randomly stop the track in Ableton and not have to worry about resetting the dfam sequence to beat 8 so that it starts by falling on down beat 1 and ergo, in sync???

This just seems awkward or is this normal dfam behaviour?

#2

Normal DFAM behaviour. Remember, the DFAM sequencer is analogue. It doesnt know or care what ‘number’ a step is, let alone where 1 is. All it knows is the command, ‘next step’.

A solution would be leave the DFAM running, record as much as you want, then edit the audio to fit your composition.

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#3

Yeah I think that by the looks of it is exactly what il be doing

Thank you for clarification on that :pray:t3:

#4

You need to start your Dfam sequencer on step 8. Every time you stop playback on Ableton reposition your Dfam sequencer back to step 8. To do that press the red button and then the black one next to it until your LED hits step 8, then the red button again.

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