USAMO sync

[edwold]

Hi!

I’ve been eying the Expert Sleepers USAMO device to use for syncing my A4 and Machinedrum to Ableton Live and was wondering if anyone got any experience with how this works (I’m a sync n00b)? How can I sync both machines…can I go Ableton -> A4 -> MD for instance?

Does the device also handle transport messages if the MD and A4 are in song mode?

My other concern is that it might just be a waste of money if the Overbridge A4 sync will be tighter in the future? Every method I’ve tried so far works so so, and I would really like stable sync.

Thank you very much for any input!

[edwold]

Just wanted to report back in case anyone was interested: bought the USAMO device and I’m using it with Ableton. The USAMO sends out MIDI to the Machinedrum which is daisy chained to the analog 4. Both the MD and the A4 is routed into Ableton via an external soundcard.

Result: The sync is rock-solid and I couldn’t be happier really!

However, using Overbridge for the A4 introduced a world of trouble, unfortunately.

[Castor]

I’d like to use at the same time both MD and MNM as an external moduls for Ableton that would send notes and CC messages to the machines, probably in a scenario with 6 channels sent to the MNM and 10 channels to the MD, with 12 audio tracks going back to Ableton.

My Qs are:

1. Can the USAMO send all of those messages at once, beside sending the clock?
2. Would i need a MIDI Thru box to split/duplicate the signal or could i just use a thru port on one of the machines?

Thnx!

[edwold]

Yes, I think so! I just did a quick test using ABLETON->USAMO->MD->A4, using the midi thru on the MD to send midi to the A4. Both the MD and A4 were in sync and I could send MIDI notes and CC to the MD and A4 at the same time.

[Castor]

hey! great news! thnx, edwold!

[atomictag]

I am using USAMO sending clock, CC, MIDI and PCM through an MD and into an A4. Works very well for me to get things tight and on grid. Got it to work pretty solid with OB too. If you are on Live the trick is to use an External Audio Effect after the USAMO VST - that compensates automatically for the latency introduced by OB and keeps everything in sync. You just may need to play with the offset in the USAMO VST to align the grids together - but that’s easy. Smallish audio buffers (<= 128) and sample rates >= 48k gave the best result in my setup.

[Castor]

That’s it! I’m gonna buy the Usamo tomorrow. Thnx!

[Castor]

Ok! My Usamo arrived but i can’t set it up properly no matter what i do.
I work in Ableton and i have Roland Studio Capture as an audio interface. I’ve been trying to set up Ableton and Usamo to control Elektron’s Monomachine and Machinedrum receives MIDI from MNM’s thru port, but without luck. The machines jitter usually around +/- 0.3 bpm, but then they jump 20 bpm up or down, then they jitter at double speed, and so on.
I set both of the machines to slave mode…, to receive clock…i tryed 44.1, 48 and 96 k settings, don’t know what else could i do. While testing everything was green.

Also, when i connect MnM and MD so that MnM is the master, MD also jitters +/- 0.3 bpms. Is this normal?

[invisible_acropolis]

It is highly dependent on your audio interface, and/or the SPDIF output in question. Im using a Zoom UAC-8 at the moment. I bought a USAMO as well, ran through all the setup and so forth and like you it was working but never super stable. They have a diagnostic utility that shows your percentage of accuracy tracking various messages, and you are supposed to be in the 100%-99% range all the time, but it never worked out like that with my setup, it was always 97%-99% and had lots of fluctuations. Basically unusable in practice. When it worked correctly it was super snappy though. Ive thought about revisiting the device later when I get a different interface, like another RME or something. I used to have one of those a while back, it was by far the best Ive ever owned.

[Castor]

OK i’ll try to contact ES support.

But when i connect MnM and MD so that MnM is the master, MD also drifts +/- 0.3 bpms, or even more. Is this normal at all?

[invisible_acropolis]

unfortunately yes… what you are talking about depends on the abilities of the “slave” device to sync to incoming midi clock

ive mentioned this before, but for some reason manufacturers and engineers and so forth never thought to come up with the idea that a device should ignore such fluctations in the range of .01 - .1 increments when it comes to syncing with midi clock… not sure but i think that idea is finally being implemented in some devices

technically its down to the limitations of MIDI as a 30 year old technology and its inherent tendency to have “jitter” just as a “fact of nature” … we are dealing with technology from a period when the fastest computers had 2MB of RAM… just think about that for a second… the whole idea that MIDI is still “good enough” is laughable and absurd, problem is that its all we got because none of the corps will ever agree to a non-propietary standard they cant make a profit from or have to license from someone else… those days are over, apparently

[PeterHanes]

when i connect MnM and MD so that MnM is the master, MD also drifts +/- 0.3 bpms, or even more. Is this normal at all?

This is normal. It’s an artefact of the calculation of the tempo, not a particular problem with the actual clock signals.

Basically, if one MIDI clock signal from the master strays slightly, it falls outside the time window used by the slave to calculate the displayed tempo and so the displayed value flickers. If you can’t hear a problem, there is no problem.

[Castor]

Then the clock signal from USAMO probably strays slighty too. I thought that the USAMO ‘‘provides a sample-accurate, jitter-free MIDI output from your DAW.’’ … at least i’m not getting that.

[Cisa]

I just bought USAMO for using with my A4 but I can’t managed to configure it.
If I click play on Ableton the A4 does not start…
It start only if I put in preferences Fucusrite the SYNC OPTION in MIDI OPTION in LIVE (but the USAMO Manual says not do to do, otherwise you are using the LIVE SYNC and not The USAMO ONE).

My soundcard is a Focusrite Safire pro 24 DSP
I connect OUT 1 of Saffire to USAMO audio input (with an unbalanced jack)
I connect MIDI CABLE From USAMO MIDI OUT TO Saffire MIDI IN
I connect MIDI CABLE From Saffire MIDI OUT to A4 MIDI IN

Settings Of A4:
MIDI CONFIG:
all checked (transport send, receive, etc…)
MIDI PORT CONFIG:
Turbo Speed : NO
OUT PORT FUNC: MIDI
THRU PORT FUNC: MIDI
INPUT FROM: MIDI+USB
OUTPUT TO : MIDI + USB
OUTPUT CH: AUTO CH
PARAM OUTPUT: NRPN
ENCODER DEST: INT+EXT
KEYBOARD DEST: INT+EXT
MUTE DEST: INT+EXT
RECEIVE NOTE: YES
RECEIVE CC/NRPN: YES
LIVE REC ON TRK CH: YES

MIDI CHANNELS:
TRK 1: 1
TRK 2: 2
TRK 3:3
TRK 4:4
FX: 5
CV: 6
PERF CHANNEL: 8
AUTO CHANNEL : 9
PROG CH IN: 8
PROG CH OUT: AUTO

Here there are the screenshot of my Ableton LIVE Setup…

What I’m missing?
HELP !!!

Cesare

[edwold]

Why are you connecting the usamo midi output to your saffire input? This should only be done during testing (maybe that’s what you’re doing?) Otherwise you’re probably better off going from the Usamo midi out straight into the A4.

[mrdritt]

Does anyone know if I can use the headphone out from my soundcard to USAMO? I’m thinking of giving this a go but as I need the two xlr outs from my soundcard for speakers I wonder if it’s possible or not.

[HBL]

I recently purchased an Usamo midi interface to get tight sync between my elektron boxes and Ableton but I’m struggling to make it work.

Anyone here that succeed using the Usamo with Ableton Live?

So I got the Usamo to send midi clock to the Analog Rytm. First of all the on-screen tempo oscillates rapidly between 129.9 and 130.1. Isn’t the Usamo supposed to be jitter free?

Then when I record in Ableton, the Rytm is about 18ms too late. Setting an offset in Usamo VST or using negative delay compensation on the audio track doesn’t seem to have an effect.

How do you have it set up to record on the grid?

[heckadecimal]

It works well for me. I wouldn’t worry about what the Rytm’s display says; when it’s slaved it’s just trying to estimate the tempo in realtime, not actually jumping tempos. You can tell if a recording is synced by recording it and inspecting the recording (or possibly even just listening).
As for lag, it shouldn’t be that bad. Are there other delay compensations or track delays or anything? Start with a blank project and go from there.

[HBL]

So how do you have it set up in ableton? Delay compensation activated? Reduced latency while playback is on?

I’m on a blank project and still can’t figure it out…

[HBL]

if anyone is having the same problem, the key is to use the external intrument device instead of using i/o of track parameter. Took me some time to figure it out…