Use Overbridge without audio

Is it possible to use my digitakt with overbridge (for total recall and transport/clock) and not use it as an audio interface? seems like no matter the settings there is a latency. I dont need my tracks audio tracks sent to ableton, i have other audio interfaces for that. It creates a latency with my other hardware that, if i slave my digitakt to only midi and not overbridge, isnt there.

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Are you using software monitoring or direct monitoring with Ableton? If you have monitoring set to Auto or On on the track with the plugin, I believe delay compensation will be applied, which might be what you are experiencing.

I have tried monitoring in both setups. even if i make sure i have a different audio interface selected in ableton, other than the digitakt, i get latency, which i know is strange. latency goes away when i switch the digitakt to usb midi, under usb config.

Ob is for audio too the latency generated is normally compensated by the daw. Which is why it syncs so well. If you try and break out of that there’s no compensation so it’ll be off. Not really a use case that ob was designed for.

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No offense, but you werent on the design team, so how do you know what they had in mind with its design? I understand the DAW compensation for the latency, thats obvious. Also, the plugin was designed to control the hardware and is able of doing so via direct midi protocol and not thru “overbridge” (in my experience, this is how most hardware plugins work), so i reject that arguement it wasnt designed to do that. This seems more like an oversight. Really the only thing that is missing from direct midi control is project synchronization, which shouldnt affect latency, since the data is synced and transfered before you hit play.

I’d like to see this built-in too.

For now, I turn off latency compensation in the Ableton Live Options menu. I mute the Overbridge track so I can’t hear the Overbridge audio.

I also use a ERM multiclock though for keeping my Elektron devices in sync. You’ll have to be aware of any latency generated by plugins and manage it manually using this method. I haven’t tried it without the multiclock, so you may still have issues.

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Yeah, the latency compensation is off already unfortunately. Its almost as if its still processing sending audio to the computer even tho im not using it. Overbridge is a fantastic idea, if your audio endpoint is the computer and you are only using their hardware. Ableton is nothing more than a sequencer and a midi processor for me. I have no interest in audio coming out of it. I cant know for sure, but I would imagine that this should be an easy fix, seeing as they already have a communication protocol built to control the hardware.

Yeah, it still has latency because of using Overbridge for clock sync. It’s syncing it’s clock with its own audio unfortunately. I guess I really only use it for total recall and automation. Multiclock handles the syncing part.

But if you’re not fortunate enough to have an expensive sync device like multiclock, you’re kind of stuck with latency or no Overbridge :confused:

Overbridge uses a different type of sync than regular midi sync…
If you take the midi clock from your digitakt then chain it or split it to your other hardware from the overbridge clock coming from the digitakt everything will be in sync…

Or you can turn off clock and transport in the overbridge plugin and use regular midi sync and turn sync on in ableton options…
Overbridge sync seems to be much more stable than regular midi clock…

As for latency every plugin creates latency especially limiters compressors etc
it sucks but it’s normal

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I understand all of this, but there is no reason to not have an option to use midi clock sync with the plugin instead of the audio sync, esp since the hardware is capable of midi sync. there actually isnt a clock involved with my other gear, its only receiving midi notes from ableton via usb in this case, just like my digitakt, so clock isnt really the issue as far as my other gear is concerned. I would also argue that plugins dont add any latency (at least compared to what im getting) when it comes to midi communication. The processing difference between having a midi ONLY vst on a channel, vs not, is minimal on modern computers. If all midi information is coming from the same source there shouldnt be an issue (within a few miliseconds). But apparently overbridge doesnt have a mode where it doesnt use the audio processing portion so I guess im SOL. I get that its a better sync, but when you dont want to live in the computer audio world its useless. Ill have to add this to a features request apparently.

Yeah, this is what im thinking, which is a bummer. Approx how much latency do you have to add to the outputs of your multiclock to get everything to align with overbridge? Im off in the area of 23ish ms, which is beyond unacceptable for me when im not using audio portion of overbridge imo.

You can use regular midi sync by switching off clock & transport in the plugin…
Are you using a midi keyboard or controller?

If you are just concerned about sending midi notes out of ableton, just and delay to the track sending midi (not channel receiving audio) as ableton doesn’t compensate for midi going out…

Latency is part of the parcel with complicated plugins,
I get it all to work without issues the way I’ve explained

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As @DanJamesAUS says, I switch off clock in the Overbridge plugin and use my Multiclock via 5 pin DIN. I mute the Overbridge plugin, which is still off by 18ms or so. Since I’m not using latency compensation my latency is the same as my Audio interface (less than 3ms round trip).

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Ah, maybe we are finally getting somewhere! Don’t I lose total recall when I switch to midi sync instead of overbridge sync? As per my original post this is one of the functions I’m trying to keep. I’ve synced it with midi clock/transport np, but I’m trying to get some recall functionality out of the plugin without using the audio side and the latency that comes with it. 3ms is ok, 23ms is not.

I don’t think it’s possible to have total recall at the same time as the above idea. But you could use total recall, and then save everything step by step to the device itself, then do things the way the others have suggested maybe. Otherwise, it’s a support ticket / feature request to see what Elektron can do for you.

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. Too bad. Feels like they over shot their mark and missed some simple features. Thanks for the help everyone.

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As long as the plugin is connected to your Elektron device you can use total recall.
I use total recall while it’s being synced by the Multiclock (5 pin DIN). Sync is turned off in the Overbridge plugin.

I just mute it so I can’t hear the latent audio. With compensation turned off (un-checked in the Options menu in Live), Ableton Live doesn’t compensate for the inherent Overbridge latency. By turning off sync in the Overbridge plugin you can then sync via 5 pin DIN.

This is how I work regularly with Overbridge.

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Awesome! Going to try this when I get home.

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Give it a go, it should work for you.

The down side might be that you find normal MIDI sync not as tight as Overbridge sync (without a dedicated audio based sync device like Multiclock).

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A little slop never bothered me as long as I can make a feeling out of it. Also I can fix little problems in post, just don’t want it to ruin the writing process like it is now.

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Bumping this.
I’d like to try using OB2 for automation only. I sequence from Ableton Live and I find OB2 very convenient to automate parameters on the Rytm, as the “one channel per track” paradigm makes it quite a pain to automate via MIDI (Am I missing something about this ?).
It feels like a waste of computing resources to have audio enabled while I don’t use it.

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