One of the coolest things about Ableton Live is midi syncing multiple laptops together for jamming. The first time I tried it I was a little worried about how tight the timing would be but my fears turned out to be unfounded. It was a little tricky though so here's a few tips for anyone who wants to try it.
Make sure that sync is enabled on the inputs and outputs you are using. Also, make sure that track and remote are off on the slave computers midi input or your master will start triggering your slaves sounds too! Sometimes you can't do this is the slave uses a midi controller with built-in midi interface. If this is the case, you can usually configure the master midi controller to not echo midi note and controller data on the physical midi port thus allowing you to enable track and remote on the slave again. Some experimentation with your jam partners is probably a good idea here.
On the slave computers select the Ext button to enable syncing to an external clock. If you are recieving midi clock sync already you will see an green square blinking next to the Ext button. The master will see an orange block blinking if sync is being sent. These are very useful for diagnosing sync problems so learn to use them!
Finally, once you have sync working, mute any tracks that have active clips and turn on the metronomes on all synced computers. You will now easily be able to hear how off the sync is. Have the slave computer adjust the midi clock sync delay until it is perfect. You'll know you are close when the dueling metronomes start phasing each other out.
If you are syncing more than two computers, do this last step one by one between the master and each slave.
I've hooked up three laptops with Ableton and it worked great. I'd be curious to hear from anyone else if they've done more.
Read my next post on syncing multiple laptops in Ableton Live here.
5 comments:
Hey man, i'm using Midisport 2x2 interfaces and i can't get the slave to recieve MIDI, the green light doesnt show up in ableton and on the midisport, my midi cables are new, what should i do?
the master works fine and sends the data, but the other midisport isnt recieving.
Here are some things to check:
1) you mention that the master is sending sync, but is the right output selected for sync? Go ahead and check the sync button for every midi output you have listed in Ableton on the master.
2) on the slave, check the sync button on every input you have too. That will eliminate the possibility that we're listening to sync on the wrong inputs.
3) is the midi cable going directly from the midi out on the master to the midi in on the slave? If there's a device in between, even if its traveling through a thru port, remove it from the chain and route your cable directly from the in to the out.
I tried this via an Ad Hoc network between two computers and found that the metronomes would start floating up and down away from each other after about a min. So then i tried a hard wire thinking maybe the Ad Hoc had something to do with it. Lo and Behold I got the exact same results. I have to admit i was running some processor intensive music on the machines though. Who knows...
I have two computers. One is a Mac running Ableton Live 8 and the other is Windows running Ableton Live 8. Both computers have separate Midisport 2x2 Midi Interfaces. I've program both applications, one is sync to send and the other is sync to recieve. On the Mac computer (Master) Next to Ext button located on the top left corner of application,the light signals that the sync message is going out but nothing is being received by the Window Computer (Slave) I thought Ableton was a sequencer. I know that I am using two different operating systems to do this. Do I need an external sequencer like an MPC or Drum Machine for this to work or am I doing something totally wrong.
I have the exact same problem as TRAQSTARS. GIVE ME THE ANSWER. I've been fucking around with Ableton too long.
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