Nome clocking Ableton Live (please forgive me).

[beansharicots]

Hey there. I'm just a dumbdumb trying to figure out how to correctly set this up so that Nome is the master clock and Live follows its clock. A lot of the documentation seems to be geared for people wanting to do it the other way around, which seems to defeat the purpose. It works fine bidirectionally but I'm still using Live's clock. Can some kind person give me a hint on what settings are needed both in Live and the Nome? I have it setup correctly as a control surface. When I config Ableton to follow an external clock it appears to be receiving it, but doesn't receive the start message. I'm so confused so please be kind!!

[simntonic]

Hey, no worries at all.
From what you describe, it sounds like you are missing a setting in Live.

You can check in Live's Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI, and for the Nome II (Clock) input make sure:
• Track = On
• Sync = On

Then in the main Live window, hit the “EXT” button (top left). That’s the one that actually tells Live to follow external clock.

Screenshot 2026-03-18 at 11.21.35.png (7.04 KiB) Viewed 55267 times

After that, pressing play on the Nome should start Live as well.

One thing to keep in mind though, Live (and most DAWs) aren’t super tight when following MIDI clock. It’ll work, but it won’t be as solid as using U-SYNC / audio sync, which is why most of the docs focus on that direction.

Hope that helps.

[beansharicots]

Ah ok, I think I may have misunderstood how this works. I'm on a Mac and have USYNC installed and running. If I choose to not sync Live externally, I suppose the best option is the bidirectional? But, isn't Live still sending out MIDI clock? My goal is to clock my Eurorack and external hardware sequencers, as well as VST's here and there and have everything synced up for recording into Live.

[beansharicots]

I might as well tack on my other issue. What are the correct settings in AN1 and AN2 to get Pam's Pro Workout to sync and stop/start properly. Previously I was using MI Yarns for this and it work perfectly. I'm getting all sorts of strange behaviour with the Nome.
Thanks in advance for your patience. I don't know why I can't figure this out, but it is what it is.

[beansharicots]

Jeezuz, I think I have it mostly figured it out. For syncing Pam's I set ANL to follow, AN1 to '24, AN2 to RES, PL1 to both and finally MID to follow.

I gave up on the idea of clocking Live as it seems it will create more problems than I care to deal with. And for my case, there doesn't seem to be a point in doing this. Nome controls the clock and Live does everything else. So far all my external gear is properly synced and recordings look nice with a little shifting within U-SYNC.

Thanks for putting up with my ramblings.

[simntonic]

Hey, thanks for sharing the process, and no worries at all, glad you got it working

Since you’re using U-SYNC, Live is effectively the master, and Nome is just following very tightly. So you get the stability of the DAW clock without the usual MIDI sync issues. Your Pam’s settings also look right for what you’re trying to do.

[beansharicots]

I guess there's still one thing that I don't quite understand. Nome 2 has a much more solid clock than Live. But, if I use Nome as the master then Live might behave a little squirrely following Nome. But if I use Live as master, then I'm not quite getting the full benefit of Nome. Is this correct? Or am I misunderstanding something. Initially I envisioned Nome being the master clock for everything, but once you mentioned Live's timing might be a bit off following, I shied away from this idea.

[simntonic]

Hey beansharicots,

Yeah, I see where the confusion is, totally fair question.

The key thing is: with U-SYNC, you’re not really using Live’s MIDI clock in the usual way.

Normally, Live’s MIDI clock is a bit all over the place, both when sending and receiving. That’s why using Nome as master and having Live follow can feel a bit unstable.

With U-SYNC though, it’s a different story. It kind of “reads” the timing inside Live and turns that into a much tighter "specific" clock before sending it out. So even though Live is technically the master, you’re not dealing with its usual jittery MIDI clock.

So in practice: Nome as master has a great clock, but Live can struggle to follow. In
Live + U-SYNC you get stable timing everywhere, including your hardware

So you’re not really missing out, you’re just using the setup that plays nicest with a DAW.

Your current setup is basically the sweet spot

[beansharicots]

Ah yes, now I finally get it! Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it.

[walking_line]

I found this thread, and thought it might be the answer to my problem, but no dice. I've got a similar use case: trying to sync up my Eurorack with Ableton 11. I've got everything set up as per the U-SYNC QuickStart, and the bidirectional control works, but no matter what I do, the recordings never line up on the grid. The difference is between my setup and the above, is that I'm sending MIDI clock out of the Nome to the Intellijel MIDI 1U, which sends clock to Pam's which distributes to the rest of the rack. No matter what I do, the recording is always ahead of the beat by between 30 - 51 milliseconds. When I adjust the U-SYNC shift slider, I can hear the effect, but the recording is always off by the same amount. I get similar results bypassing the Nome entirely and just sending MIDI clock to the rack straight out of Ableton. I'm at a loss now. I've toggled all the settings a gazillion times, to no avail. @Simntonic, any advice here?

[simntonic]

Hey walking_line,

The key clue is this:

“I get similar results bypassing the Nome entirely…”

That means the issue isn’t the clock, but the recording latency back into Ableton.

Your clock is tight, but the audio coming back from your Eurorack has a fixed delay (interface + buffers), so it lands off the grid by the same amount every time.

A couple of things to try:
• Enable View → Track Options in Ableton
• On the recording track, disable “Keep Latency”
• Or compensate with track delay

Once that’s adjusted, it should line up properly

[walking_line]

Hey walking_line,

The key clue is this:

“I get similar results bypassing the Nome entirely…”

That means the issue isn’t the clock, but the recording latency back into Ableton.

Your clock is tight, but the audio coming back from your Eurorack has a fixed delay (interface + buffers), so it lands off the grid by the same amount every time.

A couple of things to try:
• Enable View → Track Options in Ableton
• On the recording track, disable “Keep Latency”
• Or compensate with track delay

Screenshot 2026-03-23 at 14.11.12.png

Once that’s adjusted, it should line up properly

Thanks for the reply. I don't seem to have the "Keep Latency" on my track options. I've attached a screen grab of my View menu as well as the Track Delay option at the bottom of the track. I'm on 11.2.5, maybe that's my issue (no "Keep Latency" option to disable)?

I'll try to play with the track delay and see if I can get something happening.

[beansharicots]

walking_line, I don't have it either. I think we need to upgrade Live! I've been putting this off for a while ...

[walking_line]

Yeah, I think you may be right. I think Ableton had a 25% off sale last spring around May timeframe. I’m hoping they do the same this year—will probably pony up for the upgrade at that time.

[RayBloodyPurchase]

In Live 11, turning off monitoring on your record tracks should have the same effect as turning off "keep latency" in Live 12.

Monitor through hardware if possible, but if you must monitor through Live you can do it with a second audio track with it's input set to your recording track. So, if track one is recording your hardware, turn it's monitoring off; create a second track and set "track one" as it's audio input, and this is where you monitor.

Are you sending midi from Live to the hardware? If so, external instrument plugin is your friend you can adjust it's 'hardware latency' slider to send those midi notes out ahead of or behind the clock.

[walking_line]

Yep, I had monitoring off, and was monitoring via my SSL12. Also, had the clock going from the Nome via DIN midi cable to my hardware (and USB to the computer for Live). It was setup as per the 'ideal' setup in the instructions. I'll look into this plugin you mentioned. Thanks.

[RayBloodyPurchase]

One other did you set up Live's driver error compensation for your interface? I had always ignored this setting and it turns out that it really important for getting multiple tracks to sync together, even if the error is < 1ms it causes problems.

It can be a real mind-bender getting Live sync sorted out, because there are several different ways it deals with latency, and none of them are terribly well documented... and you need to use different methods for different hardware setups and different workflows... Live sending midi to hardware requires different compensation methods than if live is triggering an external sequencer. I got through it by starting a fresh project for each hardware device, with just one or two tracks to record and monitor. That way it's easier to isolate the variables, and then once you I had them each working independently I combined them into a new project which I use as a template.

The elektronauts forum was the best source of info for me, there's a very good chance someone on there has gone through this with your specific hardware.

[walking_line]

Thanks--no, I hadn't done that Live latency setup. I was just editing recordings to put them on the grid, like a chump. But, as I understood it, that's what the Nome was supposed to take care of, using the USYNC plugin in Live without having to futz with all that other stuff to get it recording in the right spot. I'm still going to try and get that working correctly before I investigate the rest of those settings, since I've already invested in the Nome. I haven't had a chance to get into this stuff much more than my initial look into it. I find that when I go down these rabbit holes, it's all I end up doing until I get it sorted out (which I don't have the time for, presently...)

[walking_line]

One other did you set up Live's driver error compensation for your interface? I had always ignored this setting and it turns out that it really important for getting multiple tracks to sync together, even if the error is < 1ms it causes problems.

It can be a real mind-bender getting Live sync sorted out, because there are several different ways it deals with latency, and none of them are terribly well documented... and you need to use different methods for different hardware setups and different workflows... Live sending midi to hardware requires different compensation methods than if live is triggering an external sequencer. I got through it by starting a fresh project for each hardware device, with just one or two tracks to record and monitor. That way it's easier to isolate the variables, and then once you I had them each working independently I combined them into a new project which I use as a template.

The elektronauts forum was the best source of info for me, there's a very good chance someone on there has gone through this with your specific hardware.

Now that I read your post again, it may be the driver error compensation for my interface that’s the key. Will spend some time with this. Thanks.

[walking_line]

Oh man, this is driving me insane.

I've updated to Live 12. USYNC and Nome are set up in the ideal configuration as per the QuickStart. Everything's connected (USB between computer & Nome, Daemon shows all good). Midi out from Nome to midi splitter, then to synth rack, and Keystep controller (I tried sending out analog clock from Nome to Pam's to distribute the clock to the rack, but had same results, so went back to midi). Audio from the synth rack into an SSL 12. "Keep Latency" is unselected on the track, monitoring in Live is off. Here's where it gets weird. I've played with the Driver Error compensation in Live. Changing this setting (to -60 ms) gets me down from about -53 ms of latency to -6 to -8 ms on the recordings. If I go too far from that -60 Driver Error setting in either direction (+ or -) the latency grows. I've played with Track Delay in Live's options. It makes no change on the recording, even at extreme delay settings. I've played with the USYNC shift, but it will never get rid of the latency in the recording, even at high settings (+30ms has the same effect as +100ms). Negative settings on USYNC shift increases the latency greatly. If I check "I am using plugins..." the latency becomes extreme. I'm at a loss. The best I can do is -6ms of latency on the recordings. I can only conclude something isn't functioning correctly with USYNC. I'll try to set it up in a different (non-ideal) configuration next. I can't be the only person having this problem!

[simntonic]

Hey,

I think the main thing here is that you’re chasing two different problems at once: MIDI sync and audio recording latency.

From what you describe, U-SYNC is probably doing what it should, and the bigger issue is still the audio path back into Live through the SSL12. The strongest clue is that changing Driver Error Compensation moves the recording a lot, while switching from MIDI clock to analog clock via Pam’s gives basically the same result. That points much more to the recording path than to the clock itself.

Track Delay won’t really help with where the recorded clip lands, so I’d ignore that for now. And U-SYNC Shift can help with final clock alignment, but it won’t cancel out a fixed audio input / recording latency coming from the interface.

Also, the fact that around -60 ms gets you closest is a pretty big sign that the SSL12 / Live calibration is still the main thing in play here. That’s a very large correction.

What I’d do is simplify the test as much as possible. First, calibrate Live and the SSL12 on their own. Then reconnect Nome, but only with one hardware device directly from Nome, no splitter, no Keystep, no Pam’s. Use a very short percussive sound and see where that lands.

For adjusting U-SYNC Shift, I’d calibrate with MIDI only first. Send MIDI from Live to one synth, record the synth back into Live, and check what the timing offset is there. That gives you a much cleaner reference before bringing the rest of the setup back in.

Hope that helps a bit.

[walking_line]

Thanks for the reply. Great suggestions. I will try breaking it down and see if I can solve this.

I should clarify that I'm not sending MIDI notes or CC to the synths, nor am I trying to receive MIDI back into the DAW. Just clock out and audio back in from the hardware that sits on the grid in the right place.