Sim'n Tonic Forums

Hi all,

I don’t have a midronome yet but want one. I’m curious about how it will integrate with my set up. I have several dum machines and synths all connected to my Mac through a USB hub (although it’s all connected via midi too). I’m using Ableton as my DAW.

If I incorporate a Midronome will I need to use all the external gear via midi cables or can I connect the Midronome via USB and use its plug in within Ableton and the rest of the gear via USB midi with the existing hub set up.

Thank you!

Hi sineman, thank you for asking here!

You can technically use software to forward the clock sent by the Midronome (over USB) to your devices (also over USB).

But in this case the clock goes:

Midronome -> USB cable -> computer -> forwarding software -> USB cable -> sequencer

(on Mac, you can use for example Pocket MIDI as a forwarding software, on Windows MIDI-ox I believe can do it)

But this means the clock has to travel a lot, especially 2 USB connections and one thing USB-MIDI is not great for is precision. So I would doubt this gives you precise clock. It could work for your setup - it all depends on your gear and requirements. But otherwise, with MIDI-DIN cables going straight from the Midronome to your sequencers, you would get much much better precision.

Note that if you want to send MIDI data (for example CC or MIDI Notes) from Ableton to your devices, the Midronome can forward them for you, merging it with the MIDI Clock it generates. From Ableton you simply send the MIDI data to "Midronome MIDI Out 1" (or 2) as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAXo6txl_eo&t=17s

Cheers
Simon