Sim'n Tonic Forums

I have an interesting problem to troubleshoot...

In short if I have everything set up as the manual describes. Midrome is updated to firmware 4.6. The daemon is installed along with U-Sync. The daemon sees the midronome and states that it is connected. Autoplay on Midronome is set to BOTH. When I boot up Ableton with the plugin the daemon says DAW is connected. Audio/MIDI setup on macOS 14.7.6 (M1 MacBook Pro/ SSL Big Six interface) sees the Midronome MIDI & Audio interface.

U-Sync plugin is installed on an instrument track in Ableton 12. I have the NOME MIDI script selected in Ableton MIDI setup, Midronome DAW control for input and DAW commands for output. I have sync checked under Midronome Clock for Ableton to slave and the EXT sync box checked.

The problem is when I try to sync as the manual states with Ableton as slave, when I press play on the Midronome the play button is dead and doesn't respond. I also notice Ableton sees no MIDI clock input (the upper little box next to the EXT sync button in the toolbar) but shows MIDI output.

Through trouble shooting I've gotten it to work (that is Ableton to slave and see MIDI Clock from Midronome) by turning OFF the Nome MIDI script by setting Ableton's control surface flip menu to NONE. As soon as I do this Ableton shows that it is receiving external MIDI clock in the box next to the EXT button. I hit play on the Midronome it gives a one bar count and Ableton syncs and plays along. Both the Midronome and U-Sync plugin show sync/locked. HOWEVER it won't allow me to set tempo from either the Midronome or from Ableton and when I hit play the tempo on midronome and Ableton snaps to around 100 bpm always. When I hit stop on Midronome and allow them to idle, both Ableton and Midronome show the tempo slowing down in tempo every two beats (4/4). As soon as I hit play again it snaps to 100 bpm. Again I'm not choosing this tempo they are. I lose all ability to control tempo.

I can only "correct" this by removing the U-Sync plugin and leaving the control surface script off. When I do Ableton will slave and I can control tempo from Midronome. Sync is fairly tight (compared to life before the Midronome). For these tests I'm just using a Make Noise Shared System (using the analog clock/reset out from Midronome) and Elektron Octatrack. They sync to the downbeat of the bar and work great.

What is going wrong here? I'd like the advertised sync within +/- 1 ms.

modul8r wrote: ↑28 Jul 2025, 09:01I have sync checked under Midronome Clock for Ableton to slave and the EXT sync box checked.

I think that is your problem. Try turning that off, no sync and no EXT, this is sync over MIDI Clock, but you're already syncing via U-SYNC. So I think the two are competing and conflicting with each other

Simon

Hello again!

So I tested this late last night and again just now. Apparently I was not understanding how U-Sync worked because this was MUCH better. Super tight sync! 2-3 ms after the beat. In testing over and over, every 1 out of 10 starts will have the eurorack drums coming in 10ms before the beat.

Only a few questions....

Am I meant to have Sync ticked ON under Ableton MIDI setup : NOME Output (Midronome Command)? Without it, pressing play in Ableton will not start the Midronome.

I had to turn Autoplay off on Midronome as it would cause multiple 'hits" (I have a drum kit patched) when I would press play and this would throw off the Make Noise Tempi as well as the reset on the Rene sequencer. The 1 of the bar on Rene would come in on the 4 in Ableton. With autoplay off, it starts without glitching and lines up perfectly every time.

I also had to set Ableton to "Pattern" under the NOME output (Midronome command) as having it set to Song would send a gate to the Make Noise Tempi clock that would stop it after a bar or two ONLY IF I hit play/record on any bar other than Bar 1. Starting from bar 1 everything was fine. Start recording on say bar 56 and it would send a gate stopping the Tempi/Sequencer after a bar or two. Selecting Pattern stopped this. Not sure why.

Set up as I am currently is Midronome the “master”? Still trying to wrap my head around what’s happening.

Will keep testing but absolutely loving this so far!

Hi again

Sorry I can really see how a proper quick-start guide for U-SYNC is missing, one per DAW probably

Latency of 2-3ms could happen, and you should be able to compensate it with the shift slider in the U-SYNC plugin. A 10ms delay on your eurorack is not normal (unless it comes from your module itself but still 10ms is a very long delay for hardware!), check that it is actually sync'ed properly to the Nome and not to something else.

Regarding the Ableton setup:

• You should not set sync anywhere in Ableton MIDI setup.
• EXT should be off.
• On the Nome, autoplay (A.PL) should be On (select the port of your choice).

When this is done, the "Locked" LED on your Nome should be permanently on, and changing the tempo on either Ableton or the Nome should change it in the other one, same with start/stop. If this is not the case, open the U-SYNC plugin to see what it says, and make sure the Control Surface is set correctly.
In the bi-directional setup there is no master, both Ableton and Nome can control everything else.

Then use the Nome to send MIDI Clock, not MIDI notes. Clock your MIDI and modular hardware, and use this hardware to send MIDI Notes to your synths. MIDI Notes through U-SYNC is coming in U-SYNC 2.0

modul8r wrote: ↑29 Jul 2025, 04:09 I also had to set Ableton to "Pattern" under the NOME output (Midronome command) as having it set to Song would send a gate to the Make Noise Tempi clock that would stop it after a bar or two ONLY IF I hit play/record on any bar other than Bar 1. Starting from bar 1 everything was fine. Start recording on say bar 56 and it would send a gate stopping the Tempi/Sequencer after a bar or two. Selecting Pattern stopped this. Not sure why.

This I am not sure - Midronome Commands is not really used, except a little bit by the Control Surface script, but this has no impact on the timing. This sounds like there was something else (other than the Nome) communicating with your Make Noise Tempi.

Simon

Thank you for the quick reply. I may be able to test this all again tonight but just wanted to respond...

Every once in a while the drums were hitting the grid 10 ms early (the duration read out in the bottom left of the Ableton session window counts ms?). This is very rare, like I said maybe happens once out of 10 takes or more. If I hit stop and start again it will be back to 2ms delay.

My eurorack system is clocked by the analog clock/reset out of Midronome. My Octatrack/keyboards are from the MIDI out. I also have MIDI split to CVOCD which converts MIDI to CV. I'll be adding the OXI One MKII into my tests shortly and plan to drive it off Midronomes' MIDI out.

Simon wrote: ↑29 Jul 2025, 08:20
Regarding the Ableton setup:

• You should not set sync anywhere in Ableton MIDI setup.
• EXT should be off.
• On the Nome, autoplay (A.PL) should be On (select the port of your choice).

Okay so this means something is still not right on my end. Ableton and Midronome don't talk unless I tick sync on the NOME output. I don't have EXT on. The locked LED is permanently on, the plugin shows sync and I can talk bidirectionally to change tempo. When I have autoplay on I can start everything including Ableton from the Midronome. The problem with this, that I'm looking into, is why I get a glitch with autoplay where the eurorack drums fire in rapid succession before playing when I press play or record. After the glitch they won't line up to the start of the bar when set that way (the 1 in eurorack ends up on the 4 of the bar in Ableton). The Octatrack happily plays along in sync with the grid.

All note/drum programming is happening in hardware for these tests and Midronome is providing clock as you described.

You're saying that the BPM control and start/stop does not work unless you have the "sync" box ticked? This is very strange, as this has no effect on U-SYNC (it will just conflict with it if you have the EXT button enabled).

Otherwise it all sounds correct in your setup. The glitches could come from some of the converters/gear that you are using. If you want to find out why they happen, I would simplify the setup until everything works 100%, then add the things one by one

Simon

Just an update...

Everything is going great. I have everything set up exactly as you describe, got bidirectional communication going, all the midi instruments are playing along happily and in tight sync.

Gonna bring eurorack back into the mix next, controlled by the Oxi One!

Glad to hear! Did you find out what was the issue?

Simon

Number one was not understanding how U-Sync worked, second, was trying to get things set up quickly and reading the part in the manual about syncing your daw to Midronome. That sent me down the path of thinking MIDI clock was syncing things up in the traditional way and I turned on parameters that confused the situation.

Things are still going great, working on other things right now, but I need to test out more eurorack sync in the coming days.