Connected remotely with a client in the Channel Islands using hardware synths in his studio.
Started by discussing his setup and looking at how everything is currently connected around Pro Tools and Ableton Live in his studio. He explained to me that although the setup is working he was experiencing inconsistencies with the timing of the MIDI notes being played back by his external equipment.
This sounded very similar to issues I add experienced myself when setting up external synths to work with a Logic Pro studio a few years ago. After a lot of testing in that situation, we found the problems disappeared when we switched from using the synths’ internal USB MIDI interfaces and ran the MIDI over 5-pin DIN instead.
I diagnosed that in this situation, the likely cause of the errors was the number of USB hubs my Channel Islands client was using in his studio. I recommended he switched to a dedicated multi-port USB to MIDI interface and showed him online the brand I recommend. (In some situations budget gear is fine but I don’t recommend using cheap USB to MIDI interfaces, in my direct experience they can misread data and often have timing errors.)
My client ordered the new interface and DIN cables and we connected remotely again a week later. I talked him through the installation of the interface and where to connect the DIN cables. We needed to consult the manuals to change some of the synths’ settings to use DIN rather than USB MIDI.
I showed him how to set up External Instrument presets in Ableton to make his synths quicker to access.
Caught up with the client a week later and confirmed the synths were running fine with no timing problems.
About the Author
I’m the owner and lead technician for Audio Support, a small company based in London, UK that connects remotely with clients worldwide to help them with their music technology issues. I’ve run Audio Support since 2005 and in that time I’ve seen and solved thousands of recording studio problems.
Outside of Audio Support, I run music workshops at a local school, play bass in a 90s tribute function band and perform modular synth jams with friends on Twitch.
Get support for similar problems:
More Ableton Live problems solved
- Controlling Keyboard Sensitivity of Komplete Kontrol S88 MK3 Keyboard
- Remote Support for the Morningstar MC6 Pro MIDI Controller
- Home Studio Visit to Configure Prism Monitoring Setup
- Integrating an iPad running Loopy Pro into an Ableton Studio Setup
- Working With Pitch Bend Data in Ableton
- Native Instruments’ Komplete Audio 6 audio interface disconnecting
- Issues with MIDI timing in a studio using external hardware synths
- MIDI controller keyboard not working properly in Ableton Live
More Pro Tools problems solved
- Guiding a Client Through the Updated Spitfire Audio Labs Interface
- Guiding a Client Through the Spectrasonics Update Procedure
- Pro Tools freezing when loading a project on Windows – Solved
- Problems Routing an SSL BUS+ In and Out of Pro Tools via an Apogee Sympony – Solved
- Anatares Autotune Licensing Problem in Pro Tools- Solved
- Gain Problems with Pro Tools and an SSL 12 Audio Interface – Solved
- Custom Pro Tools Template – SSL12, SSL Fusion and Warm Audio preamp
- Waves Central v10 Plugins Not Showing in Pro Tools – Solved
- Restoring a 2010 Mac Pro
- Pro Tools Crashing on Load
- Configuring an Apogee Symphony, Eventide H900 and Pro Tools HDX system
- Issues with MIDI timing in a studio using external hardware synths