ARP issues

[dent]

Hi there Infekted people! :)

I have just recently got myself a Virus TI Desktop and am experiencing an issue that seems to be talked about here and in other places, but not in any great detail: Drifting/Uneven Arp.

Currently, my setup is as follows:

- MBP Core Duo 2.16ghz
- Leopard (UPGRADE from tiger, not fresh install) - all updates to date
- 2 Gig of ram
- Ableton Live 7.0.10 (will upgrade to 11 beta soon)
- Virus TI Desktop connected directly to the MBP via USB
- Using Virus Control
- Virus as the Audio Interface
- 512 Buffer (I will try lowering it too)
- Sync set on Virus Ti Synth in Midi Sync preferences.
- "LIVE Button" enabled (although I am yet to play with turning it off too)
- Virus is configured to sync against an external clk source. Changing tempo in Live 'updates' the tempo of the arp
- Virus OS is latest
- No other USB devices plugged in (although there are things that share that internal HUB that MBP's have, e.g the iSight, keyboard and trackpad)
- I am running out of Hard Drive space at the moment.

Describing the issue: Pressing and holding ARP-based presets seems to work to begin with, but slowely there are timing issues with the pattern. Delays, speed-ups, missing notes or extra notes. The same can be said for arps triggered by midi clips.

Now, I have been experiencing other odd issues with Ableton Live too. Particularly when I have tried to sync it against an external midi clock source from my Remote Zero SL - it just drifts and never stays in sync... Damn shame.

Can people fill me in a little more about the Arp issue please? Is it something that occurs no matter what I do, or is there a way of getting around it? Is it specific to Live? What if I try to work with arps not using external source? Not keen on it, but will consider a clean install of Leopard if that REALLY helps.

I am also open to the idea of recording the arps midi notes down to a Live midi clip... How might I do this with Live? Is it even possible?

I will have another play with it tonight, but I just want to know if this is something resolvable or not. Ive spent a lot of my hard earned cash on purchasing this synth, my first synth, particularly for the TI aspect of it, and arps are a major part of the virus presets. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I have to forget about arps altogether in my compositions...

Your help and assistance are extremely welcome...
CHEERS!

[marc]

what you discover is very likely to be USB related.- i cannot say if it's because you did an update install from 10.4 to 10.5 instead of a fresh one or your USB buss is maxed out. if you disconnect all USB devices apart from the Virus you might be able to draw some conclusions. in any case Access support will happily help you.

best, marc

[dent]

I believe I have resolved the issue... Couple of things:

- Misunderstanding what the 'LIVE' button does in relationship to playback. The button should only be used when you are recording midi input via a keyboard. It removes latency during playback too - BUT, there is already compensation for this latency (either by Live or the VC) so it should be turned off (not red) when you are playing parts in a sequence.

- Setting from 48000khz to 44100khz in the audio settings. It is my understanding the virus internal clock speed (not midi clock) is 44100. Constant conversion would be taxing, and I suspect, introduces errors.

- Lowering the buffer size to 256 samples instead of 512. I also looked at the driver error compensation - not sure if that made a difference, but my latency is reportedly 5ms now.

- Ensuring only the 'track' and 'sync' options are armed for the output of the Virus Ti Synth in midi sync and that it was set to 'pattern', not 'song'. This seems to get Live to send a steady stream of midi clock messages to the synth. This is indicated by a flashing orange light up near the tempo while the sequencer is in play mode.

So, now I finally able to get into actually making some new sounds and sequencing out some stuff. I am absolutely loving the sound of it now. Just wish I could turn it up louder - BLOODY NEIGHBOURS!

Cheers guys
Karl