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!