Volca Midi Sync = NO GO

[kengc2]

Anyone else failing to get Live to sync up with the new Korg Volca boxes?
I have midi clock out on my settings chosen for the Midi port that the Volca (any of them) is plugged in to. I have tried the Mini Din Sync out on my master controller (Axiom Pro 49) as well as through a USB Midi hub (MOTU midi express 128). I can get a successful Midi sync to other hardware (Tempest, Bass Station II, etc.)
I have verified that "Midi Clock Source" on the Volca is set to "Auto" (other choice is "Internal").

With the 1/8" sync cable plugged in to the Volca, it waits for a signal to start the clock (which makes sense), but with the Midi cable plugged in from Ableton I get no sync of any type-- regardless of the start type chosen in Ableton-- song or pattern.

Non of the Volcas that I've received respond to Midi clock (Bass, Keys, Beats).

Anyone else having these types of difficulties?


Thanks,
Ken

[swishniak]

the default midi channel for the volcas is 10 (if i remember). check it

[kengc2]

Have tried using channel 10, the default for Beats, and 1, the default for Bass. Have tried changing the channel to some other channel - Live as well- and no go. Thank you for the suggestion. Midi note data is being received by the Volcas fine- just no sync. I have verified that the midi ports are set to Sync in Live, and these Midi ports sync just fine with other hardware, such as my Tempest.

[kengc2]

Anyone?

How about success? Have you been able to successfully sync a Volca to Ableton?
Did you do anything that I haven't already done?

Just knowing that people are doing it will at least let me know that it's possible.

Thanks,
Ken

[cmreal04]

Mine won't ship out to later this week, but I'll let know then

[mosca]

I have synced Ableton to all three. MIDI out of my Novation controller to MIDI in on the Volca Beats (tried the other two as well). I've found it works better if you do a song stop to sync them to beat one but then on a song start i've had no problems. Have you made sure that your preferences in Live are set correctly?

[cmreal04]

I've had my v.bass and keys for about a week now, really happy with'em.

[Psykiatrisk]

My Beats (on factory settings) does start when I hit play in Ableton, but I can't get it to play nearly sync with the sequencer from Ableton. Each time I hit play, the (off-) timing is different. Didn't manage to correct it by Abletons latency settings.
No problems with my x0xb0x which is connected to the same midi port of my RME Fireface UC.
Any help is appreciated.

[schlocktober]

I was able to get the Volcas to sync not over MIDI but by emulating the sync in. I did this with sample of the sound from the sync out, playing 8th notes inside of an ableton drum rack. I routed that channel to an output on my interface, then to the sync in on the volca. Didn't work 100% of the time, but when it did it sync'd and start/stopped. I could even make the patterns in the volca beats sequencer swing by drawing swung 8th notes into the dummy sync track. Same with double time and half time - just draw 16th or 4th notes. The beats steps through its sequence one 8th note per click, so a non-uniform pattern steps at an irregular rate. I haven't played much with that, but it could be interesting.

[themood13]

I have 6 volcas connected to Ableton and I noticed that I needed to delay the each track at different amounts to get each track to trigger the volcas correctly and also had to tweak those delays after introducing more tracks (volcas) to not have one interfere with the other. I am using a motu 5 in/out midi box and I also have all of the volcas chained with their sync cables. Input audio from the volcas to a Focusrite pro 40. I think after you play with the track delays, it should work out ok.

[themood13]

I have good news as I have figured out some good stuff with the volcas. I was trying to use the volcas as midi slaves to ableton live and record midi patterns in the ableton cells with push. I was having no sort of luck at all with out fiddling around with the many options for sync delays. I would get midi key lock-ups or notes freezing and forced to reset the devices. It seemed the more external devices I added to the chain the harder it was to get them to behave properly. I gave up on this and have been using these volcas the past few months synced to ableton only for the purpose of the midi play triggers, thus using the volcas limited internal memory for pattern storage and play. I was showing a friend my rig and discussing my goal of using ableton to control all of the pattern storage and playback and it dawned on me what I was doing wrong. In the Ableton preferences menu under the Midi Sync tab, I had Checked Sync for all of the midi outputs going to the Volcas. Also Track and Remote checked. So, the Volcas were getting a Sync (play) command from Ableton (which I kept memory slot 1 blank on the volcas so no sound would be heard). Then I tried to send a cell pattern playing midi to the volcas. This caused many issues with the volcas. The solution was turning off Sync from each midi output to any external gear, leaving track and remote on for the outputs. Now when I press Play on Ableton, the Volcas do not cycle through the 16 steps and are not "Playing". No 1/8" headphone sync cables are connecting any volcas together. I can use them all with no skipped notes, no note lockups, and push is working wonderfully to play/record into Ableton cells and the Thesis VST is even able to control the external devices, no Problems AT all!@!!!! Good luck everyone and hope this experience helps some of you out.

2- Korg Volca Beats, 2- Korg Volca Bass, 2- Korg Volca Keys, Roland MC-505, Roland TR-8, Roland TB-3, Akai APC-40, Ableton Push, Focusrite Pro-40, Motu Micro Lite 5, Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock, Mac Mini-4core-16GB-1TB, Ableton Live 9 with MAX \m/_ _\m/

[timday]

I've been using the Beats and Keys, sync is generally fine. As above though I've had to do some messing around with track delays in some cases. I also have a strange issue where sending automation curves to Volcas on my MBP slows them down, like the controllers need drastic thinning. This doesn't happen on my PC so it's a bit mysterious. I get round it by stepping the automation.

I had a sync-related issue with the Keys that if I had a MIDI clip in Ableton playing long notes on it the sync would trigger the sequencer which would then send spurious note offs. I only really wanted to tempo sync the delay, so I turned sync off, but then I found out that if I use the analogue sync off the beats which is in turn MIDI synced from Ableton it all works fine.

Also, recording the analogue sync signal as an audio clip then sending it out an audio out into a Volca works pretty well. Then you can do double/half speed etc pretty easily.

Off topic but you can also use the sync out to trigger envelopes and such on an MS-20 via the patchbay as it's a 5v pulse. Likewise you can set an MS-20's LFO to pulse and plug it into the sync in, and it will control the Volca's tempo.

Generally I think remote out should be disabled - IIRC it does not send ccs, that's done from track out, all that will happen is if you have a MIDI key remote controlling a clip the clip will in turn trigger the corresponding note on the synth