ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

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ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By ZacDBS Sun Oct 11, 2020 11:00 pm
For those considering getting the ERM multiclock... hope this shines some light

I am still having issues with the MPC staying in sync after getting an ERM Multiclock! Trying to do some tight-rhythm techno kind of stuff... nothing that should be too challenging for a sequencer. And for the life of me I cannot get it to stay in sync for more thann the length of one sequence.

It seems/sounds like the MPC's cpu is adding some time at the repeat moment of a sequence. Akai needs to fix this - even with all the wonders of the MPC workflow and style, this thing might be garbage. Any advice from the peanut gallery?
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Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By DeaDeus Wed Oct 14, 2020 2:59 pm
ZacDBS wrote:For those considering getting the ERM multiclock... hope this shines some light

I am still having issues with the MPC staying in sync after getting an ERM Multiclock! Trying to do some tight-rhythm techno kind of stuff... nothing that should be too challenging for a sequencer. And for the life of me I cannot get it to stay in sync for more thann the length of one sequence.

It seems/sounds like the MPC's cpu is adding some time at the repeat moment of a sequence. Akai needs to fix this - even with all the wonders of the MPC workflow and style, this thing might be garbage. Any advice from the peanut gallery?


That sounds evil - I am considering to get an ERM Multiclock....
- Are you sending CC or SysEx info at the start of sequences? This is holding up the MPCX quite a bit.
- With 2.8.x (not sure about 2.7..) the MPCX is at least not resending the CCs and SysEx's everytime around anymore - it did before - there was a drift you could count on :-(

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By ZacDBS Sat Oct 17, 2020 9:33 pm
DeaDeus wrote:
ZacDBS wrote:For those considering getting the ERM multiclock... hope this shines some light

I am still having issues with the MPC staying in sync after getting an ERM Multiclock! Trying to do some tight-rhythm techno kind of stuff... nothing that should be too challenging for a sequencer. And for the life of me I cannot get it to stay in sync for more thann the length of one sequence.

It seems/sounds like the MPC's cpu is adding some time at the repeat moment of a sequence. Akai needs to fix this - even with all the wonders of the MPC workflow and style, this thing might be garbage. Any advice from the peanut gallery?


Hey! actually this might be due to CC messages being sent, but not sure.
I am certainly sending a lot of date thru the MIDI cable on the same beat, but I'm beginnning to feel a bit insane because I'm reading of other people having "rock solid timing" with MPC as both slave and master since 2.8 firmware.

I'm not sending any sysex, will delete all the CC data (leaving only note and velocity data) and update this thread if it solves the issue.

That sounds evil - I am considering to get an ERM Multiclock....
- Are you sending CC or SysEx info at the start of sequences? This is holding up the MPCX quite a bit.
- With 2.8.x (not sure about 2.7..) the MPCX is at least not resending the CCs and SysEx's everytime around anymore - it did before - there was a drift you could count on :-(

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By Caustic Yoda Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:55 pm
Intersting about the erm not tightening up the lives clock, ive been using my mpc3k as masterclock for the live and its alot tighter and more reliable than using the live as master clock, having the live downstream and sequencing other gear with it seems to work fine too

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By ZacDBS Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:25 am
Updating the thread: nothing solves this problem, I'm convinced the MPC just has a laggy CPU.

I'm not doing anything extraordinary. ERM Multiclock is being synced via 24ppqn AUDIO TRIGGER not even Midi, and it still fails consistently around 4 minutes of simply running the clock.

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By Caustic Yoda Sun Oct 25, 2020 7:44 pm
damn thats a massive fail, my live syncs to mpc3000s (96ppqn) clock no probs or lag on the devices downstream from it, the erm should be superior to the 3k clock and have some more options to fine tune it, i havent found the live to fall out of time after awhile when synced to slave, theres a lot of midi options to fine tune, maybe turn off some of the track and control options?

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By ZacDBS Thu Oct 29, 2020 2:24 am
Thanks for the help, but I'm pretty sure the new line of MPCs just have shoddy CPUs in them. It seemingly can't handle playing 4 or 5 sounds at once... track and control options have all been turned off, no difference... *shrug*

To reiterate the signal flow: MPC as master sending an audio-trigger clock to the ERM Multiclock. MPC also sending midi note data, not that much, into Multiclock and then out to the modular (mutant brain and wmd metron). MPC lags unpredictably, and if I delete any more note data I won't have a song!
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Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By hyena Thu Oct 29, 2020 2:18 pm
i clocked many times my modular system from the mpc live mk1 (midi out--->pittsburgh midi 3--->analog clock out to makenoise tempi sending multiple clock divisions\multiplications to other sequencers) and never noticed anything funny.

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By maxblack Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:59 pm
I would clock the MPC Live/X etc with the ERM Multiclock, the clock out from MPC drifts all over the place, so if you sent akai clock out to any gear it will drift,(you can check this with the ERM) but if the sounds are within the mpc, plugins, drum tracks etc, they are rock solid when sequenced, even audio tracks within mpc are solid,

the nightmare starts when you mpc becomes master clock to bunch of external gear that is connected to it, this is why I make the mpc the slave and ERM the master(internal clock), and I never let akai send any Midi clock, I connect the midi in of the gear that has sequencer to the ERM out and I adjust the drift there, once all of that is in sync and building on a song, I bring the DAW in the picture but making it the master.

I use Cubase, and Cubase can not be slaved with Midi, and MTC is crap on Akai. I also have recorded each individual track to audio in cubase and they all hit the grid pretty tight.

ERM has an issue right now with Cubase's latest updates which will be addressed shorlty, from what I heard, and have seen, with Logic X you will be fine, Abelton is pretty straight forward but I just can not stand that software. Remember to make sure that your audio out from your DAW is at 48K, to the audio in of the ERM. I have spent about 1 month doing extensive testing.

Right now, I have about 14 synths connected to the AKAI mpc Live via USB, this is great because I can access all of them quickly with two switches, I can lay ideas down, jump to external gear, sequence something there and play and stop with ERM clock. When all is good, I then print to the DAW just to capture the audio files and the swing of what is happening in Standalone, so the DAW is just recording each channel, I want to keep that feel, you can record to tape or DAT machine which is what i did ages ago, once I have that I can now mix in the DAW if I want etc, but more importantly I have archived what I had been working on in Standalone mode.

You can also just switch the ERM to slave mode and fee the audio in from VST Plugin of ERM from DAW and get super tight sycn and print that.

I hope this helps someone, this forum has helped me figure things out so just wanted to share, please reply back with whatever thoughts, this is all we got right now, until Akai really improves is USB/Midi.

Thank You.

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By Yorgos Arabatzis Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:53 am
No issues here clocking my Tempest and Access VirusTi simultaneously from my MPC Live..
T & Virus outs to a Mackie 1202VLZ4 and from there back into the MPC..
Finally MPC’s outs to a UAD Arrow going inside Ableton Live for some audio analysis measurements and extra boost with UAD’s precision Limiter..
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Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By Lampdog Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:28 pm
Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:No issues here clocking my Tempest and Access VirusTi simultaneously from my MPC Live..
T & Virus outs to a Mackie 1202VLZ4 and from there back into the MPC..
Finally MPC’s outs to a UAD Arrow going inside Ableton Live for some audio analysis measurements and extra boost with UAD’s precision Limiter..



Same, 2 kybds usb midi to powered hub.
Powered usb 3.0 hub to mpc x.
Both kybds audio to mixer, mixer audio to mpc x, mpc x audio to audio interface.
Not 1 problem with mpc being master timing/sequencing.

Re: ERM Multiclock... doesn't solve MPC Live 2 clock faults!

By maxblack Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:15 pm
Access and Tempest have great USB/MIDI drivers, so those Dave Smith stuff, it is when you have tons of gear and you using each one for something and sequences are going MPC Midi Out clock suffers.

I have used ERM Multiclock to check BPM of each gear that can send out Midi Clock , it is handy tool and you can figure out which gear is the culprit.

The best way to see how each unit is performing is to record into the DAW and see where it lands on the grid, because as you record 8, 16, 24 audio tracks every bit of latency on each track will add up.

You also can see how poorly the akai mpc in controller/software mode performs when you run the same session in the software, it is just not that tight.

Running Akai mpc live in Master mode for one or two usb synths is ok but anything more than that, not a good idea for now, hopefully that can change.
On projects that have lot of parts I slave the akai to the ERM and any of the synths that have sequences the get the clock for ERM.
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