Using LiveSync 3.1 to synchronise 2 laptops running ableton sessions, with tempo changes and time-sig changes. We are running in arrangement view as required.
When navigating a time-signature change, LiveSync is also changing the prior time-signature on the Follower device. This seemingly continues to run fine during playback. However, if we restart playback, it causes issues because the time-signatures are no longer matched on the timelines of the two different machines. Is this intended behaviour or are we encountering a bug? As it stands, to relaunch playback, we must first reload the session on the follower machine and also choose a start point that is in the same time signature as the bar currently selected on the follower machine. We have replicated this behaviour in a small blank session (containing only tempo and time sig changes).
I have attached screenshots of the timeline before and after playback so you can see the issue more clearly.
This is losing us a lot of time in rehearsal as the project is large and takes multiple minutes to load. As such, if this is the expected behaviour then it would be useful to know so we can plan ahead accordingly. If this behaviour is unexpected then any help troubleshooting would be very valuable.
Before
After
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for getting in touch about this.
Indeed time signature changes are not supported very well by Livesync at the moment, due to the fact that the Ableton Live API is limited in the information it can send to us. I.e. we don’t get time stamps for API change messages, there is no way to know retro-actively what tempo changes have occurred and when, and we don’t have a way to get accurate information about the current playback time in seconds along the Live transport.
I realize this is not the answer you were hoping for; if we find ways to better support these scenarios, we’ll update the tools and update everyone via our newsletter.
Kind regards,
Mattijs
On Thu, 5 Jun at 10:53 PM , Matt Stevens Music and Production mattstevensmusicandproduction@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
We’re trying to use LiveSync to synchronise 2 laptops running ableton sessions, with tempo changes and time-sig changes. We are running in arrangement view as advised by your documentation.
We are having an issue wherein when navigating a time-signature change, LiveSync is also changing the prior time-signature. This seemingly continues to run fine, however if we restart playback, it causes issues because the time-signatures are no longer matched on the timelines of the two different machines. Is this intended behaviour or are we encountering a bug? As it stands, to relaunch playback, we must first reload the session on the follower machine and also choose a start point that is in the same time signature as the bar currently selected on the follower machine. We have replicated this behaviour in a small blank session (containing only tempo and time sig changes)
This is losing us a lot of time in rehearsal as the project is large and takes multiple minutes to load. If this is the expected behaviour then it would be useful to know so we can plan ahead accordingly. If this behaviour is unexpected then any help troubleshooting would be very valuable.
Attached below are before and after pictures of the timeline to illustrate the issue. The dark grey bars in the time-sig line fill out the additional beats to make the “new” time-signatures line up.
Thanks
Matthew Stevens
Before:
After:
