Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

topic posted Wed, August 6, 2008 - 7:48 AM by  Squee
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I am planning an event in early September in which we will have some 6 or more laptops setup for constant live performance.

I am looking for some tips as to the best ways to do this... All of the computers will be running Ableton, which is great at syncing up, and all the computers are Macintosh's.

The best thing i can think to save processor and save on latency would be to get some kind of midi clock that can send signal to all of the computers at the same time, instead of a chain of midi signal.

any thoughts?


squee
posted by:
Squee
Portland
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  • Unsu...
     

    Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

    Wed, August 6, 2008 - 5:30 PM
    mac's can do midi over ethernet... perhaps a high speed router with one computer set up as a master clock?
    • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

      Thu, August 7, 2008 - 8:18 AM
      high speed router? just a normal ethernet router, huh? that sounds super interesting. in that way the router would be acting as a go between and there would be no latency issues ya?

      sounds great... definately worth a try and cheaper then buying a midi clock and 6 midi-sport uno's!!!


      squee
      • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

        Thu, August 14, 2008 - 5:23 PM
        one more querry on the ethernet idea...


        is there any special software you need to run? or will ableton automatically recognize it?

        thanks again for the tip, seems to be the way to go

        squee
        • Unsu...
           

          Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

          Thu, August 14, 2008 - 8:32 PM
          if they are mac laptops they all have an ethernet midi device available. I haven't needed to use it... but it *should* work just fine. the thing you will need is for one laptop to be the master clock for all of them.

          ableton will automatically recognize it as a coremidi device.

          obviously you should test it first...

          go to Utilities>Audio Midi Setup... then click on the Network option/device. I just had a look and it even has a way to adjust for latency!
          • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

            Wed, August 27, 2008 - 11:52 AM
            is there a utility for this in PC?
            I'm looking for the thread describing how we do this w/ Windows...
            • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

              Wed, August 27, 2008 - 12:18 PM
              i saw some stuff... it doesn't come with windows the way the mac does...

              i saw some internet syncing options, one called ejam or ejamming

              sqiee
              • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

                Wed, August 27, 2008 - 4:49 PM
                I have done this in the past to tag team. the mac ethernet thing is great, but using ableton live you have to be careful about losing connectivity, because once you have lost the connection to the master computer there is no way to re establish the connection without stopping playback on the master tempo computer.


                Shouldn't be a problem for you, just wanted to get the warning out there~~!!

                also, i'm so sad that i cant be at this event............

                good luck!
                60hz
                • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

                  Wed, August 27, 2008 - 7:58 PM
                  for sure, it seemed we got a really solid connection. the layout of the night is so we can switch over to dj if we need to resync

                  im sorry you can't be there too!


                  squee
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

                    Fri, September 12, 2008 - 7:45 AM
                    last update

                    last weekend we threw the party, hooked up 7 laptops, 5 dj mixers, 4 cdj's. It went perfectly! Ethernet is the future of midi syncing, soooo solid. we had one computer on regular midi sync, and their computer was the only one that waivered at all...


                    squee
                    • Re: Midi Syncing 6 Laptops

                      Fri, September 12, 2008 - 11:09 AM
                      dude, this experiment was off the charts fun!!! I was a part of the performance madness. we arrived in portland the day before the event to test the linkup with 4 of the computers already handy and it worked real well. Then off to the forest to set up the party.

                      on stage, it looked like the freakin Enterprise or a giant Macintosh commercial. I have some photos of it in my profile as well, but for the best shots hit www.flickr.com/photos/205...7214964123/

                      with an 8-1 Internet router, this system was most likely the first of its kind to be debuted in front of an audience, with absolutely no rehearsal. this was raw voodoo magic with like-minded musicians just jammin away like old school jazz bands, but with psychedelic ambient beginnings into full dancefloor trance energy for many many hours.

                      wave of the future here as it opens up new possibilities for a laptop-band. Can't wait to try it in a controlled studio environment as this event was done out in the middle of the forest on generators!!

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