Time Factor – MIDI sync lost/dropping out

[Liviu Groza]

After one year of syncing my timefactor to an external MIDI clock signal, it is all of a sudden unstable. 

BPM is steady for about 10 seconds, then drops down about 10 BPMS and needs about 4-5 seconds before it can sync again to the correct BPM. I've tried another MIDI cable, and sending the MIDI clock from my MOTU soundcard or from my MPC: the problem is the same. 

I've never updated the software in the timefactor, but it worked super for a year. Could this problem be hardware related? Or should I simply update the timefactor software to the current version? Did anyone experience this before? Any suggestions much appreciated. 

[wedelich]

Were the MOTU and the PC the devices you were using the past year to do a MIDI sync, or are they are recent addition?  If you had been using those, have you updated your MOTU driver or your PC lately?

Also, any MIDICLK from a computer can be jittery or get low priority, especially if there are other processes running.   

-Russ 

[Liviu Groza]

Thanks for your reply Russ. Nothing has changed in my setup. MIDI sync has been rock solid for the past year. If the MIDI sync would drop out from the computer as regularily as it does on the TF, I would hear it, since the TF is not the only piece of hardware hooked up.  No other process is running on my Mac, and for testing I also sent MIDI sync from my MPC. So I take it it is not a known issue that will be resolved by a software update. I will still install the update, and reinitialize the TF, maybe it will help. But if the dropouts are 100% repro, regardless of the MIDI sync source, I will get in contact with support. 

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