I would like to slave Ableton to Cubase without using Rewire. I think this should be possible when using BMT Pro as the intermediary. My goal is that when I start playing Cubase, Ableton Live starts playing too. I have disabled Rewire in Ableton and I tried to slave it to Cubase using BMT Pro, but I failed.
I configured Cubase to send a Midi Start message to a Bome Virtual Port. I configured Ableton to be synced to the same Bome Virtual Port. I enabled Ableton to listen to the external sync. And yet it doesn't work, so I am doing something wrong.
What are the messages that BMT Pro needs to forward to Ableton through BMT Pro's virtual port?
Hi,
My guess is that Ableton Live will need whatever MIDI message you assign to the “Start” button “See screen shot”. The incoming message will be whatever Cubase sends, but I’m not sure what that is. I would need to see a copy of the incoming log on MT Pro from Cubase to determine that.
So the mapping would be (Whatever Cubase Sends for Start) ->Translate -> (Desired mapped MIDI message for Start button in Ableton Live)
For MIDI Sync, we would probably just need to pass through these Sync messages from Cubase to Ableton Live.
Maybe you can show me with the project file, what you have already tried?
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz
Hi, it turns out the Ableton Live uses MMC (MIDI Machine Control ) Start Song and Stop Song commands to start Ableton in External sync mode. The following is an example. I’m not using Cubase but simply using MT Pro to send MMC Start and Stop Commands and to start and stop the timing clock. If Cubase does not send MMC commands, you will need to see what it sends and convert it to MMC commands to Ableton Live. In this example I use the Up-Arrow Key to both send the MMC Start Song message and to start sending timing clock. When pressing Down-Arrow, MMC Stop Song message is sent and the timing clock timer is killed.
In Ableton MIDI preferences , I just clicked Sync for BMT 1. Then turned on sync button onin the upper left corner of Ableton Live.
Let me know how it works for you.
Again the difference you will need is to convert whatever Cubase sends for start and stop to the MMC commands. Then You can just pass through the timing clock from Cubase through MT Pro and then back out to Ableton.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz
Edit - It actually is not MMC, just FA (for Song Start) and FC (for Song Stop) is what Ableton recognizes, but I think Cubase doesn\'t send this and instead uses MMC, so you would need to convert MMC from Cubase to the above for Ableton.
Thank you for your effort, Steve. In the meantime I found the solution. I attached it here. The crucial one was forwarding the timing clock. If my solution can be done more efficiently I am all ears.
OK, actually since both Cubase and Ableton recognize the same start and stop sequence, I don’t think any translators would be required. Simply draw a line between the virtual port coming fro Cubase to the virtual port going to Ableton Live in the routing section of your project. Then all MIDI will just pass through. If you only have sync set int Ableton Live. Anything else should be ignored by Ablelton Live.
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz
I just dragged a line from one virtual port to the other. I only activated sync in the Ableton Midi control. It works. It is always great to optimize rules. Thank you for your assistance, Steve.
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