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Syncing Orchid with MIDI Clock

Updated

Orchid can send and receive MIDI signals, making it incredibly versatile for a wide range of musical applications. 

  • MIDI Out: Utilise Orchid's chord-generating engine to trigger sounds on your favourite synthesiser. This includes the various performance settings such as arpeggios or patterns. You can use either USB-C or 5-pin DIN.
  • MIDI In: Set Orchid's clock to External, and configure your DAW as the master MIDI clock. This allows for any hardware, including your Orchid, to follow the tempo that is set in your music project. You will need to use USB-C for this.

How to set up an external clock

When external clock is selected, Orchid gets its tempo from an incoming MIDI clock signal from your DAW over USB-C. This means Orchid's arpeggiator, pattern sync, beats, loops, and other time-based features all lock to your DAW's tempo and respond to its Play and Stop transport controls. Your DAW acts as the master clock.

Follow these steps to get started:

  1. Connect your Orchid to your computer via USB.
  2. Select "Enable USB Data" with the Options dial when prompted on your Orchid to select the USB mode.
  3. On your Orchid, navigate to Options → Audio and MIDI → Clock Source → External via USB. 

Orchid will now wait for an incoming MIDI clock signal before its time-based features respond. Follow the steps for your DAW below to complete setup.

Ableton Live

  1. Open MIDI preferences. Navigate to Live → Settings → MIDI on Mac, or Options → Preferences → MIDI on Windows.
  2. Enable Sync on Orchid's output port. In the MIDI Ports list, find Orchid under the Output column. Enable the Sync switch for that port. This tells Ableton to send MIDI clock to Orchid when the transport is running.
  3. Press Play. Orchid will receive the clock signal and its time-based features will lock to Ableton's tempo. When you stop Ableton, Orchid will stop too.

Pro Tools

  1. Open MIDI Beat Clock settings. Navigate to Setup → MIDI → MIDI Beat Clock…
  2. Enable MIDI Beat Clock for Orchid. In the dialog that appears, check the Enable MIDI Beat Clock checkbox, then check the box next to Orchid in the MIDI output list. This tells Pro Tools to send clock to Orchid specifically.
  3. Press Play. Orchid will lock to Pro Tools' tempo and its time-based features will respond to the DAW's transport controls.

Note: A bug in earlier versions of Pro Tools caused MIDI Beat Clock to be sent erratically to external devices. This was fixed in the 2024.10 release. Make sure Pro Tools is up to date before using this feature.

Logic Pro

  1. Open MIDI Sync settings. With your project open, navigate to File → Project Settings → Synchronization, then click the MIDI tab.
  2. Add Orchid as a sync destination. In the Destination column, click a pop-up menu and select Orchid from the list of available MIDI output ports. Then check the Clock checkbox for that row to activate MIDI clock transmission to Orchid.
  3. Press Play. Orchid will lock to Logic's tempo and its time-based features will follow Logic's Play and Stop controls.

Note: MIDI sync settings in Logic are saved per project. You'll need to repeat this setup in any new Logic project where you want to use Orchid in External clock mode.
 

FL Studio

  1. Open MIDI Settings. Navigate to Options → MIDI Settings (or press F10).
  2. Select Orchid in the Output list and enable Send master sync. In the Output section, click on Orchid to select it. Then enable Send master sync for that device. This tells FL Studio to send MIDI clock and transport start/stop commands to Orchid.
  3. Enable MIDI master sync globally. In FL Studio's top menu, go to Options → Enable MIDI master sync. This is a global on/off switch that must be enabled in addition to the per-device setting in step 2 — both need to be active for clock to be sent.
  4. Press Play. Orchid will lock to FL Studio's tempo and its time-based features will follow FL Studio's transport controls.
     

Troubleshooting

Orchid isn't responding to the DAW's transport

Confirm Orchid is set to Options → Clock Source → External. If it is still set to Internal, it will ignore any incoming clock signal.

 

Orchid's tempo doesn't match the DAW

Make sure Orchid is listed as a MIDI output device in your DAW and that it is the device selected for clock output — not "All" or another device. In Logic Pro, also check that the MIDI sync settings are configured in the correct project, as they are saved per project.

 

Clock feels unstable or drifts in Pro Tools

Update Pro Tools to version 2024.10 or later. Earlier versions had a known bug that caused erratic MIDI Beat Clock output to external devices.