Three different answers to the same question — how does Live stay in time with something that is not Live — and they are for genuinely different situations.
Link: other people, other apps
Link synchronises tempo and beat position across applications and across a network. Two laptops on the same wifi, or Live and an iPad app on the same machine, and they share a tempo and a downbeat.
- Turn it on in the Control Bar. Any other Link-enabled app on the network joins automatically — there is nothing to configure.
- Anyone can change the tempo and everyone follows.
- Each participant starts and stops independently but stays phase-locked, so joining late still lands on the beat.
- Link Audio goes further and shares the audio stream between apps on the same machine.
This is how two producers jam on two laptops without a cable, and it is the least fussy sync that has ever existed.
Tempo Follower: Live chases you
Everything above assumes Live sets the tempo. Tempo Follower inverts it: Live listens to an incoming audio signal and follows *its* tempo.
Point it at a live drummer's overhead mic and the set follows the drummer, including their drift. That is the difference between a band playing to a click and a band playing.
It needs a clear rhythmic signal to lock to — a kick or snare mic works, a full mix is harder. Give it a bar or two to settle and expect it to wobble if the source does.
MIDI clock: the old way
For hardware without Link. Set Live as the sync master to drive a drum machine, or as the slave to follow one.
The control that matters is Sync Delay, which compensates for the latency between the two machines. Set it by ear: play a click on both, and nudge Sync Delay until they are one sound rather than two.
Which one
- Another laptop or a phone app — Link, every time.
- A live band — Tempo Follower.
- A hardware sequencer or drum machine — MIDI clock, and budget ten minutes for Sync Delay.