{"id":27946,"date":"2026-09-18T10:01:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?p=27946"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:52:43","slug":"how-to-sync-vintage-analog-drum-machines-with-ableton-lives-tempo-follower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/how-to-sync-vintage-analog-drum-machines-with-ableton-lives-tempo-follower\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Sync Vintage Analog Drum Machines with Ableton Live\u2019s Tempo Follower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sync the Unsyncable: Add Organic Tempo and Human Feel to Electronic Production<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vintage drum machines weren\u2019t built with modern DAWs in mind, but that doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t play nicely together. Early analog drum machines such as the Eko Computerhythm, Korg Mini Pops, Roland Rhythm 77 (also called the TR-77), and the coveted CR-78 sound magical. These are true analog machines with drum and percussion sounds generated by physical electronic circuits rather than a digital sample or computer code. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the \u201970s and into the early \u201980s, pioneering pop and electronic music artists, such as Blondie, Jean-Michel Jarre, Gary Numan, and David Bowie, to name just a few, incorporated these unique machines into their music. That\u2019s a Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 doing the syncopated water torture percussion on the first seven seconds of Blondie\u2019s \u201cHeart of Glass\u201d<\/a>; Jean-Michel Jarre used the Korg\/Keio Mini-Pops 7 on Oxyg\u00e8ne<\/em><\/a>, especially Parts II, IV, and VI; and Gary Numan was an early CR-78 user who also used the TR-77 on \u201cI Nearly Married a Human<\/a>\u201d from Tubeway Army\u2019s Replicas<\/em> album. The Replicas Redux<\/em> version of this album also includes \u201cI Nearly Married a Human (2)<\/a>\u201d with the TR-77 even more prominently featured. David Bowie also used the Roland TR-77 Rhythm 77 to fill out \u201cArt Decade<\/a>,\u201d one of the instrumentals on side 2 of Low<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results set the stage for the sound of drum machines in pop music for decades to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One common early use of these machines was as a glorified metronome: somebody would choose a preset pattern and the band would simply play along. With this approach, no machine tempo sync\u2014whether an analog PPQN (pulses per quarter note) connection or MIDI Beat Clock\u2014was required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAKE A COURSE WITH ERIK HAWKINS!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, most modern electronic music producers would prefer to have a drum machine that they can tempo sync with their DAW program. Unfortunately, these old rhythm machines have no such connections. Though it\u2019s possible to retrofit these machines with sync and MIDI, there\u2019s a much easier approach that doesn\u2019t require a soldering iron. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this video, I demonstrate how you can use a 1972 Roland TR-77\u2019s audio output to clock Ableton Live\u2019s main tempo. Instead of your band following the drum machine\u2019s tempo, your DAW does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach has many interesting benefits, including getting away from the computer\u2019s perfect, unwavering digital clock, and instead infusing your session\u2019s tempo with a wonderfully organic, imperfect, almost human clock. This synchronization technique is made possible by Live\u2019s Tempo Follower, an invaluable feature for bringing these quirky old machines into a modern music production workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a look and a listen to the results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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