midi to external synth problem

logic pro 9 here. im trying to send midi data from an external midi track to my alesis ion through an mbox 3. got my midi file on the external midi track, the midi cable hooked up from output of mbox to input of alesis. i've sent the analog output of the synth to the input of my interface.

 

really weird behavior starts happening. it plays normally for a few bars then slooowws way down. then, later, it starts playing notes without the transport even running. what am i doing wrong here?

Does the ion have a built-in sequencer? Are you somehow syncing the two?

 

When the weird behavior you describe starts happening, what are you doing? Playback the MIDI region in Logic Pro? In that case I would try to disconnect the MIDI Out from the ion and see if the behavior changes?

to my knowledge, I'm not syncing tempo or anything, just trying to get the synth to play the midi region in logic. i have one cable on midi out from my interface, to the midi in on the synth. i hit play in logic, and the synth starts receiving the midi notes and plays normally for about 3 beats. then everything slows down and starts doing random things as if logic is sending erroneous controller messages. this continues even after I hit "stop" in the logic transport. very weird. maybe its an issue with the synth? i checked the hyper editor and there's nothing weird there. no sequencer that im aware of on the ion, but i don't know the synth very well as its a friends im recording.

even weirder: it works in Ableton

I know that problem well, and there is definitely a sync issue happening with your MIDI timecode. When you open Settings > Sync > Audio, do you see the sample rate or deviation changing on playback?

 

Do you have external sync engaged in Logic? Ie. Is the area where the bar numbers are listed in blue?

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s n o i z e MIDI Monitor

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