This is my second post tonight and it’s one of my main issues right now. I’m still pretty green with recording software, but I’m making headway. Anyway, I’ve got ableton live 8 and am running it, through my focusrite saffire pro 40, to my motif es6. I’m using the es as my step sequencer which is hooked up to my dsi poly evolver. All I wanna do right now is be able to hit play in ableton, and have it start my step sequencer in my es, so that they’re both in sync w each other.
**Pressing keys on my es does trigger notes in ableton as well as my loaded soft synths. So I at least got that part right**
Ideally, I’d love to also have my es6 be my sole midi controller; but, aside from being able to play notes in midi tracks, ableton doesn’t respond to any other midi input from the es. Thanks for reading!

All I wanna do right now is be able to hit play in ableton, and have it start my step sequencer in my es, so that they’re both in sync w each other.

Not sure I follow you here. If you are in STEP RECORD the Motif ES will not follow anything. It only advances to the next step when you press a key and release it.

If you want to playback the Motif ES and have it sync to Ableton then you must set the Motif ES to MIDI SYNC

Press [UTILITY]
Press [F5] MIDI
Press [SF3] SYNC
Set MIDI SYNC = MIDI
Set SEQ CTRL = IN

This will mean that the Motif ES will follow incoming MIDI clock and follow the tempo as set in your software. The SEQ CTRL means it will START/STOP when you START or STOP your software.

In Ableton you must set it to SEND standard MIDI Clock on the MIDI Port going to the Motif ES.

Thanks again. Yes, all I wanted to do was play back what I had rec’d from the ES into ableton. I actually figured it out last night.