In this mode, Ableton Link acts as a MIDI slave to an external MIDI clock by manipulating the Ableton Link tempo to keep it in sync.
The status pips can show in the following combinations:
| MIDI | Ableton Link | Meaning... |
| Red | Red | No incoming MIDI clock (won't sync) |
| Red | Yellow | Waiting for incoming MIDI clock (waiting to sync) |
| Orange | Orange | Incoming MIDI clock; not received MIDI start (tempo only sync) |
| Green | Yellow | Incoming MIDI timeline; Link not yet in sync |
| Green | Green | Incoming MIDI timeline; Link is in sync |