Doepfer

After a year of having one I just twigged how cool the dark time would be connected to a soft synth.  So I tried it and now have an awesome groove over a record.  However, a couple of questions: 

The Dark Time's timing, into Ableton, is awful.  I'm running it through USB into Ableton and it's neither precise nor accurate.  Any tips?  Does MIDI work better?  I'm on a Mac, it's plugged directly into a USB socket on the front of the computer.

Secondly, it'd be great to leave it plugged in all the time but whenever I hit play on the sequencer it kicks off.  Is there some way of telling it that stop means STOP!? ;)

thank you! J.