Elektron Musical Instruments

So, I've read about a million posts about sync issues with Ableton Live and the MD.  Trying 
really hard to get my head around this but I just cant get the two to sync up and I'm not 
really getting anywhere with the 'track delay' settings, I don't even know if I'm using them 
correctly.

this is what I am doing...

 powerbook, motu 828, motu microlite midi-Running ableton live 5.  Live 5 sending sync 
out to MD.  Md is set to Tempo in --> External , Ctrl in-on. The MD displays the tempo as 
'EXT'

what I want to do....

Play the MD in pattern mode (from the MD interface), changing stuff around on the fly, in 
sync to audio drum loops playing with live.  I don't need to do anything in song mode/ 
using midi to trigger the MD (yet).

the way I have it set up now, a solid drum loop in Live is clearly out of sync with the MD .  I 
have tried adjusting the track delay on the audio track the MD is playing through, but have 
not sucessfully been able to get them matched up.  
Am I doing something wrong?  

is there a certain way to determine exactly what the track delay should be in a given 
situation?  
Would this setup be possible with the MD as master clock?  will that work?

will I just fiddle and fiddle and fiddle until someday I get the right settings but never 
understand how?

thank you thank you thank you for any advice you could offer.

cheers

Alex