The gated sequencer does not sync the start of the sequence except to note events from either the keyboard, MIDI, or the audio SEQ input, per page 59 of the manual. It can respect the MIDI clock for the *speed* of the sequence, but not the start point. If you need to sync the start of the sequence, you need to send a note event or sequencer start pulse via one of the aforementioned three methods. It's called a "gated" sequencer for a reason!