diff --git a/spa/plugins/support/node-driver.c b/spa/plugins/support/node-driver.c
index 67d4b309a..00f9cd8f9 100644
--- a/spa/plugins/support/node-driver.c
+++ b/spa/plugins/support/node-driver.c
@@ -234,9 +234,9 @@ static inline uint64_t scale_u64(uint64_t val, uint32_t num, uint32_t denom)
 static void on_timeout(struct spa_source *source)
 {
 	struct impl *this = source->data;
-	uint64_t expirations, nsec, duration, current_time, current_position, position;
+	uint64_t expirations, nsec, duration, position;
 	uint32_t rate;
-	double corr = 1.0, err = 0.0;
+	double corr = 1.0;
 	int res;
 
 	if ((res = spa_system_timerfd_read(this->data_system,
@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ static void on_timeout(struct spa_source *source)
 					this, spa_strerror(res));
 		return;
 	}
+
+	nsec = this->next_time;
+
 	if (SPA_LIKELY(this->position)) {
 		duration = this->position->clock.target_duration;
 		rate = this->position->clock.target_rate.denom;
@@ -253,51 +256,50 @@ static void on_timeout(struct spa_source *source)
 		duration = 1024;
 		rate = 48000;
 	}
-	nsec = this->next_time;
-
-	if (this->tracking)
-		/* we are actually following another clock */
-		current_time = gettime_nsec(this, this->props.clock_id);
-	else
-		current_time = nsec;
-
-	current_position = scale_u64(current_time, rate, SPA_NSEC_PER_SEC);
-
-	if (this->last_time == 0) {
-		spa_dll_set_bw(&this->dll, SPA_DLL_BW_MIN, duration, rate);
-		this->max_error = rate * MAX_ERROR_MS / 1000;
-		position = current_position;
-	} else if (SPA_LIKELY(this->clock)) {
+	if (SPA_LIKELY(this->clock)) {
 		position = this->clock->position + this->clock->duration;
 	} else {
-		position = current_position;
+		position = 0;
 	}
 
-	/* check the elapsed time of the other clock against
-	 * the graph clock elapsed time, feed this error into the
-	 * dll and adjust the timeout of our MONOTONIC clock. */
-	err = (double)position - (double)current_position;
-	if (err > this->max_error)
-		err = this->max_error;
-	else if (err < -this->max_error)
-		err = -this->max_error;
-
-	this->last_time = current_time;
-
 	if (this->tracking) {
+		double err = 0.0;
+		uint64_t current_time, current_position;
+
+		/* we are actually following another clock */
+		current_time = gettime_nsec(this, this->props.clock_id);
+		current_position = scale_u64(current_time, rate, SPA_NSEC_PER_SEC);
+
+		if (this->last_time == 0) {
+			spa_dll_set_bw(&this->dll, SPA_DLL_BW_MIN, duration, rate);
+			this->max_error = rate * MAX_ERROR_MS / 1000;
+			this->last_time = current_position - position;
+			current_position = position;
+		} else {
+			current_position -= this->last_time;
+		}
+
+		/* check the elapsed time of the other clock against
+		 * the graph clock elapsed time, feed this error into the
+		 * dll and adjust the timeout of our MONOTONIC clock. */
+		err = (double)position - (double)current_position;
+		if (err > this->max_error)
+			err = this->max_error;
+		else if (err < -this->max_error)
+			err = -this->max_error;
+
 		corr = spa_dll_update(&this->dll, err);
 		this->next_time = nsec + duration / corr * 1e9 / rate;
-	} else {
-		corr = 1.0;
-		this->next_time = scale_u64(position + duration, SPA_NSEC_PER_SEC, rate);
-	}
 
-	if (SPA_UNLIKELY((this->next_time - this->base_time) > BW_PERIOD)) {
-		this->base_time = this->next_time;
-		spa_log_debug(this->log, "%p: rate:%f "
-			"bw:%f dur:%"PRIu64" max:%f drift:%f",
-				this, corr, this->dll.bw, duration,
-				this->max_error, err);
+		if (SPA_UNLIKELY((this->next_time - this->base_time) > BW_PERIOD)) {
+			this->base_time = this->next_time;
+			spa_log_debug(this->log, "%p: rate:%f "
+				"bw:%f dur:%"PRIu64" max:%f drift:%f %"PRIu64" %"PRIu64,
+					this, corr, this->dll.bw, duration,
+					this->max_error, err, this->last_time, current_position);
+		}
+	} else {
+		this->next_time = nsec + duration * 1e9 / rate;
 	}
 
 	if (SPA_LIKELY(this->clock)) {