EDP Midi sync question

[Loaf citious <loafcitious@gmail.com>]

Hello LD,
Looking for some suggestions/directions:

Recently, I've been having a bunch of fun syncing up w/ a friend
running a  Mac laptop w/  Ableton.  And it got me thinking, "what if
we could just sync up a bunch of different people and their gear? And
maybe have presets to change around all the master/slave options.

So I went looking at a bunch of MIDI interface boxes and have been reading 
up.
But, I was wondering if anyone has any experience w/ this type of
thing.  I don't typically use my computer in my rig and was wondering
if I'd be forced to if I had an interface, or if I could just program
presets or something and then just use it w/ the EDP.

End Result, I'd love to be able to sync up to four different musicians
that brought along their own MIDI loopers or Ableton computer or
whatever.  I'm wanting to jam w/ a bunch of different people and be
able to tackle different situations with switching master/slave around
easily between jams.

Sorry if this seems redundant, not sure what to do and really wanted
to explain the situation.

Thanks for any input you might have,

Andy G