Topic by OrganoPleno

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Topic: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

Here's a problem since installing Pianoteq 4.5.4 (2013/11/18).  Sometimes a note being held (or sustained with the Damper Pedal) will spontaneously re-strike, at FULL VELOCITY.  Very disconcerting.

I've not found this problem with earlier versions, or on any other music software (including Pianos) on the same system.  I'm using Pianoteq as a VST inside a Host (the Cantabile which comes with Ivory II).

Possibly Pianoteq is doing a reset while synthesizing the note, "starting over" instead of continuing from the original (intended) attack?

Anybody else with a similar problem?  Any fix if Pianoteq turns out to be at fault here?

Thanks!

Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

Never had that happen to me. Most likely it is your controller...

Hard work and guts!

Reply by johnrule

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

I think ED might be right...what is your controller?

I still have this happen with an older version of Pianoteq on an older Receptor, and rarely on a newer version of both, but I don't believe it has ever happened when using Pianoteq within a DAW simply playing back a track.

There could be another theory that timing has something do do with this and that the internal processing (i.e. DAW) is faster than external (i.e. MIDI). I also think it happens less when I use the USB port on my Numa Nero than when I use the slower MIDI port.

Last edited by johnrule (04-12-2013 21:42)

Reply by OrganoPleno

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

OrganoPleno wrote:

Here's a problem since installing Pianoteq 4.5.4 (2013/11/18).  Sometimes a note being held (or sustained with the Damper Pedal) will spontaneously re-strike, at FULL VELOCITY.  Very disconcerting.

It looks like Pianoteq is not at fault here after all, as I encountered the same issue playing Ivory.  Perhaps some kind of delay or mix-up in the MIDI signals, or inside Windows 7.

Maybe I'll find a way to filter out any "Note On" messages with velocity of 127.  That ought to take care of it...

Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

I'd definitely change/borrow another controller and see if it happens - if it doesn't, it's the controller.

Last edited by EvilDragon (09-12-2013 23:20)
Hard work and guts!

Reply by OrganoPleno

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

EvilDragon wrote:

I'd definitely change/borrow another controller and see if it happens - if it doesn't, it's the controller.

Looks like you were right.  No problem noted (yet) on two other controllers.  On the original controller, the problem has occurred repeatedly, using different music programs.  With a MIDI monitor, I caught the error several times and saw what I suspected... while a note is being held down, the keyboard generates a false "note off" signal, immediately followed by a false "note on" signal at full velocity (7F).  Certain notes do it, one of them fairly often, in well-used sections of the keyboard.  Even with nothing else being played, so it cannot be any kind of overload (CPU) or delay in processing the MIDI signals.

Hard to think what else this could be except a problem in the switches for those particular notes.  The Host program does allow filtering by Velocity, so all attacks at 7F Full Velocity can be suppressed.  Then we just have occasional notes terminating too early, which certainly beats having them re-strike at odd moments with full force.

Reply by mabry

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Re: Stray Notes -- Repeat Attack

OrganoPleno wrote:

Hard to think what else this could be except a problem in the switches for those particular notes.

Sigasa and myself once had a similar problem with notes firing off at random at full velocity, we were both using a Numa Nero at the time. I believe he noticed that this often or always occurred while his laptop was sitting on top of the Numa and dang it, as crazy as it sounds (to me, maybe there is a logical explanation involving electromagnetism or gravity or spiders or some combination thereof) I seemed to have the problem only when my laptop was on top but it did not always happen then. But once I stopped putting my laptop there, the issue never came up again.