Topic by GGroovy

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Topic: Recording sustain pedal

I have a problem recording myself playing with the sustain pedal.  The sustain works fine when playing the piece but when playing it back it either hasn’t recorded the sustain at all (so that the piece plays back without sustain) or the sustain comes on for a note or two then disappears.  I have tried uninstalling and downloading again (i.e. I’m using the current Windows version 6.6.0) but the problem remains the same.  I’ve been using pianoteq for about a year through a Kawai VPC1 and it hasn’t been an issue before (although I don’t record myself very often)

Reply by Qexl

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

Hi GGroovy,

can you give more detail?

Do you mean in Pianoteq standalone mode? If so, sorry haven't encountered it - maybe contact support or some others might be able to help with that here when they see the thread.

Or if you're talking about openning Pianoteq generated MIDI files in a particular DAW, maybe include what DAW you use and any other things which could give us an idea.

Different DAWs may have MIDI import filters or misinterpret something like pedal data and you could find a check-box to fix it in your DAW's settings.

Last edited by Qexl (13-10-2019 04:21)
Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Reply by GGroovy

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

Thanks for the reply.  It’s happened both in the embedded midi recorder in the standalone version and when using it as a plug-in in Reaper.  That said, it’s inconsistent.  When I initially started pianoteq stand-alone today it sustained all the way through a test in real time but only maintained the sustain on the recording for one bar.  The little pedal animation on the main screen was down all through the recording but came back up prematurely on the playback.  That was exactly the same in Reaper but now, 10 minutes later, it’s working fine.  Maybe something I’m doing so I’ll keep an eye on it and contact support if it happens again.

Reply by Qexl

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

Interesting - In the main interface in standalone, if you click an arrow above the velocity window, cycle to "Pedal" window and watch the green lines, to see if you're getting an OK gradation there (or at least 0 and 127) - BTW not talking about play-back of MIDI here, but testing your pedal. You might be able to see if it jumps all over the place, that it may be firing strange unbound signals instead of the expected smooth gradated ones.

After that, even if it didn't give clues, unplugging your keyboard (and/or pedal) and playback some prepared MIDI - to see if that has eliminated such errant firing on/off messages while you're playing back MIDI.

Just doing that might, at least at this time, isolate it to a hardware or just a loose connection issue. Some pedals can sometimes benefit from being opened up and moving parts cleaned.

Other than those things, I'm only thinking of things which may not really make sense on the face of it - but possibly try  toggling 'Local Off' on your keyboard - seems a stretch but sometimes hitting that, or "Panic" (on keyboard or click the small round "!" button on lower right of Piantoeq's interface) can unclog some gremlin infested MIDI glitch.

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Reply by AlanPiano

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

GGroovy wrote:

Thanks for the reply.  It’s happened both in the embedded midi recorder in the standalone version and when using it as a plug-in in Reaper.  That said, it’s inconsistent.  When I initially started pianoteq stand-alone today it sustained all the way through a test in real time but only maintained the sustain on the recording for one bar.  The little pedal animation on the main screen was down all through the recording but came back up prematurely on the playback.  That was exactly the same in Reaper but now, 10 minutes later, it’s working fine.  Maybe something I’m doing so I’ll keep an eye on it and contact support if it happens again.

I've been experiencing the same issue as you. Have you come across the issue again and found another solution?

Reply by brundlefly

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

AlanPiano wrote:

I've been experiencing the same issue as you. Have you come across the issue again and found another solution?

Did you try Qexl's suggestion to disconnect the pedal and/or keyboard (or just power it down) during playback of recorded MIDI? I think his guess that the keyboard is generating spurious pedal-up (i.e. low-value) messages is probable.

Last edited by brundlefly (24-03-2024 19:58)

Reply by AlanPiano

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

brundlefly wrote:
AlanPiano wrote:

I've been experiencing the same issue as you. Have you come across the issue again and found another solution?

Did you try Qexl's suggestion to disconnect the pedal and/or keyboard (or just power it down) during playback of recorded MIDI? I think his guess that the keyboard is generating spurious pedal-up (i.e. low-value) messages is probable.

Oh yeah, seems to be the case. Interesting!

Reply by brundlefly

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

Most likely it's due to 'jitter' from the pedal due to a flimsy mechanism or maybe a dirty/glitchy potentiometer, assuming it's a continuous-type pedal. I think this issue would be less likely with the simple on-off switch type. Unplugging just the pedal but leaving the keyboard active should tell you whether it's the pedal or keyboard, but it could also be happening at the input jack.

Reply by AlanPiano

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

brundlefly wrote:

Most likely it's due to 'jitter' from the pedal due to a flimsy mechanism or maybe a dirty/glitchy potentiometer, assuming it's a continuous-type pedal. I think this issue would be less likely with the simple on-off switch type. Unplugging just the pedal but leaving the keyboard active should tell you whether it's the pedal or keyboard, but it could also be happening at the input jack.

I see, technically it might not be a bug but I wonder if the pedal can be disabled by default during playback? Or at least, have the pedal movements not affect the "recording" by default. But, it's a design decision I guess.

Reply by brundlefly

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Re: Recording sustain pedal

If you use the Pianoteq VST in a DAW, you can easily disable the echoing of MIDI input to the VST during playback (though probably not automatically in most cases). But in Pianoteq, the only option is to temporarily uncheck the input port in Options > Devices. It would be a reasonable feature to add to the standalone Pianoteq UI though most users would never need it.