Sustain pedal not working with my MIDI setup

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Level 1

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Sustain pedal not working with my MIDI setup

So, I'm using a Yamaha P-140 hooked up with my Macbook Pro using a Midi-USD cable. I'm mostly using it for Logic Pro X and Sibelius, and it works just fine. However when I use the sustain pedal, it's playing an E3 note and it's messing up all the sound adding a lot of reverb.

Now, this isn't a problem when I'm using the piano as it is. It's also not a problem with either Logic or Sibelius, cause when I'm testing it with the "Sound and MIDI Setup" app on Mac, the sustain pedal is recognized as one of the "hammers" on the keyboard.

I have no idea as how to fix this problem, and it's really annoying having to play super legato when I'm recording.

Thanks in advance.

Note: The keyboard have an "AUX Pedal" input and a "Sustain pedal" input.

USB MIDI Cable specs:

(As written on the package)

- Built-in driver

- USB powered and Class Complaint for true plug & play. Just connect to a computer USB socket for automatic installation of the driver.

- 1 in + 1 out MIDI interface; 16 MIDI input channels & 16 MIDI output channels

- LED's indicate power on, MIDI in signal and MIDI out signal.

- Supports Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X operating systems

Aditional info:

Now, I've seen the event-recording in Logic for when I use the pedal, and it's picking up 2 different signals. The first one is a "Controller" (as it say under "status") with the info "Sustain", the next 2 have the status "Note" each one triggering an E3.

I looked it up and the pedal is a Yamaha FC3 half damper sustain pedal. I'm not an expert when it come to pedals, but I believe a half damper is a pedal with multiple trigger points? Giving you different amounts of sustain depending on how much you're "pressing it".

(Position 2 1 1 19 = pedal release)

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 4, 2013 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 4, 2013 1:33 PM in response to @Bakken

You will find info on a similar problem here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2746236?answerId=21603700022#21603700022

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Answer 2

DaCaptain

Level 4

1,048 points

Nov 5, 2013 8:57 AM in response to @Bakken

Actually, Sustain is a continous controller, which is good, if software instruments would support this.

But that's not the case. You need to squeeze the pedal all the way down to the floor, until it spits out 127.

If you are a brave soul, you might fix that in the Logic environment with a transformer object cabled between MIDI in and the sequencer.

Hope this helps,

DaCaptain

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Answer 3

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Nov 5, 2013 9:17 AM in response to @Bakken

Try deleting Logic's preferences... sounds like a control surface issue.

Delete the Logic 10 preferences file AND the shared control surfaces file.

In the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder from the menu.
Type ~/Library/Preferences in the "Go to the folder" field.
Press the Go button.

Remove the com.apple.logic10.plist file from the Preferences folder. Note that if you have programmed any custom key commands, this will reset them to the defaults. You may wish to export your custom key command as a preset before performing this step. See the Logic Pro User Manual for details on how to do this.

If you are having trouble with a control surface in Logic Pro.
then delete the com.apple.logic.pro.cs file from the preferences folder.

Note: Delete both files, they will be rebuilt the next time Logic runs.

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Answer 4

@Bakken Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2013 8:18 AM in response to DaCaptain

This might help, but to be honest I'm not familiar with using the Logic enivorment. Even if I found out where it's located in the program, I wouldn't know what to do...
(Looked it up on google, didn't find anything helping me to even find it inside Logic)

Thanks for replying though.

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Answer 5

@Bakken Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2013 8:20 AM in response to Pancenter

Tried, but it didn't work.

Ty though.

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Answer 6

dtus

Level 1

0 points

Feb 11, 2014 11:31 PM in response to @Bakken

I had this same problem. Perused too many forums. Literally scratched my head at one point. But I found the problem!

It ended up being my MIDI > USB cable. It dawned on me the cable that I use in my live rig didn't have this sustain pedal problem, but my home studio rig did - I tried swapping the cable, and voila! No problem! Perhaps the dodgy cable simplifies midi messages and therefore sends both E4 (midi note 64) and sustain (CC 64).

My good cable has a picture of an S-shaped/Treble-cleff-shaped figure on a music staff printed on the adapter. My dodgy cable has "USB MIDI" printed. Not sure if that helps - might need to just trial and error a few different cables.

Hopefully this works for you.

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