Sustain (cc64) off message when it shouldn't

I've recorded a short 4 bar loop of me playing the piano, this small piece has the sustain pedal depressed for the entire 4 bars.

I can see in the list editor that there is a CC64 = 127 message right at the beginning of the bar but randomly during playback, Logic will decide to release the sustain pedal.

It happens at different points throughout the loop and doesn't seem to be linked with anything, it's certainly not a message anywhere in the loop or anywhere else for that matter.

Is this a bug?

The "de-sustaining" could be caused by voice-stealing, because with the sustain down, the notes keep stacking up, and some piano patches may use 4 to 8 voices per single note! You can easily go over the maximum polyphony of whichever sampler you use, especially when those bars are playing in a loop and the repeated notes are stacked on the earlier notes. At a certain point I'd expect a more or less continuous voice-stealing to be happening.

The simplest way to combat this may well be to put a sustain up/zero message 10 ticks before the end of the 4 bars, or 10 ticks before the sustain down/127 message

Another resources-saving and very dependable method would be to turn it into audio.

First you can do this:

(This might already solve you issue, since the maximum polyphony is now constant (at the very end of your loop), no stacking happens when looped.)

...then bounce that loop in place

...and Mute the original MIDI loop.

Now you have the loop in audio, and it will be dependable and consistent in playback.

Hi, I'm having this issue (always have, I feel like.. not something new)

Currently using one of NI's piano patches, which has a default polyphony of 120 .. and I'm using nowhere near that. Sustain off, often at the same spot. No reason nor sign of why it should do that. Making me super annoyed

Logic is current (10.3.2) as is Kontakt (5.7.2).. But this has been a long standing issue for me; enough that I almost consciously avoid recording piano stuff because I know it's going to end in frustration

I also get weird sustain pedal on/off.

I think there might be a "feature".

There is the "feature" where, if I move a note in the piano roll under some circumstances, the Kontakt instrument will change (we had another thread on this a while ago and it was confirmed).

I think there is something similar going on here. I think it's between Logic and Kontakt. Sometimes changing a note in Logic is sending something that triggers sustain on/off.

I get this with Spitfire OA piano, Emotional Piano and NI pianos by the way. It's really easy to hear with Emotional Piano as the pedal noise is huge by default.

I also get weird sustain pedal on/off.

 

I think there might be a "feature".

There is the "feature" where, if I move a note in the piano roll under some circumstances, the Kontakt instrument will change (we had another thread on this a while ago and it was confirmed).

I think there is something similar going on here. I think it's between Logic and Kontakt. Sometimes changing a note in Logic is sending something that triggers sustain on/off.

 

I get this with Spitfire OA piano, Emotional Piano and NI pianos by the way. It's really easy to hear with Emotional Piano as the pedal noise is huge by default.

You theory is debunked in my case, because the behavior isn't consistent. It will often be the same or similar spot where it occurs, but not always. Sometimes it plays fine, and then, without no change to the midi etc, it will reveal the issue. I'm using extremely simple midi as test examples. Also, it's not just "turning off when it should be on" it also doesn't trigger (on) when it should sometimes -- going from a value of 0 to 127 without effect. Then other times, that same spot does engage the sustain, as it should.

The problem is most likely to be the Clip Length feature, which is on by default.

You'll find Clip Length in the Region Parameter group in the Inspector. Turn it off not only for all of your regions, but globally as well by clicking on the background in the tracks area and turning it off for the "MIDI Thru" (default) settings.