Piano roll sustain not working unless I put a automation node just after where the playhead starts

[Andrew Macfarlane]

Hello guys, I just recently upgraded to Logic Pro X 10.7.9 after 5 years and have a new issue. The piano roll seems to be ignoring that my sustain is at 127 for the whole midi recording. The two ways to get the sustain to work (which are a nightmare editing-wise) are to start the playhead before the MIDI section starts, or, to add a sustain node in the automation MIDI area just after where the playhead starts, so it picks it up. This was never the case with previous versions of Logic I have used, so it is quite frustrating. I enabled chase in Project settings--> MIDI-->Notes "Sustained", but it hasn't made a difference unfortunately. Im using the stock instrument Steinway Piano if that makes a difference. Thanks for your time!

[David Nahmani]

1 minute ago, Andrew Macfarlane said:

I enabled chase in Project settings--> MIDI-->Notes "Sustained"

Instead, enable chase for Control Changes 64-71 (Sustain is Control Change #64). 

[Andrew Macfarlane]

Wow, thanks for the really quick reply, I wasn't expecting that!

I also have 64-71 enabled...

[David Nahmani]

Ah ok then it should chase your sustain events. Could you share a copy of your project where you remove all tracks and regions but one that reproduces this issue? 

[Andrew Macfarlane]

Hello David, I attached an example of it. There are two MIDI regions, the first MIDI region works fine. The second one only has sustain if you start the playhead before it. Interestingly, if you delete the first MIDI region, the second MIDI region also works fine (notes pay in sustain regardless of where you start the playhead). Thanks again for getting back to me, it is appreciated!

 

example.logicx

[polanoid]

2 hours ago, Andrew Macfarlane said:

Hello David, I attached an example of it. There are two MIDI regions, the first MIDI region works fine. The second one only has sustain if you start the playhead before it. Interestingly, if you delete the first MIDI region, the second MIDI region also works fine (notes pay in sustain regardless of where you start the playhead). Thanks again for getting back to me, it is appreciated!

 

example.logicx 636.87 kB · 0 downloads

I can reproduce that, it's definitely a bug in Logic (please report it via their feedback page)… Logic seems to somehow chase the implicit “Sustain Off” event from the first region (sent because its “Clip Length” checkbox is on), but not the “Sustain On” at the beginning of the second region (which of course should override the “Sustain Off” from the first one. If you uncheck "Clip Length” in the first region’s Region Inspector, the Sustain Event is chased correctly:

[polanoid]

BTW you can see what’s going on if you insert a “Scripter” MIDI FX-plug-in into the software instrument channel strip. A new empty Scripter will simply trace its input events, so here’s what it shows when I put the playhead somewhere between the start of the second region and the first MIDI note of that region:

[ControlChange channel:1 number:101 [Reg.Par. MSB] value:0]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:100 [Reg.Par. LSB] value:1]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:6 [Data MSB] value:59]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:99 [Non-Reg. MSB] value:55]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:98 [Non-Reg. LSB] value:85]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:93 [Chorus Depth] value:0]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:91 [Reverb] value:20]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:81 [HPF Frequ] value:0]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:80 [Decay] value:4]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:64 [Sustain] value:127]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:20 [Ctrl 20] value:0]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:64 [Sustain] value:0]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:7 [Volume] value:96]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:5 [Portamento] value:50]

[ControlChange channel:1 number:0 [Bank MSB] value:64]

so indeed it does send the Sustain ON event, but it gets overridden by a Sustain OFF event, which means it's definitely sent in the wrong order

[David Nahmani]

6 minutes ago, polanoid said:

If you uncheck "Clip Length” in the first region’s Region Inspector, the Sustain Event is chased correctly:

Great, thanks for providing the workaround! 🙂 

[polanoid]

1 minute ago, David Nahmani said:

Great, thanks for providing the workaround! 🙂 

You're welcome! Side effect of that workaround of course being that the Sustain ON event from the first region will now last until the next Sustain OFF event, so if you put a region without any Sustain events in it after the first region, it will sound completely sustained.