# Sustain Pedal Issues



## synthnut1 (Dec 27, 2016)

I am having issues with the sustain pedal when using Kontakt 5 ..any version ....The problem is with N.I. piano's ....Others of complained of more than just the NI piano's ...Some instruments like NY and Berlin Piano's , the sustain is either there and just drops out at will , or they start out with no sustain .... Whatever is going on , does not affect aftermarket piano's , only the N.I. piano's ... and only certain ones ....Alicia Keys is not affected ....The August piano in the Kontakt Instruments is not affected ...I guess that NI is not interested in the "fix " for this because I searched for weeks trying to find the fix for this and haven't found one yet .....This problem dates back a while ....Anybody have any idea's or have you gone thru this yourself ? .....Thanks ...Jim


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## synthnut1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Nobody ?


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## Morodiene (Dec 28, 2016)

With some libraries, you have to move the Midi Controller a little bit before playing/recording. It's possible this is the case with these libraries, that the pedal needs to be "activated" by using just before recording or playing.

As far as cutting out, it could be you're reaching your max polyphony. This can happen if the note polyphony is particularly low (lower than 128), and/or if you have lots of effects + pedal, and/or if you never lift or clear the pedal while playing. In most cases for these instances, the vi will drop out the oldest notes first.

I see you said it "drops out at will", so the above may not apply. I don't use these libraries much so I'm not sure what you mean exactly. If you can replicate what's going on when it drops out that would be helpful in troubleshooting.


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## synthnut1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Hi Morodiene,
Thanks for responding ....When I mentioned the "drop out " it is not the note that drops out ..It's the sustain that drops out ....I will be playing along , and will have the sustain pedal down , and all of a sudden while running up the keyboard , some of the notes will not sustain ... The note still plays , but the sustain is not there ....Now on the NI instruments , certain presets will not sustain at all right from the beginning ... I can go out of this instrument and go to an aftermarket piano and have no issues at all ...????......One program that is a problem is NY Concert Grand Library ....Another is the Berlin Concert Grand Library ....I'm playing on the Upright Piano's programs and have no issues with them .....Alicia Keys is fine too ....I can always go to other programs for piano , but I bought the Komplete program a while back and now can't use the programs that NI has included ...????...... If I hit the little "wrench" and go to the Script Editor and hit the sustain pedal it shows that it's working , however it's not behaving at all ....Thanks ...Jim


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## Morodiene (Dec 28, 2016)

synthnut1 said:


> Hi Morodiene,
> Thanks for responding ....When I mentioned the "drop out " it is not the note that drops out ..It's the sustain that drops out ....I will be playing along , and will have the sustain pedal down , and all of a sudden while running up the keyboard , some of the notes will not sustain ... The note still plays , but the sustain is not there ....Now on the NI instruments , certain presets will not sustain at all right from the beginning ... I can go out of this instrument and go to an aftermarket piano and have no issues at all ...????......One program that is a problem is NY Concert Grand Library ....Another is the Berlin Concert Grand Library ....I'm playing on the Upright Piano's programs and have no issues with them .....Alicia Keys is fine too ....I can always go to other programs for piano , but I bought the Komplete program a while back and now can't use the programs that NI has included ...????...... If I hit the little "wrench" and go to the Script Editor and hit the sustain pedal it shows that it's working , however it's not behaving at all ....Thanks ...Jim


What you are describing could be the issues I'm talking about with polyphony. When you press a key, that is 1 note, But then press the key with the pedal and press another note, you have 2 notes sounding simultaneously: the new note + the one held with sustain. If you are playing an entire piece of music with the pedal held down, this number adds up very quickly. 

Add to that any effects on the sound (effects within the software piano itself, not including separate send effects), and the note number grows exponentially. 

As for the sounds where the pedal doesn't work right out of the gate, it could be that the damper or string resonance is turned way down so that there is barely an audible effect. You mention on "certain presets", so that tells me perhaps these presets are just ones you shouldn't use, or find the parameter that affects the damper resonance and string resonance. 

Which NI sounds and presets in particular are the ones that aren't working from the start as you describe? I can try and test it out on my end.


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## synthnut1 (Dec 28, 2016)

I can press down a key right from the start and not have the sustain working properly in the NY Concert Grand presets ...These presets are the worst offenders ..Sustain was dropping out on certain notes , and then I went to the Script Editor to see if the sustain pedal was working and when returning to the preset , the sustain did not work at all ...Play the NYC Grand presets for a bit and see if the sustain doesn't drop out on some notes while you play ....I understand what you mean about polyphony , but this is not a polyphony issue .....Thanks again ....Jim


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## Morodiene (Dec 28, 2016)

I have Kontakt Komplete 10. I just checked the pianos in there, and all I have are The Giant, The Maverick, The Grandeur, The Gentleman, and then there's the 2 grand pianos in the Kontakt Factory Library. So I don't think I have the one you are using. :(


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## synthnut1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Thanks for your time anyway ...Much appreciated ....Sincerely, Jim

I'm just going to stay away from the problem piano's ....I have others to use ....It just annoys me that NI would not respond to issues with their products ....


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## Morodiene (Dec 28, 2016)

synthnut1 said:


> Thanks for your time anyway ...Much appreciated ....Sincerely, Jim
> 
> I'm just going to stay away from the problem piano's ....I have others to use ....It just annoys me that NI would not respond to issues with their products ....


Ya, I hear ya...really, if you're making a piano, it should act like a piano - which means the damper pedal should work as expected, even if a person will want to tweak it a bit, it shouldn't be "off"!


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