Keyboard causing change in softsynth key

[David Pollock]

My very basic Nektar Impact GX61 keyboard is causing softsynths to play back a half step higher at random times in multiple projects. Disconnecting and restarting a project makes that issue disappear, and plugging the keyboard back in will eventually result in the problem again. It obviously makes it nearly impossible to work on anything.

I know it's a long shot, but I am wondering if there is anything at all I might can do to fix the issue without replacing the keyboard. The back story is that I have a very nice keyboard in storage that I cannot get to right now. So buying another one is something I don't want to do if I can help it. I did a factory reset on the keyboard. Beyond that, I don't know of anything else to try. Any suggestions?

[billp]

Just a wild guess, but this could be a pitch wheel problem.

[David Pollock]

14 minutes ago, billp said:

Just a wild guess, but this could be a pitch wheel problem.

Certainly, but I don't know what to do about it. 

[Canopus]

Maybe try to wiggle the Transpose Up button on your keyboard upwards in case it’s semi-stuck in a downward position?

[John Vere]

To see if the wheel is causing a problem insert a midi track and set it to record the controller. Don't touch it. Open the event list or PVR and see if it recorded CC events. 

[David Pollock]

2 hours ago, Canopus said:

Maybe try to wiggle the Transpose Up button on your keyboard upwards in case it’s semi-stuck in a downward position?

I have, and just jiggled everything again to no effect. Thanks.

[David Pollock]

39 minutes ago, JohnnyV said:

To see if the wheel is causing a problem insert a midi track and set it to record the controller. Don't touch it. Open the event list or PVR and see if it recorded CC events. 

Good idea. But no, no events were recorded.

[David Pollock]

1 minute ago, David Pollock said:

Good idea. But no, no events were recorded.

Well, I take that back. I tested again with a new softsynth track instead of just a midi track. This time, it did record wheel AND modulation events. So I guess I'm just screwed with this keyboard?

[Byron Dickens]

Some good contact cleaner like Deoxit might fix things.

[RexRed]

4 hours ago, David Pollock said:

My very basic Nektar Impact GX61 keyboard is causing softsynths to play back a half step higher at random times in multiple projects. Disconnecting and restarting a project makes that issue disappear, and plugging the keyboard back in will eventually result in the problem again. It obviously makes it nearly impossible to work on anything.

I know it's a long shot, but I am wondering if there is anything at all I might can do to fix the issue without replacing the keyboard. The back story is that I have a very nice keyboard in storage that I cannot get to right now. So buying another one is something I don't want to do if I can help it. I did a factory reset on the keyboard. Beyond that, I don't know of anything else to try. Any suggestions?

I don't know if my issue is the same but I have an M-Audio Oxygen 49 keyboard that I love.

My pitch bend went erratic and floating above and below zero making it impossible to use.

I tried to repair the synth and nothing seemed possible other than buying a new one.

Instead of buying a new one I put it in storage and bought a cheap controller instead.

One day I pulled the M-Audio out and it worked perfectly fine.

Either something got into the keyboards firmware and got reset with time off, or a Windows or Cakewalk update fixed it.

I got a Nektar SE 49 keyboard that I don't like the action but it works okay.

Note: You have to make sure that you set the channel that you are active with midi on and set the device as Nektar "Omni" and then change the midi  channel to "channel 1".

Otherwise you can get errant midi from other tracks that bleed in. 

Months went by and a Windows update happened and suddenly my M-Audio keyboard is back to freaking out with pitch bend again but a slightly different kind if error but still there regardless. I am back to using the Nektar. I suspect it will work again at some point.

It is nice to have other channels communicating midi because Cakewalk is able to record from complex VST instruments on multiple channels, banks, patches etc... 

But having these lines of communication always open from other tracks can also bring unwanted data in.  

[John Vere]

That seems odd that a Midi track wouldn't record the events and a Simple Instrument track would? 

Something else must be going on. Possibly a midi loopback from another track? This can be fixed by making sure none of your Instruments have Midi output engaged. 

A workaround would be don't use Simple Instrument track but use Split Instrument tracks

[David Pollock]

I created a new project to further try and narrow down the issue. I created four simple instrument, softsynth tracks without the keyboard connected. It worked fine. Connected the keyboard and played around with it. Worked fine for a while, and then the key change stared. I looked at the events lists for all tracks. Nothing but notes. So the issue is apparently not the recording of such events. But yeah, still the keyboard in some way it seems.

[scook]

This does sound like a chatty keyboard.

If it does not happen while recording, then there will be nothing in the track.

The DAW is capable of playing data not recorded in a track using input echo. 

The problem should not happen if tracks are not pointed to the keyboard and input echo is disabled.

I have never tried but disabling recording pitch wheel events in Preferences > MIDI > Playback and Recording may prevent the problem.

Short of repairing/replacing the keyboard, filtering wheel events before the DAW with a standalone tool such as MIDI-OX or via plug-in such as the Event Filter MFX prevents the data from affecting projects.