Having problem with midi notes hanging.

[SynthManDan]

Is anyone else having constant midi note hang ups?  My buffers are at 750, and latency is 19.  My computer is pretty capable (i5, 8 gigs RAM, SSD).

It really gets in the way when mixing because I constantly have to go through the process of stopping the hung notes, which in many cases also requires to me set the affected tracks playing status to active and depressing the sustain pedal too.

Any suggestions?

SMD

[msmcleod]

Upping the buffer size (as you've done) normally solves it.

You could try increasing it more - I've seen some people have it as high as 2500.

The only other thing I can think of is your MIDI interface itself. The cheaper USB to MIDI cables have a ridiculously small internal buffer size, yet they are quite happy to accept MIDI data at USB rates. This can often lead to stuck or missing notes. 

Unless of course, you're only using soft synths?

Edited July 15, 2019 by msmcleod

[Robert Bone]

If you are using external synths, did you remember to turn Local=Off on those?  If you don't, then when you press a key, a note will be triggered, and Cakewalk will also send another Note On message back to the keyboard.  By turning Local to Off on the keyboard, then when you press a note on the synth, it will NOT trigger its engine, but it will still react to the midi note on message sent back to it, from Cakewalk, so that you properly get a single triggered note, rather than 2 triggered notes, every time you play a note on the keyboard.

Bob Bone

[SynthManDan]

I’m using VST’s.  I don’t have any of my hardware synths set up to midi record in Cakewalk.  I initially thought it just might be a conflict with Xpand!2 and Cakewalk, but I get the problem with other VST’s too.  

SMD

[msmcleod]

I'm not sure if MIDI driver mode makes any difference or not when using VSTi's, but it might be worth switching it from MME to UWP (or vice versa) and see if that makes a difference.

Note you can only do this with no project loaded.

[Robert Bone]

When I mix, I ALWAYS set me ASIO Buffer Size to either 1024 or 2048.

Just for a test, try temporarily bypass your loaded effects - just to see if it makes your issues go away.  VERY simple to do - the letter 'E' on your computer keyboard toggles On/Off the bypassing of effects, so simply load the project, and hit 'E', and then play your project and it will not engage any of the effects.  (Hitting 'E' again toggles the effects back on).

Certain effects require a large ASIO Buffer Size to have enough room to do their thing - like a convolution reverb (uses look-ahead processing), and since you aren't tracking during mixing, it is fine to have a giant ASIO Buffer Size.  Pretty much for the rest of time, you will set that buffer size to something low, like 128 or 64, and then switch it to something large, like 1024 or 2048 for mixing.  It's just the way it works.

If you are using an effect that is designed for mixing, and not tracking, like a convolution reverb, you might experience issues while tracking, so it is best to swap out that plugin for something less 'needy' for buffer size, and then when you are ready to begin mixing, jack up the ASIO Buffer Size, and THEN swap back in the convolution reverb....

Thanks, 

Bob Bone