Sustain Pedal Issue - CbB 2014.07 Build 108, Roland A-800PRO

[D_Maynard]

I am using CbB with a Roland A-800Pro and a MGear sustain pedal on Win11. This setup has worked for years with no problems.

My sustain pedal recently stopped functioning in CbB and I'm going crazy trying to troubleshoot it.

It seems that CbB simply stopped seeing the CC data from the input. This MAY be caused by my latest CbB update (2014.07 Build 108), but I can't say with certainty that's the case since I've worked on projects before and after that mostly haven't used sustain at all.

Here are some of the things I've tried/considered:

1) MidiOx shows sustain pedal activity (screenshot attached)
2) Pedal works fine with other DAWs
3) Event List in CbB shows no pedal activity while recording or playing
4) I added some sustain events manually in CbB and they play back properly (screenshot attached)
5) Polarity on the pedal wasn't changed and isn't an issue. (see 1-2)
6) This issue may have started with the latest CbB update but I'm unsure
7) I haven't touched any CbB settings in a long time.
8) I've restarted my computer, CbB, and A800Pro multiple times in various orders. Nothing.
9) Based on other sustain pedal threads, I've sifted through all the MIDI functions under Preferences in CbB and everything seems in order.
10) Every other function of my A-800 works fine in CbB and any other DAW.
11) I have no clear reason at this point to suspect either the pedal or A-800 are a factor.

I'm just lost. I've spent so much time with this that I'm about ready to just switch DAWs but I've used Cakewalk/Sonar for over 20 years and don't WANT to change.

Please save me!


1) Midi Ox


2) Event View in CbB - manual entry

[Canopus]

1 hour ago, D_Maynard said:

9) Based on other sustain pedal threads, I've sifted through all the MIDI functions under Preferences in CbB and everything seems in order.

Sorry for asking the obvious, but that includes verifying that the Controller checkbox in Preferences > MIDI > Playback and Recording | Record is checked?

[D_Maynard]

31 minutes ago, Canopus said:

Sorry for asking the obvious, but that includes verifying that the Controller checkbox in Preferences > MIDI > Playback and Recording | Record is checked?

No need to be sorry, I've been very thorough, but sometimes it's the simple misses! I think you meant to say is the "Controller" box checked, and it is. Here are my settings on that page.

[msmcleod]

The most common reason for this:

Best to set the controller to something you're unlikely to use, e.g. 120.

If you're not using MIDI events for triggering commands at all, uncheck "Enabled".

[D_Maynard]

16 hours ago, msmcleod said:

The most common reason for this:

(image in previous post)

Best to set the controller to something you're unlikely to use, e.g. 120.

If you're not using MIDI events for triggering commands at all, uncheck "Enabled".

I saw that and this is my current setting for that page:

[D_Maynard]

I can't figure this out. Completely stumped. 

If I uninstall and reinstall CbB, will my virtual instruments and sound libraries need to be reinstalled? 

[Promidi]

On 9/17/2024 at 1:35 AM, D_Maynard said:

I can't figure this out. Completely stumped. 

If I uninstall and reinstall CbB, will my virtual instruments and sound libraries need to be reinstalled? 

As long as you did not do the uninstall and reinstall CbB the includes deleting the registry and cakewalk folders, you should not have to reinstall your virtual instruments and sound libraries.

Can we please see the following screenshot:

Preferences - MIDI - Devices  (being the A-800PRO, you should see several A-800PRO related inputs)
Preferences - MIDI - Control Surfaces

The MIDI input device used for Control Surfaces needs to not be the same MIDI input device used for any MIDI track’s input.

I have the PCR-800 (the predecessor of the A-800PRO) and I do not have any Control Surface under Preferences - MIDI - Control Surfaces > Connected Controllers/Surfaces.  My sustain pedal connected to the PCR-800 works fine in CbB.

[D_Maynard]

2 hours ago, Promidi said:

Can we please see the following screenshot:

Preferences - MIDI - Devices  (being the A-800PRO, you should see several A-800PRO related inputs)
Preferences - MIDI - Control Surfaces

The MIDI input device used for Control Surfaces needs to not be the same MIDI input device used for any MIDI track’s input.

I have the PCR-800 (the predecessor of the A-800PRO) and I do not have any Control Surface under Preferences - MIDI - Control Surfaces > Connected Controllers/Surfaces.  My sustain pedal connected to the PCR-800 works fine in CbB.

Thank you so much! This info led to a solution.

Before screenshotting, I wanted to see if I could make sense of what you said and I played around with various In/Out combos and came up with nothing that worked.

In Preferences - MIDI - Control Surfaces, I deleted the controllers... keys worked, but still no sustain.

Solution - I added the deleted controllers and BOOM, sustain works fine now. 

The most confusing thing to me about all of this is that one day it just didn't work when I opened a project and it wouldn't work at all for anything in CbB. 

I think I'm going to play a virtual piano all night now, I've missed it!