At home, the midi interface is connected to a powered USB 3.0 hub.At church, the interface connects directly to the laptop.
I had only one stuck note this evening playing for an hour or so. I did switch to the “B” in and out of the midisport and didn’t have any stuck notes. But, since I only had one from the “A” in and out, I cant really consider that conclusive of anything.
Between full time work, practicing, and other activities, my time for intense troubleshooting is limited, but I’ll keep checking in with updates and anything I learn.
I played last weekend using the midi B in and out of the midisport. Didn’t have any issues. I’m not quite ready to consider the issue resolved, so I’ll keep an eye on things.
For the midi monitor, I was using a global window, opened through the menu bar. I didn’t realize I could attach a midi monitor to a midi in block. I’ll check that out.
I have been experiencing this as well. Have not been able to detect a pattern yet - seems to be different plugins at different times using different songs/rackspaces. But with one VST (FMTines 2) double clicking the panic button only mutes the offending audio for a second and then the note resumes.
Then again, on other days it doesn’t seem to happen at all. As I said, I’m not yet detecting a pattern.
Played at church last weekend and experienced the stuck notes again, only once or twice during the whole weekend. I was using a Nord Piano 3 midi’ed through the midisport 2x2 port B. Since I was more concerned with my live playing, I can’t really give any more details…just the update that it’s still happening through the other port of the midisport.
If you connect a MIDI Monitor to your midi input block and click the panic button you will see all the messages that GP is sending to the plugin.
Basically - All notes OFF message is sent on all 16 channels.
This should stop ANY stuck notes in plugins connected to that particular midi input block. If the note persists - something is wring with the plugin.
Double clicking does the same thing, BUT it resets the audio as well - hence the 1 second of no sound. If the sound resumes afterwards it means one of two things
The plugin did NOT stop producing the sound after we sent it the All notes off message
Your controller is sending the note on message continuously.
I do not see any other option and with a MIDI monitor attached to your MIDI input(s) this should be easy to figure out and see if the midi controller is doing it or your plugin.
I know this is occasional, but I think it’s worth spending time on figuring out why are you getting these stuck notes.
I’ve connected midi monitors to the input blocks and I’ve opened a general midi monitor window. Obviously while I’m playing live, I’m not watching a midi monitor, but when I’ve been at home playing and can pay attention, note off messages are appearing in the window, but the notes keep playing.
Any time that I’ve utilized the midi panic button, they stop. When I’m playing live, this is the way I get them to stop. I’m not having the issue of them continuing after a panic button press. A single press will kill all the notes for me.
So, the plugins seem to be getting a note off message from the panic button, but occasionally when playing, they aren’t getting through.
Is there a way to monitor the midi that the plugins are actually receiving?
I agree that it’s worth spending the time, but when it’s intermittent as it is, it makes it much more difficult. I don’t have hours and hours to spend playing and waiting for it to happen. When I can, I try to reproduce it, but I don’t seem to be able to reproduce it intentionally.
If you are 100% sure that all note on/note off messages are pair in that midi monitor and your plugin keeps playing - there’s a problem with the plugin or something else is keeping the note alive.
ONE possibility is that you have some kind of stuck sustain pedal in which case the note should keep playing so please check if you didn’t inadvertently either send a sustain message (check the MIDI log) CC64 is a sustain message - check the log carefully for it.
See if you maybe have a widget connected to some plugin parameter that could be triggering the plugins sustain somehow.
Maybe upload a gig file where the problems are happening?
I have stuck note and note cutoff problems from time to time that are a direct result of issues that I create myself in my rackspaces. As an example, I use keyboard splits and have a widget tied to a midi controller that I can use to move the split point. If I’m holding a note down, then move the split point, depending on how I have things set up a VST might not get a note off.
That’s an obvious example. I’m just wondering if there might be something less obvious in your setup leading to issues.
This is a good example except he specifically said that he attached a MIDI Monitor to the actual MIDI In block and that he CAN see all the note on/off messages as pairs.
If something like this was happening then he would be able to detect a note on without a note off message.
Attaching a MIDI monitor block to the MIDI in displays exactly what the plugin is getting as it mirrors everything. This is, of course, provided that there are no other midi transforming plugins between the MIDI in and the plugin. If there is - then the MIDI monitor should be placed just before the connection is made to the plugin that is producing the sound.
However, what you’re describing leaves basically no other possibility than to believe that the VST itself is failing to respond. Which seems less and less likely after he observed the same stuck note behavior with a different VST.
Thus I thought it might be useful to actually see the gig file. Sometimes what we think we’re doing and what we’re actually doing are two different things.
Happens to all of us and yes - it would be useful to see the gig/rackspace where this is happening - there’s no question about that, but there is a possibility of misuse of a sustain pedal or a widget/device that may be sending it.
Again - if the MIDI monitor is placed just before the actual plugin that makes the sound - then even CC64 (sustain) should be visible there.
Gonna add my 2 cents if it’s worth it.
Way back in the beginning of this thread, I responded with “I experienced this as well”.
When it happened to me, I was using my previous 2011 MacBook Pro. Now I’m on an uber powerful 2018 MacBook Pro i9 32gb ram… etc… etc…
So, I’m wondering if there’s a way to purposefully bump CPU usage with some sort of test VST that temporarily consumes mass amounts of CPU. Then while this is going on, test various VST to see if notes get stuck.
I am on 4.7
Macbook Pro M1 Max 64GB RAM and 2TB internal NVME drive
CPU is bored…
Memory usage is well into the green
I have run into this issue on two different string libraries: Cinesamples solo strings and SWAM solo strings. It happens often enough that I cannot trust it for a gig i have this weekend. Like others, panic or retriggering the offending note ends the sustain of the stuck note. With these two libraries, I do not utilize the sustain pedal at all, fyi.
I tried to do some troubleshooting but will have to come back to it after this weekend.
Here is what I did so far:
Midi monitor of course! Every time it happens I DO see the note off message.
Midi controller is a Kurzweil PC3x. I have produced the same behavior whether using USBMIDI directly connected (no hub) to my Macbook. or the 5-pin MIDI to my audio interface. Doesn’t make a difference.
My rack has two midi in blocks (omni) sending on channel 1 with keyboard split between to instances: one for cello and one for violin.
I tried using different midi channels for each instance…made no difference.
I tried loading the SWAM instances as stand alone (outside of GP) and using IAC midi out buses to trigger the instruments…made no difference.
What DID fix it is running them as stand alone out side of GP altogether and sending midi directly from my PC3x to the instrument (using the PC3x Midi input on the VST rather than sending MIDI from GP via IAC driver).
I will try to be more structured in my troubleshooting next week… I can’t say with certainty that it only happens with these two VSTs. These strings sounds sustain so it is easy to notice when it does occur.
In the past I had a keyboard (still have it, actually) that sent active sensing messages. The receiving side did not handle this well, causing stuck notes…
It’s a long shot, cause we’ve moved on 20 years, but just in case.
I’m saying those are the only two I have noticed it occurring with, yes. It’s easy to notice when the sound sustains. If it is occurring with other sounds like pianos, I haven’t noticed. I’m going to substitute out different VSTs in the same rack space to try to reproduce.
