Questions about MIDI with Sustain / Overdub - Piano

[digitallush]

Hi Guys.. was wondering if you could help me out:

1. I've started to notice some issues while using the sustain pedal in Ableton... the sustain doesn't 'hold' all the time as more complex notes / variations are created on the keyboard - so for instance, I play my bass notes and want them to sustain while I do some flourishes on top..the more complex they get, I notice the bass note will suddenly stop sustaining ...even if I have it down still.



2... why doesn't ableton record sustain?? Is this an option I have to turn on? When I record a clip live, I'd like to be able to loop and it and play over top, but unless I'm holding my pedal down the whole time, it stops sustaining the notes.



Thanks for any advice.

-E

[yur2die4]

It actually has to do with the limitations of the polyphony. You will get this with any electronic keyboard.

Unless of course you are splitting the keys.

If your max polyphony is 6. Your first note will stop playing as you hit the 7th note. Many more complex samplers/synths have a much higher polyphony, which makes it not seem as obvious until it slips out from under your toes..literally

[digitallush]

Oh that sucks a lot! I wish I would have known this before my purchase.

Anyways - any ideas about why it's not recording the sustain?

[yur2die4]

If you are recording a loop, and a note overlaps the previous instance of the same note, the new overlapped note replaces it. If because of the overlap, the trigger-point of that note has been removed, then the note will no longer be committed to the track.

I don't know if there is an easy way around that. Either more careful timing and some quantization to fix the onset. Or using Looper instead of looping midi. but that is not editable after the fact.

There is more than one way to skin a cat