Sustain pedal stopped working but only when recording

Cubase
1

Hi everyone,

My sustain pedal just stopped working in recording mode in Cubase Pro 14 while still sending MIDI data according to the MIDI Monitoring plugin and the small meter in the lower right corner.

The pedal was working perfectly fine until last week when Cubase froze after Windows 11 crashed and I had to force reboot the PC, which seems to have messed up some MIDI parameters (Cubase has also reset my custom track colors back to grey as well as the transport settings and messed up a few other things).

The weird thing though is that the pedal works fine when I press it live without recording. But as soon as I press record, all the notes go staccato and no sustain data is recorded when I check in the MIDI Editor.

The same problem occurs with my second MIDI controller keyboard and its own sustain pedal. It’s working fine during live playing but as soon as I start recording, no MIDI from the pedal is recorded, although the MIDI monitoring shows the pedals activity (going up from 0 to 127 when I press it).

So when I play back, no sustain data is recorded BUT when I press the pedal live during the playback, it’s working again, but I cannot record it, even with the automation recording (the red “W”).

HOWEVER, my third sustain pedal which is not plugged into a MIDI keyboard but is plugged into my hardware synth works perfectly fine even in recording mode. So I guess there must be some kind of MIDI conflict going on, but I have no idea where to check and correct the settings.

I removed all my MIDI Remotes but it didn’t make a difference.

Also, the problem persists even in safemode.

I checked the MIDI port configuration as well, but to be honest I have no idea if what I’m seeing there is correct or not.

Any ideas how I could fix this?

I have a link to a video of my problem on Reddit, not sure if it works here though:

A video showing my problem

Thanks so much in advance.

P.S.: this is not the only MIDI problem that was caused by Cubase freezing last week (my drum machine’s MIDI notes are recorded but just won’t play back any sound, and one of my Softube Fader1 units disappeared and just won’t be recognized anymore) but I guess I’ll save that for another separate topic.

2

Hi, @Jeff_Stahl

Several informations missing :

  • 1st MIDI controller : Axiom 61, Ok, and it seems that you are using USB. How is the controller behaving with MIDI cables instead ? Beside this, no filtering of any kind, either in Cubase (MIDI preferences, Input transformer…) or on the controller itself ?
  • 2nd MIDI controller : brand & model and same questions as above.
  • 3rd MIDI device (hardware synth with functional CC64) : what is it (brand & model) ? How do you record its MIDI output messages which allow you to say it works and could you post a screenshot showing the Cubase track(s) used for it (both MIDI and audio) ?
  • Seems like you are using Arturia DX V in your video : same results with another VSTi (i.e. a Steinberg one) ?

Additionaly, and as a poster in Reddit suggested, screenshots of your Preferences > MIDI panel would help, this, with the Preferences > MIDI > MIDI Filter and the Studio > Studio Setup > MIDI Port Setup setup ones.

Overall, at this point, and considering your P.S., maybe I would try to reinstall Cubase after such a nasty Windows crash…

3

Hi @cubic13

Thank you for your time.

● Regarding your suggestion to use MIDI cables instead of USB, due to the specific characteristics of my hardware setup, I can unfortunately not reach the back of my Axiom 61 without moving it, and if I do, everything falls apart since the weight of the keyboard holds in place a plank that supports my second monitor). But then again, everything has always worked fine for years with my current cable connections.

About the filtering inside Cubase (please keep in mind that despite the years I’ve always been bad at menu diving) I have no idea, but at the end of this message you will find all the screenshots you requested.

As for the Axiom and my other controllers, I haven’t changed/added any parameters, which are the very same as when everything used to work.

● 2nd MIDI controller is an old Roland E-35 synthesizer from the 1990s that I now exclusively use as a MIDI controller. It is connected through a Roland UM-ONE MIDI to USB interface.

● My bad about the 3rd device, which is a Behringer UB-Xa. I thought it was working until I realized that I actually recorded the audio track instead of the MIDI one. In MIDI, the problem happens to be the same. The UB-Xa is connected via USB.

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● I tried the sustain pedal with Steinberg Halion Sonic7 and the same problem occurs.

Please find all the requested screenshots –the interface is in French but I think you will be able to recognize the different menus.

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Thank you again for your time.

P.S.: Indeed, reinstalling Cubase briefly crossed my mind until I realized it would probably take me ages to reinstall and set up all my gear and the hundreds of VSTs (unless there’s a way to somehow save that setup and load it back into a freshly installed Cubase? But then I guess it would make a clean reinstall irrelevant?)

4

A reinstall of Cubase will probably not affect the VSTs already installed, but you need to ensure you have backed up your preferences before reinstalling. This is a recent thread about backing up preferences which should help:

5

Thanks for your insight. I’m going to look into this once I have figured out how to get last week’s settings back working, and only then save the folder.

Thank you!

6

Hi @cubic13

I just found the solution thanks to coming across one of your old comments on another topic from February 2025! :smiley:

The culprit was the Controller box in the MIDI Filter Preferences that was ticked!

Unticked it after reading your comment and everything worked again, so thanks again :folded_hands: