Adding sustain codes to an existing MIDI signal (not editing in DAW manually) LIVE!

[davidgrahaminch]

Hello, I need a black box device of some kind that can take a MIDI input signal, add sustain codes using a piano sustain pedal, and send a final code out to a MIDI responder device (a sound module to play a sample, record the final MIDI signal, etc.)

Does someone know what this is called? This needs to be done live, not editing the responses in a DAW, and it is not a piano. I need to add the codes to something with no sustain codes in the signal, and no way to add it in the hardware that produces the codes.

 

[rob aylestone]

Almost any master keyboard can do this, by pressing the sustain pedal - that's what it does. It sends a CC64 when you press it down (usually 127), and then a CC64 at 0 when you release. If you have a MIDID stream you wish to add sustain to live, then you use a MIDI merge box - something like this Kenton Merge-4 4 In to 2 Out Merge Box at Gear4music.com

This allows the two streams to be merged - remembering the sustain controllers MUST be on the same MIDI channel as whatever you are wanting sustain, and of course making sure the receiving device sound you are using supports CC64. So a piano sound would react to the CC64 message, but a saxophone or synth one might not. Sometimes you can edit the sounds to turn this on, sometimes you can't. what kind of MIDI sound device are you hoping to use to produce the sounds?


Just to be clear - you CANNOT plug in a normal sustain medal (with a jack plug type connector) into a merge box, the pedal does not produce any MIDI data, it just opens or closes a contact when you stamp on it. The master keyboard receives the pedal switch opens and closures, and generates Continuous Controller 64.