Sustain pedal problems in MainStage

The pedal works backwards

Most often this is the order you plugged things in. Your keyboard checks the pedal's position when it powers on.

1. Plug the pedal into your keyboard before you connect the keyboard to your computer, and don't press it while you do.
2. If your pedal has a polarity switch (often underneath), flip it.
3. No switch? This video shows how to reverse it in MainStage:

The pedal doesn't work at all

1. Make sure the pedal is assigned in Layout mode, with Type set to Press/Release and Send Value To set to None.
2. Check that it's in the right jack on your keyboard (sustain, not expression).

One press holds, the next releases

In Edit mode, click the onscreen sustain pedal, open the Sustain tab in the Inspector, and select Momentary behavior.

Still not right? Check what it sends

A sustain pedal should send CC 64. In MainStage's MIDI Message Monitor (Window > MIDI Message Monitor), you want to see:

• On: Channel 1, CC 64, 127
• Off: Channel 1, CC 64, 0

If it sends a different CC number, change it on your keyboard, or have MainStage translate it. This video shows how:

Off value isn't 0 (for example, Channel 1, CC 64, 40)?

1. At the concert level in Edit mode, select the onscreen pedal.
2. In the Inspector, add a mapping to Send to All > Keyboard 1 Destinations > 64 Sustain.
3. Click the Transform graph under the mapping's Min and Max values.
4. Drag the bottom-left dot to the right until it reads 0, 40 (or your off value). Don't drag it up.

Send us a log

Still stuck? In Edit mode, open Window > MIDI Message Monitor. Check every box under Filters, click Clear, then press and release the pedal four times. Contact us with a screenshot of the log and what you've tried.

Using Ableton Live? See Sustain pedal problems in Ableton Live.