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I use a Nektar Impact LX61 MIDI keyboard with FL Studio 20. I have a pedal plugged into the 1/4" foot switch jack on the back. Currently, this functions as a "sustain" in that it continues to act as if keys are pressed down after they have been released. However, many piano libraries feature a more realistic sustain function when MIDI CC64 is greater than 50%. The Nektar Impact series does not feature a MIDI CC input for pedals.

When I press down or release the sustain pedal, FL Studio indicates that it is reviving a MIDI signal by lighting up an orange indicator in the top left. I do not, however, know what type of signal this is or what channel it is on. If I knew, I may be able to link it to MIDI CC64 as an on/off (0% or 100%) switch using FL Studio's internal "Remote Control Settings" feature.

I am looking for information regarding how MIDI controllers send data from the foot switch jack. Or even better, if anybody has done this in FL Studio before, I would like to know the process.

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    If you want to see what data type it is, why not record it? In all likelihood it's going to be CC64 0 & CC64 127. Few simple sustain pedals on keyboards can do a full sweep of 0-127 & few can respond to that, hence the implied toggle at 64.
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 9, 2022 at 7:07

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If your pedal has a 1/4 inch jack socket then it's not a MIDI foot switch. It will very probably be a simple on/off switch. Unless your keyboard has a very unusual MIDI implementation, when you press the foot switch the keyboard will send a MIDI CC64 (sustain) message on whatever channel it's set to. The value of the CC message will depend on the keyboard but it's most likely 127 (100%) or 0 for off. The exact details should be in the manual for your keyboard.

There is a setting in FL called "foot pedal controls note off" that is on by default. This blocks CC64 messages and uses them to control the lengths of notes while recording MIDI. When you turn this off, foot pedals work.

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  • Note that some of these pedals, having TRS Jack can allow for continuous signal. It's not midi yet until it has been converted by the keyboard thought!
    – Tom
    Apr 9, 2022 at 13:38
  • I used the wrong term when I said "channel", I apologize for that. What I meant was which CC it would send information to. It is not sending a CC64 signal. I have both recorded and looked in FL's full list of MIDI functions. For both of these, I can verify that the mod wheel works, but the switch does not set the CC64 to 127. The manual has a section for assigning controls including the switch, but when I use the settings mode it does not recognize the switch, despite it clearly outputting some sort of MIDI data to FL. Maybe this is a question for Nektar support. Thank you, though.
    – Noah
    Apr 9, 2022 at 20:33
  • MIDI monitoring was an excellent suggestion, thank you. In case anyone runs into the same issue and happens to find this thread, I'm going to leave the solution here. The MIDI monitor confirmed that the keyboard actually was outputting a CC64 message, FL Studio just wasn't picking it up. Turns out there is a setting in FL called "foot pedal controls note off" that is on by default. This blocks CC64 messages and uses them to control the lengths of notes while recording MIDI. When you turn this off, foot pedals work.
    – Noah
    Apr 11, 2022 at 19:29
  • @Noah I updated the answer to include the info from your comment.
    – PiedPiper
    Apr 11, 2022 at 20:24

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