Akai MPC 60, Operator'S Manual, Page: 202 / 228

• The DEFAULT CHAN field: Each track within a sequence must be
assigned to one of the 64 midi channels. If none is selected, a default
channel is automatically inserted by the MPC60. This field determines
which channel is automatically inserted when a new track is selected. This is
actually two fields: the channel number (1 - 16), and the output jack
selection (A, B, C, or D).
• The SPECIAL SUSTAIN PEDAL PROCESSING field: This is a
choice field with 2 options: ON and OFF. The purpose of this field is to
selectively defeat the MPC60's special processing of sustain pedal
messages, explained below.
In all other sequencers, sustain pedal messages (midi controller 64) are
recorded as received into the sequence along with the notes. This presents
the following problems:
1. If you start playing a sequence from a specific point at which the
sustain pedal is held, but which is after the point at which it was
pressed, the notes will not be sustained because the "sustain
pedal on" message has not been recognized.
2. If you delete or erase a section of the sequence which
contained a "sustain pedal off" message, all notes after that
location will be sustained.
3. If you play 2 or more tracks into the same midi output
channel and only one track has sustain pedal information,
the notes on the other tracks will also be sustained.
4. If you merge a track with sustain pedal information into a track
without sustain pedal information, all notes on the resultant track
will be sustained.
5. If you overdub notes into a track containing sustain pedal
information, the new notes will be sustained.
The MPC60 eliminates these problems by specially processing the sustain
pedal messages. When the MPC60 receives a "sustain pedal on" message
during record, it does NOT record it. Instead, any notes which are currently
pressed are internally "held down", even after they are released, until a
"sustain pedal off message is received. The result is that the individual
durations of notes are lengthened, so unwanted transferring of sustain
information to other notes on the same midi channel is impossible. This has
the added advantage of allowing you to individually adjust durations of
sustained notes in Step Edit.
There are some situations in which this special feature is
undesirable:
1. On some synthesizers, this special sustain method will cause the
synthesizer to ignore any new notes played after
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