MIDI CC Stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface Continuous Controller. The MIDI protocol contains a bank of parameters that can be set and varied over time. These parameters include things like Program Changes, Portamento, Volume, Sustain, Tuning and a host of other variables. Each one is assigned a number (eg. Modulation = CC1 , Pan = CC10, etc) To view the full list of MIDI Continuous Controllers, view this post on MIDI CC numbers.
In this tutorial, we will be using CC64 (Sustain pedal on/off) on a Virtual Piano.
First, load a piano VSTi on an instrument track and create a MIDI clip
MIDI CC automation is displayed in lanes at the bottom of the MIDI editor. By default, Velocity, Modulation, Pitch Bend and After Touch are visible. We wish to add a new lane for Sustain. To add a new lane, click the … icon.
This will display the Automation dialogue. Here you can choose from hundreds of variables. For our case, we want MIDI CC64, which is found in the MIDI folder.
This creates a new MIDI CC tab called “Sustain Pedal OnOff” Unsurprisingly, you can set it to either “on” or “off” by using the mouse.
If you make a recording using a keyboard with a sustain pedal connected, this lane will be created automatically.
You can view up to two MIDI CC lanes simultaneously. The toggle for lane visibility is found in the bottom left corner.
