The keyboard and pedals

What they do

The keyboard and pedals provide both a way to audition instrument sounds with your mouse as well as visual feedback when playing your MIDI controllerAny device, such as a piano keyboard or wind instrument, that transmits performance information as MIDI data. The ARIA Player can use these devices for live playback and control. or when playing back your project. The keyboard indicates the range of notes that can be played on the loaded instrument. It also displays any available keyswitchesAn instrument control used to change between techniques and articulations without the need to load separate patches. The term refers to the fact that a keyswitch is assigned to a particular note on the keyboard and switches between the different sounds. if they fall within the range displayed. When a slot with a loaded instrument is selected, a section of the keyboard will be highlighted. Keys that are being played are displayed in real time.

Many MIDI controllers have a sustain button, or a sustain pedal input that will send MIDI CC 64. Some keyboard controllers have a complete pedal unit input jack, which would provide all three pedals as arranged on a piano, with each sending the associated MIDI CC message.

Clicking a key towards the bottom of the key plays the note with greater key velocity (like pressing a key harder), and clicking a note towards the top of the key plays the note with less key velocity (like pressing a key more softly).

To the right of the keyboard are three pedal icons. When a pedal is depressed, or the associated MIDI CC message is sent, the corresponding pedal icon lights up. The pedals are arranged like a piano, with the soft pedal (MIDI CC 67) on the left, the sostenuto pedal (MIDI CC 66) in the middle, and the sustain pedal (MIDI CC 64) on the right.

Each key corresponds to a MIDI note message number, as shown in the diagram below.