MIDI notes appear even though I am not playing
Plug your kit in
Don’t guess, measure. The kit check is open to everyone and needs no account.
Check my kitYour DAW records unexpected Note On messages while nobody is hitting a pad. Before blaming the software, find out whether the messages come from the selected MIDI input, and under what conditions.
eDrumWork can record a silence window, identify the notes received and compare repeated tries without treating a single occurrence as proof.
Start with one MIDI input
A virtual port, a second interface or a routing loop can duplicate events. Select only the input connected to the module. Then keep the kit still and note the number, velocity, channel and time of each note within the window.
Look for repetition, not a story
The event does not reveal its cause, but its pattern tells you what to test next:
- the same note returns during complete silence;
- it appears only after a neighboring pad is hit;
- it appears during hi-hat pedal movement;
- a real note is duplicated across MIDI inputs.
The second pattern points to D07. The third may be normal hi-hat behavior, or a calibration problem (D10). The fourth means fixing the input selection or routing before touching a pad.
Record two full rest windows, then one slow series on a single possible source, without changing any setting in between. If the event happens once with no repeatable link, keep the observation but draw no conclusion.
Making the input less sensitive can hide the phantom note but lose real soft strokes. More crosstalk rejection can also remove legitimate simultaneous notes. After any fix, retest silence, ghost notes and pad pairs.
eDrumWork documents the event and its context; it does not turn MIDI evidence into a diagnosis of a physical part.