[LAU] Midi Sustain Pedals

david gnome at hawaii.rr.com
Tue Aug 18 03:49:48 EDT 2009


Ken Restivo wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 11:49:11AM -1000, david wrote:
>> Dominic Sacr?? wrote:
>>> Hi Julien,
>>> 
>>> On Friday 07 of August 2009 08:26:26 Julien Claassen wrote:
>>>> If you want that, you need an "expression pedal". The sustain 
>>>> pedeals just do normal or sustain, no degrees. What should they
>>>>  signify?
>>> The sustain pedal on an acoustic piano does not act as a simple
>>> on/off switch. Pressing the pedal lifts the damper from the
>>> strings, but it's also possible to let the damper just slightly
>>> touch the strings by not pressing the pedal all the way down. For
>>> some piano pieces, this technique is even essential to play them
>>> properly.
>> Yes, I miss that in my digital piano playing!
>> 
>>> There are sustain pedals which allow for this half pedal effect,
>>> but they can't be used with all keyboards. I've only seen this
>>> feature in digital pianos / stage pianos (88 keys with hammer
>>> action, etc.). I'm not sure if it's supported by any of the more
>>> simple MIDI controller keyboards.
>> Perhaps an expression pedal could be mapped to function as a
>> sustain more like a real piano's sustain pedal?
> 
> My teacher has one of these pedals. It was made in Italy and went
> with some keyboard he's long since gotten rid of.
> 
> I took it apart and there are two contact strips: one for the
> downstroke and one for the upstroke. So I guess it sends a note
> message for pedal down, and one for pedal up. It only has a 1/4"
> tip/sleeve jack so I'm not sure how it's sending that to the
> keyboard.

Probably hooked into circuitry in the keyboard that (1) used the voltage 
level(s) to change signals in other parts of the circuitry, and (2) 
mapped voltage levels to some MIDI event code somewhere.

> Since playing around with the Steinway Gigasample, I keep thinking
> it'd be nice if the pedal could be more expressive and get those "in
> between" spots or just not CLANG if I life the pedal gently.

Sorry, I was thinking more along the lines of a volume control pedal,
with its events mapped to various degrees of sustain?

-- 
David
gnome at hawaii.rr.com
authenticity, honesty, community



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