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Hello there!

I´m considering buying the Roland RPU-3 pedal for my Roland FP-7F digital piano - I would really like to hear if some of you have good or bad experience with this pedal? Do you think it´s a little superfluous when you have the bundled DP-10 damper pedal or is it a very useful piece of kit?

;-)

Kind regards
Rasmus

Superflous? Definitely not. Depending on what you're playing, you ought to have all 3 pedals – certain classical repertoire will call for the left hand pedal (soft; una corda) and middle pedal (sostenuto).

I'm currently using a couple of old BOSS footswitches along with the supplied sustain pedal on my Roland until I can afford an RPU-3 :-)

It's a bigger, heavier unit, which means it shouldn't wander around as much when you're using it. That alone makes it worth it IMO.

BTW, all three pedals are continuous, so you can assign them to various parameters in the patches (filter cutoff, etc.).

The RPU-3 unit that I bought along with my FP-7F has become indispensable in the 6 mos I have owned them.

For some patches and registrations, e.g. guitar simulations, I have assigned pitch-bend and vibrato/tremolo effects to the soft and middle pedals. On the piano patches I use the soft pedal a lot for expression just as I would on an AP.

On noncritical gigs (rehearsals, e.g.) I take the single pedal that came with the piano instead because it fits better in my gig bag.

I forgot about that dewster – makes the RPU3 an especially useful controller when you're not playing classical stuff!

Thanks a lot for your replies!

I´m a novice in the piano world and most of the time I´m just practicing for dear life, but do you still think that the RPU-3 would be a fine investment? Is it a little difficult to use?

;-)

Kind regards
Rasmus

I had the RPU-3 when I had my RD-700GXF. It worked great. I love having the Una Corda pedal, which was the major reason I went for the RPU-3. The NP88 comes with the Nord Triple Pedal, which is a nice bonus!

It's not any more difficult to use than the damper pedal, and would 'complete' your digital, opening up a softer tonal quality with the una corda (left) pedal, and of course sostenuto with the middle (where only the notes held down with your fingers at the point of depressing the pedal are sustained).

If you're a novice you probably don't need to worry about the extra pedals right now, but they will be nice to have as your playing develops.

I had classical lessons through high school, and I've been playing for more than 30 yrs.; and I now work on some very advanced classical repertoire, and in all that time I've never used anything but the rt. (sustain, or damper) pedal on either the acoustic or digital pianos I've played. In pieces that have the soft (lt.) pedal indication ("una corda/tre corde"), you don't have to use the soft pedal--no one but a nitpicker will miss anything if you don't use it. As for the middle (sostenuto) pedal, you never would use this in a lifetime of playing--I still haven't really figured out when or where you would use it.

Up until around the 1980's, it was not uncommon for some very expensive acoustic pianos to come with only two pedals, the soft and damper. I once saw a classical concert by a big-time concert pianist, and he continuously used all three pedals in a piece that obviously called for only the right pedal; this was probably him just showing off ("look, I can use all three pedals on stage in front of thousands of people while you can't even use one well at home"), because what was coming out of the piano was putting me to sleep.

Buying an expensive factory 3-pedal unit for the FP-7 would be a complete waste of money, because you'd never use the lt. and middle pedals.

Whilst it's true that the vast majority of repertoire doesn't call for the use of sostenuto, una corda is very common indeed. Yes, you could just play quieter, but that wouldn't be faithful to the composers intentions - una corda pedalling results in a different, softer timbre (i.e. not just quieter) that I'm sure even non-nitpickers would notice. If you're not using the left pedal, your missing out on a whole different tonal range the piano has to offer!


Mmm. The sostenuto pedal has been around since the late 19th Century - virtually all of the grands I've ever played have had 3 pedals, and some were made in the early 20th Century.

As for the concert pianist you found so underwhelming, I doubt he was showing off, and it was probably Debussy or Ravel you were being treated to!


I don't agree. Yes, the sostenuto pedal may be rarely used, but the expressive una corda is common in classical repertoire. As mentioned elsewhere above, it's a solid unit that won't move about as much under the feet, and can be used as a continuous controller when playing other instrument sounds. I do agree it's not essential, but it is worthwhile if you can afford it.

Una Corde is definitely useful and a different/softer tone.When you play Una Corde on a conventional Grand,it shifts the keyboard and you are playing less strings

I've decided to get one.

Scott, was it in stock? Some stores say they will ship in May...

You're right -- May. I decided to get a Roland stand now since my current, cheap X-stand is rickety, and my wife is afraid of a piano crash in case of earthquake (we live in California).

The RPU-3 pedal will have to wait till 2013 now...

Does anybody know where to get RPU-3 from Europe web-shops (except Thomann)?
(I ordered from local shop, but still no delivery, at the moment thinking either requesting money back and just using the 1 pedal I already got or ordering from somewhere else, as it seems less and less crucial to have all 3 pedals to me).