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Hi Everyone,

What do you all think of this pedal?

http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-US65010-Sustain-Pedal-Keyboards/dp/B00063678K/ref=pd_rhf_ee_shvl9

I have a Casio Privia PX130 and the one that came with it is horrible! I am looking for the feel of an acoustic's pedal.

Should be a good choice. Gets pretty good reviews. It's heavy and has a solid acoustic-like feel to it.

Are the electrical connections standardized? They all use 1/4 plugs, but what signals do they send?

For some reason I thought that Kawai pedals, at least, do no work on other pianos, nor other pianos' pedals on Kawai.

Does it output proportional values for MIDI as it is depressed and released? I wouldn't have one that didn't.

You can't go wrong with the m-audio SP2. It does not support half pedaling but it is built to last. There is a polarity switch at the bottom so it can work with nearly any digital piano.

If it doesn't support half-pedalling you just went wrong!

The PX130 doesn't support half-pedal. So what good is a pedal that supports half-pedaling ... when it's connected to a keyboard that does not support it? This pedal should be just fine.

OK good point - I didn't know that. I'll refrain from saying what good is a keyboard that doesn't support half-pedaling? I realize that not everyone is trying to emulate an acoustic piano experience.

Note that the PX-130 does support half pedalling (only one intermediate level - not continuous) when using the proprietry pedal interface and the Casio tri-pedal unit, however that unit needs to be mounted on the Casio wood stand, unless you want to seperate the pedal assembly from the mounting strut and then come up with a way to keep the pedal unit positioned and stable.

Greg.

Good enough for me, 90% of the time. Of course, that 90% of what I play are non-piano emulations in an orchestra pit or worship band. The portion of piano I do play needn't be so precise, but I am probably a minority as far as digital piano players go. Come to think of it, I'm really not a digital piano player since what I do have is a synthesizer/workstation. I'd take more brass sounds over half-pedal .

Hi,

this is off topic but I listened to your YouTube and wondered if you had ever heard this piece. I thought you might like it since you enjoy Joplin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXGp0RjDykM

Roberto Clemente

When I got my PX-120, most of the reviews of the Casio pedals were bad, with reports of plastic hinges failing, so I bought three of these M-Audio units. They have metal (brass) hinges. I mounted them on a sheet of aluminum attached to a wooden harp. They have now worked very reliably for three years.
I had to remove the 1/4" connectors and wire them to a plug that goes into the bottom of the PX-120 to get all three of sustain, sostenuto and soft. I was able to adapt one of the M-Audio pedals to provide the half-pedal sustain on the PX-120, though it was a little involved.
At any rate, the pedals are very good.
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Jack

Very impressive Jack. I suppose you probably can't post the details, because it would be considered reverse engineering.

As for housing the Casio pedals, it might be possible to build a housing using Lego. ;^) Here's someone who made a double housing for Yamaha FC-3 pedals: http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic.php?id=1741

Greg.

I've only bought Yamaha and Roland keyboards in the last 30 years. As far as I can recall I've never had any significant problems. I vaguely remember having to open one and oil it.

That was terrific!! Thanks for sharing that very beautiful and elegant sounding rag. I have added it to my YT favorites.


Getting back to the topic, I doubt I'll get this pedal knowing that the Casio Privia doesn't allow for partial sustains. Partial sustains, and just "touches of pedal" are really needed IMO for any piece requiring pedal.

Thanks all for the info.

I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to figure out an accessory connector, so I made up a PDF with details. They're posted here:
http://www.joflaherty.org
Just click on "Piano pedals" on the right side of the page.
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Jack

Hi Jack, that was impressive! Thanks for the schematic. I will have to "tinker" with my pedal (which will be a nice winter project), and by the way, I work in electronics manufacturing and have access to both TO92 transistor and 10M resistor.

Thanks Jack - much appreciated.