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Well I just bought a piano spent all last year scrapping together money to get one. Its an Studiologic SL-990XP also I purchased an
imperfect samples sound library
Than I was doing some further research about foot pedals I read there was sustain and soft pedals etc. And my question is do I only need one to perform all these functions, would This work?


Thanks

Yes you definitely need a pedal. Just get one pedal for sustain. It's what you would use 99 % of the time. I wouldnt worry about soft pedal for now. Congrats on purchasing the piano.

Thanks I will buy one than, one ,more question can you describe what each one does to enhance the sound etc ?

The right pedal sustains all notes played while the pedal is pressed so when you raise your hands off the keys the notes linger. This is used extensively and is a must for piano as it helps you move from one set of notes to another smoothly.

The left pedal makes the sound quieter/softer, useful if practicing a piece and for quieter sections of pieces.

The middle pedal - now this is the odd ball as the middle peddle is different on different pianos but on high end grand pianos and some digital pianos the middle peddal sustains just the notes played when you press the pedal. This differs from the right pedal which sustains the notes played afterwards as well for as long as you hold the pedal. There are hardly any pieces that use this pedal and it is quite tricky to use but if you can master it it can add a pleasing effect to your playing.

in short the right pedal is a must, the left is useful and the middle i would only recommend for advanced players looking for something different to add to their music.

Thanks for all your replies

I wanted to play some Eric Satie last year. The score is dirt-simple (not that it's easy to play well!). But there were long-duration bass notes, lasting several measures, underneath a two-handed treble line.

If you used just the damper (right) pedal to sustain the bass notes, the treble line would be badly blurred.

. . . Those pieces _required_ a sostenuto (middle) pedal !

My synth didn't have one, but my new digipiano does!

So I'll be back to those scores . . .

. Charles