Sustain pedals

[Chris T]

I've been using a basic Yamaha (electric piano) sustain pedal for years in my DAW setup. However it's highly over-sensitive, to the point where even if my foot touches the floor near it, it will trigger the pedal to send CC64 sustain commands. As you can imagine this creates a lot of annoying MIDI cleanup issues in my tracks (working in DP11).
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Can anyone recommend a good, reliable sustain pedal (that feels like an actual piano pedal - not just an on/off pedal switcher), which is not overly-sensitive?

Alternatively is there a setting I can change in my DAW / pedal so that it's less sensitive?...

I'd appreciate any good tips!

Thanks,
CT

[cuttime]

I like my Roland DP-10. It has a neat little non-slip pad.

[Chris T]

Thanks! And it's not overly sensitive right? I.e. it only sends CC64 when you ACTUALLY depress it, right?

[bayswater]

I like my Roland DP-10. It has a neat little non-slip pad.

+1

[cuttime]

Thanks! And it's not overly sensitive right? I.e. it only sends CC64 when you ACTUALLY depress it, right?

It feels pretty much like a real sustain pedal, and a continuous sustain option for piano VIs that support half-pedaling options.

[mikehalloran]

The Yamaha FC3A also has a 'half pedal' mode when partially depressed. My wife loves hers.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... er-control

[HCMarkus]

Chris - you might want to try opening up your Yamaha and bending the contacts whichever way is required to restore proper function.

[stubbsonic]

HCMarkus and I are thinking along the same lines.

Not always, but sometimes when you take apart a switch pedal, it becomes kind of obvious how it works, and you might see what is needed to make it work correctly.

If the switch itself is dirty, or has some fuzz in it, it might behave as you describe. You could try spraying some contact cleaner into the switch to clean it.

If you are really ready to get a new pedal and don't want to bother with it, you could write "needs work" on a piece of tape before donating it to a place that takes such items. If I was walking through a thrift store and saw one, I'd probably take it home.

[Chris T]

Thanks for all your advice. I took the lazy approach and bought the Roland DP-10.

Just plugged it in. It works fine on my (external) Yamaha electric piano. However when I plug it into my NI S-88 and try to control Kontakt 7 pianos, there's no response.

I updated Controller Editor. Kontakt 7 is updated. I went into Controller editor and CC64 is noted on the top (right) input to the keyboard. When I go to "Assign" it's noted as Number 64 and Type: Control Change.

I think I have the S88-1 (with touch strip PB / Mod)?....

Still no response from the pedal. What am I missing here?...

[stubbsonic]

Did you switch the pedal to SWITCH mode (rather than continuous)?

It's a TRS connector, so I wonder if a pedal input jack that expects a TS switch pedal would behave properly with the TRS attached.

[Chris T]

Yes it's in SWITCH mode. Like I said - it works fine on an external electric piano so I suspect it's an NI Controller Editor setting. (I have the S-88 Mk1)...

Thx