Nord User Forum

SteveNordP3 wrote:my opinion is the pedal noise is incredibly important - most especially for recording,

It would be of great benefit to this discussion if you could post an example recording with pedal noise.

CountFosco wrote:

SteveNordP3 wrote:my opinion is the pedal noise is incredibly important - most especially for recording,

It would be of great benefit to this discussion if you could post an example recording with pedal noise.

Great suggestion! May take a while - I no longer have recording gear at home. I may be doing something with a friend in the next month or so and would love to do an A/B with the Nord pedal and Roland pedal so you can hear both. Would be great to record the passage with both midi and audio - say White Grand - starting with a pedal stomp and a playing a brief solo passage. Then have the midi track trigger an audio recording of version B with the same White Grand only with another single pedal plugged in to the board. If someone has gear more readily accessible and can beat me to it please do!

In the meantime - forgive the ignorance on my part - do either of your boards (mentioned in your profile) use the Nord triple pedal? If so, the best way to hear the difference yourself is to A/B a passage with the different pedals while listening in head phones. I think you’ll agree recording or playing solo or even in a duo, there’s something missing when not using the Nord pedal. Any more than 2 pieces and it’s less distinguishable.

I own a triple-pedal which was provided with the used NS3 I bought.
I didn't read all posts, but did someone talk about the two other pedals?

Maybe the 8 years of classical piano lessons I attended in my childhood weren't sufficient to reach the point where I could use the middle pedal. Maybe, I didn't work on classical pieces enough, currently. But, the fact is that I never use and used the middle pedal and, pratically, I only use the sustain pedal.

But I like to have pedal noise when I only play piano: it is not mandatory but it's more realistic.

If I hadn't own the triple pedal, I would have appreciated the possibility to buy a progressive sustain pedal with pedal noise activated without the two useless additional pedals. Without talking about the weight loss of such a pedal compared to the actual one.

Hlaalu wrote:

analogika wrote:Pedal noise depends upon how hard you kick the pedal, so it cannot work properly with regular pedals, which only know on/off.

Actually even with the Triple pedal, which I own myself and which knows better than ON/OFF, it's only when you release the pedal that the speed with which you do it will affect the noise volume, depending on how hard the dampers will rest on the strings. When you press it, on the contrary, thus raising the dampers, you'll hear the same noise volume regardless -- a sudden noise at some point of the curve.

This is admittedly a (very) minor flaw of this product. A closer emulation of the real mechanism of the sustain pedal would be to reduce, potentially to zero, the noise of the raising dampers when the pedal is pressed down very slowly.

That’s not my experience. I wonder if there’s a setting for that somewhere? Whether I gently put the pedal down or kick it down violently the sound is as expected from an acoustic.

Haven’t been able to travel to my friend’s place to record the A/B of the triple vs a single yet and would love to add a soft vs hard pedal drip recording too. If anyone has the right gear at home to do that and post it please feel free to do so.

Hlaalu wrote:don't think you have to be an absolute pro to be using the middle pedal.

Thank you, I will watch the video.
I was not saying that only pro can use it, but I never had the need to use it. And my upright Seiler doesn't have such a pedal, nor most of piano I have played.
In fact, it's my first sostenuto pedal.

Hlaalu wrote:

SteveNordP3 wrote:That’s not my experience. I wonder if there’s a setting for that somewhere? Whether I gently put the pedal down or kick it down violently the sound is as expected from an acoustic.

Really? That's interesting... I don't think there is any setting apart from the one inside the menu where you select the type of "sustain" pedal. But in theory having it on "auto" should do the job anyway...

Have you tried listening carefully with headphones while slowly pressing the pedal down until you hear the dampers raising? Does really the noise become more 'extended' in time, so to speak? Because that's what should happen... the moment the dampers lift from the strings, that noise should be less abrupt when the pedal is pressed down slowly. Again, not what I'm hearing.

Ah - I think I understand what you’re saying. Yes - a very soft press gets to a point where it’s as though the sample is spliced in and does not sound like what you’d expect on a natural piano. The difference between softly and violently applying the pedal is noticeable and more as expected, as are the samples associated with easing up on the pedal or letting it fly from your foot - again, acting as expected. I get your point on the very soft application of the pedal - it is abrupt.