Sustain Pedal

[Basement29]

Hello. I’m quite new with my Stage 3 and I start now to use more and more the Sustain pedal (the one that came with the keyboard. in fact it was in its box until some days ago).
When I use it simply for sustaining the sound with a classical piano (Grand 3D) and I play the bass keys the bass sound remains very strong and the global sound results a little jumbled. i check the setup but I don’t know if there any posible setup to shorthen the sustain effect a little. Or simply it works like this? Is the only solution to refresh the pedal more often?
Thanks,
Jose

[Basement29]

Are you new to playing Piano in general?

If so, you should watch this video



If not, please describe your issue in more detail please

[Basement29]

I think, you have a Stage 3-HA88, right? Which is dedicated to piano based sounds, but has the organ and the synth engines, too. On stage, you will probably want to use it with a simple sustain pedal - that's the one that was included. But it doesn't have half-pedalling: You will always have full sustain.

Thats's different for the Nord Triple Pedal which I use. It will provide half pedalling and pedal release sounds. For me, it was important, as I use the pedal a lot. Unfortunately it is about 190 € (even way more in America) and is reported to be not as solid as one could expect.

Besides, there's no setting for the sustain sound I would know of.

[Basement29]

Thanks a lot for your answers.
Yes I have a Nord Stage 3 HA88 and I am quite neophyte (20 years playing guitar but only 1 year with the keyboard and I started from scratch)
I already knew what it’s explained in the video of Martin (thanks anyway).
What is happening, I can explain it better with the real problem tha I am facing: normally the pedal works well when I play chords, but Now I am playing “Passacaglia” of Handel, and when my left hand goes to the “C” key (second C key from the left) as first note of the arpegio, this C sounds strong and overlaps or “cover” too much the melody done with the right hand. Nevertheles for the rest of arpegios, starting a little more on the right (D, G..) it sound better. Only that C so bass and heavy give me problems.
My question was about the setup. Is it posible to reduce the strenght or duration of the sustain effect? It seems it’s not.
Maybe the solution, as explained by FZiegler, is to use a triple pedal where if I understand well I can press 50% and the effect is not so radical. With my pedal, or it is sustained or it’s not. I’m going to investigate a little about that triple pedal. Thanks!

[Basement29]

Hello Jose,
you say you play keyboards only 1 year. That‘s all quite normal, that all experiences come step by step. Having read your description I feel it has more to do with the playing technique than with the keyboard or the sound file. The right feeling how to use a sustain pedal is the one thing. And the touch, the feeling about how to play the notes, how much power to put in your attack - I don‘t know enough english words to describe the finger feel - is the other thing. If a note appears too loud, I as a piano player would say, I‘ve touched it too strong. If it sustains too long, I would say I‘ve held it too long plus a maybe inappropriate pedal feel.
I agree with FZiegler that a halfpedal mode helps. Yes, and in addition I would suggest play, play play and train your feel.
Cheers from Germany

[baekgaard]

This sounds more like a question of learning proper technique...

A sustain pedal on an acoustic piano lifts the dampers from the strings so that they keep on sounding. Deeper strings do so longer, as they are thicker and hold more energy. Half damping can be used, but is a more advanced technique and probably not what you should learn first.

Instead adjust the strength of your playing to get the balance you need - on an individual note level. It takes a while to practice this, but you should likely play the lower tones with less force.

You can also consider another piano sample. Try one of the uprights - mellow for instance. It has a beautiful tone with a much weaker bass register.

You may want to use the sustain pedal sparingly if you want clarity in your playing. It can cover a lot of mistakes, but learning better technique is the better way forward unfortunately.

Sent from my phone in brevity

[FZiegler]

I fully agree with baekgaard.

And try to play the Passacaglia with a harpsichord sound - Haendel composed it in 1720 or before - the "pianos" at that time didn't have hammers and dampers - so no need for a sustain pedal to set aside the dampers. But the sound was much thinner and didn't sustain for long.

I hadn't played it before, and indeed, for beginners, it seems easier to play it with sustain pedal, but you will have to be very careful with the chords in the left hand while jumping from one to the other. Managing the right balance between left and right hand velocity will be a big part of any piano style. It took me much more than 1 year and my teacher kept giving his (or her) comments...

When you are good enough, you shouldn't need the pedal for that sort of music any more. So no need to buy a triple pedal for the moment. Just in case you want to be able to play romantic music some day, you might really need it - and of course getting used to it might open you the path to get there in the end. Ask a piano teacher about all that!

[Basement29]

Thanks a lot indeed for your advice.
I am testing with the headphones and I’m afraid you are right. it’s more a question of technique and way of playing.
If I press softer those bass notes it sounds pretty well.
I feel a little embarrased, but if I don’t ask I don't have the answer.

I see a big difference between playing Passacaglia with or without the pedal. Maybe because after 2 weeks, I don’t play it yet at the normal speed and with the pedal it sounds more continuous.
I have a piano teacher for a couple of months and in fact he was who suggested me to start using the pedal.
Last week I asked him (quickly) about the pedal technique and he detected that sometimes I don’t release totally the pedal before press it again but that is other issue that I am already correcting. Note the I have started to use the pedal some days ago.
In any case he’s a classical piano teacher used to play with wall pianos and gran pianos and he’s now discovering how a stage keyboard is. In fact at the beginning he was a little negative (he did not know the Nord brand) and after 6 or 7 classes he’s absolutely impressed with the quality and sound of the Nord keyboard.

Thanks again. Wishing to test playing tomorrow my Passacaglia with the speakers!

[Hlaalu]

I'll add to the above that a big role in how the sustain sounds overall is played by the much ignored sostenuto pedal as well. I am a big fan of it and I try include it as much as I can in my playing. Takes a bit of practice as everything, but it's so worth it. It's unlikely that a single bass note, however low in frequency, cause that much muddiness to the sound. It's rather when you add harmonics other than the octave that the problem gets noticeable. And here's where the sostenuto can help a lot. You can select which note to "sustain", and then fine-tune the rest of them by half-pedaling with the regular sustain pedal. As mentioned by FZiegler, this is an expensive solution though, given that the only triple pedal that works with Nord is their own and that it costs a lot of money...

[Basement29]

I see a big difference between playing Passacaglia with or without the pedal. Maybe because after 2 weeks, I don’t play it yet at the normal speed and with the pedal it sounds more continuous.

Effectively, it's not only a question of your tempo, but also the speed of moving fingers from one key to the next. If you work hard on that, you might find that you'll need less pedal. That's why playing the keyboard can be a full time profession. And that's why I'm not a pro - just do it with a lot of fun, but with less accuracy.

The good thing is: You don't need to force it with the speed - it comes by itself while training. Your fingers get accustomed to the moves, you don't need your mind for that.