[sdiy] Korg Half Damper Pedal

[JH.]

I never tried it on a Korg Piano, but from their description I thought it
was two different release times. Maybe emulating the felt only _slightly_
touching the strings on a real piano? (No idea, just guessing)
Now I think it either must be continuous, or they have used
a pot for convenience and have two comparators with different
thresholds in the piano.

But using an expression pedal connected to the Release input of a
VCADSR is avery usefull (I have set up my PS-3200 clone like that),
far better than just using a Hold or Sustain switch. And using the
"CV lense" (voltage processor) I can set the two end points (min and
max of "extra" release time) independently. This should work on
an original PS-3200, too. Maybe there's a connection from the
PS synth to the electronic Pianos of Korg regarding this feature?

BTW, when I use the second CV lense, wired to the same expression
pedal, for the decay CV, that's where the fun really starts for
emulating piano-like contours on a synthesizer. I usually make
the pedal increase the Decay time slightly, and increase the Release
time a little more. But if memory serves, this was not supported on
the original PS-3200. One should be able to do this easily on
various virtual modulars, though.

JH.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Stites" <scottnoanh at peoplepc.com>
To: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2004 8:36 AM
Subject: [sdiy] Korg Half Damper Pedal


> Hi List,
>
> I was wondering if someone could supply a little information about what a
> 'half damper' pedal is supposed to do.
>
> A little background information:  My sister has a Korg Symphonic Piano,
and
> she loaned it to someone, who of course lost the sustain pedal.  She
needed
> a pedal bad for a gig, tried to order one from Korg, and was told that
this
> 'half damper' pedal would work.  She ordered the thing, and it did not
work.
> She called me for help, and I sent her the sustain pedal from my old Korg
> Poly61 which was 'lost' by someone I loaned it to.  Funny how that
happens,
> isn't it?
>
> Anyway, she wound up just sending me this pedal in exchange, and I've
ohmed
> it out to see what it does - I can see why it doesn't work.  It has a
stereo
> 1/4" plug on it, and instead of switching, it provides a continous
> resistance from around 20K to around 500 ohms between the tip and ground
> when pressed.  Nothing happens between the ring and tip or ring and
ground.
> So, yippee, I just inherited what should turn out to be a really nice
volume
> pedal.
>
> But.....what the heck is 'half damping'?
>
> Thanks and cheers,
> Scott
>
>