[sdiy] Korg Half Damper Pedal

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/28/04 9:39:41 PM, scottnoanh at peoplepc.com writes:

<< But.....what the heck is 'half damping'? >>

Hello Scott,

On better acoustic pianos, you can gradually press down on the damper pedal, 
and the strings will gradually go from fully damped (no sustain) to fully 
open/undamped (long sustain).  If the instrument is well adjusted and you're good, 
you'll be able to subtly adjust the sustain characteristics of notes as you 
play them.  "Half-damping" or "half-pedaling" is the playing technique that 
might be indicated on the piano music (I think there's even a little graphic 
symbol that you'll find on piano scores to indicate half-pedaling).

I should mention that almost all acoustic pianos have this capability, to 
some extent, but most of them don't really respond very well to the in-between 
positions of the pedal -- It's usually just pretty much on or off (or very hard 
to control the sustain variation with your foot), almost like a typical 
electronic instrument with a sustain pedal.  You'll notice a real difference, 
however, if you try this with very good pianos.  The same is true of the Soft Pedal 
on good pianos.  If it's solidly built and well-regulated, you can almost use 
the soft pedal like a gradual volume or swell pedal.

The Yamaha DiskClaviers have excellent response on their sustain pedals, and 
it all goes out over MIDI, so when you play it back from a sequencer, the 
pedal's physical position exactly matches that of your recorded performance.  
Pretty amazing, and very cool.  The DiskClavier soft pedal works the same way, 
too.  (I think thr pedals are quantized to 127 different levels or pedal 
positions from no pedal to full pedal)

Michael Bacich