I was thinking that the name "foot switch" on the keyboard jack was just a name that corresponded with the name of the old pedals that were only switches: the switch is in the pedal, not the jack. (Otherwise, I'm more in the same boat than I realized.)

Anyone know--do older keyboards register and correctly use a continuous velocity pedal? Or could someone test one on an older keyboard?

OK, ok, so just a few years late on this.
I only just came across this thread, but can offer a tidbit for posterity.
The Yamaha KX88 (about as "older" as anything) has two foot SWITCH and two foot CONTROLLER inputs.
The sockets are all phono jacks, but the controller ones are designated "FC" for foot controller.
The switch ones are designated "FS" for foot switch.
The same designation is used in the product names of the pedals themselves.
Manual not handy, but as I recall all are assignable - as are the sliders, mod wheel, etc.

FWIW, etc.

One thing I noticed is that the graphic of the sustain pedal seems to have a limit to the speed it moves. I have no idea if this affects the internal operation though.

I don't think so, the graphics in music software is usually low priority (ie. rendered at low framerates) so that more CPU is left for the audio.  Also the pedal graphics most likely only have a few fixed positions they can draw, so again the visual representation isn't that accurate, but it won't affect the audio.

The sustain jack on this keyboard does not support continuous pedals unfortunately, and programming the keyboard to send CC#64 breaks it... I use Linux, so I'll probably end up writing a little tool to convert it to CC#64 in software, so that non-reprogrammable soft synths can use it too.

One thing I noticed is that the graphic of the sustain pedal seems to have a limit to the speed it moves. I have no idea if this affects the internal operation though.

OK, I finally got my Yamaha FC3 and the good news is that it works perfectly with my Ensoniq TS-12 expression pedal input!

The bad news is that the range is reversed

Ah, wait a minute!

Sometimes people say that expression-type pedals can be polarity reversed by rewiring the jack - and that's usually countered with 'it won't work, but resoldering the pot will' (and that seems logical if you know some electronics).

But it turns out rewiring the jack would work on the FC3!  The resistance is reversed across the center and outer contacts:

ring->tip: 0-10k
ring->sleeve: 10k-0

(Jack connections)

Sweet.

Edit: So it looks like an expression/half-damper pedal is just the 3 terminals of a pot wired directly to the stereo jack.  It would be easy enough to DIY a polarity switch that just flips tip and sleeve.

The bad news is that the range is reversed, but this can be corrected in PT by reversing the sustain controller range (1.0 - 0.0), or more universally by resoldering the pot (something I may do).  Holding it depressed during keyboard switch-on didn't work (Ensoniq clearly wanted you to buy their pedals).

So, the jack wiring is expression-pedal compatible (at least for Ensoniq keyboards, though it's probably universal and only the pot resistance values & polarity change between pedals).

The pedal outputs 10kOhms across the tip and center ring (open:~0.8, closed: ~10.6) & maps to full 0-127 range.

The only downside is that I now have to learn to half-pedal .

Of course the Jack wiring will have to match too, I'm not sure if they are the same as expression pedals as I haven't got my half-damper yet (but I wouldn't be surprised if they are).

That all sounds good!  Having to replace a pot with one of different capacity falls under the rewiring job in my book, so if that's all it takes, I'll do it.

Would be nice to hear from people who do have a half-damper pedal and have tried this experiment.  I'm surprised there seems to be so little info out there on this simple(?) trick...

Great!  Sounds like all I need is to get a half-damper to be 'read' via the expression input, perhaps with some range remapping e.g. via Midi OX, and I should be good to go.

Can anyone confirm this works?

Thanks!

Doesn't that just work, perhaps with a bit of rewiring?

It depends on whether the polarity & the maximum resistance of the pedal matches what your keyboard expects.  If not, you can invert the polarity and/or adjust the range inside Pianoteq.  Another option is to modify the incoming values using a utility call MIDI-OX.

Of course the Jack wiring will have to match too, I'm not sure if they are the same as expression pedals as I haven't got my half-damper yet (but I wouldn't be surprised if they are).

Yes, you can set PT to use pretty much any MIDI controller for sustain (including volume).

What happens when one connects a half-damping pedal to the expression input on a keyboard?  Doesn't that just work, perhaps with a bit of rewiring? 

Can this MIDI data then be used for the sustain pedal parameter in Pianoteq?

I must be missing something, but I'd like to know before I buy any kind of pedal.  I have a pretty basic master keyboard (Studiologic sl-880) with a continuous 'Volume' pedal input, which I'd like to use with a continuous damping pedal in Pianoteq.  It must be possible!

Thanks for any pointers (including to other threads/sites!)

Yikes. Does that mean that all older keyboards are unable to use a half damper pedal? Seems as though that would be information that we'd have run across often in various forums and in ads for the pedals.

Apparently some of them will work as switched pedals on keyboards that don't support variable resistance.

That's it.

Thanks, but the link unfortunately again doesn't say what resistance the pot needs to be.

I've now bought an FC3 from abroad, but due to a shipping mixup it will take 4+ weeks to arrive!  But when I get it I'll post back with results.

Cellomangler wrote:

So ReBased, you are looking for a new/used CVP-1 or a way to build a facsimile, verdad ?

No, I want to interface a half-damper pedal to the CV port (with mods if needed).

That's kind of what I meant.  If you could find a used CVP-1 you could then easily retrofit a continuous damper style pedal to the simple wiring of the pedal.  You want the physical nature -the piano styling- of the continuous (or half) damper and not the expression pedal styling of a gas pedal without spring-back -sorry to be putting words in your mouth, but I'm trying to understand.  Albeit a bit cryptic, there's a technical description of the CVP-1 on page 20 this DP4 manual:
http://www.stanford.edu/~dattorro/DP4_manual.pdf
"We now return control to you..."

Yikes. Does that mean that all older keyboards are unable to use a half damper pedal? Seems as though that would be information that we'd have run across often in various forums and in ads for the pedals.

I don't know when half-damper pedals were introduced, but they're really just repackaged 'expression' pedals, and those were the two pedal types traditionally supported on different jacks (switch & expression).

My TS12 allows you to assign the normal footswitches to different functions, but they're all switch types (sequencer start/stop, preset up down etc).  Hence the CV pedal input for continuous volume/mod control.

We need someone to test this, just in case. Anyone here have an Ensoniq keyboard that he or she could hook up to their half-damper pedal?

I was thinking that the name "foot switch" on the keyboard jack was just a name that corresponded with the name of the old pedals that were only switches: the switch is in the pedal, not the jack. (Otherwise, I'm more in the same boat than I realized.)

The switch or pot is in the pedal, but the circuitry to sense the variable resistance from a potentiometer is in the keyboard.  I'm pretty sure your switch inputs are only switch-compatible.

Anyone know--do older keyboards register and correctly use a continuous velocity pedal? Or could someone test one on an older keyboard?