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Casio CDP 130: fine tuning and the pedal


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The quality of the middle register is not as good as the rest or as good as it sounded in the store. Thing is, there isn't much difference between Hall and Grand piano. But, I may not be using the function properly or getting the best out of it. Any suggestions?

Also, the pedal doesn't sustain as much or as deep as an acoustic. Is this the norm or is there a better product? This one came with the piano. 

 

Appreciate your help.

 

 

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Hi Janet and welcome to the Casio forums. The sound can be affected a lot just by the room -- the music store maybe had better acoustics? Anyway, try moving the location of the instrument and see if that improves the sound. Other options are using external speakers or headphones.   The Hall and other adjustments may be too subtle to hear on the built-in speakers.


As far as the sustain pedal -- I don't know what model/brand came with your CDP, but the Casio SP-20 is one of the best pedals out there. Feels very nice! http://www.shopcasio.com/product/accessory-sp-20-sustain-pedal

 

Enjoy your new digital piano!

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There also should be some adjustable settings for EQ or equalization on the keyboard as well.

 

Perhaps the store demo model had had its EQ settings tweaked a bit?

 

Look in your manual and see what it says about adjusting EQ or Tone Controls.

 

As for the pedal sustain and release, see if there are envelope adjustments in the settings as well.  If so you may be able to extend the release time of the individual sounds.  The actual pedal itself is a simple switch and if it works at all any brand of pedal is just as effective as any other.

 

Then again don't expect miracles.  These tones are finite recorded samples which must be looped somewhat to extend them beyond their natural decay and it will show in the quality of the looped sample if you are able to extend them past their natural span.

 

Gary ;)

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  • 1 month later...

"Short sustain" is a problem with all low-priced digital pianos (and some high-priced ones, too).  It has nothing to do with the physical pedal.  It is a frequent complaint.

 

It's caused by technical issues in designing a lowest-possible-cost "sound generator" -- the electronics that generates a sound, when you press a key.  A nice long sustain requires nice long recordings of a real piano -- and that requires lots of internal memory, and that memory costs money.

 

Another problem is that an acoustic piano is _loud_.  If you have your DP set below "full volume", its sustain will seem even shorter than it really is.

 

There are two solutions:

 

1. . . . Buy a more expensive instrument -- the sustain gets longer, by and large, as the price goes up.

 

2. . . . Use your digital piano's MIDI output to control a "software piano" running on a computer.  "Pianoteq" is one example -- its sustain is

. . . quite nice.  So are other candidates like "Vintage D".

 

Solution (2) is usually cheaper, _if_ you have a computer to run the software piano, and some loudspeakers to play it through.

 

.      Charles

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