leefentress

Sweet. Thank you so much!

Cool, it says it right here on page 44 in the manual "The Pitch Wheels and Control Pedal can be reprogrammed to send any desired CC message."

Awesome!

Alright, here's the video. Notice how in the second half of the video, I never take my foot off the pedal, it stays sustained the entire time.

I had no idea this would be such a brain blender. I should have a video made within a couple hours or so. I figure that will be easier than drawing a picture.

Based on the way you're describing it, I would imagine that the P-140 has the pedal assigned to modulate the Sustain Level.   When the pedal is used, the sustain level drops down.  When the pedal is not the sustain level stays the same.

 

Sustain level is not a parameter the PX-5S can modulate in real-time.   There may be some tricks to simulate this....still trying.

On the P-140, if the pedal were set to modulate sustain level, making the sustain level drop down when the pedal is used, this is what I'm imagine the effect would be: The strings would always fade out when the sustain pedal is held down. However, on the P-140, when the pedal is held down, the strings only fade out if the keys aren't being held down. On the other hand, if you're holding the pedal down and also holding the keys down at the same time, the strings don't fade out, but continue to sound a full volume.

Let me see if I can kind of list out the various scenarios and the corresponding effects. In all of these scenarios, one thing remains the same, the strings always have a gentle attack that causes them to swell in gracefully behind the piano.

Scenario 1

Pedal inactive. C chord is held for 4 bars.

Effect 1

The piano dies out and the strings continue to sound.

Scenario 2

Pedal is active. C chord is held for 4 bars.

Effect 2

The piano dies out and the strings continue to sound.

Scenario 3

Pedal is inactive. C chord is played for one sixteenth note.

Effect 3

You hear the attack of the piano, and don't notice the strings.

Scenario 4

Pedal is active. C chord is played for one sixteenth note (and sustained by the pedal).

Effect 4

The strings and the piano both gradually die out as they ride the sustain, though the strings die out more quickly than the piano.

Haha. Yeah, I can't draw as well as I used to. We'll see.

I haven't noticed this on mine. Is it something that you could demonstrate in a video, or is it completely a "feel" thing?

 

Are you near any Casio dealers where you can try out another PX-5S (or PX-350, 850, etc.) for comparison?

I don't know how much a video would help demonstrate what I'm talking about. It really is mostly just a feel thing. The nearest dealer is about 45 minutes away. I'm planning on going back over the weekend.

Leefentress,

That sounds very unusual and honestly based on my knowledge of the action I'm not sure how that could happen.  There shouldn't be a dramatic difference as you move from one key to the next.  I would recommend that you contact your dealer or Casio support. 

 

http://www.casio-usa.com/support/contactus/contact/

Yeah, that's what I figured. I'll call support this evening. I may just take it back to the dealer this weekend and exchange it for another if they have them in stock. If they don't, hopefully they can wait to make the exchange when they get more in. I still want to work on my stage setups with this one for as long as I can, and save them, to use on the new one. I just want to be sure I don't run into the same problem with the new one! Otherwise I may as well stick with this one and just try to get used to it.

Excellant instructions. Thanks!

I just hope there's a way to change the Xboard's pedal control parameters. If there isn't, is there a way to re-route them in the PX-5S? In other words, is there a way to tell the PX-5S that midi data coming in for CC#64 needs to instead control CC#07?

Well... Here's my version.  The release times may need to be shortened.   I don't know what I'm doing.  

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/files/file/182-pedal-pianostrings/

Sweet, thanks! Can't wait to get home to try it out.

I read your description you posted with the file. It looks similar to what I'm trying to describe. Later today I may try to record something from my old Yamaha P-140, and draw a picture of what I'm talking about, too. That should clear up any confusion.

Same here....

You going to make a stage setup, too? You guys rock

I just got my PX-5S and the B-3 key feels a little lose, like it's not as weighted as middle C or A-3 on either side. It's driving me crazy. I know the keyboard has the graded hammer action where the keys are supposed to get heavier the farther down you go, but this seems a little off to me. I'm trying to determine if it's a manufacturer defect, if they're all like this, or if it's just mine. My mother has been playing piano for several decades, and I got her to check it out as well. She confirmed that I'm not losing my mind, although she said it's just barely noticible even to her. Has anyone else noticed anything like this?

I've got a little E-mu Xboard. It supports c.c. pedals. I've got my expression pedal connected to it, and I have the xboard midi'd into my PX-5S. On the grand piano, the exp pedal is doing the half damping function splendidly. Pretty cool. But how would I go about setting it to do volume swells on strings? That's what I really want to use it for.

That would be closer to the effect I think. But the problem is... I still do want the sustain pedal to in fact sustain the strings longer -- or increase their decay or release time (not sure which it's supposed to be) -- I just don't want it to sustain them by making them hold at full volume forever. I want them to gradually fade out when the sustain pedal is being held down and, importantly, when the keys are released. But when the keys are held down, I want them to sound continually at full volume for as long as the keys are actually pressed and held. Does that make sense?

I had a Yamaha P-140 that had a piano + strings patch that I grew accustomed to that I'm trying to recreate.

The strings would gently fade in behind the piano, and if you were holding the sustain pedal (but released your fingers from the keys) the strings would gracefully fade out (quicker than than the decay of the piano).

If you held the keys down with your fingers, the strings would continue to sustain for as long as you held the keys down (versus fading out like when using the sustain pedal).

I've managed to figure out how to set the attack to fade in on my PX-5S, but I can't figure out how to set them to fade out when sustaining with a sustain pedal while remaining full volume for as long as keys are held down.

Anybody have any ideas how to achieve it?

Third Option, possibly? Why don't you just plug the Midi Solutions controller directly into your computer for power and for sending midi data to the computer?

Then you can record that data in your sequencer, have it control software instruments, and also send midi data to your PX-5S to control paramaters there as well -- via the usb connection from your computer to the PX-5S.

Wouldn't that work, or am I missing something? Because I may want to do this in the future as well.

Cabling C

• Midi Out of PC sound/midi interface connected to Midi In of Midi Solutions controller.
• Midi Out of Midi Solutions controller connected to Midi In of PC interface.
• USB connected between PC and PX-5S

Settings C

• Pedal controller is programmed to NOT echo the MIDI INPUT (to avoid MIDI doubles/ loops).
• Pedal controller is programmed to send out Damper controller data going linear from value 0 ~ 127 on MIDI channel 1 ~ 4.
• System Local Control = ON
• System settings set both MIDI OUT SELECT and USB OUT SELECT to 'KEY'.
• System USB IN ENABLE = ON