Sustaining interest
A real acoustic piano actually has three pedals – from left to right, the soft pedal, sostenuto pedal and sustain pedal – but when you’re tackling piano parts on a computer music setup with a controller keyboard, the only pedal that’s essential to getting an authentic result is the sustain pedal, which is used to make the notes ring out longer.
On a real piano, there’s a row of felt dampers that prevent each string from ringing out when it’s not being played. If you hit a key briefly with the sustain pedal up, the note won’t sustain after the key is released, because when you release the key, the damper for that note falls back into place, cutting off the note. With the pedal down, however, the row of dampers is moved away from the strings, so any note you hit will ring out for as long as the string continues to vibrate, or until the pedal is released and the dampers return to their normal position.
In synth terms, it’s the equivalent of increasing the release time of your amplitude envelope, but the effect is turned on and off at will by operating the pedal. There’s a knack to combining the timing of the pedal moves with the way your hands are playing the keys – it has to be timed so the notes don’t all merge together in a clangy, stodgy mess.
Most keyboard controllers don’t come with sustain pedals as standard, so you’ll have to invest in one separately. A decent one should only set you back around £20 or so, but you’ll need to check that the polarity is compatible with your controller. A pedal wired with the wrong polarity will work the opposite of how it’s supposed to (notes will sustain with the pedal in the ‘up’ position and be dampened with it held down), so make sure you buy the correct pedal, or one that can be switched to suit your keyboard.