« A basic sustain "pedal" »

The Casio SP-3 is a basic sustain pedal that came shipped with my Casio 88-key digital piano. Unlike most regular sustain pedals that are actually shaped like a real piano pedal. the Casio SP-3 is shaped more like a multi-function footswitch, which makes it unusual to step on at times, but it also makes it useful for other controlling uses beyond a digital piano or keyboard. One of the strangest things about the SP-3 is that it works both right side up and up-side down. In fact, it's hard to tell which side is supposed to be on top, and which is on bottom. To this day, I still can't figured out if I'm using the pedal correctly. One side is rubber, with a bunch of little triangle shapes formed from the rubber. The other side is plastic, with a bunch of raised dots, in a grid fashion. I believe the plastic side is supposed to be the top, because the rubber side isn't a stiff and rigid to be stepped on repeatedly. But the pedal functions pretty well on both sides, and depending on what floor you have, either side may work, and one side may work better than the other.

The moving action on the pedal is pretty good, and you don't have to press the pedal too hard in order to activate the sustain. I've owned a few sustain pedals where you have to press the pedal way too far down before it activates, and those pedals feel very unnatural to me, when compared to a real grand piano. The SP-3, although it looks nothing like a grand piano pedal, functions just as well, and I can definitely use this with my digital piano. If you are on a budget, the Casio SP-3 works just fine, even though it may not look like a real sustain pedal. Don't be afraid!