Roland sustain pedal works backwards

[thendrix]

I have a Casio keyboard and a Roland sustain pedal. The pedal works backwards, meaning if you press down on the pedal, there is no sustain. When you take your foot off of the pedal, there is sustain. Now the keyboard is a fairly cheap one but I wouldn't think this would make a differeance with the sustain pedal. Any ideas?

[Jazz P Bass]

Sounds to me like it is the incorrect pedal for the Casio.
Is there a potentiometer in the pedal?
If so, you could try reversing the two outside leads on the pot.
That's assuming it is not a PCB.
In that case you will have to get creative.

[Enzo]

The sustain pedal is nothing more than a switch. ON/OFF/ON/OFF The pedal has nothing to do with what feature it controls, that is determined inside the keyboard. It is just a switch.

To a circuit designer, it doesn;t much matter which he uses for what. So some keyboards use the ON for sustain and OFF for none, while others use the opposite. So if you use a pedal meant for one type on the other, it works backwrads like yours.

This has absolutely nothing to do with cheapness. Yamaha and Roland both make some very nice keyboards, and they are not at all cheap. But they use the opposite type sustain pedal.

[Zipslack]

Easy fix

No problem...simple solution. Open the pedal and look for two wires from the switch. There will more than likely be an unused connected to the PCB. Move the wire from the N.O. contact on the PCB to the N.C. contact (or vice-versa). It will be very clear once you get inside and look at it. I had to do the same for my daughter. I actually ended up putting a toggle switch so it could be switched depending on the keyboard it's connected to. Another option is to check on new pedals...some of them come with this switch already wired in just for this purpose.

[thendrix]

Thanks to everybody for your help. I'll try the wire switching first and see what happens. This is for my somewhat emotional, pregnant wife so you guys keep your fingers crossed.

[techineer]

Some keyboards are auto-sensing depending on the state of the pedal at power-up. They assume that whatever the pedal switch state is at power-up, the pedal is not depressed, and the opposite state is to be considered depressed.

If you plug in a pedal after you turn on the keyboard, the keyboard will have read the "no pedal" condition, and if the pedals normal state is opposite from what the keyboard had assumed, it will work backwards.

Be sure you have plugged in the pedal before you turn on the power and see if it works properly.

[Ronsonic]

Some keyboards have a global parameter setting for the polarity of the sustain pedal. You might look through the manual or software for that.

[ace2003]

On the pedal somewhere (eaither by the foot control or the bottom) there should be a polarity switch. If there is, just flip that switch and everything should work for you.