From rmaccrea@verizon.net Thu Apr 23 10:20:04 2009
Subject:Re: pedal sounds and sustain on current dual-manual clones?

My VK88 has Sustain on the pedals, and 16' and 8' drawbars. The sustain is a button, on or off with no adjustment. It also has attack. I can also add the orhestra tones to the pedals, piano, electric bass, acoustic bass (my favorite), clave, electric pianos, and some others. The sustain and attack also affect the orchestra tones. The pedals are the same format as the B3, two octave, full size. They are nice wood pedals. I had one problem which was covered by warranty. Some of the pedals would not return as high as they should, and would "cypher." The repair person showed me how to fix this. Slide the pedal out and rub smooth the parts that slide against each other. New, they were a little tight, and would catch occassionally. As the pedals wear, this problem would naturally disappear. Since fixing the four or five pedals that did this, the problem has not returned.

Another feature I love with the Roland pedals is the two side switches on the volume pedal. You can program them to do whatever you want. I use one as leslie speed, the other as leslie brake, not conventional, but way better. I can change the leslie without missing a beat.

Both VK88 manuals have after touch which makes the orchestra tones louder according to how hard you strike the key. This is very nice for the piano. While some of the other Roland pedals have after touch, the unit that comes with the VK88 does not. I have not missed that feature. This after touch is controlled by a velocity type switch that senses the speed the key travels down. Some have criticized the VK88 for its key bounce. But this was an attempt to combine the after touch with the ability to do that Jimmie Smith machine gun style repeat on one note. I like the way the keys feel, but others don't.

The more I play it the better I like it. I keep discovering things.