The 9 Best Sustain Pedals

If you want a pedal that feels like a piano's and works with almost any keyboard, the M-Audio SP-2 is the safe bet. A chrome lever rides on a long base with rubber pads, and a small switch underneath flips the polarity to match Yamaha, Casio, Roland or a MIDI controller. If notes ring with your foot off it, flip that switch. It only sends on or off, and the base can creep on a hard floor.

Yamaha owners get the closest match with the Yamaha FC4A, a weighted piano-style pedal on a wide rubber base that grips the floor. Yamaha reworked its mechanism to cut the clack that cheaper pedals make. There's no polarity switch: many keyboards read the pedal as they power on, so keep your foot off it at startup. On a keyboard wired the other way it can work backwards, and it can't do half-pedaling.

Cheap pedals are usually flat buttons, but the Donner DSP-001 gives you a real piano-style lever for little money. The alloy pedal sits on a rubber-footed base, and a switch on the side sets the polarity for most keyboard brands. A rubber stop under the lever softens the knock when you let up. The plastic housing is light, though, so it can slide on a wood floor unless you add a mat.

Pianists who use half-pedaling, where a partial press lets notes fade a little, should look at the Roland DP-10. It sends a smooth range to keyboards that support half-damper and acts as a plain on-off switch on ones that don't. A long rubber plate sits under your foot to stop it drifting, and the extra-long cable reaches the top tier of a stacked rig. It's pricey, and that range does nothing on a basic keyboard.

The Yamaha FC3A brings half-pedaling to Yamaha pianos and synths that support it, including many P-series pianos and the Montage line. A partial press lets notes fade instead of stopping dead, which matters in slow, quiet pieces. It uses a stereo plug, and Yamaha names only its own instruments as compatible, so check your keyboard's manual first. On other brands it may not work at all.

Gigging players who haul gear will like the metal chassis of the On-Stage KSP100, a full-size pedal with a stiff spring and rubber feet. A removable rubber cover protects the chrome and gives your shoe extra grip, and a polarity switch lets it work with Yamaha, Casio, Korg and Roland boards. The cord is attached, so a damaged cable means replacing the pedal, and its hard stops can clack when you let up quickly.

Sometimes a small box is all you need, and the Yamaha FC5 tucks into a gig bag pocket. It's a flat footswitch with a ribbed tread, made for sustain and handy for starting a looper or changing a setting on synths that allow it. Yamaha keyboards read it right away, but there's no polarity switch, so on some other brands it works backwards. It feels like a button, not a piano pedal, and it can skate on bare floors.

Korg built the Korg DS-1H for half-damper playing on its own pianos and workstations, and gave it a metal body heavy enough to stay put under your foot. On a keyboard without that feature it works as a plain on-off pedal. The polarity is fixed, which suits Korg and many other brands, but a keyboard that expects the opposite needs a setting change. The cable is attached, and it's priced like a premium pedal.

For a MIDI controller on a desk, the Alesis ASP-1 MKII is a low, square footswitch that takes up little floor space. A switch on the back sets the polarity, so it suits most keyboards, synths and controllers, and it can also act as an on-off switch in music software that lets you map it. The rubber bottom helps on smooth floors. It's a click, not a lever, so pianists won't get the feel of a real damper.