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Hi. Any P60 owners out there know if I've got a faulty model or is it a feature of this particular piano, but when I try to sustain the strings using the pedal, it isn't the same as when I hold down the keys. It's the same with the organ sound too.

It fades away quite quickly so it's more like a reverb sound than a full sustain. Nothing like when I do the same thing with a Yamaha synthesiser on string settings with the sustain pedal.

There's just time to get my hands to the next chord before the sound dies away completely.

Anyone else get the same problem?

I don't own a P60 and wouldn't have played one long enough to notice this issue you are having with strings and organ sustaining. Even strings on lower level keyboard will be able to last for at least 10 seconds before a noticeable fade occurs in the tone.

If it cuts off before you have time to change chord is strange but has happened to me when one or more of the following come into play:

> When recording or using a sequencer at the time;
> While layering two or more sounds;
> Playing too many notes over a sustained period can cause cut-off on some notes but that may not be relevant here.

Just out of interest, how long are the notes holding before they start to fade? Is it happening when you are holding the keys down, or only when using the sustain pedal and hands lifted from the keys?

Yeah, it's only happening when I lift my hands off the keys.

If I hold the keys down without the sustain pedal pressed I get a full sustain, indefinitely, for as long as I hold the keys down.

If I take my hands off the keys without the sustain pedal pressed, the note dies immediately.

When I press the sustain pedal, I get the full sustain for a long as I am holding the keys down and as soon as I take my hands off the keys, the note decays quite rapidly and goes silent within about a second.

When I do the same thing on my Yamaha SY35 synth, the note sustains for as long as I hold the pedal down.

I think maybe the sustain pedal system on this keyboard is designed only with piano in mind, for which it works perfectly.

The fact that your sustain pedal works fine with the piano sound rules out a possible fault with your pedal - is it a yamah brand? I have found, by accident, that for example, Roland pedals don't completely co-operate with Yamaha keyboards. If the pedal is also a Yamaha FP3 or FP4 for example, then that should work.

Anyway, it's not like Yamaha to stick a "gypie" strings sample on a keyboard when going to the bother or sporting their most authentic sounds yet. Obviously their prize possession is their grand piano sample but even so... The pad and supporting sounds are mostly generic for most of the P series come to think of it - the more advanced keyboards like the CP300 or MOTIF ES just add on more variations as far as I see. But generic pads and strings will usually last for as long as you need them. I take your point about strong samples being programmed to cut off after a time period, but normally holding them down or sustaining them will have the same effect of extending the notes.

I'd be tempted to ask them about it. It's not unheard of that a sample or voice will just "go off". I wondered the same about my last digital piano. Mind you, it was at least 15 years old! I would ask Yamaha directly about that - that just doesn't sound right - if you pardon the pun

Yep. It's a Yamaha FP4. Like I said, it works perfectly on the piano and when I use it on that sound.

I've just tried a Roland FC-5 (I think) one of those very small square shaped foot switches which behaves in exactly the same way.

I've had the piano for a while and I always just accepted it was a very strange "feature". I only just found this forum a week ago and I just thought I'd see if anyone else knew of this.

Where are all the P60 owners/users ?

Hello there,
I know it's been quite a few months since anyone has replied to this thread, but I use a P-60, and the same thing happens to me as well. So it's probably just designed that way. It annoys me, too

It'd make you think that Yamaha must have skimped on something there when they designed the P60! That is not really good enough, even for an entry level stage/personal digital piano!

I was thinking about this one the other day and suddenly realised I've seen a similar effect on another keyboard, but I can't remember which one.

I think it's designed to be like this.

Real pianos have sustain pedals, and the digital piano sustain pedal works like a real piano's.

Real organs don't, so when you release the keys the sounds stop. Your keyboard is doing that too - except that perhaps in that case you can use the pedal to change the reverb.

I suppose that's true. Still, when other keyboards in the same category, though with a higher spec, are able to sustain strings, it just makes you wonder why they just didn't leave that feature along on the P60... oh well!