Korg DS-1H Piano-style Sustain Pedal with Half-damper Control Reviews

I bought one of these back in the early 90's and it still works perfectly with any keyboard I've owned. So I bought two more DS-1H's to go with a couple other Korgs I have. Took 'em outta the boxes, plugged 'em in, and I was jamming in less than 2 minutes. The 3 pedals are lined up right next to each other, so it's easy to hold down 2 with one foot - which I find really useful for practicing new things - especially because I'm a guitarist with limited keyboard abilities.

Needed a pedal that would work with the Korg Kross, this does just fine. It's a little skinny but it is sturdy and a well designed pedal overall.

I have a Korg Tritan Extreme 88 key about 15 years old. The pedal that my local music store sold me to go with it never worked with the Korg. I assumed it was my inability to figure it out because it worked a couple of times. So glad I decided to research it more and find recommendations. The sales staff at Sweetwater confirmed this will work and it does. So happy to enjoy my keyboard finally with the right piece of equipment. I just wanted the sostenado and half down feature doesn't seem to work. It may be the way I set it up or that it doesn't in fact have this feature, but just glad it does what I want. It's also sturdy, feels good under foot and has a good sized cord.

This pedal provides the player with the ability to get subtle damper effects from a Korg keyboard, instead of the on - off effect of the cheaper pedals.

Plug and play, solid, the damper sensitivity With my Krome incredible overlay , such ease especially with EP combination or program .along with the Vox amp its a sweet addition to the workstation.. Piano simulation that makes Korg bar none ..the keyboardist keyboard s..Thanks sweetwater

Just what I needed.

I bought this sustain pedal to go with my Korg Kronos LS 88 and I must say I was blow away by the half damper control. It's amazing what you can accomplish with this. The smooth overlapping sustained note transitions from melodic note and chords is something I have never experienced before now. This can be done by half pedaling between chord and melody lines within the same chord chart or scale. Once you learn the techniques theres no going back to a regular sustain pedal. I also like how you can catch a sustained note at a lower volume at decay by half pedaling. Simply amazing! Oh! I almost forgot to mention how sturdy the pedal is and it does not move. The best sustain pedal I have ever owned!

Stays in place, half damper works great, piano like feel. What more could you ask for? Make sure you have the right keyboard this only works properly with professional boards made by Korg, Novation, Fatar, and some Casio. It will work with others but it comes negative polarity out of the box, while most others are positive, so don't forget to flip the switch on the bottom if you're using a Motif. I unplugged from my Kronos and put in the motif during a worship session, which messed me up!

Although accurate, even half step, this is a great-feeling pedal. I do have a Boss pedal and a Roland pedal, but I like this one the most. There"s not much to say about a frickin" sustain pedal except it works well and is built well.

I purchased this pedal for use with my Korg TR Workstation. It is solidly built and doesn't tip over. The pedal's resistance is set just right to allow the musician perfect control over its movement. The pedal affects both the analog and MIDI outputs of the Korg TR keyboard.

This product is really awesome. This is my first KORG KRONOS 88 LS Workstation and Korg has their own pedals for everything. Cannot wait to get the rest of the Pedals. Sweetwater is awesome as always. one reason i trust and Love SWEETWATER is their RETURN POLICY NO QUESTIONS ASKED. That is a huge reason and the only reason I give them 99% of my business.

This is the best damper I have used so far. It has a nice feel and responds just as I expect. It is nice to have the half damper option and its pretty easy to use. I wasn't sure if it would be worth the money, but now I'm sure.

I've been using this particular pedal for years. I'm not one to shy away from more pricey items. I've stayed with this pedal for it's sturdiness and feel. As a keyboard player, I'm not crazy about pedals that have somewhat of a 'mushy' or 'clicky' feel. I prefer the solid, smoothness of this unit. As a matter of fact, I'm purchasing a midi controller and buying another one of these pedals for it. If you are not a serious keyboard player, you can get something cheaper if you'd like ... ie/ something to work with your synth or midi controller ... but if you really care about FEEL above simply 'processing sound', then I definitely recommend this pedal.

You don't really realize the difference in a 'any old' sustain pedal and the Korg DS-1H pedal until you've hooked it up to your Korg Kronos and hear the difference. Yes, HEAR the difference. The Korg DS-1H with the Half-damper control lets you truly hear all the technology Korg puts into their sounds.

I noticed with a standard sustain pedal that I was using that their was a 'click' noise, when I let up off the pedal on piano sounds. It kinda sounded like my foot slipped off the pedal on a real piano, which was okay as it was slight. What I didn't realize is that when a half-damper enabled pedal is used, you get the nuance of a real piano sustain pedal lifting up. You hear the strings stop sustaining like a real piano would... not all at the exact same time. A small nuance, yes, but well worth it in realism. Add to that the fact that this pedal is built tough! It's solid, and feels solid!

You gotta get it!!

This pedal enhances the sound & playability of my Pa600. Have used it most of the day... just arrived in the mail this morning & I wouldn't attempt to perform without one. Very reliable action with a good feel. It makes all the difference in the quality of sound when that extra bit of sustain is needed.

It works very well with my Korg Kronos X 73 keys synthesizer.

Works great with my Korg Kronos. Finally able to hear the subtle differences you can get by "half-pedaling".

A bit on the expensive side but well worth it. The DS1H is a quality pedal. It's built well and has a very smooth feel. Very happy with this product.

It works great....best pedal I have ever owned. Thanks for the recommendation. Looking forward to visiting your store when we return to Indiana

Thanks again and God Bless

Linda

Of all the keyboard pedals i've tried, this has been the closest to providing a realistic acoustic piano feel. Sweetwater has the best service and I highly recommend them!

Just purchased my sustain pedal see how it works very impressed The craftmenship is really great dont know why I didn't purchase a long time ago

Much more solid feel and build quality than some other pedals out there. Does not slip.
Wish the cord was a bit longer.

This pedal does exactly what I expected it to do. Sustain the sound.It's sturdy construction should inable this pedal to last for a few years. I'm happy with my selection.

I took 1/2 a star away for price. Other than that, no complaints. Does a GREAT job of half/partial pedaling. I do prefer the M-Audio Pedal however. It has a roundd Pedal that is a bit bigger...more like a piano's pedal, and it is 1/3 the price. I like the 90 degree plug angle.

A super nice piece of equipment ! Glad to have purchased it. It will, however, take a long time to learn all/or even many of its functions.

Seems very durable Wish korg had some sort of pedal board to secure all of the pedals in a way that keeps all of them still. This pedal is pretty secure though.

Pedal does what they promised. Good, well built product.
Awesome customer service from Sweetwater.

Korg needs to put a 1/4" stereo plug on this, give you a decent cable, and cut the price in half. Buy it anyway, until somebody builds a better one.

works fine on korg chrome

The DS1H is a rock solid damper offered by Korg. A little pricey, but the build quality suggests it is well worth it.

I use Kurzweil (and no Korg) keyboards, but I'm a junkie for Korg's DS1/DS1H pedals. I own six, all of which I bought at least eight years ago. Most decent keyboards will automatically determine if you have a closed or open loop pedal (or at least offer a manual setting to that effect in the onboard software), so this will work for many more keyboards than advertised, Kurzweil included.

These don't feel like a piano pedal, but they're very solid, take abuse, and will last for years. Only Korg's equipment supports the half-dampening of the DS1H, but it will operate as a normal pedal (like the old DS1) with equipment from other manufacturers. The pedal action has the right threshold (even for equipment that doesn't support half-sustain) and returns the right sense of "weight" back to the user's foot. It feels expensive! I'm always surprised when people buy very fancy keyboard synthesizers and then use chintsy sustain pedals. These are the best I've tried for the money, and I think you'll like them too!

Why not five stars? Well, at this price, I would have preferred that the cable wasn't hard-wired to the pedal. My young cat chewed through the wire, and I wouldn't have noticed the problem until it was too late if I were out on a gig. So buy two!

Well made pedal. Does NOT work for Korg SV-1. Wish I had known that ahead of time.

This needs to be the headline of the product description.

Very Disappointed in this pedal.

Worked fine for the first few weeks.

Now it malfunctions all the time after light use for one month. I live outside the US so would be difficult to return this item as it was ordered through a skybox

Consistently switches between half and full peddleing randomly and is unusable at the moment.

Extremely erratic behaviour.

Double checked the behaviour with the graphical user interface in Pianoteq to confirm

It's crazy. I'm guessing I got a bad apple maybe but very disappointing after just one month of light use.

I won't be purchasing another one as this is a very expensive unit. Better off going with M audio cheaper alternative hopefully that lasts longer.

So I guess I didn't dig deep enough in the reviews to see that this pedal is not compatible with the SV1. Everyone is right—it feels great and sounds great, but, on the SV1, the effect never releases.

The description here on Sweetwater needs to say that the pedal does not work with SV1.

I've talked with my sales rep. This is not working with my Korg PA4X.
I'm going to send it back.

I bought from Sweetwater based on a prior review on the Sweetwater list of reviews for the DS1H claiming it works with Korg SV-1 keyboards. It DOES NOT. The sustain does not release when you release the pedal. If you search on the Internet you will find that even Korg technicians say it is incompatible. You will NOT find any reports on the Internet that it is compatible with the SV-1. It may be possible to tear it apart and rewire it, but why do that with an expensive pedal that you've just bought?

When the sustain pedal that came with my SV-1 stopped working, I ordered this. Well, it has the opposite problem; it sustains, but doesn't release. So if you attempt to play a series of chords, they all blend together. So basically, it's worse than having a pedal that just doesn't work.

It would sustain but not release on my PA3X, I used an other damper pedal I have with a mono plug and it worked wasted my money on this one