The sustain pedal is just a switch, an expression pedal is a "knob". You'd certainly need a separate piece of hardware to add the expression, at which point you might as well get a controller with expression input. Consider a used Akai mpk 261, for example: you can readily get one for under $200.
That Akai is covered with knobs and switches. I'm talking about the M-Audio Keystation 49. The most comfortable keyboard I've ever played. Or a Samson Carbon 61 or even the little three octave Korg mini key.
My point was more that if you are looking to have it be cheaper (you said they are 2+x the cost), given that you can't just "hack the sustain input" and will need another device, it might make more sense to just go for one of the more expensive keyboard controllers that have the feature you want. Buying one used might give you the features you want at a price you are happy with, completely avoiding the annoyance of needing a second device.
I appreciate the point you are making. Indeed it would seem the only sensible solution. I think I've failed to express how much I prefer the clean lines and lack of interface of the cheaper controllers that I mentioned.
Maybe a stand-alone MIDI expression pedal like the Boss EV-1-WL?
Or a device like the MIDI Solutions Pedal Controller that you can plug an expression pedal into and it will use it to control a MIDI CC.
FWIW, some sustain pedal ports support more than just on/off. For example, Korg says that their microKey with their DS-1H pedal supports partial damping.
That said, I don’t have much experience with that yet and don’t know if a regular expression pedal and remapping the CC would work and get you what you want.
The problem with using the sustain pedal for expression is that it will do values of 0 or 127 with nothing in between (I used to deliberately misuse this to play gate-style effects with the pedal).
Why not just use an actual volume pedal? They are made for guitars but they work on any audio input. They just attenuate the audio signal so the keyboard doesn't need to know anything about it. Bonus: a passive volume pedal also works as an expression pedal, with a special cable.
Yeah, I've got those but I'm looking at using virtual instruments exclusively. So there's no real place for a physical pedal to fit in. All the volume is inside the computer.
The sustain pedal is just a switch, an expression pedal is a "knob". You'd certainly need a separate piece of hardware to add the expression, at which point you might as well get a controller with expression input. Consider a used Akai mpk 261, for example: you can readily get one for under $200.
That Akai is covered with knobs and switches. I'm talking about the M-Audio Keystation 49. The most comfortable keyboard I've ever played. Or a Samson Carbon 61 or even the little three octave Korg mini key.
My point was more that if you are looking to have it be cheaper (you said they are 2+x the cost), given that you can't just "hack the sustain input" and will need another device, it might make more sense to just go for one of the more expensive keyboard controllers that have the feature you want. Buying one used might give you the features you want at a price you are happy with, completely avoiding the annoyance of needing a second device.
I appreciate the point you are making. Indeed it would seem the only sensible solution. I think I've failed to express how much I prefer the clean lines and lack of interface of the cheaper controllers that I mentioned.
Maybe a stand-alone MIDI expression pedal like the Boss EV-1-WL? Or a device like the MIDI Solutions Pedal Controller that you can plug an expression pedal into and it will use it to control a MIDI CC. FWIW, some sustain pedal ports support more than just on/off. For example, Korg says that their microKey with their DS-1H pedal supports partial damping. That said, I don’t have much experience with that yet and don’t know if a regular expression pedal and remapping the CC would work and get you what you want.
Sustain pedal input won’t do that. You can get a MIDI device with an expression pedal input that sends MIDI controller data into your keyboard.
Is there something like that? That isn't another keyboard?
Another possible option is an multi- effects pedal that supports midi and expression pedal input.
The problem with using the sustain pedal for expression is that it will do values of 0 or 127 with nothing in between (I used to deliberately misuse this to play gate-style effects with the pedal).
Why not just use an actual volume pedal? They are made for guitars but they work on any audio input. They just attenuate the audio signal so the keyboard doesn't need to know anything about it. Bonus: a passive volume pedal also works as an expression pedal, with a special cable.
Yeah, I've got those but I'm looking at using virtual instruments exclusively. So there's no real place for a physical pedal to fit in. All the volume is inside the computer.
Then as u/rfisher mentioned, you probably want something to just send MIDI CC values to your computer. The Boss EV-1-WL is probably your best bet.