CME GPP3

I am adding this as an addendum to my previous review. The unit has completely failed now. I took it to my local tech but he couldn't help. I've been corresponding with both China and the NA distributor but I think I have a doorstop.

not useful

If anyone made one of these, I'd give it a zero. As it is, I may have to buy another despite the wretched quality and support on this one.

To my knowledge, the CME GPP3 is the only triple pedal with a graded sustain pedal (MIDI 0 to 127 and a trim knob on the rightmost pedal).

It has very flexible output options (USB/MIDI/direct phone plugs). It can take power from a wall wart (not included) or USB (cable included) and it will hold settings when it's unpowered. If I understand correctly, the phone plugs (2 mono and 1 trs) don't require power to work.

You can set the MIDI CC and channel values and pedal polarity, but the 'interface' is just weird. There is no computer interface for the pedal, you set things by holding down pedals and turning on the power switch in various fashions. For example, to reset it to factory values, you hold down all three pedals and switch on the power, then let the pedals up; the leds flash five times if it 'takes', which it rarely does first time. Given that the pedals are quite stiffly sprung and a fair distance apart, I wind up using my leg to hold down the pedals while I switch the unit on with one hand. I've had to reset it a couple of times, not sure what I did to upset it, but one time I had the pedal down when there was a brief power-out and when the power came back on the polarity of my sustain pedal was reversed. This would be a problem on stage.

Having three piano pedals can only be a good thing. I'm liking using una corda for in-the-mix and then taking it off when I want to cut; both the volume and timbre are affected. Pianoteq has a slider to determine how strong the una corda effect is. I've tested sostenuto and it works exactly as it should but I'll have to spend some time learning to use it well; I learned on an upright and they don't do sostenuto. One cool feature here is that, because Pt supports string resonance, you can play a bass CGC, set the sostenuto, and get ringing harmonics off those open strings throughout the piece; sort of a passive drone. Of course, you can use the three pedals for anything you want

My big reason for wanting the GPP3 was to be able to half-pedal sustain. In brief, it's subtle but it certainly works and makes my sound both smoother and more organic. The sonic effect of half-pedalling in Pt is a bit different than on my piano, but my piano is nothing like the modern ideal so that's no surprise. Unlike on my piano, there's no tactile feedback from the dampers touching the strings, so it's a bit harder to find the sweet spots, but the ability to just briefly touch the strings to damp them slightly and let them ring on is there and that's a great bit of control to have. Something I didn't expect but really enjoy is that, because it's not straight on/off, the damping effect has a smoother onset.

Of course, how this works with other instruments is dependent on the instrument.

Arrived not working. Had to reset it (weird) and then it worked for awhile. Then it started acting up--sending bad MIDI messages in short. After giving up on customer support, I cleaned all the internal connections and it's working again.

I don't have the sense at the moment that I can depend on it and I would very surely take my other (single on/off) pedal just in case.

My first email to support was answered with "I'll get back to you." That's the last I ever heard from them despite repeated emails. I managed to find and download a firmware update from their forum but basically, you're on your own.

I think the variable damper is worth the hundred bucks (but only if you have a program that will use it) and the two extra pedals plus the three output options are a bonus. The weight is a wash. The lack of a computer interface is a big bummer. Overall worth the money for me but if someone else made an equivalent, I'd look there first.