New Kawai K3 sustain pedal

[ttttrigg3r]

Hello my name is Tuan and this is my first post.  Quick question
I am new to pianos, and I just bought a brand new Kawai K3.  My question is when the sustain pedal is pressed all the way down, is the note supposed to be sustained as if the key is still pressed down?  I've observed the following with my piano.
    When I hit a note and hold it down, the sound sustains.  When I hold down the pedal and hit the same note with staccato with almost the same amount of force,  the sound does not sustain as bright and loud, and it ends a tad earlier than when I hold the note down. Is this normal or not?
   When I play on my DP Yamaha Arius, the sustain pedal gives the same sound and sustain as when I hold a key down.  I've only owned my K3 for 2 weeks now, so thought I'd ask. Do you think my pedal needs adjustment?

[hfmadopter]

If you open the top and look inside you can see your hammers and probably the dampers as well. Hold that note down and look at the space between the strings and damper. When you press the pedal down all the dampers will move away from the strings but it should be a variable amount according how deep you press the pedal. With complete or full depression of the pedal all the dampers should move away an equal amount as the single note damper did and they should all move equally far. if either is not the case then get the dampers adjusted.

That said, I'd expect the sustain to be fairly equal in each instance but the tone will be different. The single note will be clearer sounding. The sustain pedal moves all the dampers so will have stray resonance of all the notes even though you are pressing the single note. This creates overtones that are not present when striking the single note with no pedal.

You will find the acoustic damper pedal more effective than the digital was and more controllable or more variable at least. My digital has a great pedal for a digital but sometimes I'm just looking for more. The amount I feather the pedal on the acoustic is not the same on the digital. To feather the pedal on the acoustic I barely touch it, on the digital I press deeper. My digital pedal is a variable pedal though and not just a switch. Many digital have a switch.

[withindale]

When the sustain pedal is up all the energy goes into one note.

When the pedal is down some of the energy goes into sympathetic resonances from other notes. That's why "the sound does not sustain as bright and loud, and it ends a tad earlier than when I hold the note down".

Play the note with a bit more energy when the pedal is down for a similar sound.

[ttttrigg3r]

Ahh I learned a lot. Thanks.

[hfmadopter]

When the sustain pedal is up all the energy goes into one note.

When the pedal is down some of the energy goes into sympathetic resonances from other notes. That's why "the sound does not sustain as bright and loud, and it ends a tad earlier than when I hold the note down".

Play the note with a bit more energy when the pedal is down for a similar sound.

Hmm, I must have the unique piano then. My old grand doesn't seem to make any difference regarding loudness, just the resonance changes. Not by ear anyway, maybe there is a measurable difference if read by instruments. Additionally, with repeated hits of the hammer to the strings with the pedal down I have to back off on strike velocity or sound will build louder. In fact I use that method to build the music louder sometimes in some circumstances.

[withindale]

My old grand doesn't seem to make any difference regarding loudness, just the resonance changes.

Yes, precisely; same energy, same loudness, different sounds.