Polarity

Sustain pedals are usually wired in one of two ways. Some sustain pedals have a switch that is used to change polarity. This affects which position of the pedal is considered to be "on".

Novation keyboards automatically detect the polarity of a connected sustain pedal when the keyboard is powered on and changes its settings accordingly. Therefore, you can use most types of sustain pedal with Novation keyboards.

If you're having problems with a sustain pedal, try powering on the keyboard with the sustain pedal connected and pressed down. You may also find your pedal has a polarity switch.

Damper/half damper pedals

Some pedals offer damper or half damper functionality. These pedals use a TRS connector (a connection with two black rings):

Sustain ports on Novation keyboards can only accept input from TS connections (with one black ring) - this is because sustain is either on or off, and so these damper pedals cannot be used with the sustain pedal inputs of Novation keyboards. Only sustain pedals can be used with these ports.