I was wondering where do you put the pedal when playing on a digital piano over a cross-shaped stand?

I have tried yesterday (the digital is not mine) but couldn't find a good position. If I put the pedal too close the heel hurts and if it put it distant enough my legs hit the cross-shaped supporters of the stand. Not to mention that the damn pedal keept moving and sliding over the floor.

Any thought

As to where it goes - you will have to keep experimenting:-)
Sliding around is a real nuisance -I have solved it in various ways
- gaffer tape it to the floor
- put a carpet tile on the floor and put in on that
- glue some pieces of rubber to the pedal (you can buy little non-slip discs)
- in emergency I have turned pedals back to front and put my whole foot on them - harder to operate but at least you know where they are!!

Thanks for your reply!
What can I do about the damn stand crossed supports getting on my way?!

Pedals are one of the biggest drawbacks of DP's. Even if you get the position right, they don't work very well, and I find it basically impossible to effectively practice pedal on a DP. Maybe at the highest levels (eg, the CVP407 etc) they work a bit better, but I doubt it.

I don't understand your question. I have a cross stand and there's space in the bottom for a pedal. Is it because you want it further towards the back of the DP? That would be an issue.

I'd like it in the same position it would be on a piano. If the pedal is too close the bench there's not enough space for the legs to extend. The less extended legs are the more painful is to activate the pedal or even raise the foot all. For example if you sit with your right foot at the back of the tigh and towards the butt and try to raise it, nothing happens.

Most bigger DP's stick out more on the front so it's not usually an issue. If the DP is shallower like an FP4 or Casio Privia you can just move that forward. But of course for a more permanent solution they do sell stands where the middle is completely open. X-Stands are the cheapest so this is one of the limitations.

Yes - Jazzwee makes a good point. I have X stands cos I use them for gigging and thay are cheap, light and easy to set up. (I also have an Ultimate Apex which you have to play standing up if you want a pedal anywhere usable!!). For long term home use you could consider a frame stand - no problem with the X and also they are much stabler.. though a bit pricier. Some DPs have custom stands available.
The biggest problem I have with x stands is that they always seem to have two positions - too high and too low. Juggling seats can help. I also tend to put the pedal off more to the right which can help with leg extension.
Comparing my old Steinway K with my sons Clavinova, the pedals are further behind the front edge of the keys, which makes for a much more relaxed position if you have long legs. At least with a DP on a stand you can move the pedals!

Are the open stands portable and dismountable?
What's the average price for them?

Anyway I still feel that if I try to use the perdal correctly my poor lower leg hits the X (that's because like ktom I put it to the right) but if I put the pedal closer it becomes hard to raise the foot.

The pedal is like this

You can get portable dismountable Z frame stands. Quiklok make them; I think they are £100+. Yamaha make frames to fit many of their own keyboards, which are also portable and cheaper. What is your DP?

+1 to that. I initially felt cramped and irritated by the X stand, but found that I could move the keyboard much further forward than I first thought, and still have it stable. If necessary I would add something at the back as a counterweight, but that hasn't been needed so far. I'd also attach the pedal to a board if it moved around too much.

I also found - to my surprise - that there is actually a 'front' and a 'back' to my particular X stand. At first I thought it was just an optical illusion caused by the way that the X bars overlap. But the tape measure confirmed that the top bars really do stick out 2cms (about 3/4 of an inch) further towards me if I have it the right way round. Not much, but when it comes to leg comfort that can make the difference.

Chris

So you mean that I should remove the plastic plugs that cover the jutting parts of the stand ? (which also prevents the piano from moving forward or backward on the stand supporters)

Edit: I thought the top bars are the shorter ones.
I mean I noticed they are different measures but it made sense to me that the longer bars must be the bottom as they need to be longer to support all that weight.

The longer bars are the base; always put them on the floor or the stand will be unstable. If you examine the top bars your will see that, as Chris says, they are not symmetrical, so one way around will give more leg clearance than the other. You can also slide the keyboard closer to you and removing the rubber stops will help - though that can encourage it to slide around while you play (I once had one fall off the stand while playing a gig - I caught it but it messed up my solo!). Here is a link to quiklok:
http://www.quiklok.com/catalog/index.php?p=galleryGalleryShow&iId=305&iIdLink=97&iType=1
This has a fairly low bracing bar but the design places the 'board well in front of this. They do other designs.
kt

No, leave the plugs on. But put the keyboard on top of them, not behind them - they'll still help stop it sliding about. Depending on the keyboard there may even be ridges or dips on the underside of the board that the end plugs can grip against. Depending on the depth of the keyboard (front to back) it can overhang those end plugs and still be stable. In fact many boards (like mine)are wider than the bar length anyway - so they actually can't fit between the plugs. On top is fine. The front face of my keyboard sits about 5cms past the end of the plastic plugs without any problems at all.

The longest bars are indeed the feet, but the shorter top ones may stick out a little further one side than the other if the X is rotated 180 degrees on its feet.

Chris