pedal steel synthesizer software

[Jim Pitman]

Anyone toyed with this?
http://www.wavelore.com/wlps_details.shtml

Apparently, you use a computer keyboard as an input device to pich bend synthesized notes produced by your computer/Wavelore software. I'm not absolutely sure, but I get the impression it can be done in real time. The demo sounds alarmingly like the licks a pedal steel would play anyway. In my opinion it's close but not great with synthesizing tone and dynamics.

If there's a real pedal steel player that has any experience with this out there I'd like to hear from you. If you have not, at least check out the samples. I'm not an endorser by the way.

Even if a $250.00 piece of softare doesn't replace a pedal steel, it must have some value in scoring/tabing/teaching etc. On the other hand, perhaps we'll loose any radio advertisement recording sessions we might do to a producer/recording studio guy with a computer. For example it sounds like it could make make a convincing but cheasey sounding instrumental.- kinda like the Benie Hill show did with yackety sax.

It's debateable where I post this: in "Electronics" or in "Pedal Steel".

[Joey Ace]

'It's debatable where I post this: in "Electronics" or in "Pedal Steel".'

or the RECORDING section ....

It's so close, it's your call.

If the topic doesn't get many responses here, feel free to ask me to move it.

I think the technology causing us to loose session is the prerecorded loops of real Steel fills and licks.
Producers can work with those easier. The audio demos of this product sound "cheesy" to me. I guess they could be made to sound more realistic, but would a producer want to put in all that effort when sample libraries are available?

[David Murdock]

I've been playing pedal steel for almost 30 years. I started doing electronic music production recently and ran across this software and downloaded it. I was able to put together the following sample within a few minutes after downloading it.

http://soundcloud.com/bounces-1

It is extremely easy to use ......... just a midi controller keyboard with a couple of good mod wheels. However, I must say that it doesn't come close to duplicating the real thing if you're playing slow ballads with long slides. If you don't play like Paul Franklin, It is GREAT for doing fast technical pieces which you can record at a slower speed and quantize.