My latest steel pickup. NOW WITH MIDI ALSO!

Dennis Olearchik · Post by **Dennis Olearchik** » 14 May 2017 5:11 am

Not to derail the thread but I thought Rusty Young was using a midi-pickup back in the late '80s. Does anyone know if that's true and if so, what pickup he was using?

Brad Higgins · Post by **Brad Higgins** » 14 May 2017 6:41 am

Dennis Olearchik wrote:Not to derail the thread but I thought Rusty Young was using a midi-pickup back in the late '80s. Does anyone know if that's true and if so, what pickup he was using?

I only owned one Poco album, so I'm not sure, but could very well be, I think that's around the time they first came out with guitar synths.

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 14 May 2017 8:27 am

I was lucky to be at Buddy's house, with Mike Cass, when Peewee Charles came over with the first IVL SteelRider MIDI pickup, in the late 80's.
It was pretty cool and I ended up getting one which I used with a Korg M1R rack mount unit.
The band I was with played mostly original material and because of that, I was able to use the synth.
Buddy lent me his rack unit that had a plug on the side of the rack from the steel and one for a midi cable, coming from the IVL.
Goodrich also had made him a volume pedal (I mentioned this before, on the forum). that was up and down for volume and side to side for the steel/synth mix.
My favorite synth sound for steel was organ, but the best use, for me, was using the synth the as enhancement of the steel sound, which was pretty much only good for music that needed a unique sound, which wasn't appropriate for most of what was happening in Nashville.
Also the synth had a slight delay, which always bugged me. Having the immediate attack of the steel remedied this for me.
I lost interest in it because, on its own, I ended up sounding like a bad keyboard player.
Like so much of music these days, many "musicians" are really just machine operators.
Congratulations on your pickup, Brad. I'm happy you are keeping after your cool ideas and inventions.
It's been a while since we hung out. If you are ever in the Burlington area, maybe we can grab something to eat. PM me when you are planning to be in the neighborhood. :0)

Brad Higgins · Post by **Brad Higgins** » 14 May 2017 8:51 am

Chris Templeton wrote:
Congratulations on your pickup, Brad. I'm happy you are keeping after your cool ideas and inventions.
It's been a while since we hung out. If you are ever in the Burlington area, maybe we can grab something to eat. PM me when you are planning to be in the neighborhood. :0)

Hey Chris, it's great to hear from you, sounds like a plan, and I'll talk to you down the line.

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 14 May 2017 10:52 am

Great! I look forward.