midi for steel

Dave Frye · Post by **Dave Frye** » 19 Dec 2005 8:24 pm

Where would i get info on midi for a steel? The guy is playin a 12 stringer. Thanks Dave

Steve Kaeser · Post by **Steve Kaeser** » 20 Dec 2005 1:37 am

MIDI is a process of computer control for musical equipment, but there's not a lot on a string instrument to control electronically. I would suspect that MIDI was being used to control changes in multiple effects systems, but I'm interested in hearing how it was applied.

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 20 Dec 2005 7:25 am

There was indeed at one point a MIDI interface for pedal steel called the IVL Steel Rider, consisting of a 10 or 12 string pickup with individual outputs and a rack mounted brain that converted pitch to MIDI information, so that a steel player could play a synthesizer from the guitar. This was in the late 80's at the beginning of the MIDI "revolution", and was short lived. It worked remarkably well and was well thought out; with the right synth one could do all the tricks that make steel so cool (opposing pitchbends on adjacent strings, voicings, glissandi) but with synth timbres... the IVL company went on to other more lucrative endeavours (developing the "Vocalist" mutiplexer for Digitech).

These items are rare and the pickups fragile (I know cause mine's broken... I miss it terribly) No other manufacturer has stepped up to the plate because of the sheer economics- steel being a niche market to begin with, and the subset of steel players who would want to do the MIDI thing even smaller.

Buddy Emmons' Christmas Sounds of the Steel Guitar contains some fine moments of pedal steel being used as a MIDI controller

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John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 20 Dec 2005 11:28 am

Roland GR30 or GR33. Just add a midi pickup.
You can use the Roland 6 string pickup. You would probably want to mount it under strings 3 - 8.

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Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 20 Dec 2005 3:29 pm

Dave. My pick up broke and I sure miss mine too. It was I lot of fun.

MUSICO · Post by **MUSICO** » 20 Dec 2005 3:37 pm

¿Have you tried the Roland John?

I think string spacing would be an issue.

Jeremy Williams
Barcelona Spain

Chris Erbacher · Post by **Chris Erbacher** » 20 Dec 2005 10:59 pm

i use a gk-2a and a gr-30 with the band i play with for mostly organ sounds and padding, and it is a love hate relationship. the sound has become an intricate part of what we do, but the useablility issues are never fixed no matter how much i fiddle with it. i can only use like 4 strings as the bend of the pickup won't pickup the other strings unless i really get on them. the other guys in the band want me to get it totally fixed up right to make it more useable and to really exploit what a midi system can do, but i got quoted a price of $600-$1000 to have a pickup installed in the changer. i thought about it and it sounded good (aside from the sticker shock), but i didn't want to hack up my 71' zb to get the sound i want, so i am still looking for a different way, and, if the pickup is installed in the changer, there will be a lot more than the sound of the strings being amplified, namely the sound of the pedals (one of the downfalls of the zb system). the best thing i can think of is to get someone to create a light wave pickup (light sensing instead of magnetic) that has the ability to switch between synth capability and guitar or a mix of both. at least with this type of system a completely new pickup won't have to be installed , an old guitar hacked up and the sound will still be really sweet. i talked to a company in socal about creating a light sensing pickup for my steel, but, i doubt they will. ideas ideas ideas.....

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 21 Dec 2005 8:06 am

Jeremy, I have never used a midi setup. I have worked a lot with a guy who uses the GR30 synthesizer with his lead guitar. He sounds good with it, but it takes a lot of practice with the right hand technique. He does a good job with piano,sax,banjo,trumpet,Hammond B3, but the fiddle sound is the hardest.

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Dave Frye · Post by **Dave Frye** » 24 Dec 2005 6:16 am

Thanks guys, i passed all the info on to my buddy(a fellow 12 stringer) so will let you know when i find out what happens. Dave

William Griffith · Post by **William Griffith** » 24 Dec 2005 6:52 am

Hello, I saw a video with Reese doing a kinda instructional and he had a midi pickup that he just clipped right on top of his changer, he also built a or had built a volume pedal that would swivle side to side so you could switch the midi in and out as you like. Neat how he played all that neat Jazz using it. Bill