Pedal steel on a keyboard - new virtual instrument

[Ryan Quinn]

I think I know what the reaction to this will be, but I wanted to see if anyone had come across this virtual pedal steel plugin that I recently saw an advertisement for: https://impactsoundworks.com/product/pedal-steel/ . It seems to be designed to be played on a keyboard.

The demos don't sound bad to me, but I imagine it's very limited compared to what a real pedal steel player can do.

[Gene Tani]

Interesting

I've seen articles about making MIDI drum tracks more realistic, there's a lot to it e.g. simulating dominant hand, keeping kick and snare on the grid/quantized but toms, fills, flams, double hits not exactly on the beat.

I think you'd haveto apply all kinds of tricks which would have to be parameterized in that VST/ AU to make MIDI pedal steel believable. Think of all the things you can do move picking hand away from changer, muting/blocking, all kinds of vibratos/bar slides, slow/fast squeezes on the pedals etc

[Jeff Harbour]

I would be much more interested in making my Pedal Steel sound like a keyboard than to give keyboard players the ability to fake our craft. There... I said it...

[Michael Lester]

Respectfully...the number of stringed instruments that have been successfully digitized is almost non-existent.

Digital violins, banjos, guitars, harps, mandolins, etc. have all been around awhile. None are satisfactory although I have a digital bass that does sound quite authentic.

Add in emotion from the volume pedal, changes from the pedals and knees and slides and that becomes a very steep climb.

Listen to a digital version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown on keyboard - I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

[Jeff Harbour]

The only time I know of where it almost worked was on the original Restless Heart version of "Hummingbird". In that song there is quite a good pedal-steel-inspired keyboard solo... But, in that case it took quite a bit of skill on the part of the keyboard player in using the pitch wheel. I don't think MIDI alone could ever pull it off.

[Kevin Fix]

[Michael Mirabal]

I listened to the tutorial. The first thing I noticed is that when he is playing with a background track, it helps to create a more realistic sound. But the big thing missing, as with all picked string instrument samples is the attack a pick gives you. A pick makes a very distinct sound and they have yet to recreate that with any sample. You can have a pick sound but you still have the attack that a keyboard gives you. When you pick, the attack is immediate. When you play with a keyboard, you lose that attack, and the sharpness of the pick.

Next, when he was doing 1/2 step descending notes, you could hear the sound roll like keyboard keys rolling. By itself, it would be a hard sell. You would have to use this program with the PSG as a background instrument. I love technology, and, because sometimes I get so involved with software and it is easier to use a controller instead of getting the instrument and hooking up all the gear. And I have tried to find samples that would work for guitar parts. But, I have yet to hear an acoustic guitar program let alone a solid electric program that gave me any sense of realism, especially in a lead situation. There are too many nuances involved and with pedal steel, there are that many more nuances.

I have heard other tries at this, and so far, this is the best I have ever heard. But, it just kind of has this surreal sound to it, and that has to do with the attack of the keys. And I am sure if you shortened the attack time, it will really sound like a synth, and not what it is supposed to sound like. I have to say, the difference between when the backing track was going and he was solo was like night and day. It kind of has this Muzak feel to it.

On the pro side, I have to say it is intuitive.

Interesting, but not $200 interesting. And like with other complicated software like this, as can be seen from the demo, the program has a lot of parameters to adjust, and you could spend a whole lot of time trying to figure that out and not come up with a good sound. It's easier to set the guitar up and play it than this.

Anyway, Ryan, thanks for the heads up.

[Ian Worley]

There was a long thread about this last summer: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=346887. One cool thing is that it would have essentially an unlimited copedent, any change you can imagine is available, all the time. Just like a real pedal steel, it would take a long time to master.

[Steve Sycamore]

For composers it's great to have a decent digital sound library, especially if you spend lots of time traveling or away from your studio. And it is possible to have very realistic samples if the job is done right.

The Vienna Symphonic Library is an example of very well done violin, viola, cello and contrabass samples where every detail and playing technique was incorporated. The library requires very many DVD disks to transfer and costs thousands of dollars. It's more than adequate to build very high quality mock ups or use for composing.