dbraman Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 Anyone have a reasonable reproduction of a pedal steel guitar? If not...how about it Line 6 ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 I do a reasonable pedal steel simulation just using a re-tuned strat, a slide, finger picking, and some creative use of the volume pedal. Asking for an effect that would do all of that would be a pretty big order. It has less to do with the Helix than it does technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hideout Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 I dare say its mostly technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snc6 Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 A Fender Tele B-bender helps as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 I agree that the pedal steel is all about technique but that does not mean that a little slide playing with the right combination of pitch/volume effects assigned to one or more expression pedals/switches or even a new effect from Line6 made just to help model pedal steel might not render an emulation that might cause any actual pedal steel player to shudder but be a lot 'o fun for the rest of us. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 Pedal steel bends are all about double stops, with one or both notes moving half or full stops. It's pretty much ALL technique, with very little occurrence of both notes changing in the same direction and same amount of movement. This can be emulated with the fingers, but does take time and effort... I'd check youtube for country licks by people like Redd Volkaert, and oodles of other really tasty pickers. Also, tonally, Lap and Pedal Steels are different beasts to guitars, but that's another story. Is it me, or are people seeming to be lazy with all this new gadget stuff, wanting IT to do all the work for 'em - just add autotune already...FFS! :rolleyes: 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbuhajla Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 You can try using the pitch effect, but you can't isolate the pitch effect to a single string using a normal guitar. You might be able to get creative with Variax alternate tunings and stompswitches to approximate some of the bends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestOpinion Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 You can try using the pitch effect, but you can't isolate the pitch effect to a single string using a normal guitar. You might be able to get creative with Variax alternate tunings and stompswitches to approximate some of the bends. Cool idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbuhajla Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 Just another reason for me to get a Variax. I could have a B-bender and G-bender on two separate expression pedals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Just another reason for me to get a Variax. I could have a B-bender and G-bender on two separate expression pedals. And how is the expression pedal gonna pick up on which string is which? Am I missing something? Even if this were possible, I don't know how it would be easier/better than just learning string bending techniques on the actual guitar, unless of course if yer a settin down, playin, kinda guy... I.M.O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 And how is the expression pedal gonna pick up on which string is which? Am I missing something? Even if this were possible, I don't know how it would be easier/better than just learning string bending techniques on the actual guitar, unless of course if yer a settin down, playin, kinda guy... I.M.O. Maybe he finds it easier to play guitar with his feet rather than his fingers.... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Maybe he finds it easier to play guitar with his feet rather than his fingers.... ;) Oh, like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arislaf Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 And how is the expression pedal gonna pick up on which string is which? Am I missing something? Even if this were possible, I don't know how it would be easier/better than just learning string bending techniques on the actual guitar, unless of course if yer a settin down, playin, kinda guy... I.M.O. It is with a variax. set one pitch shifter to exp. and a second to the volume of the variax. why not even a third to the tone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunedinDragon Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 It is with a variax. set one pitch shifter to exp. and a second to the volume of the variax. why not even a third to the tone. Isn't that just going to be an abrupt change though? Not exactly the same as how a pedal steel slides in and out of suspended chords or minors to majors and such. That's where the bending technique becomes important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arislaf Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Isn't that just going to be an abrupt change though? Not exactly the same as how a pedal steel slides in and out of suspended chords or minors to majors and such. That's where the bending technique becomes important. Indeed. And with a pich shifter it will be another sound totally. But why not, out of the box stuff like that, can make a new music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eenymason Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 It is with a variax. set one pitch shifter to exp. and a second to the volume of the variax. why not even a third to the tone. As far as I know, (and I sure as hell don't know everything), in order to set up a G-bender, AND a B-bender simultaneously, the Helix would need to have access to data from each string separately, and apply a pitch shift value separately to each string. Maybe it IS possible down the line, but I don't think it is now? Although you could kind of do this by another method - I have a smart harmoniser setup on my HD500 for the solo in "Tonight's the Night" by Rod Stewart (yeh, I know :rolleyes: )... I have to use toe down/heel down on the expression pedal to use different intervals, as the solo is over (I think) A and D, and I need to change the pitch interval to reflect that. By incorporating single note bends, and changing between intervals, it does allow for different pitch shift properties on the "harmonised" string. I can't remember the exact details - maybe changes from maj 3 to 4th (as the A to D movement suggests). By playing country style pedal steel lines, and using this method, it would be a limited, poor country cousin, bet hey...... maybe better than nothing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbuhajla Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Lol. Probably not feasible, but someone may be able to figure out something that sounds close. Someone would probably make use of an effect like that, definitely not all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmccoy Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 The B-bender effect is quite easy with a Roland VG-8. Not sure about the VG-88. The GR-55 will NOT do it very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclement Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 You can assign a Exp Pedal to the B string "pitch" when using the Variax, but it's just OK. When the string is "bending" you get some artifacts going on - fine when it's at normal pitch or raised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennDeLaune Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 OTHend.mp3Done with the Variax: https://www.glenndelaune.com/OTHend.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclement Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 OTHend.mp3Done with the Variax: https://www.glenndelaune.com/OTHend.mp3 OK... yours sound MUCH smoother than my attempt did. Care to share your secret sauce? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surferdust Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Wow, that was really smooth! Using the volume pedal on the Helix for this? I used to make great pedal steel swells on the X3 Live, but the Helix has a really abrupt and in your face turn on with the sound, almost digital like. Line 6, can y'all do something about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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