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Pedal Steel effect


dbraman
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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. :)

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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:

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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. 

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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.

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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....  ;)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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? 

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