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Teunis Offline OP
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Hi, I am trying to learn about Tod's Pedal Steel so I put together a few chords in BIAB using _IVORY.STY as a basis with:

1122: Bass
2050: Piano
NashClassicWaltzSw^6 : Drums
829: Guitar
990: Guitar

Then got on the keyboard for a little while and put the melody into Kontakt with Tod's Pedal Steel. Played around a bit to get the harmonies (chording), slides, tremolo and foot pedal bits (I haven't got it quite right but I'll learn as I go).

Anyway a little waltz on Pedal Steel

https://soundcloud.com/reevant/i-vary


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A lovely country waltz! Very convincing pedal steel. smile


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Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Thanks David, of the pedal steel synths I’ve tried I find Tod’s is probably the most versatile IMHO. As with all of the pedal steels there is a lot to it but Tod’s approach makes sense to me.

Thanks again

Tony


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That's a tough instrument to play and it sounds really good here, Tony. This is a cool country waltz, like the one's where you used to hear, "Ok, this one's a lady's choice."


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Thanks Marty, yes there is a fair bit in getting the steel to do its thing. Tod the creator of this instrument set up a really good tool bar arrangement for Reaper every lick on different strings have a different velocity. So there are 4 sets of notes (four sounds per note for most notes) creating a heap of flexibility (more than my knowledge being a simple guitarist).

I thank Tod Stillwell for making the the toolbar available to me. Without the toolbar it would be a lot more work.

Thanks again Marty

Last edited by Teunis; 06/23/21 01:31 AM.

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Hello, 'Teunis'...

Your melody is so sweet-sounding to my ears that I could imagine the notes being sung as lyrics.

It's a fine tune for dancing, too.


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Certainly a great effort. Clearly there is a lot of potential.

Interesting selection of instruments. I wonder if the pedal steel was played an octave higher how much different it would sound.


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Thanks Bluage, it is a simple melody basically just what comes out. I agree it would be a nice little song easily sung. I’ll have to think of words but that’s not my forte. Thanks once again.

Thanks VT, I agree it is a bit low. I was thinking of taking it up to G from C. I’m not a keyboard player so I usually tend to play stuff in C whilst noodling about. (Shows how lazy I am). In this case I left this in C so I could write the chording quicker. (Lazy once again). I avoid taking the keyboard itself up as it can become annoying when I leave it there. Thanks yet again.

Tony


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This is the best most realistic Pedal Steel that I have ever heard. Excellent song to showcase it.

It sounds like you have mastered this VSTi!


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Nice work, really nice melody too.
Seems a little odd to have the melody a little left of centre in the mix though.
Well done Mr. Stillwell too.


Cheers
rayc
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Teunis Offline OP
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Thanks Mario, yes this is a Kontakt Library. Basically what Tod has done is capture every note on every string 4 times (for most notes 2 times for the lower notes). He has then created a Kontakt Key Map using velocity for each note depending on what string and which sample. It is very complex but using Tod’s ToolBar in Reaper becomes very manageable. You then have 4 CC lanes to set the “pitch” the slide of a note then also 4 CC lanes for the Volume. He has it set up that you select the note and CC number it places the CC message just ahead of the note. See the tutorials here https://todsvirtualinstruments.com/tods-midi-pedal-steel-guitar-tutorials/ The tutorials are not that long but gives a great insight. It really gives control.

Thanks again Mario

Thanks Ray, it has been an interesting process and there is still improvements to happen. (Improvements continue until you destroy the song). I put the track about where I have the pedal steel sitting in other mixes (using the BIAB Realtrack).

Thanks again Ray

VT suggested I lift the track. I did a quick test lifting it an octave or even to G makes it sound a bit like cats on a fence. Putting it up to E sounds better. But, in order to lift it I think it best to go back through and reset the various velocities (string and position settings). It won’t take that long. I should also use attack time in some cases rather than volume to control how the notes come in. A bit more thinking yet.

Tony


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Very pleasant!! Always loved the pedal steel, and BIAB does have a lot of great ones too! Take care. Greg

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Teunis Offline OP
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Thanks Greg, I have to agree when it comes to the RealTracks Pedal Steel. I reckon I have them in over 50% of my backing tracks (I love them). Chasing a pedal steel actually came from this. I wanted a way to generate parts particularly lead ins. To allow me to know when to start a song and get ready I often use the last 4 bars or so as basis for an intro. It is nice to have a bit of a melody at this point.

I find trying to blend into the RealTrack pedal very hard to match. With this pedal I can get close. Probably close enough to get away with it as most of the folk I play to are quite aged. So much so I’m sure some of them are not sure of “why that man is standing there with a guitar. Can you speak up a bit dearie”.

Thanks again Greg


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Very cool. I love me some steel guitar. That's actually the reason I bought BB in the first place many years ago.


I looked at Tod's site.... that seems to be a very capable steel vst. They're getting easier to use and sounding so much better than the early ones. Still looks like a lot of editing to get the perfect sound and a realistic sound. From watching a few of the tutorial videos, you have a capable tool but now you gotta spend the time to learn it and use it. Still.... very cool.


I like what you did with this. My crits are that you have a fairly large number of third conflicts where you have a major and a minor third struggling to be dominate and neither one wins. Aside from that... loved this tune.


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Love the sound and feel of this! Nice job!


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Tony,

I'm impressed. I love me some pedal steel guitar and it sounds like you're well on your way to becoming proficient with Tod's steel.

There are not many steel virtual instruments out there.+++ Tod's +++ seems to be top of the heap for pedal steel guitar and +++ The STEEL +++ for lap steel. I'm sure there are others but those are the two I'm aware of.

I've looked at the tutorial videos for Tod's and just can not understand the interface. Velocity regions are pretty common so using them I understand. But I haven't seen a good demonstration of how to apply other articulations like the bends up or bends down created by pedal action. As another example how do you select palm mute or harmonics? It would be nice if a user manual was available for download from the website.

On the other hand I completely understand the STEEL user interface and the manual is available for download. Having said that, I have neither product but am very interested in both.

I believe sample based virtual instruments require an understanding of velocity regions and articulations to create any kind of realistic music.


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Thanks Herb, you are right about that. The main issue there is the the string and samples used (also volume due to velocity). VT suggested it needed to be a bit higher. I found if I went up an octave or even up from C to G it sounded very cat like probably due to the chording. I moved it up to E this made a difference. I then went back through the string, sample and volume (lowering usually the lower harmony). I’ve got to get next weeks “happy hour” set together (I do about an hour show) and then I’ll get back to it. Thanks again.

Thanks HearToLearn

Thanks Jim, on Tod’s tutorials site they do a really good tutorial on the slides. Like most of these things it is not until you actually get doing it that it becomes clearer. Basically there are 5 CC lanes assign to controlling the “slides”. What happens is you select the note you are sliding either up or down. Then assign it a CC lane and the number of semitones in the slide. Then in the CC you set the direction (up or down) and position. To slide up you start the slide at 0 (the bottom of the CC lane) and go to the mid point value 64. To slide down you start at 64 and drop it to 0. It is possible to go more complex by calculating the CC level. The documentation provides a guide. Basically it does something similar to using the “pitch wheel” on a controller.

For chords. When you select the CC to be the script moves the cursor a few ticks. You then move the next note to the new point and select another CC lane and the number of semitones needed for the slide.

Seems complex but not so. However the ToolBar to make it work is really designed to work in Reaper. Whilst the Pedal Steel will work in other DAWs one would have to do a lot of work. There are many Reaper Scripts behind the sevens making it work.

However by learning this I learnt a bit about the scripting and created some scripts to make using the Capo Setting of AmpleSound guitars easier to set.

The other advantage of Reaper is the ability to create “Note Name Maps” that allow you to name key switches and CC lanes. Similar to Drum Maps in Cakewalk. This makes using many instruments far easier. They are a simple text file so you create one for the instrument and save the instrument together with the key map as a track template. Next time just load the template all the names are there. It is also possible to have the details show on the midi notes.

I feel like I should start with “in the beginning was the word”

Anyway thanks again Jim.

For others I’m being a bit long winded because some people like to know how things are achieved using MIDI. The processes used here can be used to control many VST INSTRUMENTS. The biggest limitation is usually your own imagination and faith in yourself.

My thoughts
Tony

Last edited by Teunis; 06/24/21 11:03 AM.

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Nicely done. I like it.
Rob4580

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Thanks Bob, it was an interesting little project. I’m now cleaning it up a bit. (Changing key from C to E, rearranging some of the strings (samples) and also altering some of the note attack times (trying to make it smoother)). As per suggestions made by several forum members.


Tony


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Originally Posted By: Teunis
Hi, I am trying to learn about Tod's Pedal Steel so I put together a few chords in BIAB using _IVORY.STY as a basis with:

1122: Bass
2050: Piano
NashClassicWaltzSw^6 : Drums
829: Guitar
990: Guitar

Then got on the keyboard for a little while and put the melody into Kontakt with Tod's Pedal Steel. Played around a bit to get the harmonies (chording), slides, tremolo and foot pedal bits (I haven't got it quite right but I'll learn as I go).

Anyway a little waltz on Pedal Steel

https://soundcloud.com/reevant/i-vary



Aah, good one Teunis, and I want to thank you for buying my Pedal Steel, you did it real justice. smile

Here's steel instrumental I used for a demo. I saw David Hartley playing it YouTube and decided it would make a great video. The video is actually David Hartley's hands playing the steel, I recorded the video of just his hands playing so I could see where he was on the neck, and when I got it all done I was amazed at how well my own recording fit the video. smile

https://youtu.be/j_Ypn79rt_s

This is also a video I captured on YouTube, of Jim Bob Gairrett playing a bunch of stuff he made up. Here again I use my steel to play exactly what he played. I had the opportunity to talk to Jim Bob on the phone and he couldn't believe I could do that with midi.

https://youtu.be/v0SuOuMRcyM

This is my website, I created all the music using midi instruments in Kontakt.

https://todsvirtualinstruments.com/

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