MOTUnation.com

Can anyone help me on how to make my steel guitar preset have the big sound of a steel guitar as in country music. It sounds like a weak acoustic with an electric hook-up. I am wanting that traditonal big sounding, bleed your heart steel.

Unless you have a great sample set to begin with, I'm not sure that Mach 5 is going to do it for you.

If you haven't already done do, check out Real Guitar 2 from Music Lab. It'll knock your socks off. I've been using version 1.5 for a couple of years now, but RG2 takes it to a whole new level. The PC version was released yesterday, and the Mac version should be released in the next week or so. Check out the audio and video demos at:

http://www.musiclab.com/products/rg2_info.htm


Cheers,

Geoff

Isn't he asking about pedal steel guitar?

I'm not aware of any pedal steel VIs out there, but if anyone knows of one, I'd love to know about it.

The next best thing I know of is a set of 56 excellent Nashville Pedal Steel loops in the Apple Loops Jam Pack 3 Rhythm Section CD. They work in Garage Band at different keys and tempos, or you can take them straight off the CD in aif format.

Cheers,

Geoff

here's an idea...... guitar players are a dime a dozen..... ask ont to play it for you..... heck if you were in New Jersey I'd do it for you!!!!

Gee, what a great idea. Not.

Pedal steel is a lot different from acoustic guitar. It's all in the playing, and no sampler is going to give you a realistic pedal steel sound because it's actually impossible to recreate through a static sample. Yes, through a mixture of samples and MIDI CC's, and maybe some smart cross-fades, but to emulate pedal steel you need to learn about the instrument and listen to it, then spend time practicing with your chosen MIDI controller(s). I would recommend an expression pedal for one. Pedal steel is all about expression; it's not about the note trigger.

From my own experience, I've come to the conclusion that it is impossible to play a pedal steel guitar.

Have you ever tried to play one of those bastards? You're absolutely right about the pedal steel, and I take my hat off (if I had one) to those extraordinary nashville guys who can rip your heart out with what may be the most expressive instruments there is.

You either hate 'em or love 'em. I love 'em!

Cheers,

Geoff

Unlike bagpipes, which I'm told are the missing link between sound and noise

Little OT but..

Geoff - also use Real Guitar - rocks to high heaven and can recommend it to anyone. I love showing it to guitarists and watching their faces drop...."Yeh, but it's not like, real though, you can still tell....."

Drop it in a mix - none the wiser. Really is an awesome tool. My secret weapon (along with PSP vintage warmer - Geoff - you put me onto this mate..)

Class. If they released an electric version with amp sims..well...killer.

But yeh, pedal steel aint gonna happen with Mach 5, as good as it is.
Maybe get some sample libraries with lots of phrases?

Yeah, seems like it would have to be a "Virtual Guitarist" kind of library with tempo-adjustable stuff.

If you have a set of samples from a electric with good sustain and a pedal steel-like tone, you can get some decent results by putting each string on its own MIDI channel so that you can do the individual pitch bending. You still need to have a feel for what steel players actually do.

Thanks guys for your responses. I should have made myself more clear. I was asking about the pedal steel. I plan to check out music lab. Thanks for the info Geoff. I also found another thing to try. I will let you guys know if it works so check back. Again thank you.

15 inch speaker is the way to go. jbl or ev. For direct I run my steel through a chandler tg2. Sounds great and classic. Most steel players play through any of the Peavey city series amps ala Nashville 400. That works great with a sennheiser 441. The rnc commpressor from fmr audio in austin also sounds good on pedal steel and its cheap. You also might consider the George l's pickups.
Hope this helps

Check out Keyfax Twiddly Bits Vol 5 - Country. Its a collection of MIDI loops and licks played by top players on 'real' midified instruments. There is a bunch of pedal steel stuff along with banjo, fiddle etc. Its sounds fine in a mix if you can find a nice sample to play the MIDI parts back through. A sustained electric guitar sound works OK.