Just got home from my first gig after NAMM. My set included a medley of Country classic standards (Your Cheatin Heart, Tennesse Waltz, Rocky Top, etc) utilizing the pitch bend controler (via foot pedal) to emulate the pedal steel guitar.

After watching (and hearing) Sandro Fontanella's impressive SD1 pedal steel guitar playing demonstration (NAMM), I am now rather disappointed that my Yamaha PSR2000 doesn't include the 'unique' pitch bend capabilities of the SD1.

As I mentioned on a separate thread, the SD1 includes a unique pitch bend: 'pedal steel' setting feature which effectively bends only 'one note' when you are playing a chord. This really provides the most realistic emulation of the way a pedal steel guitar is played & sounds. On the Yamaha PSR2000 & Technics KN5000, you can only bend ALL of the notes of a chord played in the right hand . If anyone knows how I can achieve (on the PSR2000) what the Ketron-Solton SD1 does, PLEASE let me know.

Dan & AJ: I'm curious to find out (on the SD1), WHICH note (in the chord you play in the right hand melody) gets bent? Is this 'user' determined, or is it the highest, lowest, or middle note played? Is this feature ONLY included on the Ketron-Solton line of arrangers? Thanks in advance. - Scott
http://scottyee.com

Hmmmmmm? Looks like a SD-1 in your future Scott? :>) Go for it dood!!!!

Scott,
The pitch bend capabilities your mention for the SD1 are also present in the X series (X1 and X4), and are very effective with both Steel and Hawaian guitars. According to the manual, the note bent is ALWAYS the lowest note of the chord you play with your right hand. So, apparently it's NOT "user determined". I'll confirm you this detail when I'm close to my X4.
José.

Scott

As I recall from playing - most of the pitch change on the country neck of the pedal steel (e9 tuning) - is aimed at a V-I movement - i.e. the notes of the G maj chord - particularly B and D - move to C and E respectively. It is often used to give a sus 4 sound in passing. For tonal reasons it seems quite common to hear the lower of the tones move when two or more are played together.

Mike H

[This message has been edited by Mike H (edited 01-22-2002).]

Scott,
The 2000 actually CAN just bend one note out of a chord, but there IS a catch. Here's how -
layer the right hand with the same sound.
Next - make one of the layers "MONO".
Next - assign pitch bend to ONLY the mono layer - this will allow only that mono note to bend. The hitch is - the other layerd sound will sustain the pitch through the change. It might sound weird. I remember first hearing an effect like this on the PA80 - it had a very cool brass patch that had three layers, and ONE was a mono trumpet. It made for some interresting effects. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you!

Uncle Dave: Yes, in theory you can bend one single note out of a chord when playing the layered sound in 'monophonic' mode, but (like you said), it ends up sounding pretty weird, because the other notes in the chord drop in/out at random, creating weird spacey sounds. Having the 'main' voices continue to sustain (including the note which gets bent ) isn't what I want either. This ends up sounding like an old 'B' movie: 'Willie Nelson meets the Space Invaders' or something like that. Oh well, it could be an interesting idea for a Halloween novelty tune though. hee hee ho ho hee hee ho ho.

Perhaps Dan, AJ, Matias (Jose), or other Solton SD1/X1 owners could demonstrate & share with us (via MP3 Country or Hawaiian song) how the Solton 'pedal steel' feature works. The setting's called "steel" and set in the SD1's pitch bend parameter window. Sandro demonstrated it both ways (with pitch bend bending all notes vs. only one note) to convincingly point out just how authentic bending one note only sounds. I'm curious to find out how many Solton players here are using this feature. I hope other arranger keyboard manufacterers will consider adding this to their keyboards. - Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 01-23-2002).]

Scott.
I do use this feature with the SD1 from time to time. This is a feature used within PROGRAM VOICES (a group of up to 4 voices). In this case 2 voices are assigned to a program (eg V1 & V2 - let both voices be Hawaian guitar). In the program menu, there is a function (Steel) that triggers this event. During playback, when the pitch bend wheel is bent while playing at least 2 notes on the RHS of the keyboard, the lowest note is bent. The effect's default is set at V1 but this can be changed.
Hope this helps.
AJ
PS: I'll try and make some MP3 & MIDI of such and send for you to share with others.

Thanks AJ
Looking forward to hearing a comparison song clip demo with/without the 'steel' feature used. - Scott