Wish Pedal Steel > Dual whammy algo, or dual pitch ramp modifier

WKSmith

WKSmith

Power User
I am building a pretty cool pedal steel emulation. If I had 2 advanced whammy voices, I could emulate the A & B pedals on a pedal steel. (The obvious answer is I need a AxeFxIII ) By configuring the left 2 foot switches as CS2 and CS3, you can actuate either, both or neither for the 1 chord, 4 chord, sus4, 6th. Just like the pedal layout on a steel guitar.

I can just do one of the pedals to bend a single interval with the current whammy algo though. I could use the quad pitch if it would allow to ramp between pitches instead of fixed intervals.

The modifier controls in the whammy algo make it easy to ramp the pitch up and down when using the momentary switches.

A 2 voiced advanced whammy would do both A&B pedals and do a great job emulating a E9 pedal steel.

And That 2 voice whammy block and a whammy block in the III would allow the three AB&C pedals.
 
As a workaround, you can put two pitch blocks in parallel both set to advanced whammy.

Edit: Nevermind, I forgot the FM9 only has 1 pitch block. Dual pitch blocks would work on the III though.
 
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The Plex-Delay can be used as a pseudo second Pitch block. Post or P.M. your current preset with some detailed instructions on what exactly you want the second "Pitch" block to do. I will see what I can come up with.
 
Moke said:
The Plex-Delay can be used as a pseudo second Pitch block. Post or P.M. your current preset with some detailed instructions on what exactly you want the second "Pitch" block to do. I will see what I can come up with.
Click to expand...
Will do !
 
@Moke here is what I want to do.
Its easy on the FXIII using two advanced whammy blocks and done! ... But i'm on the FM9 until funds allow a III purchase later.
here are the A&B pedals in action



both bends would be mixed with the original note
one pitch bend would be +8 bent to +10 (5th to 6th) for A pedal
another would bend +17 to +18 (maj 3rd to sus4) for Bpedal
both pedals would give you the 4 chord.

It needs 2 pitch blocks in parallel.... with the original note mixed in each 50% ish.

The quad pitch algo steps the pitch instead of allowing a glide. Maybe there is another way to bend 2 shifters

I am using the two left foot switches in the Scene layout as CS2 and CS 3 with the modifier dampening at 75ms (up and down) to slowly ramp the pitch. You can work them both exactly like the pedal steel with the left foot, and it doesn't cost 2 more expression pedals.
And this preset maps expression (pedal1) as volume for the right foot.

Screen Shot 2023-02-18 at 7.39.46 PM.png

The preset is attached.
Big thanks for looking!!!
 

Attachments

  • PEDAL STEEL.syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 13
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Bodde said:
Yes the FM9 really needs a second pitch block! That’s one thing that’s holding me back on buying one.
Click to expand...
I thought I would be happy with just a second virtual capo. Now I'm gonna need an AXEFXIII.
I needed one anyway. That's too much awesomeness to not spdif my 9 into the III.
That would be a powerful setup.
 
There isn't a workable pedal steel emulation anywhere (from anyone) that I am aware of. This would work right now on a III. Just parallel a second pitch block with the first pitch block, using those ^ settings. It would be an awesome thing to find it baked into a Fractal pitch algorithm or preset... but for probably just a handful of folks.

somebody mod it for the III and let me hear it! :tearsofjoy:

For the preset I used optical comp into 3 rows. 2 amps and (a DI through the enhancer). The amps are @austinbuddy 's mighty fine Steel String Stinger hack (mostly) and a CA3+ Clean...to a volume pedal and 2nd comp after the amps. I just sketched in some comp settings and delay and verb. The cab IRs are 2 stock 15"s

Maybe someone will make this into quite possibly the wolds first pedal steel (ish) preset. :sunglasses:
 
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Okay @WKSmith , Here is what I came up with..

Your Pitch block was doing a major 3rd to a 4th above via CS2. So the pseudo second Pitch block is setup to do a 5th to a 6th above via CS3. The Plex-Delay block is not perfect as a Pitch block, but it does have pitch capabilities that can be called upon in a pinch.

From what I could gather from the scene names and how they were setup, I only have it 'on' in scene 3. The other scenes were all using User Cab IRs, so couldn't really check them out. I set the Attack and Release in the 'Damping' section tp 50 ms. 75 ms seemed a bit long?
 

Attachments

  • PEDAL STEEL (Moke).syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 13
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With dual harmony type set to chromatic scale, you can turn up glide time to get a gradual pitch change when modifying harmony value. I think that would use exponential damping though, which might not sound as good as linear damping with whammy type. You could also use this approach with an expression pedal and custom shift mode to get three or more arbitrary voicings by modifying each voice's scale number.

This is a good wish which illustrates some limitations of the pitch block. It would be nice if there was a way to bend between scale tones using intelligent harmony types, without having to turn up glide time which makes the pitch all wonky the rest of the time.
 
@WKSmith Just so that you are aware. I noticed some things after I posted the edited preset...
  • Your scene 3 cab block has the 'Proximity' parameters set to '5' on both IRs. It's really bassy? Maybe this isn't the case with your other Cab channels that are using the user IRs?
  • Your Output 1 block has the 'Level' parameter set to '-29.2 dB'. This is Indicating that the internal levels in the preset are very hot. In fact, there is some clipping showing up in many of the blocks, if observing the block 'ins' and 'outs' on the Meters page of the front screen.
  • I would reset the Output 2 'Level' parameter to '0'.
  • Initially reduce the 'Level' parameters in the Amp blocks by around 29.2 dB, then adjust them as desired until you are around the '0' line (blue to red transition) on the Output 1 meters.
  • You will need to also reduce the 'Level' of the Enhancer block, that is in parallel with the Amp blocks, by roughly the same amount as the Amp blocks, to maintain the same relative blend. I can't really hear this parallel path contributing to the sound anyway. Maybe remove it?
Moke
 
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Thank you @Moke
I will look at it better tomorrow. I use the proximity up for my YA IRs with DC30s

These setting were from one of those random presets with the new amps and cabs dropped in. I quit tweaking when I hit the wall on a single pitch block.

I will clean it up and post the preset and a clip
 
Also,

Your parallel Delay and Reverb blocks should typically have their 'Mix' parameters set to 100% so the there isn't any extra dry signal passing through both parallel paths further increasing the overall preset level, and also making the wet/dry levels easier to keep uniformed across scene/channel changes. Use the 'Level' parameters of parallel effect blocks (or the 'Input Gain' parameters for better channel spillover) to set the wet levels.
 
File this under everything has consequences... lol
  • The Enhancer block 'Level' parameter has no affect when that block is bypassed, and no bypass type choices. So a second Vol/Pan block needs to be in that path to be able to reduce that path be 29.2 dB in all scenes to keep that path at the intended blend when the Enhancer is bypassed. Maybe moving the Enhancer block to a better location in a series connection would be wise?
  • The otherwise mild settings in Comp 2 were resulting in some large compression amounts because of the really high Amp block output levels. To compensate.. Raise the 'Compression' parameter to '8', and the "level' parameter to '-2.00 dB' to get you back to what you had before.
 
This version 2 has all of the recommendations mentioned above. The Reverb 'Time' and 'Levels', and Delay 'Levels' still seem too high to me?? Just my $0.02.

Moke
 

Attachments

  • PEDAL STEEL 2 (Moke).syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 15
@Moke
Thank you for taking the time to share best practices for preset creation and for gain staging in the fractal environment. And all that on top of working out a dual pitch solution.

And also thanks to @Bakerman I will look at those solutions for dual pitch too.
 
WKSmith said:
Thank you @Moke
I will look at it better tomorrow. I use the proximity up for my YA IRs with DC30s

These setting were from one of those random presets with the new amps and cabs dropped in. I quit tweaking when I hit the wall on a single pitch block.

I will clean it up and post the preset and a clip
Click to expand...
Man WK first violins now this , you are working on all the cool stuff :) Can't wait to hear the clips when its done and kudos to Moke as well , I have seen him helping out many peoples presets lately and that is awesome
 
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