What I've done is made splits across the keyboard - often using multiple PARTs (all using a guitar sound of some time -- I like standard guitar sounds for pedal steel better than the built-in pedal steel). What I'll have sometimes is the split may have a couple fingers on one side of the split and other fingers on the other side of the split. Then I'll assign a different pitch bend amount for each PART in the split. This way I can bend between one chord and another target chord. I'll make bend from neutral to bend "up" one kind of mix of pitch bend amounts - and will assign a different set for the bend "down" to neutral. This gives the possibility of a couple different options for old-to-new chord qualities (minor, major, dominant, etc). And often I'll have a few different areas of the keyboard where I can handle all of the bend/"morphs" that I want to do for the tune. I'll notate in standard notation what notes I should play and symbols for either prebend down to start, prebend up to start, etc.

The other prep work I do sometimes for this is to use microtonal scales that allow for different note options. This is not necessarily needed most of the time.

Very clever Jason.... I'll give that a try... Thanks!

I'd love to hear that in action.

I'll record something. FYI - I won't have access to the keyboard for a couple weeks.

We played a song this week called "I Hope You Dance."
Pedal steel is the star of the song.

Unfortunately, it was missing. 🙂

Mitch,

EDIT (erasing initial update) - Thought my Montage had a memory corruption issue. Turns out it has a user corruption issue (I connected the outs to the wrong jacks). That's fixed. I can dig into my Performance and come up with something for you soon.

Here's my setup for a tune:

Legend: PBD = Pitch Bend Down, PBU = Pitch Bend Up

PART 6 = lower notes. Range E0-C#3, PBD= -3, PBU= +1
PART 5 = next notes -- Range D3-D#3, PBD= -5, PBU= +2
PART 4 = next notes -- Range E3-F3, PBD= -2, PBU= +2
PART 3 = next notes -- Range F#3-G#3, PBD= -4, PBU= +3
PART 7 = next notes -- Range A3-C#4, PBD= -3, PBU= +1
PART 8 = next notes -- Range D4-G6, PBD=? PBU=? (didn't take a picture). Not so important for what follows.

I may not use all of this in what I explain here - but each range has a purpose I may not cover.

My first chord I play the A natural just below middle C with D natural just above middle C, and F# just above that. Basically a measure of that and a slow bend down (pitch wheel with no pre-bend, bend all the way down). You end up with a chord F#, A, D.

Chord 1 pitch bend mechanics:

F# --(-4) --> D

D --(-5) --> A

A --(-3) --> F#

Second chord I play F# just above middle C, the next A natural up, then the next D natural above that A. Again, about a full bar of that and a slow pitch bend downward (all the way)

Chord 2 pitch bend mechanics:

D --(-5)--> A

A --(-3)--> F#

- note, this "A" is an octave above chord 1's "A" - same downward pitch bend however.
F# --(-4)--> D

Next use of pitch bend is a single line. I play C# (C#4 - which is 1octave+minor2nd above middle C) with a pre-bend "all the way up" on the PB wheel. This is PART 7 (A3-C#4) so PB brings the C# up to D natural. This starts on the and of 4. I bend down to C# (downbeat of next measure) playing 8th notes next of A, E, D, and C# (all descending). I hold the notes to make a reverse pyramid (except I let go of the last D to play the C# at the end). I could have also used the sustain pedal after the prebend resolves back down to C#.

This is showing how the PBU works together with the rest. Most PBU I use in a pre-bend situation.

The next line I play the "B" above middle C (maj 7th above) but start with a pre-bend all the down. I play the note for about a measure and slowly bend up (release the bend). This creates a slide from G# up to B.

G# (played as B with prebend down = -3) --> B

I can't wait to try this.
Which guitar patch do you prefer?

Have you seen the pedal steel VST by Impact? Incredible.

Edit: I built your performance. It's very cool. I should have done that for my Rosanna patch, at the end of the solo those bent intervals. Instead I start with one interval then right before the PB is completed I reposition and play the "final" notes.

Control aside - I haven't been happy with the core sound of the pedal steel in Montage (MODX). So I've done a lot of looking around and may have seen that VST. I've seen a variety of them and one was indeed very impressive. Pedal steel at least is more convincing than fiddle. For fiddle, I still haven't EQ'd or come up with something that sounds right. It's the sort of thing I probably need to either go VST or buy samples to import. The tone and possibly bow speed isn't cutting it for the only samples that lack vibrato (which I feel I need - no vibrato - for most fiddle work). Pedal steel is not where I want the sound to be - but "guitar" is a little easier to deal with for me using effects and EQ to get in the ballpark.

All of that said - great playing can make a toaster spring sound like a convincing enough pedal steel. So I'm still working on adapting to what I'm given to make the gigs and improve what I get out of it. I don't use the pedal steel Performance - btw. I use 60s clean guitar as my core sound.

Taking a second look now - yes, I've seen impact. There's another one (I'm not sure it's being developed still) that I thought was better. I'm not ready to go VST, however. Still holding on to the swiss-army approach.

Yeah I don't want to go the VST route either. Not for live performance.

I checked out one of the pop brass VSTs. I don't remember what it was called but it used the key-switches. Sounded amazing but what a learning curve.