Lap Steel slide modes

[jbraner]

Hi,

I just got the lap steel guitar and I love the overdriven sound (mind you I can help it out with some plugins too).

I'm just figuring out how to make it sound like a real player would play (which will take ages) but one thing I don't get are the bend modes.

What does "allowing notes played after (or before) the time threshold to be controlled with the pitch wheel" mean? What is the time threshold? It must be the "bend time", but I can't work out what that's doing either

I've tried "auto" and it still seems completely random when it bends and when it doesn't. I know it's me and not the instrument, but I haven't worked it out

To me, it makes the most sense to turn this off and just use the wheel. I'm just trying to emulate a player holding a slide who would be either "sliding" all the notes he's playing or not. I don't think he'd ever hold one note and slide another. Does that make sense?

Anyway - any further explanation of the bend modes would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Gregjazz]

Hi John,

Have you checked out the video tutorials on Lap Steel Guitar's bend mode options? That's probably the easiest explanation for them: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4B89FA07085A6985

But let me know if you have any unanswered questions after watching these. The right-most "bend mode" and "bend time" settings are really for if you want to be able to play multiple notes and only bend one individually. Most of the time, I just keep these settings off.

Kind regards,

Greg

[jbraner]

I didn't know about this - I'll check it out. Thanks!

[jbraner]

Hi Greg,

The video made it marginally clearer. So I guess for "post", with the bend time set to 32nd - you play a note, and than anything after 1/32 of a beat gets nebt with the pitch wheel, but if you played a note very quickly before that interval it wouldn't get bent (even though you move the pitch wheel).

This begs the question of how it knows what length of time 1/32 note is (especially when you're just playing freely and not playing back from a sequencer) - and when does the next threshold start.

So play a note, then another a little later (>32nd) bend the wheel and the second nte bends - but then you play another note. Is this way after the original note? (so still subject to a bend) or is it the beginning of a new count?

I think I'll just leave it off and whatever's playing when the wheel goes - gets bent I think that suits what I'm trying to emulate anyway. I'm just trying to emulate a guy with a guitar on his lap (probably open tuned) and a slide going up and down "fretting" notes (obviously all on the same fret). The only time this would come in handy is if you plucked an open string and then "fretted" a different string (or 2 or 3) with the slide. This would leave the open string constant and only change the others. I guess I'll avoid that style for now

[Gregjazz]

So I guess for "post", with the bend time set to 32nd - you play a note, and than anything after 1/32 of a beat gets nebt with the pitch wheel, but if you played a note very quickly before that interval it wouldn't get bent (even though you move the pitch wheel).

That's right, but it depends on the pitch wheel mode whether playing earlier than the threshold makes the note(s) subject to the pitch wheel, or whether playing after the threshold makes them affected.

The "auto" mode switches between the "pre" and "post" modes based on if the pitch wheel starts at 0 (the mid-point), or if the pitch wheel is at a non-zero amount when you play.

You can always automate any of those controls if you want more exact realtime control over those settings.

This begs the question of how it knows what length of time 1/32 note is (especially when you're just playing freely and not playing back from a sequencer) - and when does the next threshold start.

It's relative to the BPM of the host. If you're in Kontakt standalone, the BPM is set in Kontakt's "master" section, which you can open using one of the main buttons at the top of Kontakt's interface. It brings up the BPM, global tuning, and a few other things like that.

So play a note, then another a little later (>32nd) bend the wheel and the second nte bends - but then you play another note. Is this way after the original note? (so still subject to a bend) or is it the beginning of a new count?

Yeah, the original note acts as the anchor for the time threshold. It gets reset when all notes are released.

I think I'll just leave it off and whatever's playing when the wheel goes - gets bent I think that suits what I'm trying to emulate anyway. I'm just trying to emulate a guy with a guitar on his lap (probably open tuned) and a slide going up and down "fretting" notes (obviously all on the same fret). The only time this would come in handy is if you plucked an open string and then "fretted" a different string (or 2 or 3) with the slide. This would leave the open string constant and only change the others. I guess I'll avoid that style for now

Yeah, that's what I do most of the time, too. If you ever want one note bending while another sustains (for example, play a D3 and G3 at the same time, and then bend the D3 up to an E3), just let me know and I'll help figure out the best way to play/sequence it.

[jbraner]

Greg,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer here. If I ever want to bend a note while another sustains - I'll work it out

If I can't - then I'll come here