# Pedal Steel VST / Sample Lib



## ryanstrong (May 8, 2017)

Hi all

Looking for the 'best'  pedal steel lib. Looks like the Wavelore library is unsupported right now, and the only other one I am seeing is Orange Tree Sample's Slide Lap Steel.

Is that steel the best? 

edit: looking to do some country clean sounding nashville stuff (not dirty gritty blues stuff)


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 8, 2017)

Wavelore Pedal Steel is excellent.

I don't know the Orange Tree one for comparison.


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## storyteller (May 8, 2017)

Orange Tree's lap steel is great. I've never used Wavelore Pedal Steel to compare though. I was planning on posting a track tomorrow which happens to use the Orange Tree Lap Steel, so I'll update this thread if/when I do post it.


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## LHall (May 9, 2017)

Wavelore is great. I even use it live. Have used it on some tracks with great results and I've only scratched the surface of what it will do. Played it on a gig a few weeks ago. At intermission, a well-known Nashville pedal steel player came back stage going "okay where was the pedal steel?" LOL.


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## ryanstrong (May 9, 2017)

Thanks guys - kind of crazy to me that there are only 2 competitive pedal steel libraries!


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## Lee Blaske (May 9, 2017)

ryanstrong said:


> Thanks guys - kind of crazy to me that there are only 2 competitive pedal steel libraries!


I've got the WaveLore, but haven't used it recently. What are the support issues?

I do play a bit of pedal steel, myself. It's a REALLY difficult instrument to cover from an interface standpoint, because there's so much going on. A library can attempt to cover some of the things that a pedal steel can do, but the interface for controlling it really doesn't exist. And, if someone were to devise an interface (unlikely) that would really allow you to play like a pedal steel player, you'd probably have something that would be approaching the difficulty of actually playing pedal steel. So at that point, why not just get a pedal steel and learn to play that?


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## ryanstrong (May 9, 2017)

Lee Blaske said:


> I've got the WaveLore, but haven't used it recently. What are the support issues?
> 
> I do play a bit of pedal steel, myself. It's a REALLY difficult instrument to cover from an interface standpoint, because there's so much going on. A library can attempt to cover some of the things that a pedal steel can do, but the interface for controlling it really doesn't exist. And, if someone were to devise an interface (unlikely) that would really allow you to play like a pedal steel player, you'd probably have something that would be approaching the difficulty of actually playing pedal steel. So at that point, why not just get a pedal steel and learn to play that?


Support issues are... there is no support. In other words the developer, according to other forum posts, is MIA so IF something does go wrong they do not support the product.

I know what you are saying about the interface... but I mean I would say the violin is a pretty difficult instrument to play but there are some decent libraries that mimic it pretty well


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## sostenuto (May 9, 2017)

ryanstrong said:


> Support issues are... there is no support. In other words the developer, according to other forum posts, is MIA so IF something does go wrong they do not support the product.
> 
> I know what you are saying about the interface... but I mean I would say the violin is a pretty difficult instrument to play but there are some decent libraries that mimic it pretty well



I likely do not relate well to your post, but if this helps; I have most of Greg's Orange Tree Samples Libraries, included many guitars. I do have Slide Lap Steel, but not at all experienced with it .... yet.

On his webpage, there is a Support Tab at the top. Greg has always been extraordinary in his response and generous guidance when asked. Perhaps a question directed his way will provide some sense of his thoughts on your topic.

https://www.orangetreesamples.com/support


_No formal relationship whatsoever, just thankful and respectful of assistance provided over several years._


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## wst3 (May 9, 2017)

I have the OrangeTree lap steel and the Wavelore Pedal Steel, I also have a ZB Custom, a Fender lap steel, and an old Duolian<G>...

Never believed I'd use a library for pedal or lap steel tracks, but I tried them both and it was instant buy! In the case of the pedal steel, the Wavelore sounds better than mine, although I am rebuilding it (sheesh is that a project) and I expect I'll eventually go back to tracking live. The OrangeTree lap steel sounds better than my Duolian, but is probably on a par with my Fender, when I am playing well (that's always an issue.)

I'd love to see the Wavelore Pedal Steel updated, but there are no deal-breakin' bugs. I'd buy it again today, in its current state, if it is still available for 50% off. I'm not sure I'd pay the $300 again, but I do not regret the purchase at all - I regret there are not more projects that call for it! There are a few demos on YouTube that do a pretty good job of showing it off.

I haven't heard from Mark (the developer) in eons, I hope he is doing well, and I hope he eventually returns to "the fold"!


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## synthpunk (May 9, 2017)

I know what you're looking for, realism, playability, Etc. Would it be sacrilege for me to suggest when I need a pedal steel style sound that I go to Omnisphere?


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## Lee Blaske (May 9, 2017)

ryanstrong said:


> I know what you are saying about the interface... but I mean I would say the violin is a pretty difficult instrument to play but there are some decent libraries that mimic it pretty well



True, but pedal steel is 12 strings that bend together, and independently in multiple directions. It's a bigger Rubik's cube.  It would really take someone very passionate about the instrument to make a good library. And, I am guessing that the potential market would be quite small. One, because the VI would be very difficult to learn, and two, people who are generally into that genre of music aren't that big on computers. 

What would the interface have to look like, for instance, to play this?


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## ryanstrong (May 9, 2017)

sostenuto said:


> I likely do not relate well to your post, but if this helps; I have most of Greg's Orange Tree Samples Libraries, included many guitars. I do have Slide Lap Steel, but not at all experienced with it .... yet.
> 
> On his webpage, there is a Support Tab at the top. Greg has always been extraordinary in his response and generous guidance when asked. Perhaps a question directed his way will provide some sense of his thoughts on your topic.


@sostenuto
I don't think you read my responses very well, I'm not talking about Orange Tree Samples with regard to the lack of support... *WaveLore* is allegedly not supporting their lap steel product.



synthpunk said:


> I know what you're looking for, realism, playability, Etc. Would it be sacrilege for me to suggest when I need a pedal steel style sound that I go to Omnisphere?


@synthpunk Actually I've been using Omnisphere's Steel guitar sounds and they actually work REALLY nice and born out of that I was asking myself... is there a better more specific lap steel guitar library?


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## ryanstrong (May 9, 2017)

Lee Blaske said:


> True, but pedal steel is 12 strings that bend together, and independently in multiple directions. It's a bigger Rubik's cube.  It would really take someone very passionate about the instrument to make a good library. And, I am guessing that the potential market would be quite small. One, because the VI would be very difficult to learn, and two, people who are generally into that genre of music aren't that big on computers.
> 
> What would the interface have to look like, for instance, to play this?



I know what you are saying man, for sure. But I still disagree with you. I think you are getting hung up on the interface. I mean look at a violin and look at the interface of Spitfire's Chamber Strings... SCS sounds beautiful and covers a multitude of articulations and I'm quite satisfied with it to fulfill my string needs.

Anyway I feel you but I think any experienced developer could cover a lot of ground if they tackled the pedal steel but unfortunately there is, I assume, VERY little market demand for a pedal steel for an experience dev to tackle this instrument.


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## bigcat1969 (May 10, 2017)

Just fyi I'm fairly certain that Sampletank 3 can import pretty much any Sampletank 2 or 2.5 library. It even let me import my own ST2 libraries and spit them out as ST3 libraries.


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## TimCox (May 11, 2017)

+1 for Wavelore, developer may be MIA but it's a fantastic instrument. It sounds so good I was even able to get away with using it as a stand in on a friend of mine's country EP. When the analog loving "cut everything that's VI" producer/engineer on the project thinks the steel VI can stay -- that's a good sign.


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## ajptaurus (Jun 10, 2018)

Lee Blaske said:


> I've got the WaveLore, but haven't used it recently. What are the support issues?
> 
> I do play a bit of pedal steel, myself. It's a REALLY difficult instrument to cover from an interface standpoint, because there's so much going on. A library can attempt to cover some of the things that a pedal steel can do, but the interface for controlling it really doesn't exist. And, if someone were to devise an interface (unlikely) that would really allow you to play like a pedal steel player, you'd probably have something that would be approaching the difficulty of actually playing pedal steel. So at that point, why not just get a pedal steel and learn to play that?



You don't want to sell it to me second hand do you if your not using it and make some of your investment back? They're website is still functional, but they don't send the download for you after you buy, its quite misleading now.


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## ajptaurus (Jun 10, 2018)

If anyone has a copy of Wavelore's Pedal Steel instrument and don't use it, I would be interested to buy it from someone as it's no longer available from the Wavelore website (or should I say, it is available but they don't reply or send the link after you buy it, and need to get a refund via Paypal).

Let me know if you have this and want to sell it second hand. And get some cash back.


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## ajptaurus (Jun 10, 2018)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Wavelore Pedal Steel is excellent.
> 
> I don't know the Orange Tree one for comparison.



You don't want to sell it (The Wavelore PedalSteel library) do you ?


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## SchnookyPants (Jun 10, 2018)

ryanstrong said:


> Hi all
> 
> Looking for the 'best'  pedal steel lib. Looks like the Wavelore library is unsupported right now, and the only other one I am seeing is Orange Tree Sample's Slide Lap Steel.
> 
> ...



OTS's Lap Steel is NOT a pedal steel - different animals. Don't get me wrong - it's great. I have it. But it's not a pedal steel, that's all.


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## NYC Composer (Jun 10, 2018)

I have the LapSteel (along with the Indiginus stuff and the Wavelore stuff). I agree that it’s not a pedal steel but it might be the best substitute I know of.


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## ajptaurus (Jun 10, 2018)

NYC Composer said:


> I have the LapSteel (along with the Indiginus stuff and the Wavelore stuff). I agree that it’s not a pedal steel but it might be the best substitute I know of.



You don't want to sell your Wavelore LapSteel do you LOL !

What I don't get is, a lot of people are after a LapSteel virtual instrument and the sellers of these virtual instruments aren't listening!!!

Compoers are still after an outdated Wavelore plugin that hasn't been updated since like 2013, but it's the best we got till somone like Indiginus, Orange Tree or 8dio come along and make a MUCH better one and clean up in the process (I would buy for sure).


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## SchnookyPants (Jun 10, 2018)

Oy vey.


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## ajptaurus (Jun 10, 2018)

I think we should all get together and make our own Pedal Steel VI hahahah...


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## NYC Composer (Jun 10, 2018)

For more atmospheric pedal steel stuff, I tend to use play guitar with a volume pedal and make liberal use of string bending and the vibrato arm. Not the same of course, but gives the impression.


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## dsteinschneider (Aug 6, 2022)

I bought it last summer. Mark is discounting it half off and you will get 3.0 when he releases it. He said in early 2021 it would be out by the end of the year. I guess he got onto some other project. I commented on his YouTube demo of 3.0 that it appeared to be ready enough for me. The new version takes a less complicated approach. My guess is that a good 2.5 version player might use both.


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## AceAudioHQ (Aug 6, 2022)

I just use Impact Soundworks pedal steel


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## dsteinschneider (Aug 22, 2022)

@AceAudioHQ - Although I have used Wavelore for recording where you can go back in and carefully build up the keyswitch and sustain pedal combinations to get a very realistic performance my main goal is to become proficient at playing it live. Does the Impact Soundworks PSG plugin support live perfomance use?

I realize that I will spend as much time muscle memorizing key switches as I might learning to play an actual pedal steel guitar but I've got enough stuff to lug to gigs and there are only a few songs per gig that require it. I have been watching many video lessons on how to play an actual PSG as part of this effort. I've also been learning the theory behind the licks. I know the keyboard approach is not going to approach the nuance and beauty of actual PSG playing but for now it's a far as I can take this.

BTW, if Clarence White could do it with a B-Bender telecaster then the keyboard approach should fly .


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## AceAudioHQ (Aug 22, 2022)

dsteinschneider said:


> Does the Impact Soundworks PSG plugin support live perfomance use?


I have no idea what live performance use requires, it does have a bunch of keyswitches but I just play with it as is


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## dsteinschneider (Aug 22, 2022)

That's pretty much where I'm at with the Wavelore PSG plugin  The Wavelore 2.5 version uses keyswitches to change what "fret" you're at (being a guitar player I look at it that way).


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