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A sustain pedal. Not like the BOSS dist/sustainer, but like the sustain pedal on a piano or keyboard.

Basically a non-latching switch that would sustain everything I play for a given amount of time while the pedal is depressed. Sort of like the "Gliss" feature on the Roland guitar synth, but less wanky sounding. Playing fingerstyle, there are so many times when I want a chord sustained so I can play over it.
You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to design; a modified digital reverb type circuit I would think.

What do ya think? Should I e-mail Roland?

I think this pedal does something like that.

I guess the nearest thing is a compressor, but that'd only sustain if you let notes ring out. Problem is the piano is seperate strings so making notes sustain is easy, guitar is a whole different scenario
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It'd have to be some kind of looper set-up, really.

And it would probably be boring after about a second.


Warp mode on the DD-20 does it pretty much.

More Cowbell wrote:I think this pedal does something like that.

Nah, that just simulates reversed delay by making the note have no attack then fade in, then stop abruptly- much like Pigtronix Attack Sustain:

[youtube][/youtube]

I don't think it'd be realisticly daoable without some sort of cheesey synth guitar, where each string could be treated differently. Shame.

BacchusPaul wrote:I don't think it'd be realisticly daoable without some sort of cheesey synth guitar, where each string could be treated differently. Shame.

A piano sustains every note you play with the pedal depressed, except for the highest octave and a half I believe. You'd really only need to isolate the individual strings if you were imitating the middle pedal on a piano, which sustains whatever strings were ringing when you pressed it down.

I'm sure it would be boring in the wrong hands, but I imagine a lot of guys being able to make good use of it. Any effect can be boring after a few seconds.

edit: as I think about it, the Moog guitar has a feature that imitates the middle pedal. But we're all on the same page about the Moog guitar.

Doog wrote:

More Cowbell wrote:I think this pedal does something like that.

Nah, that just simulates reversed delay by making the note have no attack then fade in, then stop abruptly- much like Pigtronix Attack Sustain:

[youtube][/youtube]

or boss slow gear

Moog guitar, sustaniac model b. that's it.

I want the guts of a moog guitar in a jazzmaster.

Have you thought about the e-bow at all? I know it isn't a pedal but I get some good swells and endless sustain from it.
If there was just a pedal that controlled sustain via feedback then I'd go for that if I wanted to have similar style to a piano. The DD-6 also has a warp feature, does well on dragging the note out but it can actually "warp" the note if you've got the controls up too high.

DuoSonicBoy wrote:

BacchusPaul wrote:I don't think it'd be realisticly daoable without some sort of cheesey synth guitar, where each string could be treated differently. Shame.

A piano sustains every note you play with the pedal depressed, except for the highest octave and a half I believe. You'd really only need to isolate the individual strings if you were imitating the middle pedal on a piano, which sustains whatever strings were ringing when you pressed it down.

I'm sure it would be boring in the wrong hands, but I imagine a lot of guys being able to make good use of it. Any effect can be boring after a few seconds.

edit: as I think about it, the Moog guitar has a feature that imitates the middle pedal. But we're all on the same page about the Moog guitar.

The middle pedal would be a lot easier to do, because it would only have to be able to sustain a maximum of six notes, rather than almost a hundred.

The sustain pedal would be a bit different.

Either way, the pedal would have to be able to detect each individual note and give it its own decay envelope. As well as this, the pedal would have to know how to attach the decay envelope on to natural decay of the sound. It would also have to respond to the dynamic and match the envelope that way too.

I think it's undoable because of the very nature of what you're after (I say you, I mean we, I think it'd be great if something like this came about some day). The pedal on a piano stops something from happening (the damper from touching the strings), and doesn't really do anytihng itself. A pedal like this for a guitar woudl have to actively create sound, and getting it to do that realistically may not be possible.

BacchusPaul wrote:

DuoSonicBoy wrote:

BacchusPaul wrote:I don't think it'd be realisticly daoable without some sort of cheesey synth guitar, where each string could be treated differently. Shame.

A piano sustains every note you play with the pedal depressed, except for the highest octave and a half I believe. You'd really only need to isolate the individual strings if you were imitating the middle pedal on a piano, which sustains whatever strings were ringing when you pressed it down.

I'm sure it would be boring in the wrong hands, but I imagine a lot of guys being able to make good use of it. Any effect can be boring after a few seconds.

edit: as I think about it, the Moog guitar has a feature that imitates the middle pedal. But we're all on the same page about the Moog guitar.

The middle pedal would be a lot easier to do, because it would only have to be able to sustain a maximum of six notes, rather than almost a hundred.

The sustain pedal would be a bit different.

Either way, the pedal would have to be able to detect each individual note and give it its own decay envelope. As well as this, the pedal would have to know how to attach the decay envelope on to natural decay of the sound. It would also have to respond to the dynamic and match the envelope that way too.

I think it's undoable because of the very nature of what you're after (I say you, I mean we, I think it'd be great if something like this came about some day). The pedal on a piano stops something from happening (the damper from touching the strings), and doesn't really do anytihng itself. A pedal like this for a guitar woudl have to actively create sound, and getting it to do that realistically may not be possible.

http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm

fiveways wrote:

BacchusPaul wrote:

DuoSonicBoy wrote: A piano sustains every note you play with the pedal depressed, except for the highest octave and a half I believe. You'd really only need to isolate the individual strings if you were imitating the middle pedal on a piano, which sustains whatever strings were ringing when you pressed it down.

I'm sure it would be boring in the wrong hands, but I imagine a lot of guys being able to make good use of it. Any effect can be boring after a few seconds.

edit: as I think about it, the Moog guitar has a feature that imitates the middle pedal. But we're all on the same page about the Moog guitar.

The middle pedal would be a lot easier to do, because it would only have to be able to sustain a maximum of six notes, rather than almost a hundred.

The sustain pedal would be a bit different.

Either way, the pedal would have to be able to detect each individual note and give it its own decay envelope. As well as this, the pedal would have to know how to attach the decay envelope on to natural decay of the sound. It would also have to respond to the dynamic and match the envelope that way too.

I think it's undoable because of the very nature of what you're after (I say you, I mean we, I think it'd be great if something like this came about some day). The pedal on a piano stops something from happening (the damper from touching the strings), and doesn't really do anytihng itself. A pedal like this for a guitar woudl have to actively create sound, and getting it to do that realistically may not be possible.

http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm

But that is completely different from what we're talking about.

Did you read the original post? Have you ever heard a piano?

I still think it could be done using a reverb algorithm.

You set the initial reflection to 0ms. Then you modify the decay characteristic. In a normal spring/hall reverb sim, you assign higher pitches longer delay times using filtering in the feedback path. All you would have to do theoretically is reverse the filtering, so lower pitches are allowed slightly longer delays. You wouldn't need to isolate each note, because they would naturally have their own decay envolope based on initial volume, order, and pitch - the same things which determine natural decay in a piano. Then you just set the total reverb length to something huge - 30 seconds or so - and set the circuit to dump stored info whenever the pedal is released.

It could certainly be strange sounding, but all new effects are strange at first.

http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=156

don't know if that might help, but david gilmour used something for shine on that might be of use. its at the bottom of the page i've linked.