Mario, I would agree with what you said about Larry’s playing, but I would change ‘pedal’ steel player to ‘lap’ steel player, for the following reason.

One of the most important moves of pedal steel playing, that cannot be done with a standard MIDI keyboard using a slider, is resolving a chord with the pedals. As far as I can tell, Larry is playing like a lap steel player would (i.e., sliding, but without pedals)

For example, instead of playing an Amin/C (CEA), pedal steel players love to play Cmaj (CEG), and then while the chord is sounding, use a pedal to stretch the G to an A. This is impossible to do on a standard MIDI keyboard using a slider because, once a chord is sounding, individual notes cannot be pitch-shifted with the slider; rather, all sounding notes must be pitch-shifted together.

I say impossible, but that is exactly what I am doing in the following video with my Casio PX-5S (under $1000). This video is a screen recording from my patent-pending ‘Keyborg Pro’ app (still in beta), and the same can be done with ANY standard MIDI keyboard that supports the GM1 sound set (or at least has an Electric Guitar sound built in).

https://youtu.be/BB_-2KvaGLY

Hope you enjoy the video.

GARY

(Casio PX-5S)