NE5 EGrand, EP & Clav sounds low volume since v1.42 upgrade

[WhoeverThe]

Hi folks,
Brand new NE5 user here. Board arrived today, very impressed with first test play, then...

I updated from v1.32 to 1.42 and now the EGrand 3 Amped Sml sound in the Grand bank and all sounds in the piano section's EP1, EP2 & Clav banks are playing at extremely low volume compared to the rest of the Grand, Upright & Harpsi bank sounds - i.e. barely audible.

I've tried a Factory reset but the problem remains - in Program and SetList modes.

Wondering whether to revert to an earlier OS version, if the latest has problems. Any clues / advice?
Thanks,
Keith

[venro]

1.42 is OK. Soundvolumes can be saved in a program. Use Gain and/or the EQ (turn the knobs to adjust then save).
Same goes for A-D which were probably saved with a higher volume in 1.32.

[WhoeverThe]

1.42 is OK. Soundvolumes can be saved in a program. Use Gain and/or the EQ (turn the knobs to adjust then save).
Same goes for A-D which were probably saved with a higher volume in 1.32.

Thanks for the response but I don't think this is the problem. It's a brand new board running factory presets. If I select the first preset program, Grand Strings and then change the piano model to EGrand 3 or any EP or Clav, the 'dry' signal virtually disappears - though the feed to the reverb engine stays at the expected level. Turn reverb off and the sample can only just about be heard, with gain, EQ and master level all on max. No such problems with selecting other Grand, Upright or Harpsi piano models in the Grand Strings program.

The issue seems to be the setting of the dry signal volume of the raw piano samples and these do not appear to be user-editable in Sound Manager or Sample Editor apps. So, I think it's a case for Nord support...not the ideal first day!

[Gambold]

Before you go any further, check the gain control. Sometimes just touching it a hair pops up the sound. I've found the gain control to be very sensitive and oftentimes the reason I had too high or too low volume on a setting or sample.

Unlike the master, each setting stores its own gain position, so even if it looks like it's in the middle (or maxed or whatever), that means nothing. This is one control that could really benefit from an LED readout on its current status!

[WhoeverThe]

Thanks for the suggestion but it's definitely not a program gain issue - it's the relative volume of piano samples when changing models. I can take any program using a piano that plays OK and then, swapping the piano for any of the above models kills the piano volume completely, except what comes through the reverb section - changing the gain or EQ can't make up the difference and shouldn't need to, based on the v1.32 behaviour.

It's a brand new board running factory settings and everything worked fine on v1.32 - it only started playing up after I upgraded to v1.42.

I've opened a case with Nord support, so hopefully they will have a fix.

[JXrays]

Hi - is the problem the same regardless of monitoring via headphones, versus the outputs?

[WhoeverThe]

Thanks for the interesting question JXRays! Yes, the issue is limited to the headphone output. I hadn't connected up the main outputs yet, but they seem to be fine.
So, is there some deeper layer of IO parameters that I've not yet discovered?

[WhoeverThe]

Problem solved - nothing to do with software update but a poor headphone socket connection (or more likely a bit of protective oil film)!
I discovered this by accident when, following-up on JXrays' comment, I decided to record via main & headphone outputs to compare levels - and the problem came & went.
So, some Caig Deoxit on the connector & happiness swiftly followed!
Thanks for all the helpful comments.

[JXrays]

Glad you sorted it out. Your comment "except what comes through the reverb section" sounded familiar - there are some similar threads on the forum including where headphone connection was the culprit.

[WhoeverThe]

Thanks for the steer - I would never have thought to look for a hardware problem for a relative sample volumes issue. I guess there may have been some kind of phase cancelling on the more mono samples - too weird to worry about and now in the past!
Really liking this keyboard!