Nord User Forum

[Payback1]

Just added a Yamaha CP40 as a weighted keyboard.Is there an easy layman’s language answer as to how to midi the Electro 5 D to it to play my piano sounds on the Yamaha? Thanks

[anotherscott]

Connect a MIDI cable from the MIDI OUT of the CP4 to the MIDI IN of the Nord. That will probably be enough to do what you want, to get started.

[Payback1]

Is the midi always”on” when connected.What if I want to play just the Nord or just the Yamaha?

[fieldflower]

Yup, always on.
Either turn down the volume on the Nord, or select a program with no sound.
Then only the Yamaha vill make sounds.

I have a Yamaha P-155 connected to my NE5D mainly to enable double manuals for the NE5D organ, or like You're after playing piano sounds with weighted keys.
Usually I'm using the sounds from the NE5D, but now and then I like playing the Yamaha with it's internal sound through it's built-in speakers to get the tactile feeling of actually playing a piano.
You can set up Your keyboard so that the Yamaha plays the upper sound, so You can get a piano on the Yamaha at the same time as having a sample sound or organ on the NE5D keys.
I've also found that when layering sounds on the NE5D keys You also get only the upper soundbank on the MIDI keys. Probably a glitch, but a fun and sometimes useful glitch.

[Payback1]

So here’s my problem.O want to play the nord pianos on the Yamaha and then switch to Nord horns on the nord.Possible?

[anotherscott]

So here’s my problem.O want to play the nord pianos on the Yamaha and then switch to Nord horns on the nord.Possible?

First, set up the Nord to be able to produce the piano and horn sounds. So on the NE5D select horns for your Part Lower sound, select piano for your Part Upper sound.

Next, set up the Nord so that the Part Upper sound is triggered from your Yamaha, and its Part Lower sound can be played from its own keyboard. (I'll assume that your two keyboards are currently set to factory defaults, i.e. generally sending/receiving on channel 1.) To do this, press the Nord's MIDI settings button (Shift plus Live 1/B), turn the Value knob until you're on the "Channel Upper Split" parameter, then hold Shift and turn the Value knob to change the setting from Off to 1 (the channel the Yamaha is transmitting on). Then hold down the KB SPLIT button and turn the Value dial all the way to the right, to its last setting: "MIDI Split, Upper Receive" which processes the split such that Part Upper is triggered by receiving MIDI from your other keyboard.

Then you have to get the rest of your MIDI settings in order. There are different ways to address this, but one easy way is to change the Nord's global receive channel from 1 to, well, anything other than 1. Press the MIDI settings button (again, Shift plus Live 1/B), turn the Value knob until you're on the "Channel Global" parameter, the hold Shift and turn the Value knob to change the Global MIDI channel from 1 to some other number (i.e. 2, or Off). Now your external keyboard (sending on channel 1) will no longer duplicate whatever the Nord's own keyboard is set for (because 1 is no longer the Nord's global channel), instead it will only trigger the Part Upper sound (which, we have set to respond to channel 1 in the previous step).

If you subsequently want to use your Yamaha to play a Yamaha sound and NOT trigger any Nord sound at all, all you need to do is turn the Nord's KB Split off (or set the Split to anything other "Upper Receive" if you want to actually split two sounds on the Nord keyboard itself; or call up any stored Program that does not have "MIDI Split, Upper Receive" enabled, either because it has no split or has some other split point set within the Program).

ETA: If you're going to be playing sounds on your Yamaha as well, you're not going to want the Nord to changes its sounds every time you call up a new sound on your Yamaha. So you'll probably also need to set the Nord MIDI Program Change mode to Off (or Send... what matters in this case is making sure it doesn't Receive). Or you may be able to set your Yamaha so it doesn't send Program Change. Again, there's probably multiple ways to do what you need.

[fieldflower]

To add to anotherscotts post: You need to do the MIDI settings before You're able to set "Upper receive" in the KB Split.
Let me know if You get into trouble and I can post my own MIDI settings that works for me.

[anotherscott]

To add to anotherscotts post: You need to do the MIDI settings before You're able to set "Upper receive" in the KB Split.

As far as I can see, as long as you make all the settings, it shouldn't matter what order you do them in.

(Though one more p.s. to the above: when you reset the Global Channel, you don't have to pick a different channel number, you can also pick Off for none.)

[fieldflower]

To add to anotherscotts post: You need to do the MIDI settings before You're able to set "Upper receive" in the KB Split.

As far as I can see, as long as you make all the settings, it shouldn't matter what order you do them in.

(Though one more p.s. to the above: when you reset the Global Channel, you don't have to pick a different channel number, you can also pick Off for none.)

Before making the MIDI receive settings "Upper receive" doesn't appear no matter how much You turn the KB split dial.
Then You're just stuck between the standard split points.

My MIDI settings:
Local Control Mode: On
Channel Global: 16
Channel Lower Receive: Off
Channel Upper Receive: 1
Channel Upper split: 1
Control Change Mode: Send/Receive
Program Change Mode: Send/Receive
Transpose MIDI At: MIDI In

The MIDI setting in the Yamaha should be MIDI transmit on channel 1.
On my P-155 that was the default setting.

This enables You to put a piano in Part Upper and set KB Split to Upper receive, which means You'll be playing the NE5D sound on the Yamaha's keys.
And it works the quirk that if You put a piano on Part Lower and a sample on Part Upper and layer them (no KB split) You get both sounds on the NE5D keys and only the sample on the Yamaha keys.

[anotherscott]

Before making the MIDI receive settings "Upper receive" doesn't appear no matter how much You turn the KB split dial.
Then You're just stuck between the standard split points.

Ah. It worked for me, so I must have had whatever important MIDI settings already done from my previous machinations.
ETA: Yup, I had already done MIDI Upper changes from previous work, so yes,I left out that step, I'll fix that above.

Your MIDI settings look fine (though some are not necessarily relevant to the task at hand), except possibly "Program Change Mode: Send/Receive" -- as I said earlier, you probably don't want it to Receive if you might also be selecting different sounds on your attached 88, because then changing a sound on your 88 may inadvertently change the sound on your Nord.

the quirk that if You put a piano on Part Lower and a sample on Part Upper and layer them (no KB split) You get both sounds on the NE5D keys and only the sample on the Yamaha keys.

Right, the Yamaha will only play the Upper sound (which is, really, the whole point of this whole process). In your scenario, you could also switch which part is where, i.e. put the sample on Part Lower and the piano on Part Upper. They will still be layered on the Nord (since you have no KB Split engaged), but if you do it that way, the Yamaha could still be used to play piano alone, which may be more useful than having the Yamaha set to play the sample alone.