Nord User Forum

[GeeDeWee]

I'm quite confused reading all these posts.

Currently I use a NS288 and a second keyboard to trigger the panel A and B organ and synth. I assigned a MIDI channel to those 'instruments' and double tap the section button a few times so that the section is 'on' but the LO, UP, HI leds are off. That way the organ or synth is not triggered by the NS2 keyboard, but only by the second keyboard. The setting is saved within a program. I do not use the NS2 DualKB mode.

I'm aware that assigning a specific MIDI channel to a specific instrument is no longer possible on the NS3.
But if I would upgrade to a NS3, can I achieve the same result as with my NS2 in any way?

Any ideas on this? If it's not possible to get the same result, that would be a potential dealbreaker for me.

[baekgaard]

What do you want to achieve? MIDI channels go by the Panels, and you cannot de-select an instrument/section by switching off the keys -- so the results needs to be achieved in a different way.

Do you want to play TWO organ parts and one synth part from the external keyboard, all layered? And then play two piano parts on the internal keyboard at the same time? With no splits?

[Valpurgis]

I'm quite confused reading all these posts.

.........and double tap the section button a few times so that the section is 'on' but the LO, UP, HI leds are off. That way the organ or synth is not triggered by the NS2 keyboard, but only by the second keyboard. quote]

Any ideas on this? If it's not possible to get the same result, that would be a potential dealbreaker for me.

I am on fw 1.26 and this function seems to be removed. I am not able to disable local triggering on the NS3C of the instruments on panel B intended only to be played from the external keyboard while operating panel B. Maybe I am just plain stupid, in that case could someone please tell me how it is possible to play and control one panel locally and still play the other panel by an external keyboard without simultaneously triggering that "external" panel from the NS3 keybed?

[anotherscott]

I am on fw 1.26 and this function seems to be removed. I am not able to disable local triggering on the NS3C of the instruments on panel B intended only to be played from the external keyboard while operating panel B. Maybe I am just plain stupid, in that case could someone please tell me how it is possible to play and control one panel locally and still play the other panel by an external keyboard without simultaneously triggering that "external" panel from the NS3 keybed?

As extensively discussed in this thread, as of 1.24, Dual KB mode no longer allows you to play {ETA: multiple} Panel B sounds from a remote keyboard WHILE tweaking the Nord's Panel B controls without having Panel B also playing from the Nord's internal keys. Lots of combinations of functionality are available, but not that one. Some workarounds were discussed (i.e. using a remote keyboard that has its own programmable sliders/knobs/buttons, or routing Panel B to its own output with its own volume control so you can choose to mute it when it is being triggered from the internal keys).

re: "how it is possible to play and control one panel locally and still play the other panel by an external keyboard without simultaneously triggering that "external" panel from the NS3 keybed"
That's no problem. You can play and control Panel A locally and still play Panel B from an external keyboard without simultaneously triggering Panel B from thee NS3 keybed. Just use the MIDI Panel assign feature, i.e. assign Panel B to MIDI Channel 2 (or any channel that's not being used for something else), and set your external keyboard to transmit on that same channel. The limitation we have been talking about is that, while that does just what you asked, it will not allow you to tweak the Panel B sounds in real time from the Nord's control surface *while* your other hand is playing the Nord's own keys *without* having those keys also trigger the Panel B sounds {ETA: unless you only need to trigger a single Panel B sound}, which is what I discussed in the previous paragraph.

[wjones]

I received my NS3 Compact this week and am having a blast figuring it out. The Dual KB mode issues discussed in this forum worried me before receiving the board, as being able to play whichever board I want while changing the other sound is a key feature for playing live. However, perhaps I don't understand the issue fully- but I have my board working well enough for me.

I'm running 1.26. My NS3 is sitting on top of a weighted controller (SL88 Grand). I'm running DualKB mode, panel A and b midi control is set to off, and DualKB midi channel is set to what I'm sending from my SL88. The DualKB mode is set to Piano. Finally, I've pressed both the slot A and B buttons. With this setup, my Stage is able to play any of the instruments sections on the board (except the Slot B piano).

The big difference from my Stage classic, of course, is that I can only control one instrument at a time from the external board. This, however, is not a big issue for me. While a confusing choice on Clavia's part, rarely will I want to play anything but piano sounds on my weighted keys. I'm fine with having splits and layered parts only on the Stage itself. In fact, one of the only times I'll want to layer- is when I want two synths layered together. Luckily, the Stage does this easily. In this setup, I find I can edit slot A or B and the music being played both on the Stage and the SL88 is not interrupted.

The only issue I have is that a second sustain pedal is now required in my setup (one for each keyboard). I'd just assume not have to bring a second pedal, but I guess it has its advantages. It says in the manual that the pedals that are plugged into the Stage don't affect the instrument being used for DualKB mode. This is partially true. While I have to use each keyboard's own sustain pedal while playing that board, releasing the sustain pedal that's plugged into the stage will end the sustain being played on the external keyboard. This seems like a bug. Can anyone confirm?

[anotherscott]

The Dual KB mode issues discussed in this forum worried me before receiving the board, as being able to play whichever board I want while changing the other sound is a key feature for playing live. However, perhaps I don't understand the issue fully- but I have my board working well enough for me...The big difference from my Stage classic, of course, is that I can only control one instrument at a time from the external board.

That is an excellent point, and I've edited two of my earlier posts to make that more clear. The new limitation of Dual KB mode--that you can't edit the panel B sound while simultaneously playing only the Panel A sound--is only an issue if you are playing multiple sounds with Panel B (from among piano, organ, synth). If you're only playing one of those three sounds, it works fine.

[Valpurgis]

The Dual KB mode issues discussed in this forum worried me before receiving the board, as being able to play whichever board I want while changing the other sound is a key feature for playing live. However, perhaps I don't understand the issue fully- but I have my board working well enough for me...The big difference from my Stage classic, of course, is that I can only control one instrument at a time from the external board.

That is an excellent point, and I've edited my earlier post accordingly. The new limitation of Dual KB mode--that you can't edit the panel B sound while simultaneously playing only the Panel A sound--is only an issue if you are playing multiple sounds with Panel B (from among piano, organ, synth). If you're only playing one of those three sounds, it works fine.

Thank you both for claryfying how Dual KB mode currently is working. It’s not good news for my intention of using the NS3C as a top board for any lower 88 keys «controller». Idea was to play several NS3C instruments from the lower keyboard controlling everything from the top NS3C. Not operating the ui of the lower board could make it possible to make the top and lower boards much closer to each other. Hope Nord is still working on the sw.

[GeeDeWee]

Thank you all for clarifying. It seems that it would still be possible to do (most of) what I do with my NS2 setup currently.
I don't need multiple instruments or layers/splits to be controlled from the second board. I just want to play an organ or synth with a light action and simultaneously play another sound on the Nord itself.

As I understand, it is not possible to tweak the panel B sounds, while playing panel A on the Nord itself.
That includes switching drawbar settings A/B and switching leslie slow/fast on the panel B organ?

And if the sustain pedal connected to the Nord does not affect panel B, does that mean that it's also not possible to morph a panel B synth with the control pedal connected to the Nord?

[MrTobbe]

As I understand, it is not possible to tweak the panel B sounds, while playing panel A on the Nord itself.
That includes switching drawbar settings A/B and switching leslie slow/fast on the panel B organ?

If you're using the Dual KB function, you can switch panels while playing - that's the whole point of using Dual KB. If you instead set the external keyboard to the same midi channel, you've assigned to panel B (or A if you prefer that), and not using the Dual KB channel and function, then you can't switch panels, because changing panels (when not using Dual KB) also changes the sounds the internal keyboard is playing. There is however one case where it doesn't change immediatly, and that is when you're holding keys while changing, those keys will still ring as long you hold them down, but as soon as you release the keys, the next keypress will trigger those of the panel you've changed to - but holding for instance a pad sound, quickly change panel, do some editing (drawbars etc) of the other panel, and change back, would work, but it's really not a solution.

And if the sustain pedal connected to the Nord does not affect panel B, does that mean that it's also not possible to morph a panel B synth with the control pedal connected to the Nord?

This is unfortunately true if you using the Dual KB function, but if you set the external keyboard to always control panel A or B, the sound you're playing on external that keyboard will still be affected by the pedals and wheel of the Stage 3, but you lose the ability to change panels (for editing etc), independently of the what sounds you want to play from the internal keyboard.

So it's a trade-off, for some cases and setups the Dual KB function is a better choice, but for others, assigning the external to either Panel A or B, instead of Dual KB, would be better.

With my Stage 2 sw73, I mostly had the weighted controller set to always trigger Panel A, and it was mostly fine, but sometimes I wished I could switch panels independently of what I was playing on the Stage 2. It wasn't until the last year I had the Stage 2, or so, I started experimented with Dual KB as well - but I then felt a bit frustrated of having to bring two of every pedal... I still wish there was an in-between option, where you both could switch panels independently, and still only need one set of pedals (ok, if you're controller is more advanced MIDI keyboard, with mulitple zones etc, you could probably have pedals only connected only to that, and have it control both the sounds you
re playing o the Stage's keyboard, and the controllers keyboard, but I guess most people probably don't have that kind of MIDI controller).

[anotherscott]

As I understand, it is not possible to tweak the panel B sounds, while playing panel A on the Nord itself.
That includes switching drawbar settings A/B and switching leslie slow/fast on the panel B organ?

You CAN tweak panel B while playing only Panel A on the Nord itself. The Dual KB function will do that, within its new limitation of only working for a single sound. Since in this case, you're only looking to play the Panel B organ from your second keyboard, this should work fine. It would only be an issue if you were looking to play a piano and/or synth sound from Panel B as well (i.e. some combination of split/layered sounds). (And again, this is just based on everything I've read, I don't yet have an NS3 to try myself.)