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How to Connect Nord Wave

Postby jadams » 02 Oct 2012, 14:28

How to connect Nord Wave with sound card, which cables, outputs, inputs etc in detail? maybe there is some kind of video instruction..
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How to Connect Nord Wave


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Re: How to Connect Nord Wave

Postby mjbrands » 02 Oct 2012, 19:53

The USB connector is only used for managing sounds on the Wave; it is not used for MIDI or audio. It is up to you if you have it connected or not.

If you have a MIDI interface for you computer, connect it up in the following way:
- connect MIDI OUT on the MIDI interface to MIDI IN on the Wave
- connect MIDI OUT on the Wave to MIDI IN on the MIDI interface

The first cable allows your computer to send MIDI note data to the Wave, so you can use a sequencer to play songs to the Wave. The second cable allows you to play on the Wave and send MIDI note data to the computer; for example, you might want to use the Wave to play a piano sound in something like Garage Band (if you have a Mac). Please note that MIDI cables only transfer information about pressing keys, turning knobs, etc. It does not transfer audio signals. Also note that MIDI OUT connects to MIDI IN - don't connect MIDI OUT to MIDI OUT and MIDI IN to MIDI IN. You won't break anything, but it just won't work.

As for audio: you need an appropriate cable to connect from the Wave's two mono outputs (on 1/4 inch/6.35 mm jacks) to whatever input you have on your audio interface. If you connect it to a line-in input on a PC soundcard or on a Mac, you need a cable that goes from two mono outputs (on the side of the Wave) to a stereo 3.5 mm jack. If you have an external audio interface, you likely have 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) jack inputs so you would either use two mono patch cables or use a cable that has two mono (tip-sleeve or TS) 1/4 inch connectors on each end. Below is a photo of such a cable:

Image

Any decent music store should be able to hook you up with the right cable. If you find it hard to describe what you need, bring the manuals from the Nord and the audio interface or even make some pictures with your phone.
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Re: How to Connect Nord Wave

Postby jadams » 03 Oct 2012, 05:03

Thank you very much
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Re: How to Connect Nord Wave

Postby Synonimus » 19 Oct 2012, 13:48

is it okay to use balanced 1/4 to connect wave to my a/i (balanced line-in)??
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Re: How to Connect Nord Wave

Postby mjbrands » 19 Oct 2012, 19:23

Synonimus wrote:is it okay to use balanced 1/4 to connect wave to my a/i (balanced line-in)??

Probably, yeah. Worst case, it won't work if the Wave uses stereo (TRS) jacks for the audio outputs, but I highly doubt it does. You won't damage anything though.

mjbrands wrote:However, I've had issues with this. Specifically, I had issues with my Waldorf Blofeld, where the right output is a TS jack but where the left output can either output a mono or a stereo signal (based on whether you plug in a mono/TS or stereo/TRS jack). This caused the right output to be treated as an unbalanced connection (good) and the left one as a balanced one (bad). The solution was to use a mono cable for the left output.

Using mono cables with unbalanced connections makes sure weird stuff (like the Blofeld's left output) also works as expected (= as unbalanced) with balanced audio interfaces. So I'd recommend using mono (TS) cables; if you've only got stereo cables lying around, I'd try those first since it will probably work fine. If you get a very weak signal, you might want to test with a mono cable just to make sure the audio interface isn't treating it as a balanced signal (in my case the volume on the Blofeld's left output was very weak, while the right one was normal).

I thought I'd just quote myself, as I posted this in a different thread not 5 minutes ago. :mrgreen:
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