Nord User Forum

I do have a Yamaha CP4 and now I want to get myself a Nord Electro 5 and play it via MIDI through my CP4. I should me able to play the Electro 5 piano sounds on the CP4. That's the plan. However, I really don't know how to accomplish this. The first thought that popped into my mind was, what would happen to my CP4 piano sound? Do the sounds merge or is it a either/or thing? This MIDI stuff is quite complex and hard to understand. I really would appreciate any help.

While I'm writing this, every word gets underlined and corrected. Is this a Windows feature or just something that I can adjust here somewhere? Thank you.

Randy76

Are you saying you would like to use the Yamaha CP4 keybed, bypass the Yamaha sound producing functions, and use the Electro 5 electronics to produce the acoustic piano sounds?
Or are you saying you would like to use the Electro 5 keybed, bypass the Electro 5 sound producing functions, and use the Yamaha CP4 electronics to produce the acoustic piano sounds?
If you were to end up owning both of these products, why not just use the sounds that come directly out of both of them, and leverage what each of them does best?

harmonizer wrote:Are you saying you would like to use the Yamaha CP4 keybed, bypass the Yamaha sound producing functions, and use the Electro 5 electronics to produce the acoustic piano sounds?

The Yamaha sounds are way to good to Bypass them. This would really be a waste.

harmonizer wrote:Or are you saying you would like to use the Electro 5 keybed, bypass the Electro 5 sound producing functions, and use the Yamaha CP4 electronics to produce the acoustic piano sounds?

No. The Yamaha keybed is outstanding. This would be Kind of a setback.

harmonizer wrote:If you were to end up owning both of these products, why not just use the sounds that come directly out of both of them, and leverage what each of them does best?

Well, that's a good idea, but for that I wouldn't Need MIDI.

The Thing is, both are lacking something. The CP4 is lacking an Upright piano and the Nord is lacking a good Keyboard. I was thinking of a merge, a layering if you will. Having the Yamaha Grand piano Sound and layer the upright Sound over it. If this doesn't work, well, than just Play the upright Sound from the Nord Electro on the CP4 via MIDI. Something like this. This is so complicated.

Randy76

I use two different synth sound sources (one is my Nord Electro 3). I use an A B switch like this one:
https://www.firefold.com/comp-2switch?g ... hgodxaMPJA
and I use the DVD video jacks (if they can route video signals without corrupting the signal, they should be plenty good enough for my audio).
I did have to buy 3 RCA-to-1/4inch audio adapter cables.
I attach this A-B switch box on top of my Electro. The A-B switch has the simplicity of use of an old-fashioned toaster oven.

Never mind.

The problem with layering two piano sounds is that in practice, you often get a "double attack" at the start of the note as each piano sound will have a different attack, so it tends to sound quite artificial and unpleasant. You're not likely to get a nice blend of the two sounds - or rather, it will work sometimes but often not. I would forget about trying to get the "perfect" piano sound this way, it's going to be a lot more trouble than its worth.

If you really want to play the Electro's piano sounds from the CP4's keyboard, then don't worry, this is the easiest thing you can do in MIDI and should be extremely simple to set up even if you have no previous experience. It might be as simple as just plugging a MIDI lead in, if you're lucky.

RedLeo wrote:The problem with layering two piano sounds is that in practice, you often get a "double attack" at the start of the note as each piano sound will have a different attack, so it tends to sound quite artificial and unpleasant. You're not likely to get a nice blend of the two sounds - or rather, it will work sometimes but often not. I would forget about trying to get the "perfect" piano sound this way, it's going to be a lot more trouble than its worth.

If you really want to play the Electro's piano sounds from the CP4's keyboard, then don't worry, this is the easiest thing you can do in MIDI and should be extremely simple to set up even if you have no previous experience. It might be as simple as just plugging a MIDI lead in, if you're lucky.

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. Like I said, the Sound of the CP4 is superior, but the upright sounds of the Nord are also very good. If I can't blend them, then I will at least try to Play them on my CP4. CP4 MIDI Out, Nord Electro MIDI In.

Randy76

with the Nord Electro 5D there is the 61 and the 73 model. Despite the fact that there are 12 keys more, is there something else to consider? Is it like for this genre you need the 61 model and for the other genre you definitely need the 73 keys version? How can I find out what I need? Just for MIDI purposes the 61 model would be enough, but you never know.

Randy76

No, it will be fine. You don't need to match the number of keys, all the piano sounds will play fine in any combination. Really, there's nothing to worry about in any of this. Just go ahead and do it, nothing will explode!