Nord User Forum

Hello
I have an Electro 3 (purchased in December 2010) and yesterday I had a problem with the velocity sensitivity of the central C key in the piano mode: suddenly, it stopped respond as the other keys, sounding much more louder then the others when played with the same intensity: it seems that the central C key lost it's key velocity sensivity.
I've turned off and on several times, but the problem remains.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance.

Hi Zorbian,
I'm assuming that it behaves the same way with all piano sounds "Rhodes, Wurlitzer, etc".
It sounds like a problem with the individual key's contact system. This should still be within some type of warranty.
I would start by contacting Nord for support: http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... al_support

There is a previous post with this type of problem, but with no helpful solution: http://www.norduserforum.com/nord-stage ... -t159.html

I just got my electro 3 about 2 months ago and have just experienced this same problem today with my middle Ab. Has anyone found a solution for this?

Thera are two contacts per key and one of them needs to be cleaned.
http://www.proaudioe.com/pages/nord-tec ... eybeds.php
I have experienced both problems (dead key and full velocity key) on two different keys. First time (dead key) it was just a month old and the shops tech fixed it. Second time (this weekend) I got almost full velocity on one key, took it apart myself and cleaned the contact. The operation to take it apart is not really that difficult. The only thing I found a bit tricky was to get that rubber contact mat back properly. There are sections of mats with (I think) 8 keys so you just needs to pull out the one that is faulty.
The Electro 3 keys looks a little different than the one on the webpage above. You don't have to remove any keys, just flip the keybed upside down and you can unscrew the contact board.
The carbon contacts are pretty good sealed so I suspect that whatever was on the carbon contact (it was clearly visible) is a rest from the manufacturing process rather that dirt from environments I've used it in. It's not really acceptable on something this expensive, maybe Nord would have fixed this as goodwill but I decided to try myself. It's really difficult for me if I have to send it away for maybe weeks as it's the only keyboard I have.

Hi Stefan,

I'm just now reading your note on the problem and wanted to clarify a couple things. Firstly, these problems are in no way related to any defect in manufacturing or materials. The physical action of playing a note causes the rubber contact to be flattened against the PCB, expelling the volume of air which previously occupied the inside of that cup-like space. When that note is later released, that little rubber cup bounces back to its original shape, necessarily sucking in that much air again. If there is debris of any sort inside the keybed, there is always a chance that something may get sucked in along with that air, fouling one or the other (or both) of the contacts and causing malfunction. This is also a situation where Murphy's Law applies. I've seen Nords which were extremely filthy inside get by without ever having that problem and other instruments where the owner obviously took great care to keep it clean, yet did suffer from one of these types of episodes.

If you click on any of the photos in the FAQ you referenced (which I wrote), they will blow up BIG to show much detail. In the 3rd such photo I have labeled one of the "ventilation channels" (two per note) through which this infiltration of dirt, etc. occurs. As you say, "the carbon contacts are pretty good sealed," but the seal is not complete. If it were, the note would not release after being played; that contact strip would behave like a suction cup and remain flattened and the notes would all stick.

In the US, the distributor, American Music and Sound, does have a policy of covering these types of problems when they occur within the one year warranty period as a courtesy to the customer, but I cannot speak to the practices of other distributors worldwide.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, by email or phone, with any further inquiries you may have regarding this or other Nord gear.

Bless,

Pablo Mastodon
Nord Technical Support USA/Canada
(800) 994-4984 x3030
(813) 644-8480 (direct line)

pablo.mastodon@AmericanMusicandSound.com

Hi!

I have a similar problem on my Nord Electro 3 73. Sometimes when I'm playing I get one note that suddenly sounds much louder than the other ones. I have not figured out exactly what's causing this strange problem but here are some observations:

* Only occurs when playing piano sound
* Only occurs in the lower half of the keyboard (A2 or C3 to be more specific)
* Only occurs when using the sustain pedal (mostly when releasing the pedal)

Since I don't think the problem is caused by faulty triggers on the PCB, I have another theory.

Could it be that the dry sample and the pedal sample are some how interfering and making the amplitude higher when both samples are in phase?
I'm not sure if the pedal samples are only sounding if the pedal are pressed when you strike the key or if the pedal will softly switch from dry sample to pedal sample.

Maybe there's a glitch in the software that causes both samples to sound on the same time.

/Mathias

Ah, happy to read that someone else noticed this. I could not really trouble shoot it either. I had the idea it happend most often when I have a pritty full legato on the right side of the keyboard. When I then do something with left hand and the pedal, the amplitude bulb arizes sometimes. But I did not manage to reproduce it. I do not really know how to record midi and stuff. If you are, you could probably record a piece and play on until it happens. Interesting would be to see whether it reproduces when you feed that recorded midi file to your electro. In that case, you could contact nord with it. It definitely sounds like a bug, and it's especially annoying when playing classical pieces.

I have a fix... I had the one really loud key syndrome. It was on the D6. I read the other reports and it seemed to be isolated to A) piano sound (that use sensitivity) and B) It was happening on different notes for people. Given I do not know of a way to individually change velocity sensitivity per note in the software of the Nord it lead me to believe it was a physical defect.

Fact: There are two sensors and the key has two pressers on the bottom of it. If one sensor is depressed then it is loud. If both are pressed it turns on sensitivity. My problem is one of the sensors appear to be stuck.

I opened up the Nord: http://www.norduserforum.com/nord-elect ... 70-30.html (This guy explains the screws). Simply, remove the side, back and the very center bottom screw. It opens right up.

I then got the key off: http://www.butoba.net/nordlead/nl2weight.html (you have to wiggle and stretch the spring up and over the top and it will then release the key.

You'll see two sensors... dimples really. I used a screw driver to depress them a few times (with the Nord powered up and plugged into my amp). Whatever I did loosened up the sensor and now I have a fully functioning keyboard again.

...Brad

OK, cool to have that sorted out. CrazyDriver and I have a different problem that has nothing to with the mechanics. In fact, it occurs also when I play using an external keyboard. Did you already get a fix or at least the trouble shot, CrazyDriver?

It seems like update 3.08 has fixed the issue with the velocity bulb described by CrazyDriver and me. Cool!