Nord User Forum

Hello folks,

I've been playing my NS2 for two gigs now after switching from the Motif (>10 years, I needed a change), and I'm basically very happy - simplicity at its best. Anyway, that's not the issue.
Last week, in preparation for a gig, I dedusted my old Roland AX-1 black keytar (niceeee!) to set it up with my Nord Stage. I had used it in the past with my Motif, no problem, you program change messages, store patches and off you go. I plan using it together with a wireless Midi device for certain songs for ultimate freedom on stage.

Now the story with the Nord is a little different - Although I suppose that programming patches is not a big difference (yesterday I managed to start communication between both devices by setting the midi channels, haven't programmed Bank and program select messages yet), I fear I might encounter difficulties with the different Slots of the NS2.

Using both slots at the same time doesn't seem a problem, the AX-1 plays as if you played the NS2. However, how do I do it with a program where I play Slot A only, and after a while in the song, I switch to Slot B to play a different sound. I started thinking. To me it seems as if I needed to send a "change Slot" Midi message which I have no idea how to do it.

Challenge (1) : I looked up the NS2 manual and in the midi controller list, there is no controller referring to Slot selection.
Challenge (2) : How to assign such a message to a button on the AX-1 (no idea, didn't find it in the manual).

Now, more I think about it, more I assume that what I just wrote may simply not work that way. It seems to me (and please comment) that I need to use two different Midi Channels for Slot A and Slot B, and then need to switch the Upper/Lower Section on the AX-1 (you can programm an upper/lower section with different Midi channels) to control them. I just read the AX-1 manual and it says "the [...] keyboard modes [Upper and Lower] may be set [...] by the KbdMode button [...] The following sections will be activated in sequence: Upper -> Lower -> Upper+Lower".

This means I cannot dedicatedly switch between A and B, but need to iterate between those three configurations, meaning also I run the risk of having both activated if i don't verify carfully which mode is activated. Also means I need to press once for going from A->B, but two times from B->A (in order to skip A+B). Not the end of the world but an extra stress for me on stage.

Well, so far my comments. Sorry for the long text, but I suppose that maybe some of you face different challenges when integrating the NS2 in some kind of Midi setup, this may not only refer to my AX-1 in particular. I invite you to share any comments on my assumptions, maybe this helps me (and us) to get a clearer picture. Once i have figured it out by myself, I'll post an update.

Midi cc 68 switches slots. 0-63 slotl A, 64-127 slot B.

Thank you for the answer - couldn't find that in the manual.
The only challenge is now that apparently i can only assign dedicated CC messages to the "data entry" wheel of the AX-1, and not any of the buttons (as they seem to have fixed CC values) means I must turn it left and right in order to switch the slots during performance. Quite inconvenient as I'd prefer a (digial - 1 and 0) button. Well, we'll see. Any other ideas "out of the box" are welcome...

SLot A and B can receive midi on different midichannels, slot A is set to 15 and slot B to 16 on mine. You can also send midi to separate instruments in a slot since they can have different midichannels.