Nord User Forum

[jaren]

Hi all!

I've been busking around the Bay Area for about a year now, running my Nord Electro 3 off the energy of a 45lb (20kg) boat battery with a chunky DC-AC power inverter. I have a lot of fun, and make decent tips. The worst part of the job is definitely lugging the gear around--on bicycle, no less! I've spent months trying out cheap Yahama/Casio keyboards that run off AA batteries, but it's just not the same as my Nord, and I make less money too.

I was told it was not terribly difficult to modify the guts Nord keyboards to get them to run off DC power instead of AC power. If it can run DC power, it's my suspicion that it could run a battery pack of 8 AA batteries, like my Roland Street Cube amp.

Any advice? warnings? stories of blown up keyboards?

[cgrafx]

You'd be better off looking at a Lithium-Ion Portable Power Bank. There are plenty of these types of units available.

All of these are under 10 pounds, the 1st one is only one pound (although not sure how long it would power your Nord).

https://www.earthtechproducts.com/sherp ... -bank.html

https://www.amazon.com/Rockpals-Portabl ... 2G0KABA3YX

https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Portable ... QJ5ZS810V8

https://www.amazon.com/PAXCESS-Portable ... QJ5ZS810V8

[CountFosco]

Customised pedal board? I'd drop a dollar in your hat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAz5575VqYo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVrwxhUI7pE
(Man am I glad I googled that!)

[anotherscott]

HI've spent months trying out cheap Yahama/Casio keyboards that run off AA batteries, but it's just not the same as my Nord, and I make less money too.

Can you be more specific about what's missing for you on those cheap boards? Because while you may not be able to really replicate your Nord experience, you might be able to get closer than you could on the boards you tried. For example, Roland VR09 and DS61/76 are lightweight battery-operable boards that are on more of a pro level in their sounds and features than the typical cheap Y/C battery stuff.

[jaren]

Thanks for the responses!

@cgrafx... The lighter power stations you listed look pretty decent! But the ones under $200 don't offer a "pure sine wave inverter", so the quality of the power could compromise the Nord's electronics. I wish I'd seen this 6lb Jackery before I dropped $200 on my boat battery + inverter though: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D29QNMJ/re ... B07FYJVFNK

@CountFosco... I've tried the pedal powered route. The dream was to prop up my bicycle on a heavy duty kickstand, and use a Rock The Bike pedal station to feed power to the Nord (which would be positioned on the handlebars, of course). Unfortunately, the Nord doesn't except fluctuating voltage, it needs to be steady (unlike laptop chargers, for instance). So this dream was tanked. I did this for a while with an Ableton Push though...

@anotherscott... I played with a battery powered Casio with the big built in speakers. The sound was thin and brittle, and I felt hampered by the lack of good velocity sensitivity. Also, I believe the audience tips in good part based on my visual aesthetics, and I felt jumbo plastic board with the console of buttons and printed text reminded people of a child's first keyboard. The Rolands you suggested both look, actually, very good for battery powered keyboards. Probably the best there is right now. However, at $700+, they're an expensive option for someone who already has a nice keyboard. They are also wider and longer than the Nords (will I really need a D-beam infrared modulator?).

Am I the only person who thinks there is a market for sleek, pro keyboards that are extremely portable? It's like desktop computer vs laptop. The Roli RISE is gorgeous, and fully wireless (MIDI over bluetooth, which connects to the smartphone we all have in our pocket, and internal battery). If this isn't the future of instruments, I don't know what is.

[23skidoo]

Internally, the Nord likely uses a multitude (not just a single) of DC voltages - usually there are +3.3V for the cpus, +/-15-20 V for the output line amplifiers, and maybe some other supply voltages for other components (OLEDs, etc). Going all-DC is likely to involve major surgery and some engineering expertise. Also, there's a problem with simple batteries - while they work perfectly fine for amplification as they run down (the sound just gets quieter and starts to distort more, which is not usually a problem until the last 20% or so of the battery's total power), microelectronics don't respond well at all to variance in voltages and can be easily (and instantly) damaged by voltages out of spec. So you'll still need some form of voltage regulator no matter what power source you're using, especially simple batteries which exhibit a massive range of actual operating voltages across their output curve.

Thus, it's best to just buy a pack with a regulator already built in, as others here have suggested. There's also a very useful thread over at Elektronauts (https://www.elektronauts.com/t/digitakt ... ns/39561/3) which deals with this subject rather extensively. Any of those battery packs with inverters (does not need to be a pure sine wave inverter, just an approximated sine wave will do fine, the Nords have good filtering and solid power supplies) will do just fine. Judging from the fuse ratings, a Stage 3 Compact won't pull more than 40W absolute maximum and likely pulls half or less of that, so a 20-40Wh battery should get you 1-2 hrs of runtime, or possibly even much more. Combine that with a battery powered PA (there are many) and you're set for street gigging.

As you've noticed, lead-acid isn't exactly lightweight and good lithium batteries and regulation aren't cheap, but they're well worth the investment.

In terms of your comment on the marketability of keyboards with batteries, not really. Studio musicians don't want to pay for such frivolity or the extra bulk/space such a battery would take up, and people who tend to gig in mobile situations don't usually have the cash for a top-dollar keyboard. Two separate markets between which you happen to be at an intersection, for such a time as you're gigging in this manner. In addition, with even the lower bound of a 20W draw, your 8 AA batteries (average 3.9Wh per battery = 24Wh for 8) would last about an hour, and that's assuming they're able to hold the necessary current for regulation up to their dying gasp (not usually the case for most brands). You'll probably get a realistic 45 minutes out of a set before the regulator will need to cut them off. Less for rechargeables. And your typical "27000mAh" lithium pack would run it for about 2-3 hours tops before needing a full recharge, which is likely to not be long enough for some people, and thus useless in the end anyway, and would add a half kg of weight and $200 or so to the final cost of the unit. So it just doesn't make sense for keyboard manufacturers to bother with this when it's dead simple for someone to pack a slim external battery like the RAVPower or similar and velcro it to the keyboard if necessary. Plus you can carry more than one and you have your choice of how much to spend and what capacity you need. Much better for the consumer and the manufacturer alike!

[anotherscott]

@anotherscott... I played with a battery powered Casio with the big built in speakers. The sound was thin and brittle, and I felt hampered by the lack of good velocity sensitivity. Also, I believe the audience tips in good part based on my visual aesthetics, and I felt jumbo plastic board with the console of buttons and printed text reminded people of a child's first keyboard. The Rolands you suggested both look, actually, very good for battery powered keyboards. Probably the best there is right now. However, at $700+, they're an expensive option for someone who already has a nice keyboard. They are also wider and longer than the Nords (will I really need a D-beam infrared modulator?).

Yeah, I wouldn't expect much out of the built-in speakers in a battery-operated keyboards. Even the speakers in AC powered models are often pretty lame. Plus for busking, you have the issue that the speakers are generally aiming up at you, not out toward the audience.

Smaller than those Roland keyboards, you could look at the Korg Kross and Kross 2, and the Casio XW-P1. The Casio has a nice place to sit an iPad if you wanted to expand with that. Or for a whole different approach, you could look at the Roland AX-Edge. But yeah, none of it is super cheap. Casio is cheapest at $500, though you could also keep an eye out for a used one.