Nord User Forum

[Stokely]

Hello,

Currently wrestling with a "what to buy" question and the Electro 6D is one of the contenders! This is for live use, I'll state that right away.

I was reading through the manual, and noticed it had an "external in", a 1/8" input that with the 6D apparently gets combined with the main outs. I noticed the 5D (also a contender) only combines with the headphone out. Now, I expect this was added to allow easy "play along with tracks" practicing...however, I have a sneaky idea and I was wondering if anyone has done it.

Can you use this external input as a line mixer? Using multiple keyboards for me has always involved having a submixer...and that's more stuff to bring and hook up. I don't ever EQ or use external FX, so something that simply sums signals together would be fine. My old Emu Proteus did this with its alternate outputs, they doubled as inputs (and I hooked my Roland Jx10 outputs into them!). The Kronos also apparently does this too.

Granted it's a stereo 1/8" so I'd need an adapter. Wondering about levels, impedance and that jazz, and also whether it will "just work" globally or if you have to do anything per-patch to make this happen. For what it's worth, I go mono live, so it would be one other keyboard coming in and (hopefully) being summed to the Nord's mono output along with the Electro's own sound.

This is not a deal breaker at all, more of an "push me over the edge to the Electro 6D" if this actually worked!

Thanks!

[baekgaard]

I do this too; I may have my NE6 73 as the 2nd tier on top of a NS3, and I use a 2 mono jack to 1 stereo minijack Y-cable, and it works fine.

I have a small mixer (Rolls PM 351) that I run stereo from the NS3 (which then also carries the NE6 signal, coming in via the extenal in on the NS3), a mic and a (mono) signal from the house mixer with monitor signals of all the other musicians and voices. This gives me full control over the levels of my keys (in stereo) and my mic, as well as the overall level of the rest of my feed. All of this goes into my in-ear monitors. Saves a lot of weight this way

[Stokely]

Nice! This is a really cool feature....it's something that I wish more synths did.

I have everything worked out monitor wise (I get everything back from FOH including keys), so the main question will be: does the electro signal +other keyboard (Kurzweil pc361) have enough signal for FOH. I notice that on gigs where I don't use my submixer that I have issues providing enough level with my Kurzweil.

Again not a show stopper and if it didn't work out, I was considering getting a Key Largo DI/mixer, or I could stick with my submixer + DI that I use now for multi-keyboard gigs.

Probably my main hesitation on this electro is the keys...they are a bit "springy" for my taste, but I'm sure I'd get used to them. I prefer lighter waterfall action as I had on my Roland vr700...the weird thing is that I used to play an electro 3 at a music store pretty often, then played my friend's electro 5d...the 5d seems lighter to me, I didn't think they changed the action.

[fieldflower]

Can't tell for the 6D, but on the 5D the external in only routes to the headphone out (which can of course also be sent to mixer).
And a good thing is that it doesn't care about the 5D volume at all, so if You connect another keyboard You can set the volume of that keyboard individually without having to worry that volume change on the 5D would change everything.

[baekgaard]

@fieldflower: As pr. the manual, the external input is also routed to the mains on the NE6 (unlike previous boards that didn't).

@Stokely: The output are line levels; I've never had any volume issues with any of my boards. Are you going direct to the mixer or via a DI box? Maybe there is too much attenuation on that (while bringing line levels to mic levels balanced)?

[Stokely]

Hi, yep, using a DI when I don't use my mixer (for single keyboard gigs, which have been most lately!). That is a likely culprit for the lower signal. Our sound guy has adjusted but I'll play around with things a bit, I probably don't even need a DI actually for our gigs.

[simonbeck]

My current rig is Stylophone Gen X-1 into the Aux In on my Yamaha Reface CS, which then goes into the Aux In on my NE6D 73 and then to my keyboard amp. Only one amp channel needed, and I have control over each instrument at source. So I am using the Yamaha and the Nord as a cascade of mixers.

[zeb1970]

I wish there were 2 6,3mm mono jack inputs as there are in all on most of the keyboards,

[NoDirection]

I wish there were 2 6,3mm mono jack inputs as there are in all on most of the keyboards,

Agree - the 1/8" is to weak - on my Nord Stage 2 I have some connection problems with it since it is wiggling a bit.