Everything about the Nord Electro 2, Electro 3, Electro 4, Electro 5, and Nord Electro 6.

Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby deenigewouter » 15 Jul 2021, 13:18

I own an Electro 6D, and the only thing I miss is a Pitch bend + mod wheel. I know it supports pitch bend via MIDI in, but the limitation is that it only works for the External KBD to LO mode. In other words, you can only use MIDI pitch bend when you're also using the keys on the external keyboard.

What I intend to do is to use a spare part from some older synth and hook it up to an Arduino. Set the electro to External KBD to Lo, route the midi out to the Arduino, merge it with the pitch bend and output it to the Electro's MIDI in. This would allow you to use the Electro's own keybed but you will lose split functionality. Not too much of a loss as you probably wouldn't split when using pitch bend anyway. Heck, you could even add a modwheel with a pot for speed control for vibrato via midi messages. (Which would be limited by MIDI's transmission rate but I haven't calculated that yet).

Has anyone tried something like this?
deenigewouter
 
Posts: 24
Joined: 15 Jul 2021, 13:05
Country: Netherlands
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 24 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 6

Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to


Sponsor
 

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby maxpiano » 15 Jul 2021, 15:20

You can do it and not too complicated (if you have some DYI expertise), but it's quite an effort so, before going in that direction, have you thought or tried to use a smartphone with a PB/MW App instead (if you have an iPhone/iPad there is the ModWheels App or other MIDI apps) or considered using a small and cheap secondary keyboard (e.g. an Alesis Q25)?

Beside if, as you wrote, PB only works in "External KBD to LO" mode, you willl... need an external keyboard to make that LO section(s) produce any sound, before you can Pitch Bend it...
Last edited by maxpiano on 15 Jul 2021, 15:31, edited 7 times in total.
User avatar
maxpiano
Patch Creator
 
Posts: 6189
Joined: 27 Jun 2011, 13:29
Location: Italy
Country: Italy
Has thanked: 441 times
Been thanked: 2179 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby deenigewouter » 19 Jul 2021, 10:39

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not a big fan of touchscreens. With a wheel or stick you can manipulate it without looking. Routing the midi out from the Electro to the Arduino and then routing the keys and pitch bend midi back to the Midi In of the electro would allow it to work when set to EXT KBD to LO.
deenigewouter
 
Posts: 24
Joined: 15 Jul 2021, 13:05
Country: Netherlands
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 24 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 6

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby maxpiano » 19 Jul 2021, 12:39

Sure, that would work, in case you don't have yet spare MW/PB parts from an older synth you can use a generally available XY Joystick or buy a Mod Wheel kit from Doepfer (which includes the spring to make it work as a centrally retained PB).
Last edited by maxpiano on 23 Jul 2021, 09:46, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
maxpiano
Patch Creator
 
Posts: 6189
Joined: 27 Jun 2011, 13:29
Location: Italy
Country: Italy
Has thanked: 441 times
Been thanked: 2179 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby MarkJames » 19 Jul 2021, 21:38

I was looking into the same but ultimately decided to return my Electro (just purchased) and get a S3C instead.
Nord Piano 4
Nord Stage 3 Compact
Nord Wave 2
Sequential Prophet Rev 2
Mac Mini rack w/Gig Performer
Roland Integra-7
Yamaha Motif Rack XS
Behringer XR-18
MioXL
MarkJames
 
Posts: 234
Joined: 12 Jul 2021, 02:58
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 53 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3
Your Nord Gear #2: Nord Wave 2

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby mon8169 » 23 Jul 2021, 08:57

deenigewouter wrote:I own an Electro 6D, and the only thing I miss is a Pitch bend + mod wheel. I know it supports pitch bend via MIDI in, but the limitation is that it only works for the External KBD to LO mode. In other words, you can only use MIDI pitch bend when you're also using the keys on the external keyboard.

What I intend to do is to use a spare part from some older synth and hook it up to an Arduino. Set the electro to External KBD to Lo, route the midi out to the Arduino, merge it with the pitch bend and output it to the Electro's MIDI in. This would allow you to use the Electro's own keybed but you will lose split functionality. Not too much of a loss as you probably wouldn't split when using pitch bend anyway. Heck, you could even add a modwheel with a pot for speed control for vibrato via midi messages. (Which would be limited by MIDI's transmission rate but I haven't calculated that yet).

Has anyone tried something like this?


I made a controller with Arduino and a SparkFun MIDI Shield. It merged the Midi In with the generated Midi data to the USB-Midi port. I didn't use the Midi Out, so I can't tell you if it will also merge the Data to the Midi Out. Apart from this, the rest of the project would meet your expectations, and is easy if you have a little experience in electronics and programming.

Ramon
Cheers!
Ramon

Nord Stage Classic 76, Cantabile with Pianoteq, IK Hammond B-3X, NI B4-II and others.
User avatar
mon8169
Patch Creator
 
Posts: 371
Joined: 06 Mar 2009, 16:59
Location: Barcelona, Catalonia
Country: Catalonia
Has thanked: 25 times
Been thanked: 66 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage Classic

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby The Joker Pokers » 28 Jul 2021, 09:39

maxpiano wrote:You can do it and not too complicated (if you have some DYI expertise), but it's quite an effort so, before going in that direction, have you thought or tried to use a smartphone with a PB/MW App instead (if you have an iPhone/iPad there is the ModWheels App


Gday Mate.. I've downloaded this app, but i cant get it to work ... have you tried it and been successful? if so can i steal your brain? Whats the setup?


Cheers
Al - TJP
Last edited by Berretje on 28 Jul 2021, 10:10, edited 1 time in total.
The Joker Pokers
 
Posts: 3
Joined: 28 Jul 2021, 09:37
Country: Australia
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 6

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby maxpiano » 28 Jul 2021, 14:06

The Joker Pokers wrote:
maxpiano wrote:You can do it and not too complicated (if you have some DYI expertise), but it's quite an effort so, before going in that direction, have you thought or tried to use a smartphone with a PB/MW App instead (if you have an iPhone/iPad there is the ModWheels App


Gday Mate.. I've downloaded this app, but i cant get it to work ... have you tried it and been successful? if so can i steal your brain? Whats the setup?


Cheers
Al - TJP


Hi, actually I haven't used this one (I used a few times a different one, almost identical, from Yamaha called "Sound Controller" https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical ... index.html which unfortunately is no longer available), however it is all explained in the developer's app Support page http://www.schosoft.com/mod-wheels/ and maybe you can also contact him for questions.
Last edited by maxpiano on 28 Jul 2021, 14:19, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
maxpiano
Patch Creator
 
Posts: 6189
Joined: 27 Jun 2011, 13:29
Location: Italy
Country: Italy
Has thanked: 441 times
Been thanked: 2179 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Stage 3

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby Tasten-Bert » 28 Jul 2021, 14:33

The Joker Pokers wrote:
maxpiano wrote:You can do it and not too complicated (if you have some DYI expertise), but it's quite an effort so, before going in that direction, have you thought or tried to use a smartphone with a PB/MW App instead (if you have an iPhone/iPad there is the ModWheels App


Gday Mate.. I've downloaded this app, but i cant get it to work ... have you tried it and been successful? if so can i steal your brain? Whats the setup?


Cheers
Al - TJP


Hi,

I‘ve downloaded and tested this app. If I remember correctly it was me some two or three years ago who suggested it here. The app itself works fine, but the handicap is that my electro 5 can only handle pitchbend for the „external“ section. This means, I can set up the board with one sound played by the electro‘s keys AND have a second sound set up that way that an external keyboard can play it on a seperate MIDI channel. Only this sound can get pitch bent. So this does only make sense when you have a controller keyboard with a built in pitchbender. On a stand-alone app you cannot play notes, unfortunately :-(

This was the situation on my electro 5. It may differ from NE6. Perhaps the manual says more.

And, if you‘d ask how do I know that it works? My korg X50 handles it perfectly.

Cheers from Germany
Last edited by Tasten-Bert on 28 Jul 2021, 14:35, edited 1 time in total.
| nord electro 5D 61 and korg X50 on k&m 18880 or 18950 stand | iPad mini 5 with Set List Maker | phonic AM120 submixer |


... and I loved these of my former stuff: nord electro 3, Roland VR-760, Fatar Studio 1100, korg 01/W, Roland U-20
User avatar
Tasten-Bert
Donator
 
Posts: 837
Joined: 17 Feb 2015, 11:57
Location: Where there is friendship, love and music ...
Country: Germany
Has thanked: 152 times
Been thanked: 359 times
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 5
Your Nord Gear #2: Other Brand

Re: Has anyone DIY'd a pitch bend yet? I intend to

Postby The Joker Pokers » 04 Aug 2021, 08:32

maxpiano wrote:This was the situation on my electro 5. It may differ from NE6. Perhaps the manual says more.

And, if you‘d ask how do I know that it works? My korg X50 handles it perfectly.

Cheers from Germany


Thanks mate - yeah I've had the nord pitch bend by midi'ing it to my roland and running the lower through that - I was hoping there's a solution so I didn't need to lug 2 boards (laziness is the mother all invention ;) )
The Joker Pokers
 
Posts: 3
Joined: 28 Jul 2021, 09:37
Country: Australia
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
Your Nord Gear #1: Nord Electro 6


Return to Nord Electro Forum



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 28 guests