No piano sound on low velocities.

[Paperfrog]

Hi,

I just bought myself the Electro 6d 73. Really happy with it, but I've noticed when I play really light on the keys, the piano samples won't trigger if it's too light. Just wonder if this is by design or if something is wrong. This does not happen when playing organ or the sample engine. (Or when playing piano vsts on a computer via midi.)

I guess this could be to emulate how a real piano works; pushing light on a key won't hit the string. But since it's not a hammer action keyboard, I find it somewhat strange.

Could anyone confirm that this is just how these keyboards work? In that case I guess I just have to get used to it, but just want to know nothing's wrong with the keyboard.

[Paperfrog]

Everything sounds right. Your keys have 2 sensors each: The organ will play if the first sensor is triggered. The piano will need both sensors to calculate the speed you apply to the (virtual) hammer - and see if you hit the (non existing) string or not, and with which velocity.

It should be the same with any digital piano. But it should only happen on very slow pressing of the keys.

[Paperfrog]

Hello Paperfrog

and a very warm welcome to the nord world and this wonderful forum of nord enthusiasts. The question, whether this is normal behaviour or not, for me is not easy to answer without knowing how strong or soft you pressed the keys. Have you tried the different touch sensitivity settings? My NE 5 lets me play very softly if the setting stays at zero which is no lights on.

Hope you‘ll get it make you happy.

Cheers from Germany

[Paperfrog]

Everything sounds right. Your keys have 2 sensors each: The organ will play if the first sensor is triggered.

Not necessarily, the Electro 6 has a setting (page 28 of the manual) that controls the organ trigger point. It can be set via the Sound Menu to trigger with the first or the second sensor. So it could be set it to trigger same as the piano (although not vice versa).
Apparently the default is "Low" so the OP must have changed.

[Paperfrog]

Thank you for the welcome and replies!

The piano will need both sensors to calculate the speed you apply to the (virtual) hammer - and see if you hit the (non existing) string or not, and with which velocity.

This seems to be the case, however, when plugging it into the computer it will always detect something regardless of how light i push it, but it could be that it only react to the lower sensor in that case. I'm not just used to the fact that you can push down a key and not procuce any sound at all. But again, this would be closer to how a real piano works. Probably wish the cutoff point would have been a bit lower, but it's only a matter of getting used to, I guess.

Have you tried the different touch sensitivity settings? My NE 5 lets me play very softly if the setting stays at zero which is no lights on.

I did try this, but it only seems to influence the strong notes. (But very subtle, not much of a difference tbh.) Is it possible for you to push very lightly on the keys and not produce any sound at all?

So it could be set it to trigger same as the piano (although not vice versa).

Yes, this only seems to be a setting for the organ, but a more in-depth velocity-menu for the piano would have been nice. Perhaps it will be on the Electro 7.

All in all, I feel this is something I can get used to, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

[Tasten-Bert]

How is your Master Volume set? If it is at a rather low level, it might well be that you hear the organ very good because it is not touch controlled - like the original - but a piano which is touch sensitiv could be quite quiet. I usually have it at about 3 o‘clock.

Cheers from Germany

[anotherscott]

High trigger is only used for organ. If you're playing piano, it's a non-factor. When playing piano, if you don't press the key down far enough to get to the lower sensor, it will not trigger any sound nor any MIDI. Practically speaking, if you're playing as you would on a piano, this never happens, because you always expect to "hit bottom" when you play a piano.

What it sounds like you're experiencing is that a low velocity (slow, gentle) piano strike will produce a MIDI Note On event with a velocity of 1. Like many keyboards, Nord interprets this as a "silent keypress," just as you can do on a real piano. It's not entirely useless, because having pressed that key down, even though it made no sound, its "undamped strings" (for real on a real piano, virtual ones in the Nord) can resonate as sympathetic resonances when you play other notes (this will occur when using any Nord XL or L piano samples, and also M samples except when played at the extremes). But apart from maybe some avant-garde kind of stuff, it has little practical value other than as a way to prove to yourself that the sympathetic resonance emulations are working. Nevertheless, yes, it does emulate authentic piano behavior, and that's presumably why Nord and others do it.