DIY OLED Display for NORD LEAD A1

[gitarrenzupfer]

Hello everybody,

due to the fact that the lack of a "Patchname-Display" bugs me as long as I own my Lead A1 I was tinkering a little bit to build an OLED-Display.
At the moment the code works basically but maybe you could give me some ideas/input for needed features if you are interested.

My main focus is on Patchname.
A nice to have for me would be some kind of Song-Mode or Favourite Buttons

Check out my (sorry for bad quality) video...





Greetings Olli

[Nordlicht]

Wow, truly amazing almost a miracle!

One if the essential things Clavia had "forgotten" when developing the A1.
How do you connect ("feed") the display, with MIDI data?

[gitarrenzupfer]

Yes, the "brain" is a NodeMCU (Microcontroller, like Arduino but faster and more memory) wich is connected to the Midi-OUT of the Nord Lead A1 (waiting for Pgr-Change and Bank-CC commands).

The stupid thing is that internaly every Patch/Perf has got its 16 digit long Name stored in the sysex-Data. These Names you see via the Patchmanager-Software. But there is no possible way to get the sysex-Data without going into the midi-menu.
So i took another (not so easy) way to get this going:

1. export a html List of all Perf an d Programms via the NORD Sound Manager
2. Convert this list with help of open office calc to some C# arrays
3. Copy these arrays into the Arduino-Code
4. Upload the Code on the Microcontroller

For me this process takes only some minutes and it is worth the effort without any doubt....(hey, i've got a display with patchnames... ) but there is space for improvements. I would like to have an ".exe-Program" that does at least steps 2 and 3 in one click...we will see

The other caveat is, that you have to click the Perf/Prog Butten twice because Nord Lead doesn't send any CC-Comands on that. Once on the Nord Lead and once on the Microcontroller. But this is only if you change between Perf/Prog-Mode.

You see, there are some todos...

One todo is a nice red housing for the Display/Electronics...

[gitarrenzupfer]

btw... this was the first Version of a "Display" I worked on... or

[gitarrenzupfer]

first 3d printing housing prototype ...

[gitarrenzupfer]

Hello, is there anybody who knows the exact "NORD-red" to choose?

I am interested in filament for 3D printers and also lacquers for metal to tinker with authentic looking accessories

[Mr_-G-]

I would say "none of the above". To me, it looks like something between 3024 and 3003, but! matching monitor colours to real life is inexact.
Compare 3024 above and that on this page: https://ral-chart.co.uk/red/ they look very different to me, and 3003 looks almost brown in that site (but perhaps is my monitor).
It would be better to get those paper colour samples tiles from a paint shop and match those to your instrument under different lights.

[gitarrenzupfer]

I understand. It's hard to find the perfect shade. Maybe I'll go with gray or black for my project. I already have these colors in my 3D printer and it would be a nice contrast to the red NORD surface.

[Nordlicht]

I assume that Clavia is using colors from the NCS color system (a Swedish system btw) but their "red" changed throughout the years. I wasn’t able to determine the exact color code either when I wanted to paint a wooden stand several years ago.

[mon8169]

my vote for 3028!