Nord User Forum

[LudovicVDP]

Hi all,

Yesterday, I lost a few hours of sleep tweeking my NL2X with my headphone directly plugged in the headphone output.
At some point, I had made a satisfying fat sound, layering three slots (B+C+D), engaging the unison in some of them (not all). I had a nice stereo image, a lot of power and bass and a wide range of frequencies.
The kind of sounds that would eat everything else in a mix but who cares? I was just having fun

I then wanted to try a bit of reverb (Strymon BigSky - lovin' it to death) so I plugged my headphone into my small Behringer mixer headphone output.
Routing was as such: Nord Lead outputs A and B into a patch bay, going to the Strymon (stereo ) back to the patch bay and then to a stereo channel of the table, so two cables (L and R) along the whole chain.
There, I felt like I had lost the half of my sound fatness. I had lost all the bass. But more than just a bass lost, the sound was not the same at all.
I made sure I had no effect activated on the mixtable, no EQ and no activated reverb on the Strymon. So I was very surprised (and disappointed) that I couldn't get the same dry sound as I had experienced through the headphone output.

RTFM! I know. And I did. But switching from my base routing settings (1.Ab and -.cd) to all the others possibilities never gave me the headphone sound.

Two questions then:
1- What could be the reason of the loss/change in the sound?
2- In a more general way: What routing setting do you generaly use for your NL2X?

Thanks a lot.
Ludovic.

[Mr_-G-]

Were the 2 channels of the Nord in the mixer panned full left and right? If not, then you are experiencing phase cancellation.

[LudovicVDP]

Mr_-G
Thanks for your answer!

It's a stereo channel: The two cables plugged in left and right inputs. No individual panning possible then.
I was thinking phase cancellation as well... But does it mean that I'll never have the same sound that in my headphone output?

I'll have to try a few things:
-To have the synth directly plugged into the table. Issue might come from the patch bay/effect/cables...
-To go via the headphone output directly into the table and see what I get there.
-To have the two cables plugged into two different channels panned full left and full right. Tried this quickly yesterday... Still no good but I rushed the test. I'll do it again.
-To skip the table and connect the synth directly into my computer soundcard. To check that the problem doesn't come from the mixtable.

Very annoying to see that what I get in the headphone is not what I get "live". I can't believe it's normal.

Cheers

[maxpiano]

Have you also checked that the speakers (cables) are properly wired i.e. they are not in counterphase?

[weremole]

Is the routing on all your individual slots the same - i.e. 1.Ab and -.cd on slot A to D?

[LudovicVDP]

Hi.
Thank you all for your help.
I haven't got the time yet to investigate further. I'll keep you posted when I have.
Concerning the speakers, they should not be the issue at this stage as I only compared the headphone output of the NL with the headphone output of the mixer.

L.

[ricard]

If you're listning in headphones, then if you're using sawtooth (or other non-symmetric waveforms, but it's most characteristic with sawtooths) then the phase of the signal can markedly affect the bass. If you have a way of flipping the phase somewhere along the signal chain try it and see if it cures the problem.

(I noticed this when A-B:ing the Nord Lead 1 and 2; the output of one is phase inverted compared to the other, so they sounded different.)

[Mr_-G-]

Are the cables correctly wired? Somebody recently reported DI boxes with inverted wiring.

[LudovicVDP]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay, I haven't got much time to sit at my desk lately...

It looks like it's the mixer that is causing the issue.
The sound I get from the headphone output is the same as the one I get with all configurations that don't go via the mixer.
(so directly in the amp, or directly in the soudcard, with or without the Strymon in between... So yeah... everything works fine except when the mixer is plugged.
No effects activated on it though... I checked everything I could... Can't find it...
The old lady is maybe dying on me... Not a big deal. Glad it's only that!

Thanks all for your suggestions folks. Glad we can always find some help here !