Nord User Forum

[burkowitz]

I took out my Korg ER-1 drum machine synth which I hadn't used in a while, and decided to play with it in ableton a bit.

Of course it is a bit of a different beast compared to the Nord Lead 2 but I am able to record and play back control changes from ableton to the ER-1 without any major problems. It seems like the ER-1 always uses the same CC channel (4data) with a combination of CC 98 + 99 (if i remember this right, i closed the program a while ago) but yeah its only using that one CC channel for the automation, so if you try to record automation for more than one part, it gets over written.. I think 98+99 control which parameter is being automated by the data channel, and if you overdub 98+99 the ER-1 starts getting confused and weird things start to happen.. like parameters you didn't expect to change start changing. Thats the way I understand it at the moment anyways.

but yeah i can do midi cc control changes to the ER-1.. even if it seems a bit limited, only being able to do one at a time.. at least it seems to work. Still haven't figured out why the midi CC automation does nothing to my nord.

[mjbrands]

Still haven't figured out why the midi CC automation does nothing to my nord.

You may have answered this before; if so, sorry for repeating the question.

Are you sure the reception of CC messages is turned ON on your NL2X? How to check this is described on page 66 of the manual. Basically, if you press SHIFT + the PROG.CTRL button (until you see a value starting with C), it should show you C.on and not C.oF.

Alternatively, start a program like MIDI Monitor (Mac) or MIDI-OX (Windows) and see if you receive CC messages on your computer when you turn a knob on your NL2X. If it sends them, it should also be able to receive them.

You can also use MIDI Monitor and MIDI-OX to 'spy' on the MIDI data Ableton sends to your NL2X. This allows you to verify the data a) gets sent on the right channel and b) the CC messages are actually sent.

Using CC automation should just work fine with your Nord. Since it isn't, it seems to me something isn't correctly set up right now. Spying on the MIDI data sent to (or coming from) the NL2X will help you in troubleshooting the issue.

[burkowitz]

Reporting back, I've managed to solve the problem.

This is where I was going wrong: I was trying to automate the CCs on MIDI Channel 1.

I am kind of new to MIDI so I don't know why this is.. but all the other MIDI channels transmit CCs without any problem. For some reason it doesn't work on channel 1.

I guess I just tried setting my synth to channel 1 because it was the first number... try that one first.

oh well.. happy that i've got it working now.

[peter_pwn]

hello there!
its nice to read posts from people who are kind and generally want to help outher people, nice forum!
its my first time around here, i bought my nord lead 2 keyboard few months ago

i have a little problem with it and i would like to ask for your help
if it has been already answered, sorry for bothering and please direct me there

so the thing is: i would like to use my nord lead 2 keyboard as a midi controller for my daws. i use logic and ableton on a 21.5 late 2011 iMac, with a universal audio apollo twin soundcard.
when i plug in my novation x-station 25, both my daws recognise it immadiately, and i can play with no fuss with the virtual synths i would like to
but now as i got delivered a midi-usb cable, i could connect my nord lead as usb to the iMac too, and it doesnt do anything, seems like its blind, silent and deaf

i tried the Enviroment thing in Logic, tried everything i've read in this topic about Live, but it doesnt really work, and i know im a complete newb so its maybe just a simple trick i dont know, any help is appreciated

my nord settings are (thats the part i really dont get but here they are): local Off, midi channel 5, global channel 1
ableton settings are the same that mjbrands suggested above

and it does nothing, nothing happens

if anyone has some suggestions, thank you in advance!

[cosmodrome]

Well, I can't really help you with Logic, but Live should definitely be able to tell you if your keyboard/USB-MIDI adapter are recognized by your hardware at all:
I guess, you have read how to attach MIDI input devices to Live - in a nutshell just select "Generic MIDI" in Preferences -> MIDI, just like you did for the Novation, define just an input, no output to the keyboard (the name of the USB-MIDI-interface should show up among the available devices). If it doesn't, your computer does most likely not recognize the interface.
One more test: close the MIDI-preferences dialog and press some keys on the keyboard - if the little orange square top right on the screen flashes, your device is recognized but not linked to an input channel. In this case review your MIDI prefs.
If it doesn't, something is wrong with your adapter - might either be unsupported by your OS or no or wrong driver/software installed or electronically dead.

[peter_pwn]

oh my god, oh my dear god
i just found this video, and its working, and all i had to do is change the out and in cables because its mis-labelled and thats the reason it didnt work :D:D there is not a facepalm big enough but im so happy, thanks for the input cosmodrone! have a nice day everyone

[peter_pwn]

oh my god, oh my dear god
i just found this video, and its working, and all i had to do is change the out and in cables because its mis-labelled and thats the reason it didnt work :D:D there is not a facepalm big enough but im so happy, thanks for the input cosmodrone! have a nice day everyone

[elektromin]

Classic midi mistake... I guess for us who started using midi in the 80s it's perfectly logical to connect midi out to midi in, but I can really see that it may be confusing to the USB-generation.

[Avsuero]

Some bonus info: setting up MIDI learn with native Live devices and 3rd party plugins.

Note that while you can map a single control on the NL2X to multiple controls in Live (possibly with their own limits), you cannot get it to change function based on the plugin you're currently using. For example, if you map the frequency cut-off knob on the NL2X to the cut-off control of plugin A and plugin B (instance would probably be a better term, A and B could be two instances of the same plugin), you cannot select which plugin gets controlled by selecting it.

With a more fancy controller you would be able to do this. Also, more fancy controllers are generally able to automatically map the most used controls. Novation has Automap and M-Audio HyperControl, but they're fairly similar (presonally I prefer the Novation way of doing things though). The Ableton Push controller is of course also very well integrated with Ableton.
.

If anyone is reading this in 2020, you could actually set it to control different plugins since each engine (A,B,C,D) transmits in a different Midi channel.

So you could set:
- Engine A to transmit on MIDI channel 1. Set track 1 to listen to midi channel 1 from your interface and map the VST as you normally would.
- Engine B to transmit on MIDI channel 2. Set track 2 with different VST to listen to midi channel 2 from interface.

And so on...

Have fun!

[ianpatrickroe]

The NL2X should (and does ) work fine as a controller for Ableton Live. Below I'll describe one way of using your NL2X from Ableton Live 8 (or 9).
.

Hi there, thanks for the above, but I read through and tried to follow as close as possible and I can't seem to get this working. I have a Nord Lead A1, just purchased and I want to use it as a Midi controller as well as a synth (not at the same time as I can see that isn't possible from reading above). Something's just not right about what i read above - when I add an external instrument onto a track, that means I can't put a VST on there, or any other instrument for that matter, and the whole reason I want to use this as a midi controller is so that I can not only use it as a synth (native to it's body) but also, use the keys (like I did with my Novation launchley Mini) with VST's also. Or am I totally wrong in assuming that is even possible?