Newbie midi question

[Rusty]

Hi everyone,
I've just bought a nord stage 88 and it didn't have a manual.
I want to use it along with my korg m3, the m3 would be my main keyboard,
I have connected the two together using midi,
M3 midi in, ns midi out,

I have a program that i want to play that uses two keyboards that is saved on the korg, it has pianos on midi1 that I play on the korg keybed but I also have organs and synth on midi 2 that I used to play on my old 2nd keyboard before buying the stage last week,
The trouble is I cannot get them to play on the stage as i had done before on the old 2nd keyboard i was using and, as I don't have a manual, i cannot figure out how to do it,
What's happening at the moment is that Midi1 plays through both keyboards,
Can anyone please tell me how to alter the nord so that it plays only the instruments I've set up on midi 2 of the korg,
And also if this can be done, could it be saved in a program location so I can just select that program when I need to play the midi 2 again instead of having to go into menus and change it, I have a few songs in my set list that require the two keyboards to be played in this way,

Many thanks for any help, Bren

[anotherscott]

You can download the manual from Nord's web site.

[Rusty]

Hi. Do you have a link, I could only find the stage2 manual,

[mjbrands]

Hi everyone,
I've just bought a nord stage 88 and it didn't have a manual.

Go to the downloads section on the Nord site and pick the right keyboard (Stage Classic, Stage EX). If you have the original Stage (classic), this is the page you're sent to:
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?t ... &osdwn=osw

Btw. I just noticed you get the same manual for both the Stage and Stage EX, probably because they are so similar.

I have a program that i want to play that uses two keyboards that is saved on the korg, it has pianos on midi1 that I play on the korg keybed but I also have organs and synth on midi 2 that I used to play on my old 2nd keyboard before buying the stage last week,
The trouble is I cannot get them to play on the stage as i had done before on the old 2nd keyboard i was using and, as I don't have a manual, i cannot figure out how to do it,
What's happening at the moment is that Midi1 plays through both keyboards,
Can anyone please tell me how to alter the nord so that it plays only the instruments I've set up on midi 2 of the korg,

Check the info regarding the MIDI menu, starting on page 68 of the manual. You could either set the MIDI channel for the whole panel to MIDI 2, or you could set it for specific instruments. For example, you could only change the organ section to MIDI 2 and configure that instrument to no longer receive MIDI info from the Stage itself (press shift+KB Zone button for the organ until all of the green LEDs above it are off). You could then play the organ (MIDI 2) from the M3 and play all the other sections from the keyboard of the stage. Chapter 8 (page 56) has more info on setting up keyboard zones.

And also if this can be done, could it be saved in a program location so I can just select that program when I need to play the midi 2 again instead of having to go into menus and change it, I have a few songs in my set list that require the two keyboards to be played in this way,

I'm pretty sure you can't save this in a program on the Stage. You might be able to do it on the M3 though. What you might do is pre-configure all the MIDI channels of the Stage. For example, you could set up the following:
- Slot A Organ - MIDI 2
- Slot B Organ - MIDI 3
- Slot A Piano - MIDI 4
- Slot B Piano - MIDI 5
- Slot A Synth - MIDI 6
- Slot B Synth - MIDI 7

As long as you have a keyboard zone enabled for that section, you can play it from the Stage regardless of the MIDI channel configured. However, by sending data to the right MIDI channel from the M3 you could also play a specific instrument on the Stage from the M3. I have a Stage 2, not a Stage, but I think it works the same on both. It is probably more convenient to assign a MIDI channel to the panel, not individual instruments.

What is saved in programs on the Stage is the settings of the key zones and whether a section is on or off. I think this could be used to come pretty close to what you want to achieve.

[RedLeo]

A much simpler solution would be to use the Extern section (chapter 10) and use that to set your MIDI channel 2 and send a Program Change message to the M3. The MIDI channel and Program Change can be set indvidually in each Stage program in the Extern section, this is exactly what the Extern section is designed for. Simply turn the Extern section on for each program that you need to use it to operate the MIDI channel 2 sounds on your M3, set the MIDI channel and Program Change message, and you're done.

[Rusty]

Hi mjbrands and Redleo
Thank you so much for the replies,
I've worked on mjbrands ideas this morning and have figured a little bit out. I have a stored location now that on panel a receives midi1 signals and on panel b that receives midi 2 signals from the m3
So now I'm able to press panel b and play midi 1 on the m3 keynes and midi 2 on the NS.
This is what I initially wanted,

Redleo, I'm not 100% sure about your easier scenario, Is this still using the m3 as the master keyboard?
When I press the extern button I get a echo effect of midi1, I'm not sure why this is but I can hear the same sounds as the korg is playing (midi 1) but with a very slight delay and just 90% of its quality rather than 100%.

[RedLeo]

Hi Rusty,

I'm trying to clarify what you want to do exactly. As I understood from your original post, you just wanted to use the Stage as a "dummy" keyboard to trigger the sounds you already had programmed into your M3. That is, your M3 plays its own sounds on MIDI channel 1, while the Stage triggers the sounds on the M3 set to MIDI channel 2. Is this correct?

The problem you're describing could be that the Stage is now sending MIDI data twice - once from the Panels, and once from the Extern section. If you use the Extern section, then you must turn *off* MIDI from the Panels. You can use either my solution or mjbrands - they both work, but you shouldn't do both at the same time. I believe that the advantage of using the Extern section is that you can set your MIDI for each program individually (as well as sending a Program Change), whereas using the Panels to send MIDI, it's just a global setup.

Also, after turning on the Extern section, you have to set it to send MIDI channel 2, as it probably sends MIDI channel 1 by default, which you don't want.

[Rusty]

Hi yes, that's exactly what I want to do,
For now I want to carry on using all my sounds in the m3 with the NS as a controlled keyboard playing just midi2 data from the m3.
With your help I have achieved this,
I then want to use the NS to play its own organs, I bought the NS last week just for the organs as they are better than the m3 and fantom that I currently use as my 2nd keyboard,
I can perform this easy enough at the moment by selecting a blank patch on the m3 and selecting organs on the stage. Then when I play the organs on the NS keys that's the only sound transmitted from both keyboards into the pa,
I'm definitely getting closer to my normal set up, (I am still using the fantom x6 as my 2nd keyboard as the organs on that are better than the korg- but want to replace the X6 with the NS as soon as I'm competent enough with it).
Many thanks for all the help, I'm learning new bits all the time,
Regards Brendan.

[RedLeo]

Hi Rusty

Glad you've got it all working. It's a real brain-ache sometimes!

[anotherscott]

I have gotten confused by some of these messages.

I get that you want to play M3 sounds on the M3, and Nord sounds on the Nord, that's a given, and that's obviously the easy part.

Beyond that, do you want to play M3 sounds from the Nord's keyboard, or do you want to play Nord sounds from the M3's keyboard, or do you want to be able to do both?