Nord User Forum

[DougNowell]

I am new to the Nord Stage 2. If I select a basic piano program, and turn off everything except the sound itself, running through the types of piano, I can hear the Grand, Upright, Harpsi absolutely fine but I get extremely low sound (virtually none) from the Epiano1, Epiano2 or Clavinet sounds. If I turn on the reverb, I can hear the reverberated sound but not the dry sound. Is there a setting somewhere that has been turned down to "0" that I can't find or something else?

[FZiegler]

Most Nord piano sounds are stereo samples. What you report may indicate a phase cancellation problem. How did you amplify the sounds?

[Elias]

Hi Doug, you seem to be new on this platform. Welcome.

I got the same idea as @FZiegler: The sounds you "hear absolutely fine" are in stereo, and the ones with "extremely low volume" are almost perfectly mono without effects. The reveb is also in stereo. So most likely you are listening to the instrument in mono, and the left and right channel signals are inverted.

More technical (but simple) info:

A mono signal will be output through channels L and R as an identical signal from both. So when you make it mono (sum L and R together), the signal comes out the same thing but louder than one output alone (exactly like 5+5 > 5). If L and R are outputting the same signal, but further down the signal chain you invert one channel's signal, the summed signal will be literally nothing (5+(-5) = 5-5 = 0)

A stereo signal means that there are differences between channels L and R. So when you sum them, differences are cancelled and the center of the sound remains. If one channel is inverted, and then the channels summed together, the centred sound (dry E-piano) will disappear, and you only get some of the reverb left.

[DougNowell]

The problem is playing through headphones so internal to the Nord I think

[maxpiano]

The problem is playing through headphones so internal to the Nord I think

Have you tried different headphones and/or are you maybe using an adapter (jack to minijack)? Other people have experienced similar problems with some of those adapters (if you Search the forum you'll find related threads and finally changing the adapter solved the issue)

[DougNowell]

I can easily try other headphones but it seems strange that some sounds work absolutely fine, others not - if I route the organ through the rotary speaker it's fine, if not, it is vitally silent! Unless I'm missing something, it seems like something internal is not working as it should?

[Tasten-Bert]

If it’s a second hand instrument I would check in System Menu whether the output routings for all engines, organ, piano and synth, are set to Global or 1&2. I do have deep down in my mind that the headphone out sends only the 1 and 2 output signals, not what is routed to 3 or 4. Effects seem to be routed to Global as well.

Good luck and cheers from Germany

Edit: as often the manual is your friend:
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sites/def ... on%20J.pdf

[Elias]

Sound like the headphones are either not connected properly or broken. Don't see how this could be an internal problem, unless the headphone connector somehow shorted in a weird way.

If you are getting this kind of signal cancellation, i doubt that even the sounds at sufficient volume are as they should. Go to nordkeyboards.com and compare some grand piano demo clip to rhe corresponding piano model on your instrument. Does the piano sound the same?