Nord User Forum

Hi
NE6 user
I have a program that has the synth in the lower side of the split with piano in the upper side. I sometimes use the synth section for bass patches and usually have no trouble turning on the control pedal function to control the volume of the bass/synth sound and this works fine when using the nord alone. However, I sometimes hook up a midi controller to set up the "ext keyboard to lo" function and the control/volume has no effect on the synth section. When I set this up in the organ section for a dual manual organ setup the control/volume works fine with the ext keyboard to lo but for some reason I can't get it to function for the synth section.

Any suggestions? I'm probably missing something obvious.
I am still a bit of a novice with working with midi channels and all that, I imagine the solution comes somewhere with that but looking for help. Apologies if this has already come up.

In general, if you're using an external keyboard to play a part, it is expected that the keys, sustain and volume control messages come from there. So if you play another board, you can then use the pedals on that board to control what is being played, and not the internally connected pedals (they will instead control whatever you play on the "hi" part).

Organ is an exception, since the two manuals share the same output chain, which includes the swell pedal (and the same rotary speaker).

Have you tried connecting the volume pedal to your midi controller and make it send the right (control/volume) messages?

This is disappointing! I just received a nice external keyboard, and I was hoping I could have one sustain pedal that would affect the selected engines, no matter which keyboard was controlling it. Who do I complain to at Nord about this

I have what you want on the NS3 - namely with "Dual KB" function. Quite possible that the NE6 doesn't support such usage. In the Nord portfolio, it's probably meant to be mainly a vintage piano, not a controller centre.

But in the end, you're anyhow quite limited with one pedal - there are multiple situations where you wish you had another pedal (and another foot).

Besides: Welcome to the forum!

Thanks FZiegler!

I have some ideas. I think I can set my StudioLogic controller to send the CC64 on both Ch2 (which is set on the Nord as the Ext Keyboard Channel) and Ch1 (which is set on the Nord as the Primary Channel). I am hopeful that the Channel 1 CC64's will respond the same as footswitch connected to the Nord. That won't get me exactly where I want to be, be at least part way there. I can switch patches on the StudioLogic controller to turn stuff on and off, but I was hoping to have the Nord as close as possible above the StudioLogic and I don't want to leave room to access the StudioLogic's controls. I have some more thoughts, I'll keep everyone updated as I experiment.

So, some findings. If I set my External Controller to send CC64 on Ch1, which is the main global channel, it works for engines set to Hi just as a pedal physically attached to the Nord. What's more, it respects the setting of the SUSTPED switch, it only sustains if the SUSTPED LED is lit for that engine. However, if my External Controller sends CC64 on Ch2, which is the external keyboard channel, it DOES NOT respect the SUSTPED switch, it always sustains regardless if the setting of the SUSTPED LED. This now seems like a bug. I could understand if the SUSTPED were turning off the generation of CC64 messages, and you were expected to turn CC64 messages on/off at your external controller. BUT, the Nord is filtering CC64 messages on the Global Channel based on the SUSTPED setting for the engine. It is NOT filtering CC64 messages on the Ext Keyboard Channel based on the SUSTPED setting for the engine.

I checked my version and it is v1.20, woefully behind, so I will get updated to the latest v2.50 and see if the behavior changes. If not I am going to report this as a bug to Nord.

FYI in case anyone cares: I finally got time to upgrade my NE6D to the latest OS 2.50, and the issue still persists. I have made a support request to Nord to have this bug looked at/fixed. I will update this thread when I hear a reply.