Nord User Forum

FZiegler wrote:
*** (B) Panel MIDI
Both panels can be (globally) attributed their own MIDI channel to receive commands. The internal controls affect the active panels, the remotely triggered panel would play even if it isn’t active (only the panel with the matching MIDI channel). Whether the remotely controlled panel is active or not, all engines play that are switched on. In both cases, the KB zones (splits) are followed (of course, the MIDI controller can also restrict its keyboard range). So, it depends on the panels active if the panel remotely controlled can also be played locally or not. Of course, even both panels can be independently controlled from remote.
Both internal and remote pitch stick work for the sounds played remotely, but the internal sustain pedal only works if the panel concerned is active (locally). Don’t activate ‘pedal noise’ if a half damper pedal is used remotely (see below).
Both internal or remote mod wheel and control pedal affect the respective panel’s sound; didn’t test aftertouch. Internal drawbars etc. and swell pedal also affect remotely played tones; didn’t test remote drawbars.

This is exactly what I was hoping you could test for me! Thank you!!!! Everyone else should thank him too Am I right to say that given this, you can control the morph functions of panel B instruments (examples: Panel B Synth section Filter cutoff, Panel B Piano section volume, Panel B effect amount) while panel B is not active but still available to be played from a remote midi keyboard assigned to the right channel. This lets you only play the instruments in the active panel A while still having control over those morphed parameters on inactive panel b. Right????

FZiegler wrote:

mtier0067 wrote:I think the only option that I have to make it work like my ns2 is to use the panel midi mode (no dual kb mode) and assign the instruments in panel b to no zones of the ns3 keybed. I just don't know if that is still an option on the ns3. ...

You'll find the answer above: It is doable.

It super close! but the only shortcoming of the panel midi mode set up that FZiegler so aptly describes (Thank you again!) is that you potentially need to turn off panel A to see/change anything in Panel B if playing live. In other words, you have to switch the active panel from A to B in order to see the changes you are making in panel B. In the NS2 you could assign the panel B instruments to "no zones" but still have the panel available to view without deactivating panel a. Both panels are active at all times, only panel A instruments sounds are controlled from the local keybed, not those assigned to "no zones" on panel b and controlled remotely. This way, all panels and all instruments are still able to be controlled and morphed using a single control pedal and the onboard mod wheel of the NS3 while panel b I played remotely and panel a is played on the NS3 keybed.

I still would like to know if you can assign a single instrument to "no zones" but keep them active. For example, Panel B piano is set to 80% volume but is assigned to no zones and is played from an external midi controller and the instrument's volume is morphed with the NS3 mod wheel.

Thanks for this serious deep dive into the Midi functionality of the NS3. I've ordered mine based on this conversation and hope that I can figure out some additional functionality in a double keyboard (not dual kb mode) set up. One thing that may be of some interest re: the last piece

FZiegler wrote:S
*** Sustain pedal features
The Nord Stage 3 supports re-grabbing sustain, half dampening and pedal noise only when used with the Nord Triple Pedal. It is the only half dampening (non-switch) pedal that is supported and produces 4 different stages for sustaining amount. Simple switch type pedals don’t support half dampening and pedal noise, but they do support the release-and-grab sustain lowering!
Using a half damper pedal on a remote MIDI keyboard may lead to crazy loud pedal noise sounds when ‘pedal noise’ is active (so does my Yamaha FC-3 or FC-3A) – but they do work even as true half damper pedals if ‘pedal noise’ is not applied. If you don’t want to care about having ‘pedal noise’ switched off, you may use a switch type sustain pedal instead and use the release-and-grab technique that works from remote as well.

You should be able to use a single sustain pedal plugged into the remote keyboard (if you don't need the extern section to control other midi gear) by using the Midi Soft THru functionality and if the sustain feature is on for the extern section. With that said, I prefer to use two sustain pedals (one for external midi keyboard and one for internal ns3) instead of a single sustain pedal but just thought I'd float it out there in case anyone wanted to use that little hack of functionality.

mtier0067 wrote:I still would like to know if you can assign a single instrument to "no zones" but keep them active. For example, Panel B piano is set to 80% volume but is assigned to no zones and is played from an external midi controller and the instrument's volume is morphed with the NS3 mod wheel.

Sorry, mtier0067, but I didn't find a way on my NS3 to set a panel to NO zones. But in my eyes, the Panel MIDI tends to be a mess anyway if you want to play the local keyboard and an external keyboard at the same time:

mtier0067 wrote:... you potentially need to turn off panel A to see/change anything in Panel B if playing live. In other words, you have to switch the active panel from A to B in order to see the changes you are making in panel B. In the NS2 you could assign the panel B instruments to "no zones" but still have the panel available to view without deactivating panel a.

(1) That's exactly how I experienced it. The only other way would be to activate both panels, set Panel B to editable, do your adjustments and get back to only Panel A being active. I'd rather consider using Panel MIDI if I wanted to control both panels from remote.

mtier0067 wrote:Am I right to say that given this, you can control the morph functions of panel B instruments (examples: Panel B Synth section Filter cutoff, Panel B Piano section volume, Panel B effect amount) while panel B is not active but still available to be played from a remote midi keyboard assigned to the right channel. This lets you only play the instruments in the active panel A while still having control over those morphed parameters on inactive panel b. Right????

What I wrote about the morph controls might not have been totally clear in the Panel MIDI case: Remote MW and CP (probably AT, too) act additionally on the panel's morphs as the internal controls do. But you need to mention: The internal controls act on all panels - if they are active or not. Which means that (2) a non active panel might be played from remote, but is affected by any internally used morph control as well as from remote controls. But that could be what you wanted: Morph both locally and remotely played sounds with one (locally connected) control pedal or one internal mod wheel.

mtier0067 wrote:You should be able to use a single sustain pedal plugged into the remote keyboard (if you don't need the extern section to control other midi gear) by using the Midi Soft THru functionality and if the sustain feature is on for the extern section. With that said, I prefer to use two sustain pedals (one for external midi keyboard and one for internal ns3) instead of a single sustain pedal but just thought I'd float it out there in case anyone wanted to use that little hack of functionality.

I don't see how you want to get this working: The extern section might forward incoming sustain (but only from the Global MIDI, if I remember well), but where would it go? The extern section would not react on MIDI-in itself. The only mode that uses (internal) sustain commands for both locally and exclusively remotely played sounds, is Single Engine DualKB mode.

We are going down the rabbit hole here! Thanks for coming with me on this

So it seems like the best way to play two keyboards simultaneously, one controlling certain sections on panel a and the other controlling different sections on panel b is to use dual KB mode for midi set up and use non Nord (Remote MW, CP, or AT on an external controller) to morph the dual Kb instruments parameters. Don't mess with Panel Midi mode. Is that what you've resorted to FZiegler?

To clarify, you can still morph panel B parameters using external controls (MW, CP, AT) while panel B is not focused (selected) and/or physically manipulate the parameters with the dedicated knobs while in dual kb mode when panel b is focused (selected), correct?

Hi,
I haven't found out which rabbit hole you want to tear me to. I only know little about that Alice book.

mtier0067 wrote:To clarify, you can still morph panel B parameters using external controls (MW, CP, AT) while panel B is not focused (selected) and/or physically manipulate the parameters with the dedicated knobs while in dual kb mode when panel b is focused (selected), correct?

Second question first: In "Panel DualKB mode", you cannot control morphs for Panel B through local controllers (MW, CP, AT) - the whole panel is controlled from remote - the "Panel B" being focussed on the panel or not. In Standard mode with Panel MIDI, you can control a morph through a local controller - as long as it's active; but in that case, the local keys will play that sound as well. As you can't activate an engine without attributing it a certain internal keyboard zone, you can't separate the sounds fully:
Let's say Panel A is to be played locally, Panel B from remote. In standard mode with Panel MIDI, you can separate those two sounds only when Panel B is switched off - the local morph controllers then won't act on the sound. If you activate the Panel, it will automatically be playable from the local keybed, too. That's exactly what I consider "messy". Of course, you can attribute only one small KB zone to that sound - but then, only that KB range will also play from remote.

mtier0067 wrote:So it seems like the best way to play two keyboards simultaneously, one controlling certain sections on panel a and the other controlling different sections on panel b is to use dual KB mode for midi set up and use non Nord (Remote MW, CP, or AT on an external controller) to morph the dual Kb instruments parameters. Don't mess with Panel Midi mode. Is that what you've resorted to FZiegler?

That's what I think. In any case, DualKB mode turned out to be my first-to-dig-in rabbit hole when I got my Stage 3 Compact almost two years ago. Still is an adventure for me to figure things out. I'd love to have separate MIDI channels for every engine available from time to time, but basic things are doable in Single Engine DualKB mode without additional controllers, more advanced things are doable in Panel DualKB mode - with additional remote controllers, and some things like both A&B piano or synth engines being played from remote while Organ being played locally don't seem feasable for me.

Received my stage 3 compact today. Upon hooking up my external keyboard I've found a number of things, some of which are opposing what this thread has led me to believe.

Global midi off,
panel a off,
midi panel b on channel 1
Set external keyboard to send on midi channel 1.
Midi dualkb off.

Now, set up some instruments and effects and morphs on Panel A with panel b completely off and no instruments on. The panel a instruments are played from the ns3 keybed, all morphing functions behave as usual.

Now, go to panel b and turn on some instruments, set up some morphs.

Go back to focus on Panel A with panel b off (both panels are NOT active) panel b instruments which are on still sound only when played from the external controller's keybed (Dont sound when played from ns3 keybed), morph functions still work on panel b morphs and panel a morphs simultaneously, (wheel, aftertouch, and pedal) and you dont need to control those remotely or switch to panel b focus mode to have them active.

This is huge for my set up and will likely help others trying to play with an external controller and a NS3sw. I'll be digging further into the functionality but at first blush (i've been playing for 20mins only) it seems this will be a huge upgrade from my ns2 having the A1 engine, physical drawbars and the c2d engine with the "live" drawbar function, and having way more storage space for pianos. I was nervous about the midi implementation when using 2 keyboards but I think this will work out just fine.

Let me know if anyone has questions. happy to help and could also share my setups when I get my bread and butter dual keyboard setups on panel midi going.