Nord User Forum

Hi,

I'm working on a show and I have been given two Nord Stages (?!) I want to midi them so they work independently but I still want both NS's to change program together and respond to the volume and sustain pedal.

At the moment I have a lower NS and an upper NS (both 88 notes). The lower NS has a volume pedal and sustain pedal. Currently I have the 'midi out' from the lower NS connecting to the 'midi in' on the upper NS. What's happening at the moment is that when I play the lower keyboard the upper keyboard also sounds. I do not want this!

How can I midi the bottom NS to only send the sustain, volume and program change messages and NOT the keyboard messages? For example in one program I have a piano on the bottom keyboard and an organ sound on the top keyboard. I want to play each sound independently but I still want to send the volume pedal messages and program changes.

HELP?!!?

Tough one, but feasible I guess.
1) On the lower NS (the one with the pedals connected), go into MIDI Menu, Panel B->off and Panel A->off
2) On the same keyboard, switch the EXTERN Section on, make sure the SUSTAIN LED is ON. Now disable the response of the external source to the keys by quickly pressing TWICE on the External On/OFF Switch so that the Section is still active but the three Split LEDs are off!
3) Make the upper Stage to respond to the MIDI channel selected for the EXTERN section of the lower Stage.

Now Pedal Messages (at least Sustain, not sure for Control, but I guess so, too) are transmitted while no notes are sent.
If you are not sure how to change the settings as suggested, check the Manual, its quite easy actually, or ask again!
Cheers

hi JazzJasper and welcome to this forum.

i assume your NS's are factory setuped.
change following settings...

Lower NS:
MIDI MENU
midi panel A/B channel: 1/1 (A=1, B=1)
midi prog change mode: SEND
midi ctrl change mode: OFF

Upper NS:
MIDI MENU
midi panel A/B channel: 2/2 (A=2, B=2)
midi prog change mode: RECIEVE
midi ctrl change mode: OFF

Lower NS:
following you must do for each PROGRAM on the NS...

EXTERN MENU
extern midi A/B channel: 2/2 (A=2, B=2)
extern midi A/B prog change: 1-128 (representing the different PROGRAMs on your upper NS)
extern midi A/B prog bank: 32
extern midi A/B send wheel: it's up to you! do you want the mod.wheel on the lower NS to control the upper NS?
extern midi A/B send A.touch: NO (probably you don't want this)
extern midi A/B send ctrlPed: YES
extern midi send on load: YES

make sure you save the PROGRAM (on the lower NS) with the EXTERN SECTION activated. control whether the upper NS should respond to pitch bend and sustain pedal directly with the buttons on the EXTERN SECTION (like Johannes wrote).

hope this helps!

Thanks guys that's really really helpful! I'm still getting to grips with it all. It now sustains and sends mod wheels etc but doesn't send the program changes. When I change from program 1:1 to 1:2 only the bottom keyboard changes program. Is this expected or am I doing something wrong?!

Also as a side, do you know if I can program the NS to change programs with a pedal? With other keyboards I use a patch change pedal to cycle through the programs. Is this possible with the NS?

Thanks for all your help so far, really appreciate it!

hmmm.... i would like to know how you have made your PROGRAMs on your lower NS.
let's statue an exempel.

1. chose the PROGRAM you want to play on your lower NS. let's pretend its 1:1.
2. activate/enable/turn on EXTERN SECTION
3. enter EXTERN MENU.
4. set,
extern midi A/B prog change: 1 (where 1 corresponding to program 1:1 on your upper NS.... 2 to program 1:2 and so on)
extern midi A/B prog bank: 32 (according to the manual this is the proper bank number)
extern midi send on load: YES
5. [EXIT] and [STORE] your program.

turn the value dial on both NS's to change programs. then turn the value dial on the lower NS back to program 1:1. your upper NS should now be changing program back to 1:1.... doesn't it??

JazzJasper wrote:Also as a side, do you know if I can program the NS to change programs with a pedal? With other keyboards I use a patch change pedal to cycle through the programs. Is this possible with the NS?

this Q has been up earlier on this forum. i'm sorry to say but this is not possible. the only way to make program changes is via MIDI.

Excellent, I've managed to do it! Thanks for the clear instructions both of you, very helpful.

I can't get it to send the volume changes which I guess is just a downfall of the NS. Not a major problem but just disappointing they didn't think about this when making the NS.

Thanks again, I'm sure I'll be back soon with more questions!

JazzJasper wrote:I can't get it to send the volume changes which I guess is just a downfall of the NS. Not a major problem but just disappointing they didn't think about this when making the NS.

Really?? I have no problem sending volume changes with the very accurately described way of setting up the Stage by toro.larsson (THE midi expert when it comes to the NS!). Should be working with the NS.

hi again!
do following...

On the upper NS:
MIDI MENU
MIDI Ctrl Change Mode: RECEIVE
[EXIT]

gets any better?

and thank you Johannes for your kind words!! :-)

Hi I'm trying to do something similar with a Nord Stage 3 selecting patches on an Electro6 but not playing the notes
I've tried working thru the above steps but it's not working. Please could you run through the set up to do this. Thank you

Not with my NS3 note, bit from memory: Use the extern section on panel A or B. Enable it but press shift on/off (zone) to select a non playing zone while it is still enabled - the zone LEDs will all be off but the other LEDs in the section will light up. Save it and you're good to go...