Nord User Forum

I have a problem with using sustainpedal in the external section. I have my Stage 2 SW73's Extern Midi channel set to 16, which is the only channel that my vocoder EHX V256 recognizes. The extern transmits notes as it should, but regardless of SUSTPED LED being lit or not, there's no change whether I'm pressing my sustain pedal or not, the notes always end when I lift my finger from the keyboard.

I tried using other Midi devices, such as Korg MS-20 Mini (not sure should it response to sustain pedal) and Korg Volca Bass (this should response) but got the same reaction, or lack of one.

I tried to go through the Midi and Extern settings, but got nowhere...

Any ideas?

(btw, my sus.ped. works very well with S2 )

I can use the sustain pedal with my NS2 in the external section without a problem (hooked to a JX-8P).
Here is an idea. Check what comes out of the MIDI (or USB) connector with a MIDI monitor program when you press the pedal (so you need to connect it to a computer) If the sustain bytes are being sent out, then it is the receiving end that is not recognising the message (or it does not support it).
The sustain pedal should generate: [Channel, 64, 0] for OFF and [Channel, 64,127] for ON.

Thanks for suggestion, I downloaded this http://obds.free.fr/midimon/ and it showed that sustain pedal worked just as you described, but it also did something on cc channel 82 and showed Gen. Purpose 7 with value 127 when I pressed the sustain pedal. I wonder if that is causing the trouble, or is just normal? I pasted the hexadecimal values that the midimon wrote to "Events History" underneath, if they help in any way.

B0 40 7F Control Change Hold 1 127 Channel 1
B0 52 00 Control Change Gen. Purpose0 Channel 1
B0 40 00 Control Change Hold 1 0 Channel 1

It seems to be OK. Have a look here:
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php
Damper pedal is Hex 40, so 7F is 127 (on) and 00 is off
Not sure why it outputs the 52 00 on channel 1. That might be the coarse volume (controller 7?), but I am not sure. I cannot check right now in my NS2.

Are you absolutely sure the EH supports damper pedal? Does the documentation include a MIDI implementation chart so you can check?

http://www.ehx.com/products/v256/instructions

It should. I tested V256 with another midi keyboard but with similar results. I think that my V256 might be faulty...

Well, I just have to practise my singing-playing intonation

Yes, it looks like it shoud, but it says "internal synth":
CC 64 Internal Synth Sustain: 0-127

At tabout 3:28 :

It says that there is an "internal synthesizer", so you can plug only a mic and play (no carrier needed).
So perhaps the sustain only works in that mode.

The vocoder modulator is the voice, not the carrier (the instrument you plug in), so the envelope followers will follow the voice and you sustain the sound by singing longer. If there is carrier sound (sustain on) that will be processed as long as you sing.
It seems that you want a "freeze" function on the voice input? Something like a delay "hold" in the microphone path before it connects to the v256.
I bet that your unit is working fine.

I use the internal synthesizer, with midi. I would like to play a note (or a chord) with S2, then press sustain pedal and lift my hands and just sing/speak (exaggerated example). Now the moment when I lift my fingers when I've pushed the sustain pedal, the sound stops even though I sing/speak.

Oh I see. That is with the internal synth as carrier, not using the NS2 sound...

One last thing, the unit also responds to CC7:
CC 7 Internal Synth Volume: 0-127
And when you press the pedal, the vol (General purpose controller 7) is set to 0, according to the MIDI messages you recorded above.
I am not sure if the two are the same, but maybe you can try what happens if you set the NS2 Extern section to "Volume" and move the Level dial clockwise? You might want to record that in the MIDI monitor too.

If that makes no different there might be a problem with the vocoder. Maybe drop EHX an email and ask them.

From checking the documentation, your vocoder should be able to do what you want as you've described. It's very unlikely that your vocoder is faulty, as a software/firmware fault would likely show far worse symptoms than just the sustain not working. It's still worth checking with EHX just in case the MIDI spec is wrong, or the pedal's firmware does not actually function as described in the manual, though that's a bit of a long shot.

Just fishing in the dark here, but I'm wondering a couple of things:

1.

MrSitcom wrote:I tried using other Midi devices, such as Korg MS-20 Mini (not sure should it response to sustain pedal) and Korg Volca Bass (this should response) but got the same reaction, or lack of one.

Do you mean that you plugged these synths into the External section and they (or the Volca at least) did not respond to sustain pedal messages from your Nord?

2.

MrSitcom wrote:B0 40 7F Control Change Hold 1 127 Channel 1
B0 52 00 Control Change Gen. Purpose0 Channel 1
B0 40 00 Control Change Hold 1 0 Channel 1

This seems to suggest that your sustain pedal is transmitting on channel 1 rather than 16.

If both the above are true, then that would suggest the problem lies with the sustain pedal information not being transmitted correctly in the first place. Unfortunately, I have no idea how you could test this unless you have any other synths you could try it with.

Also, have you tried listening to the internal synth in your EHX rather than just the vocoder/effected sound to make absolutely sure the internal synth is not sustaining?

Finally, have you tried sending it any othe MIDI data (other than note data) to see if it responds correctly to that? For example, you could try sending it Program Changes from your External section and see if it does what it should.

These probably aren't the most useful suggestions in the world, but there's at least a possibility that trying them might shed some light on what's going wrong.