Nord User Forum

I'm considering buying the Nord Drum 3p. Biggest draw is the reverb/delay parameter. Unfortunately, there's only 1 MIDI input. I'm wanting to connect more than 1 MIDI trigger, would this be possible through a MIDI interface? Also, I see that a contact microphone can be connected. Would the contact microphone only trigger effects, or would the sound of an acoustic drum be transmitted to the Drum 3p? My reason behind all of this is because I would like to take acoustic drums and put effects behind them such as delay and reverb. If I could connect multiple microphones to a MIDI interface, and modulate the acoustic drum noises, I will be purchasing the Drum 3p.

Hi Talmidimuc!
The Nord drum 3P cannot process external sounds, you can't use it as an fx unit.
The reverb or delay are only applied to the drum sounds that are internally generated by the 3p.

The 3p has 6 pads, for each you can program/select a different drum sound.
You can connect one external bass drum pedal/pad to trigger the sound of one of the 6 drum sounds, eg to trigger a bass drum sound with your foot.

A drum pad or trigger usually contains a piezo element, when you hit a drum pad with a stick or beater, the piezo inside outputs an electric spike signal which will trigger a drum sound in the 3p. Piezo's can be used as contact mics, but if you mount a piezo to an acoustic drum, and connect it to the trigger input of the 3p, you won't be hearing the acoustic drum sound coming out of the 3p. The trigger input on the 3p 'listens' to the signal coming in, and once it is strong enough the 3p will produce a drum sound. And if you hit the drum harder, the 3p will produce a louder sound. To get an impression of the kind of sounds the 3p can make, check the demo's on the Nord website.

MIDI is digital information, a way to let musical instruments and sequencers communicate with each other. There is no audio (digital nor analog) going thru MIDI cables. If you press a key on a keyboard, a message is sent from the MIDI output which tells which key is pressed, & how hard. If you have an ipad, you can use the Nord beat app to program drum patterns, create beats. Here also MIDI is used to trigger sounds in the Nord drum 3p.

Hope this helps..
Cheers,
Albert