Strange Noises or Artifacts in Sounds and Nord Upkeep

[Copia]

I’m placing this here for helpfulness for others who may encounter strange noises, irregular sounds cutting out, or unexpected sound blips or morse-code like “artifacts” in a Nord keyboard over time. I couldn’t find any information on this on the forum, and I was having this issue with my Nord Lead A1. My difficulty in immediately recognizing the source of the problem was that the unexpected irregularities in sound (morse-code like sound cutting out for me) was that the issue was intermittent. It would work with no issues for 20-30 minutes or so and then sporadically changes would begin with no apparent trigger.

I took it to a regional keyboard repair person who was eventually able to reproduce the issue. He cleaned out the mod-wheel, which was the source of one of the issues, and cleaned out one of the input channel jacks (he called it the CV input jack, but he may have meant control pedal input), and that corrected another sound irregularity he found.

He recommended that once a week I put a 1/4 inch cable into each of the jacks to clean out any dust that might settle there. He said over time this dust can accumulate and cause problems that affect the sound. So, I wanted to pass this overall advice along to the board, since I haven’t seen it up here.

Regular cleaning and maintenance of your Nord is essential, and it’s helpful for us to understand what may be affecting our instrument’s long-term performance and what we can do about it.

Best to all!
Copia

[Hlaalu]

Thanks for your kind report.
Inserting a plug would only spread the dust inside, it seems to me, rather than removing it. Wouldn't it better to vacuum it off with a Hoover?

[Copia]

That makes a lot of sense. I thought the same myself about it pushing the dust inside. So, I’m not really sure; maybe he thought it would catch some on the cable. The idea that he expressed was unused jacks collect dust over time, so it’s helpful to clean them. I like your idea for cleaning/upkeep.

[pablomastodon]

there are special burnishing devices out there in the marketplace made especially for the cleaning of 1/4" receptacles. usually ~US$40-50, they're not cheap, but they do the job.

bless, pablo

[Lofty]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JACKCAP-GIG- ... 1372437912
you may find this link useful, for protecting your jacks and and XLRs
Cheers
Tim