NS3 Arpeggiator Behavior

[AZ_Nord]

I own two Stage 3s (both played live in differing regions of the country). One of our songs uses the arpeggiator extensively. In this song, I have the arp set to span 3 octaves, down-to-up, using the Master Clock set at 232 bpm. KB Sync is active (to micro-adjust for live playing tempo).

Both keyboards are set up identically. In fact, the program was directly copied from one NS3 to the other, and doublechecked.

Curiously (and annoyingly in this case) the two Stage 3 arps behave differently. Specifically:

• One NS3 arp ALWAYS starts on the lowest note. [This is exactly what I want. Predictable.]

• The other NS3 arp starts on any note in the pattern (based on what I do not know). So, if a single key is depressed, it might start on the 1st, OR 2nd, OR 3rd octave. Unpredictable. Note, changing KB Sync does not affect this.

So, questions...

Why might the 2 NS3 arps behave differently?
Which NS3 is doing it "correctly?"
Is there a fix (to get a predictable start on the lowest note)? I hope I'm just missing something.

Thanks for any help with this!

[cgrafx]

make sure both are running the same firmware/OS release

[AZ_Nord]

Make sure KEYBOARD SYNC is switched ON.

[AZ_Nord]

Thank you for the replies so far. Much appreciated.

Ivan - Thanks. KB Sync is switched ON for both keyboards.
cgrafx - Good thought and...I think you are on to something. The NS3 that behaves predictably is V2.20. The other (unpredictable) one is V2.22.

I checked the OS update history and found this: For V2.22, it says "Keyboard Sync for Master Clock would not always work as expected after using the sustain pedal. Fixed "
Hard to tell exactly what either the problem or the fix was, but it suggests the way KB Sync and the Master Clock interact is or was affected by the sustain pedal. Could be pertinent.

I checked my arp engine program and sure enough it uses sustain pedal (which btw is unneeded in my case).

So, I'll try a few things:

• Update both keyboards to the same/latest OS

• Make sure the sustain pedal is OFF from the arp's synth engine

I'll need to travel across country to reach my other keyboard, so it'll take me some days to report back. Thanks.

[baekgaard]

I think the difference was as to whether holding down the sustain pedal would reset the master clock when you press a new chord or if it would require you to release the sustain pedal first before pressing a new chord to reset the master clock, IIRC. Or some such

Make sure you update both to 2.54.

[AZ_Nord]

baekgaard - I think you nailed it and your comment really helped.

On the V2.20 machine, I played around with it all morning. I now understand what was stumping me was the interaction of the sustain pedal with the Master Clock. Mid-morning, I updated from V2.20 to V2.54 and the interaction seems gone (for my settings anyway). KB Sync is ON so the Master Clock and arp's note pattern now seem to reset predictably each time a key is pressed, and the way it resets now seems unaffected by prior use of the sustain pedal. Oh happy day.

I'll need to prove this out on the other keyboard, but I already sense this issue is solved.

But...it was a bit subtle. In retrospect, I figure I got snagged by copying from one machine to the other without keeping the OS versions in sync. Lesson learned. Couldn't have solved this without the help here. Many thanks!!