Ocean Beach Drawbars on Electro 5 for B3 kb split?

[Tracii]

Hopefully the manual for the DB-1 might help - it doesn't mention the NE5

Yeah, that was the reason why I dug up this thread. The manual is silent on the Electro 5, but maybe someone has done it successfully.

I think that it will work so that I can use the NE5's drawbars for its own manual and the db-1 for my lower manual - but at more that 200€ used, that's quite a gamble.

[Blueguitar007]

A bit late to the party, but I am about to pick up a used db-1 module to act as upper or lower (I don't care) drawbars for my NE5D in B3 split mode.

Does this work? Has anybody gotten it right?

I'm asking because I see that the MIDI CC numbers are identical for both sets of drawbars on the Electro 5 (as opposed to earlier versions, where there were designated ones).

The B3+Bass mode you just hit the preset 1 bass and preset 2 regular organ.
The bass is a heavier sound than normal and only let's you use the first two drawbars.
An additional set of drawbars wouldn't be needed IMO.
The presets are good for having two drawbar settings to switch back and forth also.
If course the actual drawbars won't move but you see the representation of both organ drawbars on the LED panel. It's pretty nifty actually.

[Tracii]

The B3+Bass mode you just hit the preset 1 bass and preset 2 regular organ.
The bass is a heavier sound than normal and only let's you use the first two drawbars.

No no, I'm talking about the midi split (dual keyboard) mode, not the B3+Bass mode.

The db-1 arrived last week, and it works perfectly with my Electro 3 as a lower drawbar controller (as in the digital drawbars on the Electro control the upper set and the db-1 controls the lower set). Very powerful!

Tonight I'm going to try to get it to work with my Electro 5. Fingers crossed...

[Tracii]

So - no success with the 5D. Or only partial success.

I managed to control the Electro's drawbars via the db-1. However, that only worked for the part in focus. Even by closely and repeatedly following the manual I did not get to a point where the db-1 consistently controlled one part and only that part, regardless of which one is in focus. Both the digital drawbars on the Electro and the db-1 always ended up controlling the same part.

Now, what I did was: always using the digital drawbars for Part Upper and the db-1 for Part Lower, and switching to the part I wanted to adjust. That allowed me to keep the drawbars and the settings in sync, but I always had to check for the focus beforehand.

I'll play around with the MIDI settings some more, and I have written to Ocean Beach. We'll see!

[Tracii]

So - no success with the 5D. Or only partial success.

I managed to control the Electro's drawbars via the db-1. However, that only worked for the part in focus. Even by closely and repeatedly following the manual I did not get to a point where the db-1 consistently controlled one part and only that part, regardless of which one is in focus. Both the digital drawbars on the Electro and the db-1 always ended up controlling the same part.

Now, what I did was: always using the digital drawbars for Part Upper and the db-1 for Part Lower, and switching to the part I wanted to adjust. That allowed me to keep the drawbars and the settings in sync, but I always had to check for the focus beforehand.

I'll play around with the MIDI settings some more, and I have written to Ocean Beach. We'll see!

If you want to control the Lower manual drawbars I think you should set the CHANNEL LOWER RECEIVE on NE5 to a given channel (different from Global) and set the DB-1 on the same one, is this what you are doing?

[Tracii]

If you want to control the Lower manual drawbars I think you should set the CHANNEL LOWER RECEIVE on NE5 to a given channel (different from Global) and set the DB-1 on the same one, is this what you are doing?

Yes, that and then some. The MIDI channel on the db-1 is set by playing some notes while it is in "learn mode" and connected to the board(s). I think I've tried every conceivable permutation, but I'll try again next time.

[Tracii]

If you want to control the Lower manual drawbars I think you should set the CHANNEL LOWER RECEIVE on NE5 to a given channel (different from Global) and set the DB-1 on the same one, is this what you are doing?

Yes, that and then some. The MIDI channel on the db-1 is set by playing some notes while it is in "learn mode" and connected to the board(s). I think I've tried every conceivable permutation, but I'll try again next time.

Wait... if you play notes they are sent on the Global Channel, not on the Lower Receive, so to send on Lower you should rather set the DB-1 manually (via its editor).

What are your current MIDI settings on NE5 for Global, Lower and Upper?

[Tracii]

Wait... if you play notes they are sent on the Global Channel, not on the Lower Receive, so to send on Lower you should rather set the DB-1 manually (via its editor).

What are your current MIDI settings on NE5 for Global, Lower and Upper?

I would be happy enough if I could make the db-1 control any one part, but that part consistently. It needn't be Lower.

I tried it by playing notes on my second manual (Doepfer d3m) which sends on the Upper Split Channel (1). Global is 3, Upper Receive is 1, Lower Receive 2. However, it did not work as intended. I also tried turning Global off, didn't help. And I tried setting the db-1 to Global, and then turning Global off and setting Lower / Upper Receive to that (of course not at the same time).

I tend to think that I'm missing something here, but as I said, I will try again.

[Tracii]

Here's their reply (which came back amazingly quick):

Hi Fabian,

Looks like the Electro 5 and Nord C1/C2 use the same CC mapping, so I bet you could solve this by

1) make sure Nord 5D is using different midi channels for upper and lower, and if this instrument supports a global channel, it’s set to something different from these

2) put the DB-1 in C1/C2 configuration (see DB-1 user manual)

3) “train” the DB-1 for whichever organ manual you want it to control using learn mode (also in manual).

Regards,

Dave

So maxpiano was onto something here. I'll start over fresh next time.

[ericL]

I'm so glad that OB Dave got back with you so quickly. He's a friend of mine and is an awesome person. He stopped making the drawbars a few years ago, yet here he is still providing support to users!

Good luck with the latest efforts to make them work as you want them to work.