Korg DS1-H with Electro 6D problems. Losing Transients

[Pianoribs]

Hello! I got my new Electro 6D two days before yesterday and I had a spare Korg DS1-H laying around so I gave it a try. I didn't know honestly that DS1-H is a continuous sustain pedal. First it worked "okish" I can say. It was very sensitive, like when I raised the foot just a bit, the sustain stopped suddenly and sometimes it didn't hold the sustain, especially when I was doing rapid foot movements. I thought "ok, maybe it's not compatible with the keyboard, I'll buy the original Clavia sustain pedal".

Today when I booted up it seemed to work just fine but there is a caveat to this: the sound seems a bit dull like it lost some transients and not so 3D, the reverb seems muffled also (yesterday seemed so cristal clear). The thing is that this change in sound kept even after removing the pedal. Would it be possible that I messed up some settings within the keyboard by using this pedal? I just found out that Electro 6D only supports on/off sustain pedals. I don't know... I was thinking that maybe it didn't like so much the way the pedal was sending messages, and also it has a TRS connection not a TS one. So the ring and the sleeve might have caused some conflict inside the keyboard.

[FZiegler]

The Electro 6D is a digital instrument, not any sort of electromechanical. So I don't see a way to affect the overall sound only by plugging in or out any sustain pedal. If really something happend to the sound, it must have been something else - some of the knobs or buttons.

[Pianoribs]

The Electro 6D is a digital instrument, not any sort of electromechanical. So I don't see a way to affect the overall sound only by plugging in or out any sustain pedal. If really something happened to the sound, it must have been something else - some of the knobs or buttons.

Yeah, I understand what are you saying. That's why I feel it's very strange. I don't know how to explain it. It feels almost like the sound stays a bit sustained for a few milliseconds after I release the key and this is causing to lose the "bite" of the sound and also stops me from playing as fast as I could in the first few days. It's very subtle though. That's why I was asking... maybe somebody used the DS1-H pedal and had the same behaviour, or maybe there is someone from Nord technical support group active on this forum . I searched for all the settings, but it's nothing related to those. I also did a sound factory restore and a firmware restore as well. I ordered a Clavia Sustain Pedal just to check, maybe something has been triggered within the keyboard by having variable sustain voltages sent to it. Maybe by using the Clavia Nord Pedal it would reset those settings. Thank you for your reply!

[FZiegler]

No, once again: The pedal won't do anything to the Nord. There is no voltage sent from the pedal to the instrument. There is only a mismatch of the DS1-H specifications to those of the Electro sustain jack. And the automatic selection won't be able to find an exactly matching setting. The easiest thing is to connect a simple on/off sustain pedal like the Nord single pedal (or other less costy ones).

[Pianoribs]

No, once again: The pedal won't do anything to the Nord. There is no voltage sent from the pedal to the instrument. There is only a mismatch of the DS1-H specifications to those of the Electro sustain jack. And the automatic selection won't be able to find an exactly matching setting. The easiest thing is to connect a simple on/off sustain pedal like the Nord single pedal (or other less costy ones).

Ok... seems it's not because of that. I already purchased a Nord Sustain pedal and the sound didn't change at all. Anyway it doesn't sound like the demos I've heard all over youtube. It sounds muffled, with lack of depth and it doesn't have that initial transient. For example when I play a chord on some percussive sound it sounds like a "wall of sounds", it doesn't register each initial click for each note, it's really hard to explain... it sounds more like my Korg Vox Continental, but in a bad way. It doesn't have that snappiness. The reverb seems washed out and lacks detail. The lower notes are really fuzzy.
FZiegler, thank you for the response! I see that you are very active on other posts such as this one: general-nord-forum-f29/dsp-and-future-m ... 60-20.html . I might create a new post because it seems like a different issue.
Do you think they already changed the dsp and that may be the cause? Mine it came with the latest os version already installed: 2.6.2 . These are the release notes for this release : v2.62 (2022-07-01) Accomodates production component change. I would downgrade the OS to other versions, but if some components have been changed I'm afraid I might brick it.

I would be very pissed off if this is what is causing my keyboard to act like this. I'm on the verge of sending it back. I'm really disappointed... I wanted to buy a Nord for so long...

[Pianoribs]

I don't know anything about newer NE6 OS releases, didn't play a NE6 for the last 2 years. But I'd wonder if your problem was OS related.

I don't think that your issue needs to be hardware related, either.

I'd rather look into the amplification chain. Nord sounds are quite demanding concerning speaker systems. When I bought my NS3, I had a Yamaha Stagepas 400i, but wasn't happy at all with the sound. Somewhat like you described. Maybe, you should check the famous Amplification FAQ from cphollis:
accessories-and-amplification-f8/nord-a ... 16772.html

You might need to keep in mind that you'll need
a) stereo amplification
b) the full frequency range
c) raw transients being transferred
to fully enjoy the Nord acoustic piano sounds.

Plus be aware that the programs in your new NE6 are only some example studies: You'll need to form and shape your own sounds.

[Pianoribs]

+1 on last Fziegler's reply, I own a recent NE& and had no issue whatsoever with it, even with the latest OS.

How are you listening to your NE6 (headphones and which type, other amplification,...)?

Have you tried just with an Init program and/or with no sustain pedal connected at all?

[Pianoribs]

I don't know anything about newer NE6 OS releases, didn't play a NE6 for the last 2 years. But I'd wonder if your problem was OS related.

I don't think that your issue needs to be hardware related, either.

I'd rather look into the amplification chain. Nord sounds are quite demanding concerning speaker systems. When I bought my NS3, I had a Yamaha Stagepas 400i, but wasn't happy at all with the sound. Somewhat like you described. Maybe, you should check the famous Amplification FAQ from cphollis:
accessories-and-amplification-f8/nord-a ... 16772.html

You might need to keep in mind that you'll need
a) stereo amplification
b) the full frequency range
c) raw transients being transferred
to fully enjoy the Nord acoustic piano sounds.

Plus be aware that the programs in your new NE6 are only some example studies: You'll need to form and shape your own sounds.

Hmm... that's interesting. I'm playing the NE6 through my old studio monitors, a 2.1 system from Blue Sky that's around 300W. There should be plenty of power and frequency spectrum as they go down to 20HZ. The signal is being sent to my Antelope Zen Tour audio interface with some good quality Oyaide cables and from there to the studio monitors through Vovox cables. When I say I'm checking against recordings from youtube, I'm testing through the same interface on the same monitors. The convertors from Antelope Audio are quite transparent, but I don't seem to get the same sound as I'm hearing in the demos from youtube. It seems also that the sound is a bit more spread and lacks focus, almost like a L/R phasing issue. Thank you for the link reference. I'll take a look on it.

+1 on last Fziegler's reply, I own a recent NE& and had no issue whatsoever with it, even with the latest OS.

How are you listening to your NE6 (headphones and which type, other amplification,...)?

Have you tried just with an Init program and/or with no sustain pedal connected at all?

Hi, maxpiano! You can check my chain in the message from above this quote. I listened to the headphones as well, and I still have the same feeling. I tried using the keyboard with with and without the pedal connected and there's not a big difference. Can you please elaborate what do you mean by an Init Program? Should I try to create a preset from scratch on an empty slot? Thank you for your input. I'm glad to hear that other recent NE6 owners don't have the same issue as I think I do. It means that it might be something wrong with my system. The fact that it sounds dull also on headphones make me think that I might have some electricity problems. I don't have any hum noise or dimming lights, the voltage is quite stable (I also have an online UPS), but is there a possibility that I have an underpowered electrical circuit? I have 16A circuit breakers for the studio room, maybe that might be the culprit.

[maxpiano]

Yes I mean creating a preset from scratch using the Sound Init function + I assume you are connecting the headphones directly to the NE6 Headphones out when testing, correct?