Using 2 midi controllers with Stage 4

[abroyles]

Hi there. I am brand spanking new to the Nord world. I am needing to be able to use two MIDI controllers in a live situation where I'm playing the main keybed of the Nord and my bandmates are playing two additional keyboards each triggering their own layers. As far as I can tell, Aux KB only allows for one external keyboard to control a separate layer. And then when I tried to set it up using direct MIDI channels assigned to layers, the main keyboard is playing all of the layers at once, and I can't seem to get it to play just the piano without turning off the layers for the two controllers, since the local control feature is global and not assignable by section.

I apologize that this is a really basic question and would appreciate any help you can give.

[FZiegler]

Hi there,

this question isn't basic at all. In fact, you are the first here on the forum intending to spread keyboard controllers all over the band.

Already connecting two MIDI-ins to the Stage 4 isn't that easy. You could be the third if you set local to off and connect your MIDI-out to MIDI-in as well (looping MIDI into a single layer).

[MartinJ2EX]

It doesn’t really matter if it’s you or a fellow player, Stage 4 is not as fully featured as its predecessors when it comes to MIDI.

Although, this could easily be fixed by allowing local off per layer.

This is how it works now:
You can control each layer with its own MIDI channel from an external keyboard. However, the layer has to have an active key zone. Therefore, you will have to set up the zones as if you would play the part(s) yourself, and then your bandmate(s) can control this exact key zone.

With Stage 2 (EX) you could set each zone to local off while you could play the entire key range from an external controller set to the layer’s MIDICh. 6 different MIDI channels would control 6 different instrument layers, or Slot A or B independently while one of them was played locally.

With Stage 4 to only play a layer from an external keyboard and not with its own keybed, the layer(s) has/have to be set to AUX KB. Key zones can be set just as needed.
BUT: this results in Stage 4 being only able to accept one external keyboard / MIDI Ch.


A workaround that could work for you:
Bandmate 1 sends MIDI Ch 8, which is set to AUXKB and the layers are set up accordingly.
Bandmate 2 sends MIDI Ch x, sending to the appropriate instrument layer MIDI Ch, predefined in Layer Channels, depending on which layer you want to trigger.
This layer is set to the least needed split / key zone. Downside is that bandmate 2’s MIDI controller needs to be able to shift ~3-5 octaves to play the notes you would reach on Stage 4’s keybed and beyond…

Update: I had to remove "and beyond", because apparently the range you can control from an external keyboard is limited by the same key range as your Nord Stage 4 - in my case 88 keys, but maybe even less depending on the version (73/compact)
so you would have to sacrifice a key range where you could also play the sound yourself, and this zone could be played with the appropriate instrument layer Ch by bandmate 2.