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vcfvca wrote:It will only work with the Electros as they have the External to Lo option. The Electro accepts MIDI on the External channel and provides Pitch Bend. My box was designed to allow me split the Electro without using a 2nd board. It does a whole lot of other stuff like vibrato and mono mode.
A great option is to get a Roland APRO 800. It worked great as a 2nd board.
I built V2 of the Electrobox - but the parts cost nearly as much as a 2nd board!
Your project is amazing!
It does much more than what a second keyboard can do via midi... especially vibrato and mono mode.
Could it also work on the Electro 5? There would be some small differences with the Electro 6 in the midi management of the second keyboard...
Are you thinking of selling a model?
If yes, how much could it cost (including shipping to Italy)?
Thanks in advance.
vcfvca wrote:It will only work with the Electros as they have the External to Lo option. The Electro accepts MIDI on the External channel and provides Pitch Bend. My box was designed to allow me split the Electro without using a 2nd board. It does a whole lot of other stuff like vibrato and mono mode.
A great option is to get a Roland APRO 800. It worked great as a 2nd board.
I built V2 of the Electrobox - but the parts cost nearly as much as a 2nd board!
Your project is amazing!
It does much more than what a second keyboard can do via midi... especially vibrato and mono mode.
Could it also work on the Electro 5? There would be some small differences with the Electro 6 in the midi management of the second keyboard...
Are you thinking of selling a model?
If yes, how much could it cost (including shipping to Italy)?
Thanks in advance.
It should work with the Electro 5 as it supports Ext to Lo.
A commercial version would cost around £150. If you compare it to Crumar products like the Drawbar controllers you see there is a lot of engineering and manufacturing to create a professional product.
The latest version uses a stomp box by Hammond that retails for about £20 and a quality joystick is also expensive.
And remember the Electro7 will be out next year and that will have Mono mode, Portamento and vibrato in the synth section. If they don’t put a pitch stick on it they could implement Pitch Bend via the Contol Pedal as found on the Rolands. Works well but you only get pitch bend up or down.
I am considering posting the code and parts on my blog. I’ll put a link here if I do.
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vcfvca wrote:
It should work with the Electro 5 as it supports Ext to Lo.
A commercial version would cost around £150. If you compare it to Crumar products like the Drawbar controllers you see there is a lot of engineering and manufacturing to create a professional product.
The latest version uses a stomp box by Hammond that retails for about £20 and a quality joystick is also expensive.
And remember the Electro7 will be out next year and that will have Mono mode, Portamento and vibrato in the synth section. If they don’t put a pitch stick on it they could implement Pitch Bend via the Contol Pedal as found on the Rolands. Works well but you only get pitch bend up or down.
I am considering posting the code and parts on my blog. I’ll put a link here if I do.
First of all thanks for the quick reply.
I don't know if your device can work indifferently on electro 5 or 6: the electro 5 doesn't have the EXT TO LO function and the midi management of the upper and lower part is different with an external keyboard... I read something about it, but it can also be verified from the user manuals... I will go deeper.
The price you would offer for the box is excellent: if it really worked, I would be seriously interested in buying.
From your words, however, it seems that you almost want to discourage the matter, thinking about the next release of the Nord Electro 7... we'll talk about it again.
Thank you again!
Last edited by ziberto on 15 Aug 2023, 16:25, edited 1 time in total.
These users thanked the author ziberto for the post:
Your project looks amazing — I’d really love to recreate it myself and understand how your module works.
If you’re still around, could you please share a bit more about it? I’d really appreciate your help.
1. Could you share the Arduino code you used for handling pitch bend, modulation, and MIDI output?
2. And if possible, any technical details or wiring notes (like which components or microcontroller you used) would be super helpful.
Thanks so much in advance — your project is really inspiring!
mytype4 wrote: ↑12 Oct 2025, 14:25
Hi deenigewouter,
Your project looks amazing — I’d really love to recreate it myself and understand how your module works.
If you’re still around, could you please share a bit more about it? I’d really appreciate your help.
1. Could you share the Arduino code you used for handling pitch bend, modulation, and MIDI output?
2. And if possible, any technical details or wiring notes (like which components or microcontroller you used) would be super helpful.
Thanks so much in advance — your project is really inspiring!
