Output level. Again.

[RedLeo]

The Soundcraft actually has 60dB of gain available on the mic input and up to 45 dB of gain on the line input, which is more than plenty. How are you connecting to your digital interface, and where are your speakers connected? I think you are right, that it is not a fault with the Nord, but rather a problem with gain settings. I suspect that either you are not using enough gain on the input of the mixer, or you are not getting sufficient level to the input of your interface. You should also check the attenuation settings of your DI box (if it has any) - which is why you should eliminate your DI box as a possible problem. If that's not the case, then the problem may lie further down the signal chain ie somewhere after the input of your digital interface, perhaps a software setting.

However, this is all only a guess without knowing exactly how you have set things up, but it should help you to trace along the path from beginning to end till you spot where the problem lies. Alternatively, if you connect your Nord directly to your Soundcraft and you need to use a huge amount of gain boost to get a decent signal level, then that would indicate that the problem is with the Nord.

The best way to troubleshoot is to disconnect everything, then reconnect one thing at a time, starting with the Nord, and work your way along the signal path, setting levels and checking as you go along. That's a lot easier than trying to poke around a lot of gear all interconnected, you'll just end up guessing in the dark.

[Hambone]

The interface is only part of the record and playback loop right now. I have a CD player with digital out to the interface, to use its DAC, and then it can play back through the 2 channel playback of the mixer.

Right now the keys are still running into the balanced stereo inputs on the mixer with the gain all the way up to +20. I guess this input has a total of 30 decibels of gain, as it goes from -10 to +20.

[Hambone]

I previously had used the RME Babyface digital interface as my mixer (and preamp, because the analog line ins were the same for line in and mic and they went through a preamp). The main problem with it was that it had too few analog inputs, so I could only run the keys or mics but not both.

Now I'm trying to relegate it to strictly recording and midi interface duties.

[Hambone]

Right now the keys are still running into the balanced stereo inputs on the mixer with the gain all the way up to +20. I guess this input has a total of 30 decibels of gain, as it goes from -10 to +20.

Got it. I think I see the problem. I had assumed that you were running from the DI box into the mic inputs of the main channels (Channels 1 - 12). If you've been running the DI box into the line inputs of the stereo line channels (Ste 1 or 2), then you won't get nearly enough level going into the mixer. The outputs of a DI box are mic level and need to be plugged into a mic input. The line level inputs you are using are for connecting the Nord (or other keyboard) directly. Let me know if I've misunderstood what you are doing.

[Hambone]

So I took the direct box out of the equation and ran directly into the stereo inputs on the mixer. That made the improvement that I was expecting to the level. I'm now able to get proper levels with the input gain just over half way up, and the Nord Master Level most of the way up with a little to spare if needed. What bit of hiss I am able to hear now I have to attribute to the unavoidable sound one gets from any high powered amp/speakers.

Thanks so much for helping me figure out what the problem was with my routing. I now realize I spent way more than I needed to on unnecessary fancy cables to run with a high end DI that I didn't need. Oh well. Sounds good enough now.

But that perhaps leaves the original poster,Cinemafixer and maybe others still with issues? Not sure.

[hammondking]

Perhaps a bit off topic but I have an Electro3 and I need to use a clean boost pedal with my Motion Sound amp to get the tubes going at all. With all the Nord gains at max and the tube pre-gain at max as well I could just barely get any distortion. Clean boost pedal fixed it up, but shouldn't be necessary. In general my opinion is that the Nord output levels are about 6dB lower than similar boards, and for no really good reason that I'm aware of.

[soundguy]

Hey Guys,

Just been reading up on these threads, and I can also confirm the noise issue, I got my NS2 few months ago, and came to rehearsal tonight, and its all hissing. I obviously had little time to figure out why this was, all I had was outputs 1-2, two TRS jacks to 2 XLR inputs on the desk, just couldn't figure what the problem was, I came home and tried again, but with 2 TS jacks into 2 Line Level inputs on my M-BOX. But it still is hissing, a little less, but still very much there.

If i use the headphone output the sound is clean, no noise AT ALL.

Any other more ideas as to why this may be? is this normal with Nord Stage 2? or should i begin to worry that there is a problem with my instrument?

[RedLeo]

There is almost certainly nothing wrong with your Stage, it is just a case of understanding how to connect your instrument and set levels correctly. The fact that there is no noise when you use the headphone output indicates that there is nothing wrong with your Stage.

Without any details of what mixer you used at rehearsal or how you connected to it, it's impossible to be sure what you did, but the fact that you used TRS to XLR leads is a pretty clear indicator that you're doing something wrong. For a start, the Stage only has unbalanced outputs, so you should only use TS leads, never TRS leads. Secondly, if you plugged into the desk with XLR leads, it's almost certain that you are plugging into the wrong place. With all that going on, it's most likely that you have lost a lot of signal level somewhere and probably had to turn up your gains and levels on the mixer far too high in order to compensate, which would result in a very noisy signal as you have described. If you can tell us what mixer you use at rehearsal, I'm sure we can help you get connected properly and set your levels so that you don't have any noise problems.

I'm guessing that an M-BOX is some sort of interface? How have you been using the Stage before now? In other words, why are you only having a noise problem now after several months? Have you previously connected your Stage to the M-BOX or is this the first time of doing that?

As I'm pretty sure that there's nothing wrong with your Stage, I'm going to suggest that your problem with the M-BOX is also likely to be down to setting the gains and levels correctly.

[soundguy]

I appreciate the reply, I have had it for about three months now and so far only got back into rehearsals now. Currently what I am connecting it to is an old'ish Mackie 1604 VLZ its a 16ch desk with global phantom power. By the way, since the NS2 has un-balanced outputs, hopefully I didn't damage any of the circuitry when I was connecting it to the Mic inputs on the Mackie at the rehearsal, since that thing pushes 48V down every single Mic input.

My setup was the following: Outputs 1-2 From NS2 to two cheapish behringer DI's using two TRS - XLR cables, then out of DI's using two XLR cables into the desk, I tried lifting earth on the DI's and nothing happened, then tried to eliminate the DI's and go directly to the desk with the two TRS - XLR cables and still no change.

Yes the M-BOX is an audio interface, it has both XLR inputs, DI and Line Level inputs. I tried connecting it to the Line Level inputs on the M-BOX and the noise dropped off considerably, but I have no idea if this will be the same at the next rehearsal.

To be clear, do not confuse balanced LINE inputs with balanced MIC inputs. A DI box is for interfacing with balanced MIC inputs only and serves no purpose if your mixer has LINE inputs (balanced or unbalanced) that you can use. Most pro mixers that are used for FOH have balanced MIC inputs only, which is why a sound engineer will tell you (correctly) that you always need a DI box to connect to such a mixer.

So if I use a mixer that only has XLR inputs, how should i send the signal out of the NS2 and what cables should I use???

Thanks in advance.

[orcoaffamato]

Hi,

for my Nord C2D I use a Radial J+4 http://www.radialeng.com/j4.php to balance and boost the signal.
I don't have a mixer, so my setup is: TS cables form C2D to J+4 and then XLR/trs cables from the J+4 to the balanced line level inputs of my RME Fireface 802 audio interface.