Control NS2 with external keyboard?

[arvidsson]

Hi,
Tried search in forums but didn't know exactly what to search for.Couldn't find anything relevant. Topic has probably been discussed before..
Anyways.. as the title says.. Can I use an external keyboard and assign NS2 programs/sounds to it? For example I want full piano sounds on my NS2 and organ program only on my external.

Thanks in advance!

/A

[arvidsson]

I'm sure this has been discussed before...

But if you can't find it in the forum, it's very well described in the Manual under "MIDI menu"

[offrhodes]

Hi,

here's the manual
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/sites/defa ... on%20B.pdf

See chapter 4, "Dual KB" section.

[jazzystu]

Yes you can, and it's great. You can have a 2 manual organ, or have a full 88 note Rhodes and clavinet. If you use an unweighted keyboard, you can really have the best of both worlds.

I did this for about 3 times and I just couldn't be bothered with it.

If you get something with programmable velocity curves, you can get your new keyboard to beat the nord in terms of playability. There was one setting which made my controller keyboard feel exactly like my old Rhodes.

[Gospelkeys]

Yes - I do this all time. My top tier board is a Kronos X 61 - I use that for organ and play piano / EP on the NS2EX. Easy to set up and works great.

Lately I have been running my NS2EX organ through a Leslie Studio 12 at gigs. Sounds spectacular.

At a gig recently a Kronos owner came up to me on break and demanded I give him the Kronos organ program I was using as he was never able to get his Kronos CX3 to sound that good. He was very disappointed when I told him the Kronos was just controlling the NS2EX.

[john_nick]

Very easy to set up. I have a Samson Graphite 49 Keyboard Controller as second keyboard. Beautiful action and low cost. Midi cable from Samson to NS2. I assign second keyboard to use Slot B and whatever programme is stored there.

[magic_dillitzer]

Same for my setup: I always have an unweighted keyboard (Doepfer d3m) on top of my Stage for playing the organ-module or the synth. As this setup in terms of MIDI is fix, I don't use the Dual-functionality. The stage-modules for playing with the upper keyboard (organ, synth) are permanently set to corresponding MIDI-Channels. It always works perfectly.

[offrhodes]

BTW did you know about the "Organ keyboard: Trig point" option in the system menu?
It makes the keys respond with less travel, so the action is faster and it's easier to do back hand or elbow smears across the keyboard (tested on Stage 2 EX 88). The required travel distance shortens by a couple of mm.

Internally, there are two contacts in each key to sense velocity. Organ doesn't care about velocity, so you can (optionally, using the HIGH setting) make it trigger on the first switch.

Latency is one reason why I'd think twice about using an external keyboard:
MIDI is stone age technology and adds several milliseconds of latency that are avoided when playing the built-in keyboard.
Personally, I'm fairly happy with the hammer action also for organ.

[arvidsson]

Thanks a lot for you feedback everyone! Great input. The Samson Graphite 49 Keyboard looks really nice and comes with a fair price. Will definetely fill my needs Will probably go for that or something similar.

[offrhodes]

Note, 49 keys is one octave shorter than the traditional (Hammond) 61 key manual or typical synth.
If you intend to use a two-tier keyboard stand, double-check that the stand isn't too wide for it.