Ultimate NORD Stage MIDI Pedal Board

[guentergunter]

I finally got my Nord Stage 3 (compact 73)

So, it's time for another ultimate MIDI pedal board

The board - ready to use

board.jpg (529.96 KiB) Viewed 292 times

MIDI based, it's compatible to any equipment - although of course adapted to the Stage 3.
It's connected by (almost) one single cable only, instead of 4.

The velocity dependent piano pedal is a Nord Stage 3 special feature - until now only possible with the original Nord Triple Pedal)
But the original Nord Triple Pedal is simply too big, too heavy and too expensive to consider buying
Finally, after two days of heavy experimental engineering, I found out how to reproduce the effect with MIDI-CC.
Thanks to DrNeurus and maxpiano for their initial work!


What the board actually does:

1. Velocity- and half-press-dependent Damper control
2. Leslie rotor changer (slow / fast)
3. Expression
4. Swell

Two initial drawbacks:

1. The Nord Stage 3 does NOT support the program up/down functionality via MIDI. A separate (TRS) cable is needed.
   -> can only be solved by Clavia (come on guys!)
2. The pedal board needs power for the micro-controller to operate.
   -> I took the power from the Nord's internal power supply through the MIDI-cable

I know solution 2 is not defined in the MIDI specs and the Nord's varanty is void.
But I think it's technically safe and I the board is always powered alongside with the Keyboard without another cable, battery or power plug.

- - - - - -

An Arduino Micro (Pro Micro) translates pedal positions into MIDI messages.

Here's the source code:

Code: Select all

// Arduino Micro program code to operate the pedal-board


#define MIDI_Channel 0


// PCB pin numbers

#define damper_           A0
#define rotary_           3
#define expression_       A1
#define swell_            A2
//#define up_             4    // Don't forget to remove comment in 'loop'
//#define down_           5    // Don't forget to remove comment in 'loop'


// the variables

uint8_t   i = 0;

int       damper = 1;                 // Roland DP-10
int       damper_last = 1;
int       damper_dist[7] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};        // may contain negative numbers
int       damper_speed = 0;
uint8_t   rotary = 1;                 // Yamaha FC-5
uint8_t   rotary_last = 1;
int       expression = 1;             // Yamaha FC-7 
int       expression_last = 1;
uint8_t   swell = 1;                  // Korg EXP-2
uint8_t   swell_last = 1;
uint8_t   up = 1;                     // Iron foot button on the right
uint8_t   up_last = 1;
uint8_t   down = 1;                   // Iron foot button on the left
uint8_t   down_last = 1;

uint8_t   cmdByte;
uint8_t   Byte1;
uint8_t   Byte2;


void send_MIDI_message (byte cmd, byte byte1, byte byte2)
{
  Serial1.write(cmd + MIDI_Channel);
  Serial1.write(byte1);
  Serial1.write(byte2);
}



void setup()
{
  pinMode(rotary_, INPUT);
  pinMode(rotary_, INPUT_PULLUP);
/*
  pinMode(up_, INPUT);
  pinMode(up_, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(down_, INPUT);
  pinMode(down_, INPUT_PULLUP);
*/

  Serial1.begin(31250);     // UART-Serial for MIDI
//  Serial.begin(9600);       // USB Serial for memory monitoring
}



void loop()
{

// CATCH SYSTEM STATE

  // ADCs have 10 Bit (0 ... 1023)

  damper =  analogRead(damper_);                  // first readout
  
  rotary = digitalRead(rotary_);
  
  expression =  analogRead(expression_);          // ! dead centre: 655 ... 690 !
  if (expression < 690)                           // hyteresis for dead centre
  { expression = constrain (expression, 0, 655); }
  else
  { expression = map (expression, 690, 1023, 656, 1023); }
  
  swell =  map ( constrain( (analogRead(swell_)) , 48, 1018), 48, 1018, 127, 0 ) ;

//  up = digitalRead(up_);
//  down = digitalRead(down_);

  i++;
  if (i >= 7) { i = 0; }
  damper_dist[i] = damper - analogRead(damper_);  // second readout
  damper =  map ( damper, 0, 1030, 0, 2 ) ;


// CHECK FOR MOVEMENTS, AND IN CASE: REACT

  if (damper != damper_last)
  {
    damper_speed = 0;
    for (uint8_t j = 0; j < 7; j++)
    {
      damper_speed += damper_dist[j];
    }
    damper_speed /= 7;
    damper_speed = map (constrain (damper_speed, -15, 15), -16, 16, -5, 5 );
    
    if (damper == 1)
    {                 // pedal noise when pressing the pedal
      damper_speed = 27 + (damper_speed*(-3) );     // values: 27 ... 42
      send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 64, damper_speed);
      send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 64, 127);
    } else {          // pedal noise when releasing the pedal
      damper_speed = 10 + (damper_speed*2) ;        // values: 10 ... 18
      send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 64, damper_speed);
      send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 64, 0);
    }
    damper_last = damper;
  }

  if (rotary != rotary_last)
  {
    send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 108, (127 - (rotary * 84)));  // 0=stop , 43=slow , 127=fast
    rotary_last = rotary;
  }

  if (expression != expression_last)
  {
    send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 11,  map ( expression, 0, 1023, 0, 127 ) );
    expression_last = expression;
  }

  if (swell != swell_last)
  {
    send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 4, swell);
    swell_last = swell;
  }


/*
  if (up != up_last)
  {
    send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 31, (127 * up));

    up_last = up;
  }

  if (down != down_last)
  {
    send_MIDI_message(0xB0, 32, (127 * down));

    down_last = down;
  }
*/

}

And here's the

hardware wiring diagram.pdf

(67.11 KiB) Downloaded 12 times

wiring.jpg (575.17 KiB) Viewed 291 times

- - - - - -

Ready to rock

Connected to the Stage

WITH THE NORD.jpg (480.06 KiB) Viewed 6807 times

Hope you enjoy and maybe discover some new information

[Mr_-G-]

Thank you. Very nice project.
One observation: you have only 1 switch in the diagram, but the photos show 2.

[guentergunter]

Thank you. Very nice project.
One observation: you have only 1 switch in the diagram, but the photos show 2.

There are actually even 3 switches

• 1x Rotor control (Yamaha FC 5)
• 2x metal foot button

Since there's no possibility to do the program up/down via midi (yet), I only connected the FC5 to the Arduino - and the foot buttons directly to a TRS-Plug.

The good thing: If ever Clavia decides to implement program up/down via MIDI, it’s easy to solder the foot buttons to the Arduino instead and update the Arduino program (10 mins work).


I updated the wiring diagram in the first post for clarity

[Quai34]

Does the TRS program up and down works when two programs are consecutive? If program 1 is verse and program two chorus, you use it back and forth to switch from verse to chorus right? This is the goal....?

[Quai34]

Also, where did you find your carbon plate?

[infi99]

Very cool Arduino project!
If i had unlimited money I would buy Clavia

[guentergunter]

Does the TRS program up and down works when two programs are consecutive? If program 1 is verse and program two chorus, you use it back and forth to switch from verse to chorus right? This is the goal....?

Honestly I don’t know.

But that should be found in the Nord’s manual.
My board delivers the pure function of a connected dual foot pedal board like the BOSS FS-6.

[Quai34]

Ok, yes, that was my question, the bossFS-6 is the one I think I would buy when I will have my Stage 3.
Also, did you see my question about where you bought your carbon plate to put all the pedals on it?

[guentergunter]

Also, where did you find your carbon plate?

eBay (Carbon plate)

[guentergunter]

Very cool Arduino project!
If i had unlimited money I would buy Clavia

I suppose the development to be much more expensive