Nord User Forum

My Dutch friend, you've solved the mystery. It was defaulted to send MIDI to itself.

I'm so relived!

Thanks so much. Maybe next time we can actually talk about the Wave!

NOO!!! I spoke too fast!

I can now successfully turn local to "off." However, I can't assign the MIDI Ctrl for Slot A and Slot B. I have my controller set to Channel 10, and Slot A and Slot B set to be controlled by Channel 10, but there is no sound. I'm certain the controller is sending the signal on Channel 10, because I'm able to control the Tempest when it is set to Channel 10 as well.

I can't find any settings with the iConnect software that would control this (basically, everything is set to receive all signals, EXCEPT, of course, the Nord will does not accept inputs FROM the Nord (so I'm able to turn Local off).

Would there be any troubleshooting within the Nord that you might know of? Or would this necessarily be something within the MIDI interface that I'm overlooking?

Thanks!



Only when I set the Nord to Bi-Timb am I able to play one of the Slots from Channel 10. However, I'm still trying

OscBombs wrote:NOO!!! I spoke too fast!

Uh-oh...

OscBombs wrote:Only when I set the Nord to Bi-Timb am I able to play one of the Slots from Channel 10. However, I'm still trying

I think it works like this:

1. If MIDI Channel is set to Bi-Timb, the Wave more or less treats the two slots as independent synthesizers, which each have their own MIDI channel as set by the MIDI Ctrl A/B Channel option in the MIDI menu. They could use the same MIDI channel, but it makes more sense to give them a different one; if you really wanted both slots to make sound at the same time, it seems more logical to me to assign a channel to the MIDI Channel setting (instead of Bi-Timb) and set slots A/B to Auto.
2. If the MIDI Channel is not set to Bi-Timb but has a MIDI channel assigned to it, the Wave takes MIDI data arriving on the channel assigned to the MIDI Channel option, then uses the state of the Slot A/B enable buttons to determine which slot should receive those MIDI messages and then sends them.

With option I, you send MIDI to the channels configured for the individual slots. Again, since you're treating them as different synthesizers, it makes most sense to use different slots for them. You select which slot makes sound by sending MIDI to the right channel.

With option II, you send MIDI to the 'global channel' (I should call this 'MIDI Channel' on the Wave) and the Wave itself determines where it needs to be sent to, based on whether a slot is active and/or enabled.

If I understand the manual correctly, the following should be correct: In both case I and II, if you turn knobs on the Wave or press keys, it sends MIDI on the channel configured for the active slot. In other words: if you have slot A set to channel 10 and slot B set to channel 11, playing on the Wave with slot A active will send on channel 10 and with slot B active will send on channel 11.

This seems a bit strange to me, as I would expect it to send on the 'global' channel, not on the channels assigned to the slots (that's the way it works on the NS2). The manual also says the following:

Nord Wave manual, page 60 wrote:Since the Nord Wave with the two slots have more physical controls than there are available MIDI CC addresses, this and the following option allows you to transmit and receive the knobs and buttons from the two slots, on separate MIDI channels .

That makes sense (even though the sentence is a bit crummy): on the NS2 a section in a slot has maybe 10-15 controls. On the Wave, each slot has 70+ controls. So I think that what I described above is correct; since I don't have a Wave anymore I can't test it. Someone with a MIDI interface connected to a computer (hint, hint ) could easily test this though.

I'd like to say a thing about slots being enabled and active (hopefully this is completely unnecessary):

• if the LED for a slot blinks, it is active (only a single slot can blink/be active at the same time)
• the active slot is always enabled
• if the LED for a slot is off, it is not enabled (and of course not active)
• if the LED for a slot is on and doesn't blink, it is enabled (but not active, the other one is)
• if slot A is blinking and slot B is on without blinking, both slots are enabled and slot A is active; if you then press the button for slot B, A will stay on (enabled) but stop blinking (it is no longer the active slot) while B will now start blinking (it is new the active slot)

OscBombs wrote:I can now successfully turn local to "off." However, I can't assign the MIDI Ctrl for Slot A and Slot B. I have my controller set to Channel 10, and Slot A and Slot B set to be controlled by Channel 10, but there is no sound. I'm certain the controller is sending the signal on Channel 10, because I'm able to control the Tempest when it is set to Channel 10 as well.

I can't find any settings with the iConnect software that would control this (basically, everything is set to receive all signals, EXCEPT, of course, the Nord will does not accept inputs FROM the Nord (so I'm able to turn Local off).

What is it exactly you are trying to achieve? I'm under the impression you wanted to:

• Hook up multiple MIDI devices (via that iConnect MIDI interface) and connect them to your computer
• Use the Wave to send MIDI to other devices (the Tempest maybe) or send it to the computer, for example to play a soft synth (or another device, like the Tempest)
• Use the Wave as a synthesizer module for some other MIDI device or your computer, so it should not make sound when you press keys on its keyboard

If this is correct, then you'd probably have a DAW (something like Cubase, Ableton Live or Logic) that receives MIDI from the Wave's keyboard and, perhaps, might send some MIDI back when it needs to (i.e. when you play a track in that DAW that is set up to send MIDI to the Wave).

What are your thoughts on this?

OscBombs wrote:Would there be any troubleshooting within the Nord that you might know of? Or would this necessarily be something within the MIDI interface that I'm overlooking?

Well, you are the best troubleshooting tool you have. I'm just trying to avoid the situation depicted below:



(I hope you can see the humour in this; I'm not trying to offend. It seemed appropriate enough )

I think we solved the issue with the MIDI controller. If we can figure out what you want to achieve, we can figure out what you did wrong. Because I think you set it up to do A and expect it to do B. But I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this and get it working just the way you want it to.

Thanks for the reply, as ever. No offense taken! Indeed, this may very well be PEBKAC in full effect. Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding some of the intended functionality of the Wave.

To be sure, I'm going for "Option 2." Here's the result I'm going for:

I want the Nord Wave keyboard (MIDI Channel 4) to transmit note on, note off, and velocity messages to the Tempest (and only the Tempest). This is successful as I have it set up. To do this, I have the Nord Wave MIDI Channel set to 4, and the Tempest Synth IN Channel set to 4. I also have Local turned to "off" (successfully!) so that I am only playing the Tempest.

I want my Akai controller (MIDI Channel 10) to send note on, note off, and velocity messages to both Nord Wave Slot A and Slot B simultaneously. This is NOT successful as I have it set up. To do this, I have the Akai sending MIDI on Channel 10 (I can confirm because I am able to play the Tempest via the Akai when the Tempest is set to Channel 10). The Nord Wave is set to Channel 10 for MIDI Ctrl A and MIDI Ctrl B.

I want all of this so that I can: (1) use the 4 octaves of the Nord keyboard to play the Tempest, while I (2) use the Akai controller's arp with the Nord sample sounds.

...Per your suggestion about hooking this up with my DAW (Logic), shouldn't this be possible without that? As long as everything is connected to my MIDI interface (which does not need to be connected to my DAW), I should be able to achieve this, correct? I'd like to... My goal is to be able to reproduce everything I record in a live setting without bringing my computer on stage... It's just a personal taste thing, and I may live in the dark ages, but I always get a little less happy about a performance when I see a computer up on stage.

Am I misunderstanding the functionality of MIDI Ctrl A + B? In the manual, it says: "Determines on which MIDI channel MIDI Control Change messages are transmitted and received." Again, the messages I'm trying to send are just the basic performance (note on, note off, and velocity), no knobs, Mod wheel, etc. It seems that what I'm trying to do is pretty basic, so I'd be surprised if it's not possible. But, stranger things have happened!

Also, regarding your question, I'm not sure that I can test out the mapping of MIDI CCs... I actually don't think that's available yet on the Tempest. I believe it is on some of my iPad synths (Animoog, Magellan, and...hm, I'm not sure about PPG Wavegenerator, although that's my favorite!), but I haven't spent enough time with those programs to map CCs.

Thanks!

OscBombs wrote:Per your suggestion about hooking this up with my DAW (Logic), shouldn't this be possible without that?

That should work fine.

OscBombs wrote:As long as everything is connected to my MIDI interface (which does not need to be connected to my DAW), I should be able to achieve this, correct?

Yup, you are correct.

OscBombs wrote:My goal is to be able to reproduce everything I record in a live setting without bringing my computer on stage... It's just a personal taste thing, and I may live in the dark ages, but I always get a little less happy about a performance when I see a computer up on stage.

With a computer on stage, there's also more that can go wrong; more complexity.

OscBombs wrote:Am I misunderstanding the functionality of MIDI Ctrl A + B? In the manual, it says: "Determines on which MIDI channel MIDI Control Change messages are transmitted and received." Again, the messages I'm trying to send are just the basic performance (note on, note off, and velocity), no knobs, Mod wheel, etc. It seems that what I'm trying to do is pretty basic, so I'd be surprised if it's not possible.

I read this the same way as you, I think. I also come to the conclusion that it should be pretty basic use.

OscBombs wrote:Also, regarding your question, I'm not sure that I can test out the mapping of MIDI CCs... I actually don't think that's available yet on the Tempest. I believe it is on some of my iPad synths (Animoog, Magellan, and...hm, I'm not sure about PPG Wavegenerator, although that's my favorite!), but I haven't spent enough time with those programs to map CCs.

What do you mean with 'mapping CCs'?

What I meant is running a program on your computer (you seem to have a Mac, so 'MIDI Monitor' would be the one to go for) to display information on incoming MIDI messages. Connect your Wave via a MIDI interface to your Mac. For this test, set up the 'MIDI Channel', 'MIDI Ctrl A Channel' and 'MIDI Ctrl B Channel' each to a different channel (for example, channels 1, 2 and 3).

Test case 1: make sure 'MIDI Channel' is set to a channel (such as 1), not 'Bi-Timb'. Make slot A active and turn a knob, then make slot B active and turn a knob. On which channel(s) are you receiving MIDI CC messages for turning that knob?

Test case 2: make sure 'MIDI Channel' is set to 'Bi-Timb'. Make slot A active and turn a knob, then make slot B active and turn a knob. On which channel(s) are you receiving MIDI CC messages for turning that knob?

If I understand it correctly, in the 2nd case you should see channel 2 for slot A and channel 3 for slot B (if you used the channel numbers as in my example). What I wonder about is whether in the first case the data will be coming from channel 1 (for both slots), or from channels 2 and 3 (like in the 2nd case).

Btw. 'MIDI Monitor' is a small, free utility for the Mac - download it here: http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/. MIDI-OX would be an alternative for Windows (it can do a lot more than MIDI Monitor).

Anyway, you seem to be doing the right thing, yet is doesn't work. Can you confirm the Nord makes sound if you send it MIDI (on channel 10) via your Computer?

You could maybe send something to the Nord via Logic, or you could do it with the 'Audio MIDI Setup' utility of your Mac. Make sure you see the MIDI window; go to the Window menu at the top of you screen and choose 'Show MIDI Window' if you don't see it. If you have your MIDI interface connected, but it isn't shown; hit the Rescan MIDI button. Now, click on the correct MIDI interface and press the 'Test Setup' button. If I remember correctly, this utility then sends some simple note messages on all channels, so you should definitely hear sound from the Wave.

Note you can also use MIDI Monitor to 'spy' on MIDI connections. For example, if you have it running while doing that test with the Audio MIDI Setup utility, you should see it send MIDI on all channels for the selected interface.

If the test isn't working as expected, you may need to add an 'external device'. Press the Add Device button. Now click on the small triangle pointing down below the MIDI interface (this is the MIDI OUT port); keep the mouse button pressed down and 'draw' a line from MIDI OUT to MIDI IN (triangle pointing down, into the external device). You can also do the MIDI IN port of the interface, but you shouldn't have to. Then try again.

Cool! I'll have a look after work.

Incidentally, I can confirm that the Nord does NOT play back MIDI from Logic, which I discovered two nights ago, unrelated. I'm uncertain what's causing that. I recently got that iConnect MIDI as well as a new Audio Interface (Focusrite Scarlett 18i6) to replace my much simpler M-Audio Fasttrack, which had previously been used for audio and MIDI. Maybe this is all related to the new gear and just not having everything set up correctly.

I did download MIDI Monitor and ran the test earlier, btw, but it didn't appear to reveal any telling info. I'll set up the test cases you outlined above.

Thanks, as ever, for the help!

OscBombs wrote:... to replace my much simpler M-Audio Fasttrack

One less M-Audio unit in production

I have a Focusrite 2i2 - in person it feels much nicer (solid metal housing, no wobbly buttons) than it looks on pictures.