Nord User Forum

I have just purchased an SW73 and one of the things I've noticed is it seems to be very electrically noisy/poorly shielded. I play a mix of guitar and keyboards in my band and if I move close to the Nord with the guitar the noise that is induced into the guitar is really bad. My Korg doesn't give any trouble in this area. Is this typical of Nords or could there be an issue with it? Curious to know if anyone else has encountered this and if there are any fixes.

That’s quite interesting!! I’d like to know too!

tcpl123 -- I am right there with you. There doesn't seem to be a simple fix for this problem. I'm actually having to sell my Electro, which breaks my heart.

http://www.norduserforum.com/nord-elect ... 12519.html

that is disappointing to hear, I am amazed that a high end keyboard suffers from this

My NS3 Compact is audibly noisy depending on how big of a room you’re in or how close your ear is to the back of the board.

It’s a low-mid hum. It’s not loud enough to hear when performing live and doesn’t come through the outputs at all. Doesn’t matter where it’s plugged in either.

Is that normal?

My NS3 Compact exhibits a very small amount of mechanical hum but nowhere near my old NE4! (my NE2 & NE5 didn't suffer from the same problem)...

When I had my NE4 a few years back, I contacted Nord.
They told me that it was the power supply. The one they used in the NE4 had a slight mechanical vibration issue and this caused the hum.
As you said about yours, it didn't come thru the outputs, nor was it an issue when playing in a noisy environment like a gig, but it was certainly noticable in a quiet studio environment!
As I only used my NE4 for gigs I just left it at that as there was no simple solution.

As far as the NS3 goes, I can hear the hum only if I put my ear right next to the back of the unit near the power inlet.
I'm guessing it 's probably a similar (though not as noticable) issue to the NE4 power supply.

tcpl123 wrote:My Korg doesn't give any trouble in this area.

I'm curious, does your Korg also have an internal power supply? (i.e. whether it needs a "wall wart" or similar kind of external power adapter instead of being plugged directly into the wall with a simple power cord)

This is a known problem of Nord. I remember posts years ago about the same issue. I play guitar as well sitting behind the Nord but did not notice the issue because I use a Line 6 JTV-59 guitar and did not use the pickups (I only use the modelled guitars). Because of the earlier posts I did a test and for sure some EMR noise from the Nord was getting into the guitar signal path getting stronger when moving towards the Nord and vica versa. The issue occured on NS88, NS compact EX and NS2 compact. I guess it's safe to say it is not an exemplary issue.

A real solution I don't know other than to use a Line 6 modelled guitar. You might check the other posts.

anotherscott wrote:

tcpl123 wrote:My Korg doesn't give any trouble in this area.

I'm curious, does your Korg also have an internal power supply? (i.e. whether it needs a "wall wart" or similar kind of external power adapter instead of being plugged directly into the wall with a simple power cord)

The Korg has an external power supply and I have since discovered this is the basis of the problem. When I pick up the Korg power supply and bring it near the guitar the same hum is induced into the guitar. But because it sits on the floor there is enough separation so that it is not an issue (that and I don't think it generates as much EMI) The Nord power supply is at guitar height and blasts everything within a 3 foot radius (except when the guitar neck is at 90 degrees to the keyboard and on top of the OLED display where presumably the magnetic lines of force are parallel with the guitar pickups and therefore don't induce). Like the others on the forum who have experienced this I'm at a loss as to what to do. The retailer doesn't view it as a fault which leaves me to either sell the board or hope someone/Nord comes up with a fix.

In the end I built a remote power supply which has made the board usable. Hell of a lot of work but I would have lost too much money trying to sell it and I do like it. Now i have to learn to program it!