Nord User Forum

Hi, I don't know if this has been covered before, if it has, my apologies. I have a NS3 Compact and am overall pleased with it. The problem I have is that the sound on the right hand side of the keyboard is noticably quieter than that on the left hand side. For example when playing chords / bass with the left hand the lead or rhythm on the right hand side is hard to hear, especially at volume in gigs. This occurs in both organ and synth modes - seems ok in piano. This is with no split points in the keyboard - i.e. all one setting throughout. By comparison my Electro 3 is fine and has no such problem. The result being that I'm now back to using the Electro more. Is there an adjustment / setting to change this? Thanks in advance.

Hm... that seems a bit unusual problem.

First, the Nord keyboards are calibrated at the factory to have a quite even response across the keyboard. This is stored in the device, and if it fails to load properly, you will be greeted by an error upon boot. So it's unlikely that this is the problem.

Next, the piano and the synth are typically both velocity sensitive, so it means the amplitude scales with the velocity of playing. If the keyboard would be sending uneven velocity responses (i.e. the calibration above would have failed somehow still), it would impact the piano and the synth in similar ways.

Finally, the organ is not velocity sensitive at all... it's just an on/off switch, more or less.

Together, it seems to be ruling out any issues with the keyboard velocity itself... and hence the actual keyboard.

You could also try to see what happens if you transpose an octave (or more) up or down, just as a final check.

So maybe there is something else, or multiple other issues, that are causing your problem? Do you have any EQ or lack of treble in your amplification chain? Is it the same with headphones vs line out? Can you compare (with the exact same sounds and chain) to your Electro? Do you have any filtering applied for the synth, so that it takes out some of the higher frequency content?

Yes strange ... I would start with a fresh initialized organ program and pull out one drawbar only like the 8“ drawbar, with no other organ effects like vibrato, chorus, leslie and also no other effects - just the plain 8” sound. Then go and check if the volume is still noticeably different between the upper and the lower part of the keyboard.

Also do you notice a sudden change of the volume at a specific key, or is there a transition area where it goes up/down smoothly?

How are you listening to your keyboard? Are you plugged into the left channel only? Do you have the same issue if the keyboard is in mono mode (shift - panel A)?

Thanks for the replies, I will try all of the above later.

To check if one of the outputs has some malfunction, you can switch your output to out 3-4 and see if the same problem occurs.
And if it is the same there, just change the left and right cable, to see if the difference in volume changes to the other side. Then something may be wrong with your amplification.

Good luck,
Clemens

Thanks again everyone for the responses. I use a stereo amp at home but usually mono at gigs (Yamaha DXR 10), rarely stereo with 2 Yamaha amps. This is the same set up I use with the Electro 3 as well. It exhibited the same problem with all amp set ups. I only really noticed the problem after updating to OS 2-10 so I thought I'd reinstall (just now), however I noticed the new version 2-12 is current so I've updated to that. It does now sound much better. Maybe a glitch when downloading 2-10? I also did have some filtering on and have cut that back to allow higher frequencies through.
In response to Hervshahn - the transistion appeared smooth / gradual, i.e. not after a set point.
I've got a gig on Saturday so that will be the real test - hopefully it's sorted, I will keep the Electro 3 set up just in case - I will report back after the gig.

Thanks once more - Alan / Hawklord