Nord User Forum

S3C (SW) ...

MIDI implementation is one of my newer/weaker areas with my S3. I know how to use the external section(s) to send a program change to an external keyboard. But what if I don't want to control (play) the external keyboard from the Nord, but I DO want to change it's program when I change the Nord song/program? Is there a way to to do it where I don't have to have the external section on? If so - can I still control what program change goes out for each Nord program? TIA!

If you want to send only program changes you just have to assign the Extern to "no zone" (all zone leds off)

maxpiano wrote:If you want to send only program changes you just have to assign the Extern to "no zone" (all zone leds off)

It's just that easy!

I set external zones with a Yamaha MEP4,old school device that does so much more than the Nord Stage 3 menu.Some use of the Nord external split functions,not a priority though.
Some of us need velocity mapping and aftertouch conversion etc. Even though a Yamaha MODX8 or similar, has no aftertouch,they can still recognize the data!
A pair of MEP4's will control 8 external midi devices or add 'dual' controller functions to 4 devices.Have 10 Behringer mono synths,Roland XV3080,JX8P,Yamaha TX7 running on them.
Getting a good solo synth sound,a good 'D' bass sound etc, is working well.

Having the ability to control even a 'pair' of externals from the Stage 3 with zones is a definite plus!Bigger menus are always welcome.....

maxpiano wrote:If you want to send only program changes you just have to assign the Extern to "no zone" (all zone leds off)

Yep - finally figured it out - thanks!!!

OK - re-opening this 'cause I have a follow-up question. Is there a way to send the program change out on a SEPARATE channel than Ext A/B PLAY on? Here's my scenario and what i would like to happen ideally. I have the S3 and a new Roland Fantom. The Nord is my primary keyboard. It is played on every song. On maybe 50% of the songs, I also play the Roland, but not from the Nord except maybe a 1/3 of those times. So - out of a forty song night, it might look like 20 songs Nord only. 13-14 songs play both but not from the Nord, and 6-7 songs play both including playing Roland from Nord. When I change patches on Roland, I am changing a "scene" (performance) with up to sixteen sounds on the 16 MIDI channels and/or on the Roland Keyboard. The program change from the Nord changes the Roland scene. What I would LIKE to happen is this.

1) Change program on Nord
2) This sends program change to Fantom on - exmpl channel 1 - which changes the Roland scene/performance - say to Scene "123"
3) The two External panels on the Nord are set to channels 5/6 to play sounds on those channels on the Roland. They should not send separate program change data.

Why do it like this? Because I may have another Nord program that I also want to use Fantom Scene 123 with, EXCEPT have the Nord externals playing on channels 7/8 for that program.

Is there any way to accomplish this?

No, I can't see a way to do that with NS alone, in such a complex scenario you should rather use a computer/tablet, or an advanced MIDI Router like Sipario, to manage sending the program changes to all devices in the setup.

Rather than add a computer or other device, I'd look into just using the Fantom itself as your primary patch changing device for both boards. From what I I've read, it looks to be much stronger than the Nord both in MIDI capabilities (16 zone MIDI transmission vs. 2) and in patch selection functionality (access to 16 named on-screen buttons at a time, vs. 5 unlabelled buttons at a time). There's no reason you couldn't select your Nord patch using a Roland scene, even for a song where you're not playing the Roland or using any of its sounds.

anotherscott wrote:Rather than add a computer or other device, I'd look into just using the Fantom itself as your primary patch changing device for both boards. From what I I've read, it looks to be much stronger than the Nord both in MIDI capabilities (16 zone MIDI transmission vs. 2) and in patch selection functionality (access to 16 named on-screen buttons at a time, vs. 5 unlabelled buttons at a time). There's no reason you couldn't select your Nord patch using a Roland scene, even for a song where you're not playing the Roland or using any of its sounds.

I have thought of doing this - I guess the idea of "wasting" a bunch of scenes unnecessarily bothered me for some reason LOL! but the Fantom does have 512 scenes - and even ability to "chain' them together into a set list, so not sure why I'm worried. I'll look into this. I guess i just can't help thinking of the Nord as my "main" keyboard where I should drive things from, but your idea would work well.

I have an NS3 and just recently picked up a Roland Fantom. I've been trying to set them up so that I can send PC for scenes to the Fantom from other devices, but I'm not having any luck. There doesn't seem to be any documentation on receiving PC, and I've played with the MSB/LSB info that shows up when running midi monitor, and also made sure that the receive function is on, but still no luck.

any chance you could provide some details on what you did to get the Extern function on the Nord to work with the Fantom?

gboser wrote:I have an NS3 and just recently picked up a Roland Fantom. I've been trying to set them up so that I can send PC for scenes to the Fantom from other devices, but I'm not having any luck. There doesn't seem to be any documentation on receiving PC, and I've played with the MSB/LSB info that shows up when running midi monitor, and also made sure that the receive function is on, but still no luck.

any chance you could provide some details on what you did to get the Extern function on the Nord to work with the Fantom?

so - you are trying to send a program change from the nord to the Fantom corect?

On Fantom -
- go to system/midi/scene control channel and set to something let's say 8.
- make sure receive PC is on and receive bank is on

On Nord -
- turn one of the external sections on and go to External menu (Shift-Extern).
- Set to same channel as above (8 in our example).
- MSB is 85, LSB is 1, Pc for what you want

That is documented in FANTOM_SoundList_multi01_W.pdf

HTH,
KenM