Nord User Forum

Hey! I need to hook up a controller to the electro 6 to play pianos and e.pianos, the thing is, the controller only sends midi signals via usb, and the nord receives them via the midi connector, is there any piece of equipment I can put in the middle of both so that the signal out of the usb port from the controller gets to the midi-in port of the nord? If so, I dont care about any extra features, so the simplest "device" that could do the job would work for me. Thanks!

Hi, you need one of these: https://www.thomann.de/it/kenton_midi_usb_host.htm

There are cheaper solutions possibly, but still it's a non negligible price.

Thanks, I just found it. Also, I was wondering since in the manual says that the electro can send and receive midi and both midi ports and usb ports are working at the same time, if I could just connect the external keyboard to the usb port and set the electro configuration to act as a slave somehow...

The USB protocol is still a host-device protocol, and so are the cables. Only some newer designs have an extra USB-to-host socket - mainly workstations.

That's why it's good to look after a real MIDI socket if you are looking for a 88-keys controller. The ones built for studio purposes often don't have it nowadays.

hey all

I bought the keith McMillen midi expander, and it is receiving midi information from my nektar midi keyboard (with just a usb type b plug). but the nord doesn't seem to be reading the midi information, and i'm not getting any sound. (i have the ext. keyboard to lo on). Is this a user error, or did I buy the wrong piece of equipment?

thanks

I don't have any idea if that expander is really what you need. But at least you could have a look if the MIDI LED of the Electro 6 (in the program section) shows up while your external keyboard is being played. It will tell you if the Nord receives any MIDI commands (on any channel, maybe the wrong one) or not at all.

IIRC, the Keith McMillen MIDI expander is designed to only work with their own products. There are a number of other ones that will work, though.

anotherscott wrote:IIRC, the Keith McMillen MIDI expander is designed to only work with their own products. There are a number of other ones that will work, though.

I also remember the same about that McMillen, a cheap USB Host that should work coud be this one link

Appreciate you all! Unfortunately that link isn't working for me, do you think this one would work?

dancharvat wrote:Appreciate you all! Unfortunately that link isn't working for me, do you think this one would work?

That's exactly what I tried to link (and now fixed)