Nord User Forum

Hi All

What sort of cables would people recommend for Nord keyboards?
TRS or TS?

Thanks Tim

Hi Tim,

TRS cables would only make sense if the outputs were balanced which they aren‘t. So TS would be alright.

Cheers from windy Germany

Both will work the same, though. So you can use TRS just fine; they just won't offer any benefit over TS.

Thanks

I use a stereo amplifier on stage so my cables must be stereo. Set up and tear down time is an issue for a busy gigging musician and I like to reduce cable clutter on the stage. I've found a way to have a single cable, operating in stereo, to connect my Nord to its stage amp, with the right length cable for all stages. I'm using a combination of ¼" to XLR breakout adapters and an XLR microphone cable (or two, if my amp is very far from the keyboards) to do this. I built the breakout adapters myself - it was just a simple soldering job. One of the breakout adapters has a male XLR connector and two ¼" TS male connectors with pin 1 of the XLR connected to the tip of one TS, pin 2 connected to the tip of the other TS and pin 3 connected to both TS connectors' sleeves. The other breakout adapter is identical except it uses a female XLR connector. This solution has worked extremely well for years. I keep a couple of various length mic cables in my kit and can quickly change the length of the cable rig to fit my need for an particular stage. Because the mic cable's conductors are not individually shielded, I initially had some concern about crosstalk between the left and right channels; however, I found the amount of signal leaking between the two channels is almost too low to hear and has not noticeable effect on the sound.

That’s a nifty trick for lengths of stereo line!

I’ve pretty much never needed more than the six feet of stereo 1/4” Klotz cables I have in the softbag, though — they generally only need to reach the floor and plug into the DI boxes. Everything from there on out is the sound guy’s responsibility.