Nord User Forum

Hello Hive Mind! Hoping some kind soul can lend me a hand. I'm loving the Nord Stage 3 Compact - the waterfall keys are great and the drawbars are fantastic. As well as playing live I am also using it in the studio as a keyboard controller with Logic Pro X. I play softly, always have. My wrists appreciate that! My problem is that unlike every other MIDI keyboard I've used, I cannot find where to access the keyboard velocity curve. For example, on my Kurzweil PC3K7, there was a MiDI setting I enabled that adjusted the velocity output a little bit higher to compensate for my light touch. There's also one on my Push2, my Komplete Kontrol A61, etc. I'm not finding this setting on the Nord Stage 3 Compact and have read the manual several times. Does it exist?

As a work-around, I have tried using the External Mode and as I am at least able to program MIDI messages to a "Soft Mode" which is exactly what I'm looking for. But it seems like this section is designed for triggering an External synth module which is not what I'm trying to achieve. When I record in Logic, I find that I'm actually recording double notes - one at a lower velocity and one at the higher (preferred) velocity. I set External to Channel 2 and my Global MIDI is set to Channel 1 but am still getting duplicate notes in Logic, even when I set the software instrument to Channel 2. Love to hear any thoughts and especially if there is an on-board keyboard velocity curve I can use. It's hard to believe Nord would design this fantastic keyboard and not allow the player the ability to dial in the velocity curve they prefer.

Thanks in advance!

It’s unfortunately as you have been afraid of - the NS3 does not provide customizable velocity curves….

I'm not sure what's going on in your Stage 3 and don't understand everything you are explaining. But maybe you have activated both Extern A and Extern B panels - which may lead to those double notes if both Extern engines are set to the same MIDI channel. Cf. p. 43 in the manual.

Page 3 of this NS3C external menu offers three choices of velocity curve.Soft,mid,hard.Per panel. I keep lighter velocity sounds a bit darker sounding than mid or hard velocity sounds.
Two external 'keytars' detuned slightly on the Roland JV/XV's are doubled with two panels of Stage 3 guitar samples,at different velocity.Can play as few as one sample and as many as six at once this way.
Different midi channels per panel rid the ghost notes of a DAW issue i had.

Schorsch wrote:It’s unfortunately as you have been afraid of - the NS3 does not procedure customizable velocity curves….

thanks so much for confirming this.

LeftyBass68 wrote:Page 3 of this NS3C external menu offers three choices of velocity curve.Soft,mid,hard.Per panel. I keep lighter velocity sounds a bit darker sounding than mid or hard velocity sounds.
Two external 'keytars' detuned slightly on the Roland JV/XV's are doubled with two panels of Stage 3 guitar samples,at different velocity.Can play as few as one sample and as many as six at once this way.
Different midi channels per panel rid the ghost notes of a DAW issue i had.

Thanks so much for your advice about the different midi channels per panel - that was exactly the issue for me.
Your keytar setup sounds really cool. Love that you are detuning slightly. Thanks again!

FZiegler wrote:I'm not sure what's going on in your Stage 3 and don't understand everything you are explaining. But maybe you have activated both Extern A and Extern B panels - which may lead to those double notes if both Extern engines are set to the same MIDI channel. Cf. p. 43 in the manual.

That was exactly the problem! Thank you so much. I'm still getting used to having both panels. Appreciate your help.