Nord User Forum

Hello!!! I want to buy my first nord keyboard, and I need some help. I want it to be as flexible as possible, so I wanted to know if I can use a E6D or a Lead a1 as a midi keyboard to control some vst instruments from Logic. As well as modify these vst instruments with the Keyboard built-in controls.

I also want to know if you can apply plugins from mainstage to the nord keyboard.

I want it for music production and practicing piano too. I know my perfect keyboard would be de stage 3, but I can not afford it. That’s why I am hesitating between e6d and a1.

Hope u can help mee. Thank u somuch in advance!!

Hello Javimi

and a very warm welcome to this wonderful forum full of nord enthusiasts.

How did you come to your decision of buying a nord electro for production reason? I doubt if you are doing well with that idea. The nords are really good instruments for playing live, even for recording you can get fine results as long as you don‘t need multi channeling and large keybed splittings for your MIDI projects. In former times I used some korgs or Roland fantoms for that, much easier.

Let us know your ideas, if you don‘t mind. In any case, good luck for what you‘re doing.

Cheers from Germany

Edit: Always helpful is a look at the manual, downloadable here
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sites/def ... on%20H.pdf

On page 31 you get an idea of the controller data you may want to use.

And both the Lead A1 and the Electro D don't have a piano keybed - so not dedicated to play piano.

Tasten-Bert wrote:Hello Javimi

and a very warm welcome to this wonderful forum full of nord enthusiasts.

How did you come to your decision of buying a nord electro for production reason? I doubt if you are doing well with that idea. The nords are really good instruments for playing live, even for recording you can get fine results as long as you don‘t need multi channeling and large keybed splittings for your MIDI projects. In former times I used some korgs or Roland fantoms for that, much easier.

Let us know your ideas, if you don‘t mind. In any case, good luck for what you‘re doing.

Cheers from Germany

Edit: Always helpful is a look at the manual, downloadable here
https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sites/def ... on%20H.pdf

On page 31 you get an idea of the controller data you may want to use.

Hiiii
As I said I want something flexible, a keyboard I can practice piano with (semi weighted keys), but also something i could use as a midi controller and as a synth.

Dont you think e6d or a1 are good options? Can you recommend other models from other brands?

"Practicing piano" and "semiweighted keys" don't really match well and as others said neither NE6 or NL are in general a good option as a master keyboard for production with VSTs (you can use them but with a lot of limits).

People buy Nord primarily for their sounds, so if that is not your main interest you should rather look at other brands/models, for example what about a Numa X Piano? You get weighted keys, 4 zones, aftertouch, integrated USB audio, on board sounds (which you can complement with VSTis), multiple pedals inputs, 2 programmable joysticks; just add a midi controller like a Nanokontrol to it and you have all you need for production and also "practicing piano".

Hello, welcome to the Forum! As you mention the price of the Stage 3 being a limitation, I thought it's worth noting that there's speculation of a new Stage model being released in the next few months and at least in the United States the Stage 3 has dropped in price about 20% this week. Good luck to you!

I would not buy either of these as a MIDI controller. Both have quite limited controls, and they don't the layout is weird for anything else than the internal sound engine. The Electro keybed is fine, but the Lead A1 keybed is horrible.

So I think you need to be clear if you want to practice more synth melodies or piano pieces... and start deciding which one you want to focus on. I think if you want more synth then a weighted action might feel too heavy. In contrast, semi weighted might feel too buttery and could be disturbing if you want more of a piano feel.

But for sure personally I think it is a huge waste of money if you are just going to use the leada1 or e6d as a midi controller. As maxpiano has said, people usually buy a nord for the sounds (myself included) so please don't buy a nord just to use as a midi controller. Huge waste of money if that's your sole purpose of getting a nord imho.

It would probably be better if you can find a dealer and try a few midi keyboards around (which is always best) and see which keybed you like best... weighted or semi-weighted. Having an idea on how they feel is one thing but it's usually not the same as actually trying a bunch of midi keyboards.

As a recommendation, I blindly bought a nektar impakt just cuz it was damn cheap. For synth melodies it definitely feels alright since it's extremely light. But for piano I do feel it is wayyy too light and sometimes the extreme lightness of the keys definitely affects my playing when doing more piano stuff.

In contrast for some people they are ok with playing piano ish with semi weighted because they are just not used to weighted keys. At the end of the day it's all about preference. Hopefully you get to try a few midi keyboards around.. All the best.

javimi wrote:Hello!!! I want to buy my first nord keyboard, and I need some help. I want it to be as flexible as possible, so I wanted to know if I can use a E6D or a Lead a1 as a midi keyboard to control some vst instruments from Logic. As well as modify these vst instruments with the Keyboard built-in controls.

Yes, any MIDI keyboard can play VST instruments, and any MIDI keyboard with controls that send MIDI CC (which the Nords do) can pretty easily be used to control that many other parameters in a VST. (Note that things get more complicated if you want to play/control a keyboard's internal sound and a VST sound simultaneously.)

Elias wrote:I would not buy either of these as a MIDI controller. Both have quite limited controls, and they don't the layout is weird for anything else than the internal sound engine.

I think it depends what you want to do. Obviously, the E6D lacks, for example, a pitch bend wheel, so it makes for a poor controller if you need pitch bend. OTOH, it has a nice layout for controlling organ VSTs. The A1 has a pretty usable layout for controlling synth VSTs (and the really nice pitch stick), and Omnisphere even has a Nord A1 layout pre-mapped. I'm not saying there are no compromises in using a Nord as a controller, but there are compromises with just about anything, it really comes down to your particular needs.

If someone were to ask me which boards with sounds are the most versatile MIDI controllers, I might suggest a Kurzweil K2700/PC4, a Roland Fantom/Fantom-0, a Yamaha Montage/MODX... they all have some significant advantages over the Nords... yet there are also still things that would be Nord advantages, too. There are ways they can be ergonomically preferable, even if their overall functionality is much more limited. Or to put it differently, maybe I'd say Nords as controllers can do a few things very well, while those other alternatives can do many more things, but generally not as well. Except maybe the Fantom which comes close to "all of the above," since it has 9 sliders that can function as drawbars PLUS a bunch of dedicated synth controls (a combination which no Nord has until you get to the Stage), and then a lot of other MIDI functionality as well. But I have no personal experience with that model, and I don't know it works as well in practice as it does in theory. Like, I don't know if its dedicated synth controls send MIDI CC.

Go for Numa.
Cheers