Playing B3 from a MIDI controller

[Tarkus697]

I'm trying to setup my Nord Stage2 such that while playing piano or electric piano from the Nord keybed, I can simultaneously play B3 sounds from a MIDI controller, which will be active at all times.

I'm having a lot of difficulty in setting this up using Slot A/B and the dual keyboard mode. Pressing one button seems to deactivate another.

Has anyone accomplished this and if so, what are the steps to do this?

Thanks,
Alan

[hinsn]

hi,
i am playing the same setup...it was atually not that difficult for me, so i cant even remember how exactly i did it. i can tell you, though, that you can find how to do it in the manual...

cheers
Andreas

[Tarkus697]

Try Dual Keyboard mode. it's activated by pressing shift + slot B.

[Tarkus697]

Maybe it's more a matter of setting up a patch on Slot A and then on Slot B. But when I enable the Dual KB mode, the same sound is triggered from the Nord AND the MIDI controller. Can't for the life of me figure out how to have the Nord be "strictly piano" and the controller be "strictly B3".

This gig I'm doing is all of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" so I'm going to be switching between piano/EP and organ a LOT, so I'd like to have a dedicated controller for organ and not have to worry about setting up morphs or splits.

[Tarkus697]

Assign the Organ in Slot B a dedicated MIDI Channel (from Midi menu, while Slot B is active) and set the same on your Midi controller, then put the Organ B section in "local off" by keeping Shift pressed and pressing the Section on/off button untill all green lights (zones) go off; in this way Organ B section will only respond to Midi messages on the assigned channel.

PS:to get a more complete view, don't forget to download and read the guide on Midi on Nord Stage available from the home page of this forum

[Tarkus697]

Aha, I think Max sorted it. I wasn't aware that Panel B had to be active for MIDI B stuff to be edited. That explains a lot.

I will update with success/failure.

[Tarkus697]

Success! It's at the point where I can trigger organ from the top manual and piano on the bottom. Now it's a matter of sorting out why the slider on the MIDI controller is either "On" or "Off" for the drawbars. There's no in between. IE, it's either 0 or 8, in drawbar speak.

Anyone have ideas?

[Dugrok]

Your midi sliders may not send precise values other than on and off (hence the 0 or 8).

Couldn't you just control them using the physical interface on the Nord? Or would that require some switching around?

[Tarkus697]

I was thinking about that, but I figured it would be easier to use the sliders. This is a Studiologic VMK-161 Plus Organ that I've seen other forum members using, so I'm guessing it's possible.

[Tarkus697]

Check that your VMK sliders are correctly programmed to send the right CCs (see NS Manual) and as continuous values.