Nord Lead 4 keybed (VS 2X)

[pjfry]

Hello to everyone,

I have read about an improvement on the NL4 keybed, which should be slightly better-responding than the previous ones (3, 2X and Wave).
Is it true?

Kind regards

[pablomastodon]

Hi PJFRY,

The NL2X and NL4 keybeds are interchangeable parts and theoretically the same, but most of us here probably like to believe that we continue to improve our musical skills and knowledge over time, so it is probably reasonable to assume that Fatar continues to strive for ways to improve upon their designs and/or manufacturing process. It may be that tweaks are introduced from time to time. I wonder where you read this and who wrote it? I recently heard that everything written on the internet is true, but am not 100% sure that I believe this yet.

Also, please note that Wave and NL3 have AT, while NL1, NL2, NL2X and NL4 do not.

Bless,

Pablo

[Professor]

Hello,

I don’t know what pjfry read but Dan 'JD73' Goldman (Future Music) wrote:

"We really dig the keybed in the NL4 - it has a very shallow key travel, which is superb for fast accurate playing"

http://www.musicradar.com/us/reviews/te ... d-4-587472

I agree with Dan, the NL4 feels fast and accurate.

I have the NL3 and the NL4. The keybed on the NL4 has a substantially lighter feel than the NL3, an initial disappointment for me because I like the more solid feel of the NL3 compared to my old Korg or my vintage Pratt-Read. But then one day I was fiddling around and noticed how fast I could shred on the NL4. It’s really fast.

So tonight I took some measurements thinking about of pjfry’s question.

Measured at the ends of the white keys, full key travel is 12.5mm on the NL3 and 11mm on the NL4. The note trigger point occurred at 7mm on the NL3 and 6.8mm on the NL4. The NL4 has shorter keys at 133mm versus 137.5mm on the NL3 (measuring key exposure from the metal edge of the panel).

These measurements were taken using a precision depth gage. I tried to be consistent with key pressure but there’s a great amount of flexibility. It’s difficult to get very accurate so consider these as relatively rough measurements. Although some of the measured differences are slight, the NL4 keys feel much lighter than the NL3. I guess that’s better, depending on your personal preference…

[pablomastodon]

Thanks for the detailed info, but keep in mind that the NL3 and NL4 keybeds are completely different keybeds with different keys, different frames and different mounting positions for the contact PCBs. Finding some variance between NL3 and NL4 is no great surprise.

Added with edit: and of course the NL3 has aftertouch...which theNL4 and NL2X do not.

The subject line of the OP was NL4 vs. NL2X, which are inherently the same keybeds and are likely to be virtually identical. The OP did parenthetically mention NL3 and Wave, but I suspect did not know that they are completely different in so many ways. That's an apples/oranges comparison, though perhaps useful nevertheless.

Pablo

[ricard]

I have always found my NL2 to have a 'sloppy' response, i.e. when striking the keys with the same apparent force, the resulting velocity output seems to vary more than I would like (I even went so far as to add weights to the keys in my NL2 in an attempt to get a more consistent response: http://www.butoba.net/nordlead/nl2weight.html). Of course, it could be my poor playing skills, but on the other hand whenever I've tested an NL4 it seems much more accurate. I've always attributed this to either some inaccuracy in the velocity measurement algorithm in the NL2, or perhaps a scaling issue, so that the synth over-emphasizes changes in velocity. I think that replacing the NL2 keybed with an NL4 keybed would not yield any improvement, as the difference is in the software. Of course, I could be wrong too...

[Mr_-G-]

Great idea, just let's hope that the weights in the black keys stay there. You would not want pieces of metal falling on top of the underlying circuit...
What about securing them with hot glue? Would that stick to the plastic? Epoxy might not stick either.

[ricard]

Well, it's been ten years now since I did the mod, and still no weights falling out of the keys. The glue in the adhesive pads on the weights is probably very good; since they're intended to stick to the wheels of a car which are constantly rolling outside in dirt and mud all year round, being inside a synthesizer must be considered a rest cure for them.

I wouldn't trust hot glue, epoxy would probably work better. A friend of mine has a Mopho where a couple of weights have fallen out during transport. Don't know what kind of glue is used to hold the weights in place in that keybed though. I glued them back with epoxy and so far those weights haven't fallen out anyway.