Nord User Forum

I'm brand new to all things MIDI and I'm hoping some of you can share your experience. I have an Electro 4 and a MIDI controller that I started using with Garageband to play some sounds that I created to give me some additional versatility. Is it possible to connect the Electro to my laptop to play sounds from Garageband and to also play the instruments that I have loaded on the Electro (piano, organ, etc.)? I use them for live performance at my church so I'm thinking about being able to switch between settings during songs or between songs.

Thanks in advance for any advice you all can offer.

Yes it is. Just connect an USb cable and put both in the same channel (1?). That's all.

Great, thank you! So the other issue I have is this: I only have one feed into the sound system (one direct box), so how can I connect my controller and Nord via MIDI, and then connect one of them to the laptop via USB, and then connect the laptop to the DI box so that I can play Garagband settings on the controller and the Nord presets (piano, organ, etc.) both through one feed? I haven't been able to figure this out, so I'm not sure if it's possible or if I'm just missing a step.

Not sure I fully understand, are you talking purely about MIDI or also Audio signals?

If I get you right it sounds like you need a little USB mixer of some kind. The audio out from the laptop goes via USB to the mixer, and the audio out from the Nord goes via normal TS cables to the mixer. Now you can go from the mixer to your monitors, and you can also record the Nord on your DAW, as the USB is bi-directional. You still need a seperate USB cable from Nord to Macbook for MIDI.
Unless I have completely mis-understood.

neolithic, thanks for responding. I may not be asking the question the right way. My current setup is pretty basic, I'm using the Nord mainly for piano, organ, and some of the synth patches, and I'm using the controller with Garageband for a few pads/synth settings. I've only used this setup a couple of times so far in a live setting, and in each instance I had a direct box for the Nord and one for the controller, so I was using the two keyboards independent of each other. But now I'm going to be limited to only using 1 direct box to connect into the sound system, so I'm wondering how I can connect both the Nord and the controller through one direct box and still be able to use the Nord presets and Garageband for the controller. Is this possible, or maybe I need additional equipment?

you need to get 2 signals through one DI box then you need a submixer first? ... hopefully someone with a similar setup can suggest the best approach.

yeah; you'll need to somehow combine the signals coming into the direct box.. In theory you could use some sort of Y-splitter, but may run into issues with that (?).. A mixer would do a better job and you'd be able to control each input level.

Perhaps you are limited to two inputs into the sound system, but if not you might try this box:
Peavey doesn't make a lot of stuff I'd buy, but this little thing just works; it is essentially a usb direct box, no drivers or anything, just plug it in and it goes. And it's only US$50 taboot.

Y cable is not a good idea. Why not just use a 4 channel mixer? Then connect the mixer output to the single direct box (if you need one).
I do not not think you need a USB audio mixer if you can channel the audio output out of the computer.

Trouble is, audio straight from a computer headphone jack will often come with a buzz, especially when plugged in..

This is very helpful. Thanks everyone!