Nord Lead 2x Midi Problem

[machinea]

I've posted about this else where but thought I might be more likely to find a group of nord users here who could comment on any issues with the NL2X.

Its perfectly fine in every way except that it seems to have intermittent midi issues. Because of where I have it located in my studio I do have it chained to the midi out of a different synth right now it is my Kurzweil. I previously had it connected to my JD800. It is never further down the chain than 2. So the main synth is directly connected to my sound card and then the Nord is next in line and nothing is down the chain to the Nord. The Nord has never directly been connected to the midi out of the sound card (just for clarity). It doesn't always read the midi coming through or can take a while to start working. Once I have it working it seems to work for a while and then will stop. Just the other day I was using the knob to scroll presets from the kurzweil it just stops working, now in that case I wonder if different midi messages were being sent to it that made it stop working rather than just using a different synth as a keyboard controller.

Basically it seems to randomly stop responding to midi and then this sound comes out of it that is distorted and very low on the keyboard like at c1-c2 somewhere. Its a fairly common problem. I either can't get it to respond or once it does it will stop working eventually. None of my other keyboards seem to be sensitive to the order you turn things on (except for scsi drives etc) with respect to midi. But I've tried turning it on first in the chain before I turn on the kurzweil and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Has anyone else noticed this type of behaviour or had the synth be ultra sensitive in these ways.. Its the only synth I have that seems to have this issue.

Thanks for any thoughts or help.

[nathanscribe]

MIDI is MIDI - it's just data. Make sure your Kurz and your Nord are on different MIDI channels for receiving, and make sure the Kurz is not sending anything out on the Nord's channel. It should be on a MIDI Thru, not an Out, unless the Kurz's Out can act as a soft-Thru, in which case make sure you have that correctly set up.

It sounds like the Kurz is sending something on that it should not be, and on a channel the Nord will be able to hear.

I use to have a 2x, but can't remember if it stores all its MIDI settings on power-down... worth checking.

[machinea]

Thank you. Right I figure this synth shouldn't be any different than any other with how it receives midi. It is easy enough to dial in what channel I want to use with the 4 slots. The kurz can be problematic at what routings are being used. It's very capable and very flexible so yes one has to be specific but this was happening regardless of what synth it was connected with as well. It just goes bonkers at some point and starts sending out a really ugly low pitched sound. It also fails to connect to midi initially ... like it has to wait 15 minutes or so.. sometimes less sometimes more. Or it just cuts out completely right in the middle of something.

I'll try it connected to something else.. even try to get a longer cord and hook it directly to the midi out on my echo audio.. but I have a feeling something is wrong on the nord. No other synth does it. or has problems latching so to speak with the midi. IT affects this synth differently somehow.

I just wondered if anyone else had noticed weird issues with theirs or if mine is some kind of isolated incident.

[nathanscribe]

One possible cause is that the Nord is receiving CCs it shouldn't be. Try filtering whatever MIDI you send it.

You should also connect the 2x directly to your interface, see if that makes a difference.

Does the 2x work alone? Does it work plugged directly into another MIDI keyboard, with nothing else attached? Are your cables good? Are the sockets loose? There are lots of variables. You need to isolate them all and methodically test each one till you find the real trouble, rather than just assume the 2x is broken. Maybe it is, but simple things can cause a lot of grief.

[machinea]

One possible cause is that the Nord is receiving CCs it shouldn't be. Try filtering whatever MIDI you send it.

You should also connect the 2x directly to your interface, see if that makes a difference.

Does the 2x work alone? Does it work plugged directly into another MIDI keyboard, with nothing else attached? Are your cables good? Are the sockets loose? There are lots of variables. You need to isolate them all and methodically test each one till you find the real trouble, rather than just assume the 2x is broken. Maybe it is, but simple things can cause a lot of grief.

Thanks again..
check on the cable being good. I've tested the cable on a couple of different synths and it works fine. I'm going to connect the nord to a direct out from the computer and see if that makes a difference. That should filter out any possible extra cc's. It occasionally works plugged into another synth like I said the connection seems intermittent. Sometimes it seems to work fine and other times not. Sometimes it works for a while and then stops sometimes I can't get it to work at all. I've wondered if the Midi in on the nord is somehow not sound. Otherwise it works as expected. I just don't trust it enough to function in a live situation like this. In fact it won't.

[rhino]

IMHO, the Kurz is most likely the cause of grief. One pos/neg of these is the sheer number of things that can send MIDI signals. Example: Each patch can send a set of MIDI controller data when entering and/or leaving that patch. This can jam up the MIDI. Also, check that the Kurz is NOT sending poly aftertouch.

[machinea]

IMHO, the Kurz is most likely the cause of grief. One pos/neg of these is the sheer number of things that can send MIDI signals. Example: Each patch can send a set of MIDI controller data when entering and/or leaving that patch. This can jam up the MIDI. Also, check that the Kurz is NOT sending poly aftertouch.

I will.. however I should add it did this when connected to the jd800 as well. Possible it was doing the same thing as the kurz. If indeed that is the issue. Thanks again for chiming in. I really do appreciate all the help I can get.

[nathanscribe]

Yeah I used to have a similar problem with my Waldorf XT - I was using a Moog LP to control it, and whenever I used the mod wheel the XT's patch would screw up in various ways. Turns out the LP send 14-bit mod data, and the 2nd byte was set to octave on the XT. Zeroing the mod wheel never solved it. Using a different controller did.

Do you have some kind of MIDI monitor for logging the details of all MIDI sent?

[machinea]

Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you all I appreciate the help. My cat is not doing well and I haven't been in my studio much opting instead to curl up with her since we haven't got a lot of those days left together. (she turns 20 next month)

anyway I swapped out the six trak for the nord so that it has a direct connection to my TM-1 from USB and ableton. It seems to have solved the problem for now. Or at least I haven't been able to reproduce the intermittent midi connection and the bizarre audio issues. I can only guess that it doesn't react well to being down chain regardless of whether its connected to my kurzweil, voyager, jd800, or 990. Curiously all of those have aftertouch so maybe Rhino you are on the right track there. At the moment that isn't a problem but I could see it being one if I decided to use this live with my MnM and Octatrack. Its enough iffiness I might think of just sampling those parts into the octatrack so that I don't have to rely on it at all.