Weighting the keys on a NordLead2 - part 2

An illustrated story about a modification.

Reading Ricard Wanderlöf’s article about this issue makes me wonder if converting the NordLead keyboard by adding weights is a sensible thing to do and an easy task to perform. Is it hard to get all the materials and what are the troubles to overcome? And last but not least, what will be the result; better said: is it an improvement or not?

Let’s face it! To the real NordLead adept it is like open-heart surgery...

My first concern is the modification has to be reversible. Glue shouldn’t be permanent. No original parts of the keyboard have to be cut, drilled or filed away to get results. Extra care has to be taken to obtain exact horizontal keys, so no hill like landscape with different heights between the keys...

1 There is no need to go on a quest to find the materials needed, like car wheels balancing weights and little rings to adjust the springs. In an average town these can be easily found by using the Internet. Driving the car to collect it takes much longer. Car wheel weights are mostly sold in boxes containing much more than needed. At the other hand during the process one will use more than 49 weights, so a three times the amount of weights needed is no luxury.

The car weights I found were delivered in a complete white box, so no brand name, and in contrast of Ricard’s material made out of iron, so no cutting possible.

Rings can be bought in any hardware shop.

About the tools: tweezers, pincer, Philips screw drivers, hobby knifes, pair of scissors and in my case reading glasses are a must.

Special attention should be given to the small box, which can be closed, to store tiny parts, special the springs.

One of the springs went by using the motto: “A small jump for a tiny spring, but a giant search for mankind.” Gladly I had a spare keyboard in reach…

2 To open the hood unscrew all as indicated in the picture

And lift the good as shown in this picture

See also this article

Now remove the first spring (upper c) [little piece box!] and press the key a little, so it can be shoved gently towards the front and it will come loose.

The first thing to check is how to get the key in the right place again and if all is functioning well. The key has underneath a ‘U’ shaped ring, which has to fit around a pillar with ‘V’ shaped top. It’s not very difficult to get the ring attached again, because a cone will direct in place, so just gently shove it back.

Now comes for the keys the bad part: the bath...

The vacuum cleaner with the help of a soft brush will clean the print underneath the keys.

The blue hand shows the contact cups with bread crumps back from 2004, the green one the screw (all keys g# have it) which can make some troubles when the weights are glued to low into the key and the red indicator points out some hairs my cat was searching for some years now... She’s happy again! Do your best, vacuum cleaner!

Well, it works...

The weights which are used in this project don’t have to be cut loose, but can’t be trimmed either to fit the key. This means the weight has to be glued at the outside of key. I choose a weight of 15 gram.

This has some consequences for the view from the front (or is this the back, seen from the audience point of view...): the shiny surface will light up when using a flashlight.

To the black keys I thought it would be a good idea to make these heavier, so I used 20 instead of 15 gram.

In this picture 4 x 5 gram weights are used, due to the fact the size of 10 gram will to large and will ‘tick’ the g# screw. After closing the first stage of the modification it was very clearly 20 gram was far out to much, so it was changed into 10 gram. Note the ‘U’ shaped ring in the back and the horse shoe like ring to attach the spring. The next picture is the 10 gram black key version and the little ‘V’ like cut-away which is placed on a metal strip to form the hinge of the key.

Playing the whole afternoon brought the conclusion the keys felt a little heavier than the other keyboards (Nord Modular and NordLead3), but surely the Velocity was much more difficult to control, because the power needed to push the key felt like it reached maximum Velocity easier, so controlling the range isn’t easier, what could be an outcome of the project, but much harder. As is described above controlling the black keys appears to be impossible... It feels like the weight of a butterfly makes one side of the see-saw going down too easily. In theory it shouldn’t, only it is better to leave out the physics about balance and springs...

Anyway the springs have to be tackled too... First it is important to state Fatar makes keyboards and they make them very well. Working on this project proved this company knows what they are doing, does good research and creates simple, but strong products. There is a feeling changing too much is not the right thing to do...

But leaving the modification the way it is seems also impossible, so modify the springs or set the whole project in reverse...

Working on the springs next to the circuit boards isn’t an easy job, so the complete keyboard has to come out! Detaching the flat-cables and removing the 10 screw at the downside delivers this scaring view...

The springs, this is what they look like and where they are attached to the keyboard...

Both thick ends will be pinched into the two horse shoe rings; the wider one on top and the smaller end at the bottom.

As can been seen in the next picture the springs attached to the black keys are without tension where the white key’s springs are a little stretched. This has to do with the difference in length between both kinds of keys.

Using the right tools a little piece in the ring is cut away to install the ring more easily.

The ring will be inserted three to four windings above the bottom end of the spring. The cut-away opening is used to get the insertion being done easily and the insertion is complete. The ring will be the part which holds the spring in the bottom horse shoe.

When the tension has to decrease or increase just turn the spring as if it is a normal screw and spiral the ring up or down.

When setting the keyboard in place again watch out for the two flat cables; how they are folded underneath the key bed.

Last thing is closing the hood and screwing everything in place.

3 Conclusion

Considering the NordLead being a performing synthesizer rather than a studio instrument three musicians were asked to give their opinion about the modification. They were interviewed separately and in only one occasion there was recording equipment available.

All three:

· play other brands keyboard synthesizers with different keyboard feelings.

· noticed the difference between this NordLead keyboard and the one the NordLead they play themselves.

· have the opinion it does matter how a keyboard feels and reacts during playing.

· found the modified keyboard still play able.

One of them preferred the original keyboard, because it ‘tells’ the NordLead is being played and the sound and touch of the instrument belong together.

Only one musician had the feeling he had more control over the Velocity. The other two reflected it could be a difference, but as a musician you are able to deal with the differences between musical instruments in the same instrument group, in this case all keyboard instruments. It’s all a matter of more studying on your instrument: you have to learn to control it, which mean teaching the instrument about your will... (It’s a point of view - WB) See also the remark at the end of this article.

Only one musician found the modified instrument offering a better control, but not to all the sounds which were tried out.

Two of them had the opinion the NordLead didn’t changed; one said he found the change ‘scary’ and ‘ghost-like.

In the end all three agreed it is a nice modification, but certainly not necessary to perform to the Fatar keyboard and the NordLead.

It is just a minor improvement...

Attached are recorded sounds of factory Programs, in three different ways: in each example the first is played on an original NordLead and the other two on the modified Keyboard, where the last one is a try to play on the modified keyboard trying exactly like on the original keyboard concerning Velocity. The last example is double: first three parts playing different Velocity on the original, the second part the same on the modified one. Both instruments are using the sound of the modified one and the connection is made by Midi. Each example is divided in three parts: the fist being played normal, the second as soft as possible and the last one as hard as possible.

Afterwards there was a discussion about how much control is possible playing Velocity. So I created a Program in which all the keys trigger the same tone (Keyboard tracking ‘off’) The Velocity/Morph function was assigned to the SemiTone parameter in a range of 10 half steps. Just play any note, different or the same, and play Twinkle-twinkle-little-star. I release here my own try...

And the to try yourself