NORD MODULAR ENVIRONMENT

(Please note that this environment was designed on a monitor with a screen resolution of 1024 x
768.
At that resolution all the screensets fit the screen with minimal lengthways or vertical scrolling.
If you find it difficult to view this environment comfortably, please try increasing the resolution of
your monitor).

This environment comes zipped with these notes, a Logic songs and four 'nothing' Nord
patches of zero musical interest. The patches are intended purely to help test that the Nord and
Logic are communicating properly. They contain nothing more than (a) 18 constant modules each
whose controllers are mapped to the 18 knobs on the Nord front panel; and (b) a single oscillator
an envelope and a keyboard in. As is hopefully obvious from their names, the four patches should
be loaded into Slots A, B, C and D on the Nord respectively. The four oscillators are set to a
square wave, a saw wave, a triangle wave and a sine wave, again respectively, so you should be
easily able to tell by ear which Slot is active.


Although it does reduce the number of voices available per slot, it is best, for testing purposes, to
have all the slots shared (press shift +Slot button on the front panel) so that all four slots are
MIDI aware.


HOUSEKEEPING AND SETUP (A)   CLICKS AND PORTS LAYER

The song should open up on Screenset 51. The 'Clicks and Ports' layer should be open, along with
small floating environment window containing a 'goto screenset' menu. This floater is intended to
help you navigate the environment.

The first thing to do is to get some data out of the 'Physical Input' object and into the rest of the 
environment. In case you are not familiar with Logic environments, the Physical Input object in
this environment has been conveniently labelled 'Select NM MIDI In from here'. Please leave the
very top outlet, labelled 'SUM', alone. Do not detach it from the 'Sequencer In' object (unless you
know exactly what you are doing in which case setting all this up should be a complete no-brainer
for you). Please, instead, find the specific outlet on the 'Physical Input' object that represents the
MIDI input that your Nord Modular is attached to. Drag a cable from that specific outlet over to
the Monitor in the environment entitled 'Attach NM MIDI in (not SUM)'. You are now nearly all
ready to go.
                    
Since the NM neither receives nor transmits Poly Pressure messages; and since very few
keyboards can in any case generate it; PP messages are reserved for internal housekeeping in this
environment. They switch, route, give feedback and are the method by which the environment
gains control of the Nord's 18 knobs, It is therefore important to keep all PP messages out of the
Nord's section of the environment. Therefore, the first thing that happens in this environment is
that a transformer entitled 'Strip PP messages', attached to the above-mentioned monitor, strips
off all PP messages and shunts them over to the Sequencer In object where they can be recorded
if necessary. This hardly seems a restriction for if you do have a PP keyboard (lucky you!!) you
can still use it to control all your other synths. The Nord does not, in any case, recognize PP
messages so it is of no use to direct them there. If you wish to the PP messages that have come in
along this outlet elsewhere (and there is no obvious reason why you should) then simply either
amend the transformer or else detatch its top cable from the Sequencer In object and attach it to
your object of choice.



HOUSEKEEPING AND SETUP (B)   CHANNEL, MULTI AND MODE SETUP LAYER

Now use the onscreen 'goto Screenset' menu, or else standard key/screenset commands to take
yourself over to Screenset 52. Here you will find a multi-instrument for the Nord, along with
three more menus. Click on the multi and select a MIDI driver over in the parameters section in
the usual way. You should now be able to communicate directly with the Nord. Simply go to
Screenset 1, which is a standard arrange window, and select programmes in the standard manner.
You should see the Nord receiving programmme change messages.

Unfortunately, if you want Logic and the multis to accurately reflect your currently active
programmes, then you will at some time or other have to fill the multi up with the programes
names contained in your own Nord banks. Fire up the Nord Editor, go to the 'Synth' menu, and
select 'Bank Upload'. It is best to do what the manual recommends and to upload each bank from
the Nord to the hard drive into its own directory so that if you have accidentally used the same
name for two different patches in two different banks you do not overwrite them. When you
upload a bank from the Nord the editor automatically saves a file entitled 'Bank 1.pchLst' (PC) or
similar. This is a very basic text file containing the names of the patches in that bank. Open up that
file in any simple text editor then select and copy all those names. (On the PC it is probably best to
use a 'search and replace' facility to strip off the '.pch's' that automatically (and annoyingly) attach
to each name). Having copies those names double click on the multi in Screenset 52, select 'Bank
0'; and then select 'Paste All Names' from the down-pointing arrow way on the right. Repeat for
as many banks as necessary and you will be able to select all the patches in the Nord directly from
Logic's Arrange window. (Just remember that Bank 1 in the Nord is Bank 0 in Logic etc).

Next, mouse the largish bright red numbers to select the four channels you have allocated to
the four slots of your Nord. (This environment comes with them set up for 1, 2, 3 and 4 by
default). In single slot mode all the knobs will work on only the one channel; and in panel split
mode the knobs will split themselves up amongst the four channels with Knobs 1 to 6 following
Slot A's channel; Knobs 7 to 12 following Slot B's channel; Knobs 13 to 15 following C; and
Knobs 16 to 18 following D.

Next to the channel selectors is another menu allowing to filter in various ways. You can, on a
per-channel basis, allow all messages through, filter out controller messages, or filter out notes
and all other messages so that only controller messages go through. (It is generally a good idea to
check here when you think something isn't working properly as expected. For now, leave these
faders at 'Both Through').

The 18 greyish selectors underneath allow you to choose which channel you would like each on-
screen knob to control when you switch the environment to'Screen Only Mode' and thus use it as
a general-purpose on-screen MIDI controller. You can then control eighteen different things over
the 16 channels using the familiar Nord interface. (In 'Screen Only Mode', the physical NM is, of
course, completely disconnected from the on-screen front panel).

(If you do decide to use this on-screen mode then you should make sure that your ougoing
information goes to the desired ports. Please hop over to the 'Icons On/Off' layer where you will
see 4 MIDI Out ports. Simply mouse them in the parameters section in the usual way and choose
your desired MIDI ports. You should then be able to control the synths you want).

The final menu on this Screenset does the obvious -- set the Logic environment in 'Single Slot',
'Panel Split' and 'Screen Only' Mode.

I have done my best to make the environment automatically switch its various functions on and
off according to its mode of operation. I have also arranged the text faders so they always tell you
exactly which mode you are operating in. It is, however, up to you to ensure that your physical
NM is always in the appropriate state. (I have myself occasionally spent ages thinking something
was desperately wrong when all the time the environment was in Panel Split mode while the
physical NM was in Single Slot mode or vice versa).



HOUSEKEEPING AND SETUP (C)   CC MAPPER LAYER

Next, use the onscreen goto menu to jump to Screenset 53. This is where you will tell the Nord
which of its 18 knobs are mapped to which controllers in which slot.  Simply mouse the bright red
numbers and you will immediately assign the relevant CC to the relevant knob. The on-screen
verifiers are there to give you the opportunity to tweak a knob on the NM and verify that you see
information for the right controller. Do not touch them for now, however, as they are set up to
respond to the controller numbers in the 4 NM patches supplied with this environment. When you
are sure the whole thing works you can reassign them as you wish so that they follow the
mappings in your own patches in the Nord.

 

And ... having done those few things, you should be all set for some fun!!

Simply reach over and touch a key or knob on the Nord (rack or key) and you should
automatically jump to the Screenset representing the currently active slot.

You can use the Nord patches that came with the zip file to test the environment and make sure
that it works in your setup.

If the 'autojump to screenset' facility incorporated drives you nuts, or you just want
to stay in an arrange window (there is a standard arrange window in Screenset 1) or in some other
screenset, then simply switch it off on the front panel. You can, of course, adjust the supplied
screensets to suit your taste.

You should be able to tweak and play away and the environment should respond appropriately  
including allowing you to record controller and sequencer data on tracks in any Arrange window.



PANEL SPLIT MODE
There is one minor quirk concerning Panel Split Mode. If you assign the same controller number
to the first 6 knobs on Slots A or B, and/or to the first 3 knobs on Slots C or D, then you are
likely to see multiple knobs moving. (Try loading the Slot A patch into all 4 slots and share
the slots. YOu will see from the onscreen assignments that Knobs 1, 7, 13 and 15 all now have
MIDI CC No. 1; 2, 8, 14 and 17 all have CC No. 2 etc. etc.) You will see that when you move
any of Knobs 1 to 6 on the Nord four on-screen faders will move. This is a simple
operational quirk of no significance. If you now try moving, say, Knob 7, you will see an onscreen
representation move just fine, along with the correct data on the correct channel and as the
first assigned controller in the patch in Slot B. In order to avoid this it would have been
necessary to, quite literally, make the environment 4 times as large. This really did not
seem worth it. If it bothers you, then simply avoid assigning the same MIDI controller number
to any patches you intend to use in Split Mode to the first 6 knobs in Slots A and B and to the
first 3 in Slots C and D.)



OTHER LAYERS AND SCREENSETS

There are five layers in the environment that hold nothing more than text faders filled with dummy
parameter values. Simply double-click on them in the usual way so that you can fill them with the
name titles/parameter names for the various knobs and thus see immediately what each controller
is allocated to when you jump to the appropriate screenset. (There are, after all, 18 knobs availabe
and 6 different ways of working them (4 single slots, a panel split mode, and
an on-screen only mode) This is a lot of things to remember).

The knobs that you see, and that move, on the 'Front Panel' layer are just place holders and
convenient onscreen manipulators. Incoming information from the NM knobs is stored and
converted elsewhere(actually, on the Controllerizer layer). The 18 objects that appear in the
Arrange window, and whose
output is actually sent out to your MIDI port are the 18 transformers on the 'Icons On/Off layer'.
These are fed from the Controllerizer layer. You can go to this layer (on Screensets 2 or 61) and
switch the icons on/off in the usual way in order eg not to have too many when you click and hold
to select instruments/icons.

Apart from the screensets and faders that have been specifically mentioned above, do not try to
mouse/change anything on any other layer. (Not unless you are very sure what you are doing). Be
particularly careful of amending faders inside macros. Most of these faders receive their
information from elsewhere. I have, however, left monitors all over the place so that
bugging/debugging, or just deconstructing/reconstructing can be easily done.
If you come across a more elegant and effective way of building an NM environment, please do
build it and submit it to both the Logic Users and NM groups so that we can all enjoy it.



IMPORTING THE ENVIRONMENT

There is a lot of stuff here ... so you should seriously consider whether or not it is easier to import
the rest of your autoload environment into this song rather than vice versa. I put this environment
on Screensets 51 to 59 simply because I figured they would be unused and thus available. If you
decide to have different screensets then you are going to have to unpack the relevant autojump
macro, adjust it, and then put it back together.

If you do decide to do an import/merge layers, please read the Logic manual. about importing and
merging layers. There are an awful lot of interconnections between the various layers in this
environment, and if you get them messed up you will have an awful lot of clicking and dragging
and head-scratching to do.

If all else fails ... then I have attached a second logic song entitled 'ForImporting'. In that song I
have placed all the objects in the NM Logic environment onto one layer entitled 'For Importing'.
Simply import that single layer into your song. Once there you can carefully create the necessary
layers (I have named them on white text faders); drag-select the objects you want to shift onto the
newly created layer; and then ctrl-click-select the layer name. The selected objects should then
shift over onto that new layer. The first thing you should do, of course, is to drag-select the
objects that should to on your 'Clicks and Ports' layer, ctrl-click them over, and then attach the
NM MIDI In port as above. Then return to the 'For Importing' layer; select all; drag everything
up to the top of that layer; and then repeat the process with the next set of objects onto the next
layer. If you use this method, then once you have placed the Front Knobs onto their own layer
then (apart from the text faders which are intended purely for convenience) you have pretty much
created layers for the only things you will need to see on a reasonably regular basis. Everything
else can thus be profitably left on the one layer for, being 'under the hood', as it were, you should
have no need to touch them. If you want them the text faders can be easily imported for they are
all on layers of their own with no cable connections to or from them.


Please enjoy


CREDITS
My particular thanks to Len Sasso and Hendrik Jan Veenstra who were very helpful in pointing
me in
good directions when I had particular problems to solve. My thanks also to the users on both
the Logic and NM user groups -- especially the latter -- for their inspiration. My thanks also to the
suggestions
received from the people who beta-tested this environment.

Please check the Swifkick site (or wherever you got this environment from) as I am intending, in
the very near future (October 2000) to extend this environment so that the Nord can become 4
completely general MIDI control boxes in one, in the style of Phat Boy or Peavey, so allowing
you to manipulate any data over any of the 16 MIDI channels independently using the Nord
knobs..

Have fun. Thank you.
