Nord Lead 2X Midi receive problem

machinea · Joined: Aug 09, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: US

Okay I've looked around on the net for this issue and checked the manual and haven't been able to find a solution.

I recently bought an NL2X, I have it hooked up via midi thru Voyager. Midi out is into one of my daisy chained sound cards (2 echo audio fires and 1 eventide h8000)

So yesterday I hooked the midi like this:

Echo audio fire 8 > Moog Voyager IN > to NL2X via voyager's midi thru
NL2X midi out > echoaudio fire 12 IN.

Nord Settings: Slots 1-4 on midi ch 1-4 respectively, Global ch 16, Local On.

I was able to trigger the Nord on all 4 channels yesterday from Ableton 8 thru the Voyager.

Today it didn't work at all, nothing would trigger the Nord. I tried everything I could think of from checking the cable to trying the Thru from a different KB, to going from midi out directly from one of the sound cards. Using my Turbo Midi USB from Elektron and a different cable, to turning everything off and booting up everything in different orders. NADA.

I cannot figure out if some parameter was changed that could interfere with receiving midi but yeah I'm flummoxed.

Thanks for any help.

Wout Blommers · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:01 pm Post subject:

Hi,

It is not easy to see the set uo from this distance, but maybe...

Is there any reaction from the Moog ytiggered by Midi?
You surely will use a mixing desk, so anything changed there?
Is there a sound from the NL using its keyboard (Local on) on the output or its headphones?

Wout

machinea · Joined: Aug 09, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: US

Okay I'm trying to paint a picture of the set up or at least the part of the set up that effects what is going on. I do not have a mixing desk I have firewire audio cards daisy chained with 20 channels of I/O.

When I'm running live I can set up the midi out to be directed by qwerty keyboard or monome or another hardware keyboard. Midi in and out are set to channel 2 on the Voyager.

I have the midi thru from the Voyager going to the midi in on the Nord. Even though the Voyager is set to channel 2, I can set the echo audiofire 8 channels on 1-4 via Live and trigger it thru the voyager though the voyager will play its own patch and that of the Nord's if the midi is coming through the 2nd channel obviously. But channels 1,3, and 4 still pass through the voyager onto the Nord.

This set up was working last night and then stopped today. I turned everything back on this evening and had it working again briefly before it just stopped working again. The Voyager continues to trigger on channel 2 and make sound even when the nord stops.

I can possibly try another set up with the Nord having a direct Midi connection from the sound card instead of passing through the voyager. However when I attempted to do this earlier today it did not fix the problem.

Wout Blommers · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:10 am Post subject:

It looks like the Midi of the Nord is broken.
You have tried other cables.
The Moog works, so its Midi In cable is okay.
Is there sound from the Nord when triggered from the Moog's keyboard?

Sometimes in sequencing one starts using a mute command. (CC 7 = 0). Maybe...?

When it is broken, contact Pablo from Nord USA.
He is a member of electro-music.com, so see http://electro-music.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=25670

Wout

machinea · Joined: Aug 09, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: US

thanks I'll check further when I have a bit more time. Today is locked up with work and tomorrow I leave for the pitchfork music festival in chicago. I may have a small window tomorrow am.

I did hook it up to the voyager this morning, no response. hooked it up with a new midi cable to the jd800 and got about 3 notes out of it before it just hangs on some weird sort of sound like a low distorted note. This sound happened before, its like a few notes are triggered and then garbage. Possible midi feedback loop of some kind?

Well I just tried unplugging the midi out cable and just doing a quickie check, nothing again. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.. thanks for the help Wout.

I'll have to see if any of the qwerty keys send mute or something, I'm not sure how that works. I haven't really used midi to send program change messages I've just used it for basic sequencing.

Wout Blommers · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:41 am Post subject:

It sounds like a job for Pablo...

I'll be reading you.

Wout

machinea · Joined: Aug 09, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: US

Thanks for the help Wout. I contacted the original owner who stated he had no problems controlling it with his Elektrons.

I moved the cable from the voyager to the roland jd800 and although the midi is a little more rudimentary on this synth it seems to be triggering better for some reason. No hanging distorted weirdness.

Turning on the Nord first before the JD800 seems to help a bit. I don't know if inadvertent midi messages somehow throws this thing off but it seems sensitive. Regardless I seem to have it working for the time being. Thanks for checking in and responding.

machinea · Joined: Aug 09, 2009 Posts: 10 Location: US

I know this is a really old thread but I finally got my Nord lead 2x figured out.. the problem was a bad midi jack
Thanks to Pablo for recommending a tech in the bay area, I actually ended up finding a tech in my small town.

ETA: Actually the problem was even bigger, I had to send it to the tech in the bay area as their wasn't a proper grounding on the midi ports and it needed a proper Nord tech to figure that out.

sucks kids but here's the take away, don't assume you're an idiot when the midi isn't working there probably is a physical problem especially on a plug and play synth like the nord.
Cheers