Nord Lead 3 Rack -Does not remember the last setting

[sieben]

Hello all you professionals out there! I recently purchased a Lead3 Rack. Whenever I turn on the device it starts at Prg 1 : 1. In the description I have not found where to set that it remembers the last position or Prg. Is it in the MIDI settings? If so, how?
Thanks for your help!

Hallo ihr Profis da draußen! Ich habe vor kurzem ein Lead3 Rack gekauft. Immer wenn ich das Gerät einschalte fängt es bei Prg 1 : 1 an. In der Beschreibung habe ich nicht gefunden wo man einstellt das es die letzte Position bzw. Prg merkt. Ist es bei den MIDI Einstellungen? Wenn Ja, wie?
Danke für eure Hilfe!

[maxpiano]

Hello, on NL3 manual it seems to indicate that the "Store System Settings" function (at page 128) should do that

[23skidoo]

It does indicate that in the manual, but on my NL3 (OS v1.20) it does not take any effect. Since other settings are stored correctly (slot outputs, MIDI channels, etc) I know my flash works fine. But it seems the ability of the NL3 to remember even a specific set of programs (or program vs. performance mode) on boot is not a feature of this synth: it always boots to 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 in program mode, and performance mode will always pick 1:1, every time.

[sieben]

I have done it as in the description on page 128 but it still loads with program 1: 1! My Lead Rack 2x, Lead A1R and Lead 4R remembers the last position. On Lead 3R I have OS v1.20. Is it a bug or am I missing a setting somewhere?

[23skidoo]

As I just said, it does not take effect. You can call it a bug, or you can simply accept that that's how the synth behaves. Put the programs you want it to boot up with in 1:1 to 1:4, is all I can say. There is no setting for it.

[sieben]

Thanks for the answer! Is a little surprising for me. With the Rack 2x, I can only use slot A-D together if I set them to the same MIDI channel. With the Rack 3 I have to write me a note which programs are set in the respective slot. Thus I would have actually two series-moderately incorrectly constructed devices of north. These devices were not that cheap. Are we the only ones who noticed this or are there more out there who have resigned themselves to these errors. I'll write to technical support and let you know.

[23skidoo]

The NL3 is officially abandoned by Nord. They can still repair the hardware but the software is done done done for a decade+ now. It has *many* small bugs and edge cases. They are well known. You can certainly write them, but don't expect anything to happen.

I'm surprised you bought an NL3 rack not knowing this. There are issues with MIDI handling and keyboard playing at the same time, issues with too many MIDI notes at a time, issues with cv and midi simultaneously... certain parameters are not saved to Sysex when you back it up and are thus lost... the list goes on. It's a fantastic synth with a very unique sound and interface, but it has many bugs. It's just a fact of life.

The 1/2/2x/4 series are all much more high quality firmware and have far fewer bugs. The 3 is an odd duck with highly custom firmware, a totally different sound, and a very different hardware internal architecture too. It's reported that the entire development team quit Nord at once, leaving them with nobody expert on that particular codebase, so they had to basically give up on it. I don't know how true that is, but it certainly seems to be the case.

***

I'm not sure your comment on the 2x is correct, either. If you want to play two slots over MIDI simultaneously you can:

A) Play both their MIDI channels together (twice the notes on the MIDI datastream, but works)
B) Select them both as active in a layer and play MIDI notes to the global channel (plays all active slots just like playing the keyboard)
C) Put them on the same channel and play that one channel

Any of those three should work to play slots A and D simultaneously (or any other combination of one or more slots). But I don't own a 2x to verify if there's not a bug there for one or more of those modes, and I don't want to go offtopic on this thread, so maybe that's for another discussion with people who actually own a 2x in a different thread.

***

I'll note too that the price you pay for *any* synth does not directly correlate to it having fewer or more bugs... I've owned some very cheap and very expensive synths of many major brands and they ALL had bugs of various kinds, some surprisingly serious and not fixed for years. Nord is actually quite up there in quality compared to most other brands, despite the occasional issues, and they're usually (with the NL3 excepted, as I mention above) pretty responsive about fixing them, though there are a few "bugs" (that Nord might not think are bugs, maybe) that people like to gripe about here frequently (don't get some of them started on the 9th drawbar percussion/harmonic issue on the Stage series...). But that's life with technology. I doubt there's a synth out there by anybody that doesn't have *some* bug in it. So just get used to it, if you're new to higher value synths. Dave Smith/Sequential have bugs. Oberheim have bugs. Moog have bugs. Yamaha have bugs. Korg have bugs. Elektron have (tons of) bugs. Deluge has bugs. Cirklon has bugs. NI have bugs. Arturia too, etc. etc. That doesn't make them unusable at all - after all they're on stages and in studios day in and day out all the time. You just learn to work around them or adapt accordingly.

[sieben]

Wow, thanks for the time and your reply. My first Nord was a Rack 2x and that's where I noticed this error, as I described to play slot A to D at the same time you have to assign the same MIDI channel to it. In the key version there is not this error. Since the Nord Lead complement each other, I also wanted to have the Lead 3 in my collection. So now I have the 2x, 3, 4 and A1 in rack version. From the 2x I like the crisp sound, from the 3, 4 and A1 the different functions and also the partly aggressive sound, depending on the filter setting. Please do not misunderstand me, I do not speak ill of these devices, otherwise I would not have them in my collection. With the A1 and 4 I have not noticed any notable errors. also I am aware, the 3 and 2x are about 20 years old and work well. If there is no solution for the 3, you have to live with this peculiarity. I own the 3 only since a few weeks, is relatively difficult to get since it already has a collector status. I have only asked for a solution, because he just always starts at 1:1 and the last position does not remember.
So my Korg MS2000, Waldorf Q and Micro Q, my old BJ 1978 Korg MS20, MS10 and SQ 10 also have no problems although they are already over 40 years old. There are others in my collection that need to be repaired however as some keys no longer work (rubber or contacts) those are Roland JX10p Supernova, Korg Poly61, Casio CZ-101 unfortunately also my Elka Rhapsody 490 Thanks again for the info.

[23skidoo]

No problem. I'd love a rack full of those same Nords, myself. I have too many keyboards as it is! Good luck with the collection and enjoy your NL3. Despite the quirks you're going to really love the sounds it can make. Nothing else has the combination of filter and oscillator mix that it does, and it sounds so darn good even without any effects at all because of it. It's worth spending quite a lot of time with in the details. The ability to sort and browse programs by type/category and by name, as well as by location, makes it a breeze to get to anything you want very quickly. And you can use a librarian to reorganize everything neatly if you think in categories or songs or soundsets, too. For its age, it has some great innovations. And don't forget to enjoy the cool pattern-mask and sub-arp arp functions!

[sieben]

In the description on page 24 and page 25 User1 and User2 Reserved for your own sounds is spoken. I can't find anything in the sound programs or is it only visible when you program a sound and then save it?