Newbie! Nord Electro 6D 61

[Jhazel_013]

Hello everyone!

I just bought my first Nord product, Nord Electro 6D 61 keys, I play for a Christian church here in the Philippines we usually play old Hillsong, Integrity Worship, and some other Christian songs, sometimes we do weddings but not that much.

Can you share me some tips and tricks for further enhancing my knowledge with the Electro? I tried fiddling with the Live mode to add programs that I usually do like a Grand Piano that has some reverb, Grand piano with pads and strings for that atmospheric feel, a synth brass sound with an organ sound for those fast songs, and an EP just in case I need it.

I also want to get into adding sampled instruments? I've searched here in the forum for the Sample Collection section and some Worship bundles patches, and I was just wondering if it will work on my instrument if I add it even if it is labeled for Stage 3 or other instruments?

Thank you so much for the help, I'm really new at this, I've watched a few YouTube videos here and there and I'm really amazed to what the Electro can do.

[randymsantaana]

Greetings! We also use a Nord at our Church here in Calgary, Canada, albeit a Nord Stage 2 EX. I am also from the Philippines and I personally own a Nord Stage 3 and I had the same questions as you did when I first started using it.

I ended up purchasing some patches online for pads and strings. I personally own the Worship Collection for the Nord Stage 3 from Patch Foundry:

https://www.patchfoundry.com/electro6/worshipcollection

I also have patches from Noah Wonder:

https://www.noahwonder.com/shop-categories

Both have sample collections for the Nord Electro 6. I recommend checking them out. They are on YouTube and you can get an idea of how the patches sound through their demonstration. These patches work really well, especially if you want to get a head start and just play without worrying about the sound. Later on as you become more familiar with the instrument, you can experiment to try and come up with your own patches.

Good luck and God bless!

[jasfiona]

Hey there
I brought a new 61D last weekend
I cannot get over how good this is.

I have largely dismissed Nord though.

However, when I saw this video, wow! Mind blown!



Yes, it's over and hour long, but @NORDKeyboardGuy also does shorts. What a dude! Love him
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Let's go back to the start, the very start. Please forgive this kind of approach. I'm sorry that this will turned into a lengthy comment, but just to say from the off, I love the phrase.....

"Do what you can, with what you have; where, you are."

@randymsantaana

Thanks. You have encapsulated that in what you recommend about just playing. Thanks again. Your comment is very helpful.

Anyway, grab a coffee because here we go:-

________________________________________________________________

N.B. There's a genuine question at the end. If no-one gers to the end of this, or if they do, they don't see it, I'll post something separately.

So, I've played in church since 1983. I first learned guitar and with a divine intervention, could play most choruses of the day for our home group.

I reached out to the music teacher at school one day and I asked, "How do you play to, C, F and G on the piano please?"

He showed me, and I thought, well.... that's much easier than guitar. No tuning required, same shape. Fairly straightforward.

Then I asked about the left hand and he pointed out the octave, so I soon realised it was just below that next set of 2 black notes, and I haven't look back since.

I still don't read music and I'm still concentrating all my efforts on guitar, but the point is, all I wanted to do was play music.

I left school early to work in a music shop, (instrument retail), so got very familiar with almost all the gear, even if we didn't sell all brands. In Birmingham, there were at least 20 odd shops selling everything. Musical Exchanges became the biggest European Music Shop.

I attended the trade shows on dealer days, so have quality and quiet times with all the engineers. The reps were visiting regularly. I could take anything home and try for ages, or until we'd get low of stock. All gear was at cost price to me. I saw the Part-Ex stuff and had first dibs. It truly was a dream job. It didn't feel like work whatsoever though!

My favourite electric grand piano of all time is a Kawai. It's so cool that the very top of the range Nord Piano uses some of Kawai's Technology.

Anyway, back to the thread......

I have favoured Kawai and Roland keyboards and pianos. I love Yamaha too of course but when Nord came out, to be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the piano sounds. I assumed that they were mainly Hammon B3 alternatives.

Of course, the world has adopted our big red piano as their mainstay stage because they are so, so easy to operate on the fly, sound amazing and last, seemingly forever.

I haven't worked in the music shop all my life since the 80's. Therefore, I don't know as much as I used to within the industry, but I've kept up to date with most of the new tech developments, and it's still almo100% my spare time/life.

Glad to see that MIDI is still the go too... and that's older than my career!

I regularly watch demo and the like, together with live music onYouTube. I've watched and played in many live worship music settings and I've been inside plenty of churches and of course checking out the tech as we move into quiet stage, even in very small gathering, (which is a bit too Diva for my liking).

Like I said, I have largely dismissed Nord, even after watching hundreds and hundreds of live worship with a multitude of instruments, including an increasingly large number of red keyboards.

I've seen them first hand in bands and I'm only now just starting to enjoy them.

WHY IS THAT

It cannot be because users are not passionate and don't really share. Not a chance. They all love them!

Maybe it's all the do with the way any electronic product is used, so leads, amplification, patch, levels, timing, listening to band members and not grabbing others sonic bandwidth?

Obviously the balance and mix is crucial, but with the wrong input, although much EQ can be achieved and insert, embedded or direct wet noise from the source, it's something that we all have to be mindful of....

Rubbish in = Rubbish out.

Yes, it's "by my Spirit, not by might" of course, but we should take the most reasonable care right, without looking to perfection.

So, conclusion, is the output of Nord incompatible with some line level inputs? Do we always need a DI Box, despite any mixer or amplifier have a Hi-Z impedance inputt?

I have a question. Should Nord have the option of separate outputs for each engine as well as main L/R? Should the MONO switch be the only way to achieve both Left & Right outputs being mixed into a single channel output?

[jasfiona]

Hi and welcome to the Forum!
This post might answer the first of your questions about line level:
Line Level (−10 dBV or +4 dBu)

[jasfiona]

Thanks. Very interesting.