Nord User Forum

CountFosco wrote:

anotherscott wrote:As for other pricey boards that lack pitch bend, besides the boards already mentioned (Korg SV1/SV2, Roland V-Piano, and yes Hammond SK1 along with the rest of the SK series), others include Hammond XK5 (though its predecessor, XK-3C had one!), Dexibell P7 and Combo J7, Crumar Seven, Roland FP90, and of course Nord Piano/Grand.

These, including the Electro, are all either piano or organ emulators, and it kind of makes sense that they don't have wheels. But I don't think any in this list straddle both worlds nearly as well as the Electro.

Hammond SK, Korg SV, Roland FP, Dexibells, all have synth sounds in them (Dexibell even having mono lead synth patches, not sure whether any of the others do); and maybe more than that, Hammond SK and Dexibell J7 also function as capable multi-zone MIDI controllers (FP90 as a single zone), allowing you to use their front panel patch recall controls to integrate additional sounds from another board, sound module, laptop, iPad, etc. I'd say that since the Electro has no mono (lead) synth function AND no programmable MIDI controller function, pitch wheel is even less of an omission for an Electro than it is on those other boards that have at least one if not both of those other functionalities where pitch bend is more likely to be useful. So Nord is not only not alone here, but IMO, not even the worst offender. (BTW, Hammond SK does let you use a footswitch to do a limited version of a pitch bend, for internal sounds only.)

alex78 wrote:The nord electros are supposed to be electromechanical instruments simulators, none of those instruments ever had a pitch bend. Bitch bend is a feature of synthesizers, that's why nord put it on the leads, waves and modulars. It doesn't annoy me at all that electros have no pitch bend, those guys at clavia have wisely designed different instruments for different needs. If your need is to have everything on one board you simply buy the stage.

While that’s true of most of the instruments, mellotrons did have pitch bend, via slowing the tapes speed (at least I think that’s how it worked). It can be heard in the first verse of “Strawberry Fields” during “going to...”

Yes, there was a pitch knob on Mellotron. I think it was intended for tuning. Once you turned it, there was no way re-locate your original pitch except by ear. (Or I suppose you could mark a point on the panel to at least quickly get close.) Though sure, it could be used as an effect. Kind of like playing with the power switch on a Hammond to make the pitch drop. Regardless, pitch bend is not typical of mellotron technique (nor was it even included in the original Electro design, btw).

I don't think you actually hear the mellotron bend down at that point in Strawberry Fields, Sounds like guitar only.

Arjan P wrote:I don't think you actually hear the mellotron bend down at that point in Strawberry Fields, Sounds like guitar only.

It’s definitely the Mellotron. Skip to 2:45.

Well, it's definitely also guitar, but indeed Mellotron as well. And that's a great demonstration video BTW, I didn't know they used Mellotron as a complete band replacement.

Just an idea to get pitchbending on the Electro:
the Electro responds to pitchbend on the external channel...
So: maybe it's possible to create a Arduino based device with a pitchbend,
which takes MIDI out from the Electro, injects pitchbend messages on that MIDI channel, and sends this to MIDI in on the Electro.
If somebody has good suggestions on a pitchbend wheel/stick/joystick/... that's available for cheap, let me know; I might give this a try

I think you could also use the Expressive E Touche which is not the traditional pitch bend and expression but it works.
https://www.expressivee.com/3-touche-se but you can pick it up for around $200 on eBay.

I use the touch-strips on my Arturia KeyStep ($99) for when I just want to to a simple lead with some mod...I can use it while playing the Nord keyboard (it's very compact) or just use the 32-key mini-keyboard with controllers to play in the part. It works good for live work as well as it is so compact it sits in your lab or on a side table clipped to a stand. The Novation Impulse ($199) also works (I don't own one , but have used them) if you prefer mechanical input devices...also light and small
The Arturia is also an arpeggiator and a poly-sequencer...nice addition to the Electro, particularly when in split mode...launch an arp or seq into one sound and play over it

If I have an extensive part to play in, I just use the nice Fatar keyboard on one of my synths routed to the MIDI IN on the Nord. I often have two keyboards live and can turn this capability on/off easily in a few seconds. It's great in the studio as well, as I no longer have a full-size MIDI controller (out of room in my tiny studio).

I thought I would post this as a solution to the pitch bend problem. This is what I use:
It’s very simple to use but you have to understand some MIDI or get someone to program it for you, John Fast at Midi Solutions is very helpful.

Steps - Event Proc
1) Program the Event Processor to map Notes on the Global Channel to External Keyboard Channel eg MIDI CH 1 -> MIDI CH 2
2) Select a control on the Nord that has a center detent eg Bass in the Equaliser. Make sure you aren't using EQ in the patch.
3) Map this Control Number (CC# 102) to Pitch Bend on MIDI CH 2

This uses just 3 lines of code or 3 slots as they are called in the Event Processor.

Steps - Nord Electro 6
1) Connect the Event Proc to MIDI in/out on the Nord
2) Make sure Global Channel is 1 and Ext Keyb is 2
3) Set Sample Synth to lower part
4) Turn on External Keyboard to Lo

You can now use the Bass knob to create a pitch bend +/- 2 semitones.

To use it with the E5 is a little different and actually more flexible.