Hello fellow elektronauts, i have a question regarding Digitakt and Nord Lead 4 integration…
I want to use the keyboard of my NL4 as my masterkeyboard (my only keyboard). So it should send the note-data i generate while i am playing only to my digitakt, not to the signal chain of the synth itself. At the same time i want the digitakt to send the data back to the NL4 and be able to tweak the sound with the knobs on the panel of the NL4.
I understand that in order to not have the synth receive/ playback the notes twice - from the keyboard and the digitakt at the same time - local control for the keyboard needs to be turned off in the midi settings of the NL4. Unfortunately this also kills the functionality of the knobs on the panel…
So is there a way, to turn off local control on the NL4 only for the keyboard but not for the sound design controls on the panel? Or can i somehow just send all the midi data from the knob-movements on the NL4 via Midi to the digitakt and back to the NL4?
If anybody has a solution to this problem or can confirm, that this is not possible at all, i would be very grateful.
would love to know 2
would be worth checking the lead 4 manual. i looked through the lead A1 manual the other night to see how it can be used as a controller, and it’s intentionally limited. nord forum responses seem to confirm this. they’re designed as instruments first, so it’s not that surprising they’re not full featured controllers. check the manual, though, as i could be wrong about the lead 4.
I believe not. You could try setting Local Off and setting the NL4’s Control Change mode to Send (or Send & Receive) but I doubt whether this would work as you want.
As far as I know this won’t work if you want to use the DT to sequence the NL4 (which you didn’t state explicitly).
You are likely best off setting up CC messages for your favourite NL4 sound parameters on the DT’s MIDI tracks and using the DT’s MIDI knobs to control the NL4.
Ok, thanks all for trying to help. I have read the manual before and i already guessed that it was not possible. Anyways, i thought there might be a way around this as i think this really cripples the fun and workflow of this otherwise great combination of gear.
Hey,
it is possible. See my post here to get it set up with the little (and not too expensive) help of a Blokas Midihub.
Wow, thanks alot. I have been thinking about getting the blokas midihub for some time now because i need a midihub and the midi-effects look interesting. I didn’t really dare to seriously consider it to solve this problem. So thanks again for sharing this sketch.
Yes, you see I had exactly the same issue. It is not possible with DT and the NL4 alone. If the CC Data (every turned knob on the NL4) should run through the DT it has to receive CC Data and in this way it would always reacts with adjustments of DT parameters that weren’t intended to be adjusted.
You can run it through MIDI through but then you don’t have a clock signal on your NL4.
BTW. Solving this problem with a MOTU MIDI Express XT / micro express needs more hardware MIDI channels because these devices do only filter on Inputs or Outputs, not on the connection. I tried it with an old MOTU MIDI Timepiece AV and had horrible latency and often hanging notes because of not transmitted note off commands. It was used hardware, maybe it wasn’t running well, but the Blokas Midihub is really the easiest, tiniest and even cheapest device for this issue. Latency is not an issue here.