- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 5 months ago by Andrew Silvestri.
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July 15, 2019 at 3:33 pm #85645Andrew SilvestriParticipant
Hi everyone, I recently purchased a Nord Electro 4 HP keyboard that I would like to connect to some devices to create piano sounds coupled with pads or ambient sounds or electric pianos or organs .. I would have thought of EH superego plus + EH Key9 or Mel9 or even the Attack-Decay, and C9 and B9 … do you think that these combinations can work? and if so, should I use some other device? I’m a newby so all help is precious .. thanx you all
AndrewJuly 15, 2019 at 7:15 pm #125385gvelascoParticipantQuote:Hi everyone, I recently purchased a Nord Electro 4 HP keyboardCongratulations.
Quote:I would have thought of EH superego plus + EH Key9 or Mel9 or even the Attack-Decay, and C9 and B9 … do you think that these combinations can work?They will work, but you’ll need to experiment a lot to dial in exactly the right settings with some of them.
The most straightforward one will be the Attack-Decay. It’s a triggered effect which is actually good when you use it with an organ because it will provide a consistent trigger.
The Superego Plus is a great pedal, but it’s a bit of a mismatch for an organ. Guitar players like it because they can sustain notes forever, but an organ can already do that. I’m not saying it’s not useful at all with an organ. The built-in effects are very good and they can be used without the freeze feature. Using the freeze with an organ allows you to apply some effects to the frozen signal and another set off effects to the live signal.
The Key9, Mel9, C9, and B9 will all work, but I don’t know why you would use the B9 which is a B9 emulator for guitar when you already have an excellent, and frankly superior, B9 emulator in your Nord. The B9 also lets you emulate some other classic rock organs, but you can load sound libraries into your Nord. I don’t know all of the sound libraries that are available for your Nord, but it seems to me the only one of the “9” series pedals that you might find useful would be the Synth9 which is the one you don’t mention. That one emulates lots of classic synths which I don’t think is Nord’s specialty.
Whichever of those you use, you have to make sure NOT to use the tone wheels (pulls, stops, bars, etc.) and reduce the click simulation. The 9 series works best with a clean, simple signal as close to a sine wave as possible. Complex harmonics can throw them off, and you want to put your 9 series pedals as close to the beginning of the signal chain as possible.
If you want to do ambient music you should consider a good reverb like the Oceans 11 with a good delay like the Canyon or the Grand Canyon delay. You should also consider modulation effects like an Electric Mistress (flanger), Small Stone (Phase Shifter), Good Vibes (Univibe Phaser), and Stereo Pulsar (Tremolo).
The Oceans 11 reverb and Canyon delay are very modern “time based” effects that include settings that are very populare with ambient musicians like “shimmer” and octave which are used to create those “etherial” “heavenly” “hypnotic” types of sounds.
Phase shifters, flangers, and Univibes (really a special type of phase shifter) are classic effect that were heavily used by psychedelic bands to creat a “swirling” “spinning” or “pulsating” sound similar to a Leslie speaker. EHX makes a Leslie simulator, the Lester, but the Nord already has a Leslie simulator in it. These effects are different from a Leslie and have their own unique sounds. Since ambient is what you’re going for I would recommend the Bad Stone over the Small Stone because it has a more pronounced filter. I would recommend the Deluxe Electric Mistress because it has more control over the range and the “color” than the Neo Mistress and it has stereo outs. If you can only do one thing, I would recommend the Good Vibes because it has the deepest, most lush, most hypnotic throbbing of the phase shifters and it also does a very nice true vibrato.
If money is no object, here is my recommendation for a fantastic ambient setup:
Nord -> Attack Decay -> Mod Rex Polyrhythmic Modulator (Phaser, Flanger, Tremolo, Vibrato) -> Good Vibes -> Grand Canyon Delay -> Oceans 11 Reverb -> Amp or Board
July 15, 2019 at 9:35 pm #125386Andrew SilvestriParticipantThanx 4 your quick reply, mr Velasco, I appreciated very much!! As a matter of fact I’ve no intention to layer a B9 on another B9… the Nord Electro 4Hp has got two engines: piano (with sampled grands, upright, rhodes) and organs (farf, vox, B3) with a third section dedicated to sampled strings, brass, flutes, etc.. all really nice, except you can’t layer piano-organs, or piano-samples, or organ-samples, as you actually do on the Nord Electro 5 series… All you can do Is play piano sounds OR organs OR sampled sounds… Not really nice.. So I thought It could be useful to my needs have a separate gizmo that could allows me to play piano (which I play most) with a carpet of synths, or strings, or, why not, organ, in the background… in effect my first thought was for the Synth 9, but then I discovered all the rest of the 9 series and bango!!! Confusion started.. I’m not concerned about the price but, obviously, the whole operation should not be costing me more than selling my NE 4 and buy a NE5
July 15, 2019 at 9:42 pm #125387Andrew SilvestriParticipantI’m sorry but my last part of the message got lost in cyberspace… I only added again my thanks for the deep and so precise reply.. my best wishes for you!! A
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