nord Piano 4 User manual

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Page 1

USER MANUAL

Nord Piano 4

English

OS version: 1.0x

Edition: C

Part number: 50490 Copyright Clavia DMI AB Edition: C

Page 2

CAUTION - ATTENTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

RISQUE DE SHOCK ELECTRIQUE

NE PAS OUVRIR

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT REMOVE COVER (OR BACK).

NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.

REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.

ATTENTION:POUR EVITER LES RISQUES DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE, NE

PAS ENLEVER LE COUVERCLE.

AUCUN ENTRETIEN DE PIECES INTERIEURES PAR L´USAGER.

CONFIER L´ENTRETIEN AU PERSONNEL QUALIFE.

AVIS: POUR EVITER LES RISQUES D´INCIDENTE OU D´ELECTROCUTION,

N´EXPOSEZ PAS CET ARTICLE A LA PLUIE OU L´HUMIDITET.

1) Read these instructions.

2) Keep these instructions.

3) Heed all warnings.

4) Follow all instructions.

5) Do not use this apparatus near water.

6) Clean only with dry cloth.

7) Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8) Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including ampliers) that produce heat.

9) Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not t into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.

10) Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.

11) Only use attachments/accessories specied by the manu- facturer.

12) Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table specied by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over.

13) Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.

14) Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate nor- mally, or has been dropped.

The lightning ash with the arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated voltage within the products en- closure that may be of sufcient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

Le symbole éclair avec le point de èche à l´intérieur d´un triangle équilatéral est utilisé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la presence à l´intérieur du coffret de ”voltage dangereux” non isolé d´ampleur

sufsante pour constituer un risque d`éléctrocution.

The exclamation mark within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the product.

Le point d´exclamation à l´intérieur d´un triangle équilatéral est employé pour alerter l´utilisateur de la présence d´instructions importantes pour le fonctionnement et l´entretien (service) dans le livret d´instructions accompagnant l´appareil.

Instructions pertaining to a risk of re, electric shock or injury to persons.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

Trademarks: The Nord logo is a trademark of Clavia DMI AB. All other trademarks mentioned in this publication are the properties of their respective holders.

No naked ame sources, such as lighted candles, should be placed on the apparatus;

Do not use the apparatus in tropical climates.

WARNING: To reduce the risk of re or electric shock, do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture.

The apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping or splashing and that no objects lled with liquids, such as vases, shall be placed on the apparatus.

The maims plug is used as the disconnect device and shall remain readily operable.

Il convient de ne pas placer sur l´appareil de sources de ammes nues, telles que des bougies allumées;

L´appareil n’est pas destiné á étre utilisé sous un climat tropical.

L´appareil ne doit pas étre exposé á des égouttements d´eau ou des éclaboussures et de plus qu´aucun objet rempli de liquide tel que des vases ne doit étre placé sur l´appareil.

Lorsque la prise du résau d’alimentation est utilisée comme dispositif de déconnexion, ce dispositif doit demeuré aisément accessible.

Warning - When using electric products, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following:

Additional Safety Information

Page 3

1. INTRODUCTION | 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 5

Thank you! ........................................................................................................5

Features .............................................................................................................5

Nord Online ......................................................................................................5

About the User Manual ..............................................................................5

Reading the manual in PDF Format ...................................................................5

Restoring the factory presets .............................................................................5

OS upgrades .....................................................................................................5

Free sounds ......................................................................................................5

Disclaimer..........................................................................................................5

2 OVERVIEW ......................................................................................... 6

The Piano 4 panel .........................................................................................6

Program section – page 13 ...............................................................................6

Piano section – page 10 ....................................................................................6

Sample Synth section –page 16 ........................................................................6

Effects section – page 17 ..................................................................................6

3 GETTING STARTED ................................................................. 7

Hooking it up ...................................................................................................7

Panel controls .................................................................................................7

Dials and knobs ................................................................................................7

Buttons .............................................................................................................7

The Shift button ................................................................................................7

Soft buttons ......................................................................................................7

Programs ...........................................................................................................7

Select a program ...............................................................................................7

List view .............................................................................................................8

Edit a program ................................................................................................8

Select a new piano sound .................................................................................8

Turn off Memory Protection ....................................................................8

Store a program .............................................................................................8

Live Mode .........................................................................................................8

Activate effects ...............................................................................................9

Layer with Sample Synth ...........................................................................9

Create a split ..................................................................................................9

Set up a Split cross-fade (Split Width) ...........................................................9

4 PIANO ...................................................................................................10

On/Off and Level .............................................................................................10

Octave Up/Down .............................................................................................10

Sustain and Volume .........................................................................................10

About the Piano sounds ..........................................................................10

About Piano size .............................................................................................10

Piano Info ...................................................................................................10

Piano Select ...................................................................................................10

Category and model ........................................................................................10

List view ..........................................................................................................11

String Res and Soft Release ................................................................11

String Resonance ............................................................................................11

Soft Release ....................................................................................................11

Nord Triple Pedal .........................................................................................11

Pedal Noise .....................................................................................................11

Half Pedaling ...................................................................................................11

Sostenuto ........................................................................................................12

Soft Pedal .......................................................................................................12

Equalizer ..........................................................................................................12

Clavinet ......................................................................................................12

5 PROGRAM ........................................................................................13

Store ..................................................................................................................13

Storing a program ...........................................................................................13

Naming a program (Store As...) .......................................................................13

KBD split ..........................................................................................................13

Keyboard Split settings ..................................................................................13

Choosing a split position .............................................................................13

Split Width settings .....................................................................................13

Shift / Exit button .........................................................................................14

Live programs ...............................................................................................14

Transpose On/Set .......................................................................................14

Mono...............................................................................................................14

Program Buttons .........................................................................................14

What is a program? .........................................................................................14

Program dial .................................................................................................14

Program List, Abc and Cat ..............................................................................14

Numeric Pad Navigation mode ........................................................................14

Organize .........................................................................................................15

Enter the Organize view ...................................................................................15

Swap two programs ........................................................................................15

Move a program .............................................................................................15

MIDI LED indicator ......................................................................................15

Panic ..................................................................................................................15

6 SAMPLE SYNTH.........................................................................16

On/Off and Level .............................................................................................16

Octave Up/Down .............................................................................................16

Sustain and Volume .........................................................................................16

About the Sample Synth .........................................................................16

Selecting a Sample ..........................................................................................16

List view .....................................................................................................16

Shaping the sound .....................................................................................16

Dynamics ........................................................................................................16

Amp ...........................................................................................................16

Filter ...........................................................................................................16

Attack, Sustain and Decay/Release .................................................................16

7 EFFECTS ............................................................................................. 17

Activating effects ........................................................................................17

Effect 1 ............................................................................................................17

Trem (Tremolo) .................................................................................................17

Pan (Auto Pan) ................................................................................................17

RM (Ring Modulation) ......................................................................................17

Ctrl ped ...........................................................................................................17

Effect 2 ............................................................................................................18

Phaser 1 & 2 ...................................................................................................18

Flanger ............................................................................................................18

Chorus 1 & 2 ...................................................................................................18

Vibe .................................................................................................................18

Deep ...............................................................................................................18

Delay .................................................................................................................18

Equalizer ..........................................................................................................18

Amp/Comp ...................................................................................................18

Amp models ....................................................................................................18

Dist..................................................................................................................18

Comp ..............................................................................................................18

Reverb ..............................................................................................................19

8 MIDI ...........................................................................................................20

MIDI functions ...............................................................................................20

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4 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

MIDI Channel ...................................................................................................20

Recording an Piano 4 performance to a MIDI sequencer or DAW ....................20

MIDI Messages .............................................................................................20

Note On/Off ................................................................................................20

Controllers ..................................................................................................20

Program Change .........................................................................................20

Local Control On/Off ..................................................................................20

Panic ..................................................................................................................20

9 NORD SOUND MANAGER .............................................21

About Nord Sound Manager .................................................................21

System requirements ................................................................................21

10 MENUS ..............................................................................................22

System Menu ................................................................................................22

1 - Memory Protect .........................................................................................22

2 - NumPad Program Select............................................................................22

3 - Global Transpose .......................................................................................22

4 - Fine Tune ...................................................................................................22

5 - Output Routing mode ................................................................................22

6 - Sustain Pedal type ....................................................................................22

7 - Control Pedal .............................................................................................22

Type............................................................................................................22

Gain ............................................................................................................22

Sound Menu ..................................................................................................22

1 - Piano Pedal Noise Level .............................................................................22

2 - Piano String Res Level ...............................................................................22

MIDI Menu ......................................................................................................22

1 - Local Control .............................................................................................22

2 - MIDI Channel .............................................................................................23

3 - Control/Program Change Mode .................................................................23

MIDI Control Change .................................................................................23

MIDI Program Change ................................................................................23

4 - Transpose MIDI At ......................................................................................23

11 CONNECTIONS ........................................................................24

Audio connections ......................................................................................24

Headphones ...................................................................................................24

Left & Right Out ...............................................................................................24

Monitor In ........................................................................................................24

MIDI connections ........................................................................................24

MIDI In ............................................................................................................24

MIDI Out .........................................................................................................24

USB connection ...........................................................................................24

Pedal connections ......................................................................................24

Sustain Pedal ..................................................................................................24

Vol/Ctrl Pedal...................................................................................................24

II APPENDIX: MIDI CONTROLLER LIST .................25

III INDEX ....................................................................................................26

Page 5

1. INTRODUCTION | 5

INTRODUCTION

THANK YOU!

Thank you for choosing the Nord Piano 4. This instrument has been designed to present the most uncompromising piano playing experience possible in a stage keyboard, without sacriﬁcing ease of use or portability. A triple sensor key bed coupled with our Virtual Hammer Action Technology provides an unprecedented level of realism and control and enables a wide range of pianistic playing techniques. Powered by the free and ever growing Nord Piano Library – an extensive collection of meticulously sampled piano and keyboard instruments – we hope the Nord Piano 4 will keep your playing inspired for many years to come.

FEATURES

The Nord Piano 4 has the following main features:

 Piano section with acoustic Grand and Upright pianos, tine and

reed based Electric pianos, Digital piano sounds, Clavinet and Harpsichord sounds and a Layer category with rich sounding piano combinations. The memory capacity for the Piano section is 1 GB.

 88 key Triple Sensor keybed with grand weighted action

 Nord Virtual Hammer Action Technology

 Sample Synth section with 512 MB of sample memory and intuitive

envelope and dynamics controls.

 Comprehensive Effects section.

 Seamless Transitions: Sustaining notes are not cut off when chang-

ing programs.

 Keyboard split functionality with optional split widths, allowing

sounds to smoothly cross-fade over split point.

NORD ONLINE

On the website nordkeyboards.com you will ﬁnd:

ABOUT THE USER MANUAL

The manual is arranged mainly as a reference manual. In many cases you’ll also get tips on how to practically use the various features in a musical context.

READING THE MANUAL IN PDF FORMAT

This manual is available as a digital PDF ﬁle. It can be downloaded from the Nord Piano 4 section on our website.

RESTORING THE FACTORY PRESETS

The factory programs, samples and pianos are available as individual Nord Sound Manager backup ﬁles for download from our website. There is also a complete backup of the entire instrument and its factory content, in case it needs to be restored to its original state at some point.

OS UPGRADES

The latest OS (Operating System) version for the Nord Piano 4 is always available for download from our website. Please visit our website from time to time, to make sure you have the latest version in your unit.

FREE SOUNDS

Since the Nord Piano 4 is designed as an open system, each and every piano and sample in the Nord Piano 4 can be replaced. This is done using the Nord Sound Manager application which is available as a free download from our website.

The Nord Piano 4 is compatible with the continuously expanding Nord Piano Library and the Nord Sample Library. When new sounds become available, these can be download for free from the Sound Libraries section of our website.

» Information about the Nord Piano 4 and other Nord instruments

» Latest Operating Systems for download

» Free software: Nord Sound Manager, Nord Sample Editor and

drivers

» Nord Piano Librar y sounds for free download

» Nord Sample Library sounds for free download

» Nord World: Nord releated news stories and videos

» User Manuals for download

» Tutorials can be found at nordkeyboards.com/tutorials

Follow Nord Keyboards on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Feel free to tag your content with our ofﬁcial hashtag #iseenord.

DISCLAIMER

Any trademarks and brand names mentioned in this manual are the property of their respective owners and are not afﬁliated or associated with Clavia. These trademarks and brand names are only mentioned to describe certain sound qualities reproduced by the Nord Piano 4.

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6 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

158

Piano80

A:45

OVERVIEW

Studio 80

Studio Grand 2 Med

PIANOPROGRAM SAMPLE SYNTH EFFECTS

THE PIANO 4 PANEL

The Nord Piano 4 is designed to be a musically inspiring yet easy-touse instrument. Let’s have a quick look at all its panel sections:

PROGRAM SECTION – PAGE 13

A program on the Nord Piano 4 contains settings for all sound engines and effects. The left area of the instrument – the Program section – is where programs are navigated and stored, and various performance features and settings menus are accessed. All this is aided by the large OLED display, which also shows the name of any selected Piano and/ or Sample sound.

PIANO SECTION – PAGE 10

The Nord Piano 4 beneﬁts from the ever-growing Nord Piano Library and includes a wide range of piano and keyboard sounds including Grand, Upright and Electric pianos as well as Digital piano and Layer sounds right out of the box. New sounds are regularly made available free of charge on the www.nordkeyboards.com website.

and Chamberlin sounds. A large selection of samples are included from the start and the Sample Synth section is where these are browsed and loaded. A number of functions for adjusting the character and response of the sample are accessed directly via the panel.

EFFECTS SECTION – PAGE 17

The Effects section puts a wide selection of classic effects at your ﬁngertips:

The Effects 1 and 2 units provide essential modulation effects such as Tremolo, Chorus and Phaser – modelled after legendary stomp boxes and effects units. The Delay effect can be used for anything from subtle ambience or slap-back effects to almost endless soundscapes.

Classic ampliﬁer simulations, tube-like distortion and a punchy Com- pressor effect are found in the Amp/Comp section. A versatile EQ with sweepable Mid range frequency can be applied to any of the Piano 4 sound engines.

Finally, the lush Reverb – with an optional Bright mode – provides an array of small and large room simulations for instant atmosphere.

Among the Piano section’s panel controls are buttons for activating the Advanced String Resonance feature (for acoustic pianos), adjusting the keyboard velocity response or quickly altering the character of a piano sound using the dedicated Equalizer settings.

With the included Nord Triple Pedal connected, the dynamic Pedal Noise feature – mimicking the sounds produced by a mechanical damper pedal – can be activated. The Triple Pedal also enables half pedaling techniques as well as using Una Corda and Sostenuto pedaling to enrich the performance.

SAMPLE SYNTH SECTION –PAGE 16

The Nord Sample Library gives Piano 4 owners access to a huge free library of world-class sounds, including the famous vintage Mellotron

Page 7

Swap Move

3. GETTING STARTED | 7

GETTING STARTED

Let’s spend a few minutes getting acquainted with the most fundamental features of the Nord Piano 4, and go through some of the most common tasks and scenarios in a stepwise fashion.

HOOKING IT UP

1 Connect the Nord Piano 4 power cord to the unit and a mains

power supply, connect the sustain pedal and a set of headphones or a sound system.

2 Make sure to turn on the Nord Piano 4 ﬁrst, before the sound

system. Please be careful with the output volume!

For more information on all the connections of the Piano 4, see the Connections section on page 24.

PANEL CONTROLS

DIALS AND KNOBS

The dials on the Nord Piano 4 are knobs without ﬁxed start and stop positions, used for navigating parameters and settings. The PROG/MENU dial is one such example. In this manual, dials are sometimes also referred to as encoders.

THE SHIFT BUTTON

Many panel controls on the Nord Piano 4 have a second- ary function, which is printed immediately below it. These additional functions are accessed by pressing and holding SHIFT while operating the control.

The Shift button is also used to EXIT a menu or to cancel an ongoing Store operation.

SOFT BUTTONS

One menu or settings page – as well as the Organize view, shown below – may contain several related options in which case “soft buttons” are used for focusing a setting or performing a task. Soft buttons are placed at the bottom of the display and are controlled with the PROGRAM 1-4 buttons. As an example, pressing Program button 3 in the example below will select Program A:12 for a Swap operation.

Program Organize

A:11 Royal Grand 3D A:12 Nefertiti Mk I A:13 Amber Upright A:14 Orch Strings

Potentiometer-type knobs are used for many parameters on the Nord Piano 4. When a program is loaded the physical positions of these knobs will in most cases not correspond to the actual parameter values. As soon as a knob is turned however, its associated parameter value will “snap” to the knob’s position.

 Hold the SHIFT button and turn a knob to view the stored setting of

a parameter without changing it.

BUTTONS

Selector buttons are used to select one setting in an array. They have a set of round or triangular LEDs to indicate its current setting. Press the button several times to cycle through the possible options.

ON/OFF buttons are used for activating a function or a group of functions such as effects and have a LED close to them to indicate the on/off status and sometimes also the source or zone.

M The On/Off buttons of the Effects shown here also have a selector

functionality. Press once to turn the Effect on, and press immediately again to select the “next” source.

PROGRAMS

The Program area is located at the left of the panel with an OLED display in the middle. One program contains complete settings of every parameter on the panel and is stored in the program memory of the Piano 4, with enough room for 400 programs.

Programs are organized into 16 banks, labeled A-P. All programs can be edited and replaced as you wish.

M A complete set of the factory programs is available on the www.

nordkeyboards.com website. This means that the program memory can always be restored to its original state.

SELECT A PROGRAM

1 Programs are selected by pressing any of the ﬁve PROGRAM

buttons, located below the display, or by turning the PROGRAM dial. A Program bank on the Nord Piano 4 can contain 25 programs divided into 5 program pages.

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8 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

STORE PROGRAM TO

A:11

Royal Grand 3D

Program EPiano2

A:31 Grand Imperial A:32 Ballad EP 1 A:33 Bambino Upright A:34 Mellotron Flutes

Num Abc Cat

LIST VIEW

Any dial that has LIST written below it - such as the Program dial - can be used to access a useful list view.

1 Press SHIFT and turn the PROGRAM dial to enter a list view of all the

Programs.

2 Browse to any program, using the PROGRAM dial. All 26 program

banks can be accessed when in List mode.

3 Try out the Abc and Cat soft buttons respectively. Note that in Abc

mode, all programs are shown in a list sorted by name and in Cat mode as a list sorted by Category.

4 Press SHIFT again to EXIT the List view.

2 Memory Protect is the ﬁrst setting of the System menu. If the

display shows a different setting, use on-screen soft buttons to navigate to the Memory Protect setting.

3 Change this setting to Off by turning the PROGRAM dial. 4 Press EXIT (Shift button) to exit the System menu.

M This setting, like most other System settings, will be permanently

stored until it is changed again.

Read more about menu settings on page 22.

STORE A PROGRAM

1 Press the STORE button above the display once, to begin the pro-

cess of storing the current program.

2 The STORE LED will begin to ﬂash and the display will ask you for

the location to where you want to store the program.

 List views for the Piano and Sample dials work in a similar way.

EDIT A PROGRAM

Editing a program is as easy as turning a knob or pressing a button to change an existing setting. Let’s give it a quick try:

1 Dial up the ﬁrst program (or any piano based program) for this

exercise.

 The controls for the Piano instrument are located immediately to

the right of the Program area on the panel. Notice that the Piano section of the Program area display shows the name of the selected piano sound.

SELECT A NEW PIANO SOUND

2 Turn the PIANO SELECT dial to browse the piano sounds. Sounds

are organized according to their type (for instance Grand and Upright).

3 Try selecting a piano sound from the LIST view, accessed by

pressing SHIFT and turning the PIANO SELECT dial. Use Shift again to EXIT the list view.

Note that changing any parameter on the panel causes an “E” to appear next to the program number in the display. This is to show that the program has been edited but not yet saved. If another program is loaded before a Store operation is performed, any edits are lost and the program will have its original settings the next time it is loaded.

TURN OFF MEMORY PROTECTION

When the Nord Piano 4 is shipped from factory its memory is protected to prevent accidental overwriting of original programs. Memory protection can be turned off by toggling a setting located in the System menu.

1 Hold SHIFT and press the SYSTEM (Program 1) button below the

display.

3 If you want to store the edited version to the current location,

replacing the original, simply press STORE again. If not, use the dial and/or PROGRAM buttons to select a different location.

 The program in the selected location becomes active on the

keyboard, allowing it to be auditioned before it is replaced by the program being stored.

4 When you have found a suitable location for your program, press

STORE again to conﬁrm the store operation.

M Press Shift/Exit once to abort an ongoing Store process if you

change your mind.

Read more about Store and how to name a program in the Program chapter, on page 13.

LIVE MODE

The ﬁve LIVE programs differ from other programs in that all edits made to them are instantly stored, without the need for a manual Store operation.

1 Press LIVE MODE and use the PROGRAM buttons to navigate the

ﬁve Live programs.

2 Make an edit, such as activating one of the effects sections, to one

of the programs.

3 Select a different Live program and then return to the one that was

edited. Note that the edit was automatically stored.

4 Press the Live Mode button again to exit Live Mode and return to

the Program banks.

If Live Mode is active and you wish to store the settings permanently as a program in one of the Program banks, you can do so using the standard Store methods (see above). Conversely, programs can also be stored into any of the Live Mode memory locations by pressing LIVE MODE and selecting one of the Live program locations.

Page 9

ACTIVATE EFFECTS

KEYBOARD SPLIT

Split Position

C4 Off

WidthPos

1 Make sure the ﬁrst program (Royal Grand 3D) is selected. 2 Activate the reverb by pressing the Reverb ON button. 3 Adjust the DRY/WET balance with the knob above the reverb

selector.

4 Activate the delay effect by pressing the DELAY ON/OFF button. 5 The LEDs above the button indicate which sound engine is routed

to the effect; PIANO or SYNTH. Press SHIFT and the Delay SOURCE button so that the PIANO LED is lit, if it is not already.

 Double-clicking the On Off / Source button is a shortcut for quickly

changing the source for any effects unit.

6 Try the TEMP, FEEDBACK and DRY/WET controls, to alter the charac-

ter and intensity of the Delay effect.

LAYER WITH SAMPLE SYNTH

3. GETTING STARTED | 9

SET UP A SPLIT CROSS-FADE (SPLIT WIDTH)

As a ﬁnal step, let’s adjust the split point so that the split Piano and Sample Synth sounds will transition gradually between one another:

5 Again, hold down SHIFT and press the KBD SPLIT button, located in

the top row above the Program area display.

6 Press the Width soft button. The Split width for each split point can

now be adjusted.

7 Set the width value to “Lrg” (large) by turning the dial. Let go of the

KBD SPLIT button.

Playing across the Split point will now “cross-fade” between the lower and the upper sound. Note that the split LED above the keyboard is lit with a red light, indicating that a large split width is being used. With a small width the LED will be yellow, and with width set to “off” the LED will be green.

1 Turn ON the Sample Synth section. 2 Turn the SAMPLE SELECT dial and select a string sound from the

Sample bank. The location and name of the sample are shown at the bottom of the display.

3 Use the LEVEL control to set an appropriate sound level for the

strings.

When a sample is selected, preset settings for the Sample Synth envelope (Attack, Decay/Sustain/Release), Dynamics and Filter settings are also loaded. These parameters can subsequently be adjusted manually as desired. Descriptions of these controls are found in the Sample Synth reference chapter, starting on page 16.

CREATE A SPLIT

1 Make sure that both the Piano and Sample Synth sections are

turned on.

2 Press the KBD SPLIT button, located in the top row above the

Program area display. There are two conﬁgurations to choose from: PNO/SYNT and SYNT/PNO. In this case set it to Pno/Synt. This means that the Piano sound is placed at the left side of the keyboard with the Sample Synth sound to the right.

3 To adjust the position of the Split point, hold down Shift and press

the KBD SPLIT button.

4 There are two settings for the split point; position and width. Make

sure that the Position setting is focused (by pressing the Pos soft button) and set the split point to C4 using the dial.

The keyboard is now divided into two zones, the split point being indicated with a green LED above the keyboard.

Feel free to use the OCTAVE UP/DOWN controls in the Piano and Sample Synth section for accessing different ranges of the respective sounds.

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10 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

PIANO

The available memory size for piano sounds is 1 Gigabyte.

M When you download piano instruments with the Nord Sound

Manager, these will always automatically be placed into their corresponding category.

A program “knows” which piano to use by referencing to the category and the model number. If a program references a piano that isn’t currently downloaded onto the Nord Piano 4, the display will read “Piano not found”. If this happens; either navigate to another instrument model from the same or another category (using the Piano Select dial) and select to use this piano instead, or use the Nord Sound Manager application to download the missing instrument to the Piano 4.

ON/OFF AND LEVEL

The Piano section is turned On or Off by pressing its ON button. The LEVEL knob controls the volume of the Piano sound.

OCTAVE UP/DOWN

Use OCTAVE UP (Shift + Equalizer) to transpose the Piano section up by one octave (+12 semitones) and OCTAVE DOWN (Shift + Pedals) to trans- pose down by one octave (-12 semitones). When assigned to the entire keyboard it can be transposed one octave up or down. When a split is active the available transpose values will vary, but always provide access to the entire range of the Piano.

SUSTAIN AND VOLUME

SUSTAIN activates any attached sustain pedal, such as the Nord Triple Pedal, for the Piano section. Read more on how to conﬁgure an attached pedal in the Menus chapter, on page 22.

VOLUME assigns an attached control pedal as volume control for the Piano section.

Both the sustain and volume pedal can be active at the same time, indicated by both LEDs being lit.

ABOUT THE PIANO SOUNDS

ABOUT PIANO SIZE

Nord Piano Library sounds come in up to four different sizes. Below is an overview of how they differ in functionality:

Sml Med Lrg XL

Stereo sampled

Detailed velocity mapping

String resonance for middle range

String resonance for entire range

Fully mapped keyboard

Small (Sml) piano ﬁles use the least amount of space in the piano memory as they do not contain any pedal-down String Resonance samples at all.

The Medium (Med) versions include pedal-down String Resonance samples for the important middle region of the range.

The Large (Lrg) versions have the pedal-down String Resonance samples all across the keyboard.

Many pianos are also available in an Extra Large (XL) version. These are “fully mapped” across the keyboard, meaning that each key on the Nord now matches its exact equivalent on the original instrument. This naturally imposes a substantial increase in size.

PIANO INFO

Pressing PIANO INFO (Shift + On) will display some additional info about the currently selected model, such as its version number and its exact size.

3 3 3 3

3 3

The Pianos in the Nord Piano 4 are organized into six categories. Each category can contain several instrument models. New piano sounds can be downloaded from the www.nordkeyboards.com website and added to the Nord Piano 4 by using the Nord Sound Manager.

Right out of the box, the Nord Piano 4 features a ﬁne collection of carefully selected acoustic and electric pianos, digital piano sounds and piano layers. A lot of effort was made to ensure a nuanced response and sound, matching the original models as closely as possible.

PIANO SELECT

CATEGORY AND MODEL

Use the PIANO SELECT dial to choose which piano sound you want to use. These are the six categories into which all piano sounds are placed:

Page 11

4. PIANO | 11

AllNum Cat

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION

Grand Acoustic and electric grand pianos

Upright Upright pianos

Electric Electric Pianos (tine and reed based)

Clav/Hps Clavinets and Harpsichords

Digital Digital piano sounds

Layer Layered piano sounds

M Pianos can not be moved from one category to another.

The name of the selected model is shown at the bottom of the Program section display, indicated by a keyboard icon.

ABOUT THE CLAVINET

On the original Clavinet D6, different pick-up combinations were selected by pressing a number of rocker switches. This functionality is faithfully simulated by the Nord Piano 4, which means that all original Clavinet D6 pickup selections are available.

PICK-UP TYPE DESCRIPTION

Clav Model A: Only the “neck” pick-up; a warmer, less bright sound. Clav Model B: Only the “bridge” pick-up; a bright sound. Clav Model C: Both pick-ups on and in phase; a very full sound. Clav Model D: Both pick-ups 180 degrees out of phase; the fundamen-

tal is almost cancelled out and the sound becomes thin.

LIST VIEW

Pressing SHIFT and turning the PIANO SELECT dial activates the LIST view for piano sounds.

Piano Grand 2/5

1 Royal Grand 3D XL 2 Velvet Grand Med 3 Grand Imperial Med 4 Studio Grand 2 Med

The list itself shows the currently selected model, indicated by a rectangle, as well as the preceding and following models.

The Piano list top row displays the current category name (“Grand” in this case), the number of models of that type (5), and the index of the currently selected model (2).

KBD TOUCH

Pianos from the Nord Piano Libary typically have a very wide dynamic range, and their dynamic response can be adjusted according to what ﬁts your preferences or the context of your performance.

The ﬁrst KBD TOUCH setting (1) facilitates playing softly yet expressively. With each increment of the Kbd Touch setting (2 and 3) less effort is required to play loudly.

STRING RES AND SOFT RELEASE

STRING RESONANCE

String Resonance refers to the acoustic phenomenon that occurs when strings, or parts of strings, resonate at their fundamental or harmonic frequencies when other strings are played.

When STRING RES is turned on, all notes you play will affect each other to reproduce the wonderful acoustics that occurs inside an acoustic grand or upright piano.

Also, when the sustain pedal is pressed down the fact that all dampers are being lifted will further add to the resonance effect.

The sound level of the string resonance effect can be set in the Sound menu, see page 22.

M If a piano is selected that is not compatible with the String Reso-

nance feature, this function will be disabled. This applies to e.g. small (Sml) versions of the grand pianos and uprights, and the electric, digital and layer pianos.

SOFT RELEASE

Activating SOFT RELEASE will add a slightly longer and less pronounced release to the piano sound. This is equivalent to what happens when you adjust the damper tension in an acoustic or an electromechanical instrument. The added release is individual for every note and responds dynamically to the force with which you play.

M Some Piano types, such as Clavinets and Harpsichords do not

support the Soft Release feature. In these cases the button will be disabled.

The default sort order is numerical, but pianos can also be browsed by category, by activating the Cat soft button. The 3 and 4 soft buttons can be used for quickly jumping between categories.

Piano Grand 2/5

1 Royal Grand 3D XL 2 Velvet Grand Med 3 Grand Imperial Med 4 Studio Grand 2 Med

Pressing down on the Cat button allows for browsing and selecting all available categories from a list.

NORD TRIPLE PEDAL

The included Nord Triple Pedal enables the following techniques and features:

PEDAL NOISE

The PEDAL NOISE feature recreates the mechanical noise that occurs when operating the damper pedal on an acoustic piano. The noise level dynamically adjusts to the force with which the sustain pedal is pressed. The pedal noise level can be set in the Sound menu, see page 22.

HALF PEDALING

The sustain pedal on the Nord Triple Pedal can be used with half pedaling techniques, meaning that the “virtual” dampers of the piano can be held in positions that are not entirely lifted or lowered, resulting in a “half dampened” sound.

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12 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

SOSTENUTO

When the Sostenuto (middle) pedal is operated, notes held at the moment the pedal is pressed down will be sustained, while succeeding notes will not.

SOFT PEDAL

To the left is the soft pedal, also known as the Una Corda. With this pedal pressed, all played notes will be slightly lower in volume and also have a more subdued tone quality.

EQUALIZER

The EQUALIZER is a very handy tool for instantly altering the character of the selected piano sound:

The SOFT setting ﬁlters out much of the high frequencies and emphasizes the lower range, resulting in a subdued and mellow sound.

The MID mode de-emphasizes both high and low frequency ranges, making for a focused and cutting sound with a prominent mid-range.

The BRIGHT mode emphasizes the high frequency range, producing a bright, brilliant sound.

DYNO 1 and DYNO 2: These settings will be available in a future OS release.

CLAVINET

An original Clavinet is equipped with 4 additional rocker switches, which control the onboard EQ. Most of these EQ combinations are available on the Nord Piano 4. Use the EQUALIZER button to select your preferred combination.

Page 13

5. PROGRAM | 13

STORE PROGRAM TO

A:13

Amber Upright

qrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJK

STORE PROGRAM AS

ABC DelCat Ins

mber Upright

158

Studio Grand 2 Med Piano80

A:45

Studio 80

PROGRAM

destination can always be auditioned by playing the keyboard.

M To cancel an ongoing Store operation, press EXIT.

3 When a suitable location has been selected, press STORE

again to conﬁrm the operation.

NAMING A PROGRAM (STORE AS...)

1 To store and name your program press STORE AS... (Shift +

Store).

2 The ABC soft button brings up a row of alphanumeric charac-

ters. Use the dial to set the character for the current position. Let go of the ABC button to move the cursor ahead. The dial can be used to move the cursor freely. The Ins soft button is used for inserting a blank space at the cursor position and the Del soft button is used for deleting the selected character.

The Program section provides access to performance functions such as loading and storing programs, access to Live programs, keyboard split functionality and more. This is also where menus containing System, Sound and MIDI settings are found. The menus and their settings are covered in a separate chapter, starting on page 22.

STORE

The STORE button is used for storing an edited program to any location in the program banks. Storing a program will overwrite the existing data in the selected memory location.

M When the Nord Piano 4 is shipped from factory its memory is protected, to avoid accidental overwriting of programs. To be able to store Programs, the Memory Protect parameter needs to be set to “Off” in the System menu. Read more about this on page 22.

STORING A PROGRAM

Here is how to store a program without changing its name:

1 Press the STORE button once. The Store LED will start blinking, and

the display will show the name of the program and its location.

3 To assign your program a category hold down the Cat soft button

and select any of the 20 categories from the list.

4 Press STORE to bring up the Store Program To screen. Use the dial

and/or the Program buttons to select a location.

5 When a suitable location has been selected, press STORE again.

 Naming programs can also be done with the Nord Sound Manager.

KBD SPLIT

The Nord Piano 4 keyboard can be split into two zones, with the Sample Synth sound to the left and the Piano sound to the right – when set to SYNT/PIANO – or in the reverse conﬁguration with the PIANO/SYNT setting.

KEYBOARD SPLIT SETTINGS

2 To select a different store location use the dial and/or the PROGRAM

1-5 buttons. A program can also be stored to one of the Live

program locations by pressing the LIVE MODE button and then selecting the desired Live program. The program at the selected

Holding down SHIFT and pressing the KBD SPLIT button will open up the Keyboard Split settings page in the display.

CHOOSING A SPLIT POSITION

Use the dial to choose one of the 7 keyboard split positions, C3-C6, on the Keyboard Split position page. LEDs are provided above the keyboard, indicating which split position is active.

SPLIT WIDTH SETTINGS

Normally the transition between two keyboard zones is immediate, with no overlap between the sounds selected for each zone. By setting a

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14 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

WidthPos

Program EPiano2

A:31 Grand Imperial A:32 Ballad EP 1 A:33 Bambino Upright A:34 Mellotron Flutes

Num Abc Cat

Width, sounds can instead be mixed or “cross-faded” across the split point, creating a smoother transition between the sounds.

Pressing the Width (PROGRAM 2) soft button allows for adjusting the width, or "cross-fade" range of the split point. There are three different settings, selectable by turning the dial:

KEYBOARD SPLIT

PROGRAM BUTTONS

The PROGRAM 1-5 buttons give you immediate access to a range of ﬁve programs – a Page – within the current program bank. They are also used as soft buttons when operating menu settings. Read more about soft button functionality on page 7.

Split Width

C4 Lrg

Off: With the Off setting there is no cross-fade between sounds.

Sml: The Sml setting represents a total width of 12 semitones. The

sound below the split point fades out across 6 notes above it and sounds above the split point will similarily reach 6 notes below it.

Lrg: The Lrg setting provides a width of 24 semitones, 12 below the split point and 12 above it.

SHIFT / EXIT BUTTON

Many controls have a secondary function which is accessed by holding SHIFT and pressing the button or turning the dial. Shift functions are always printed below the corresponding control. For example, holding Shift and pressing the Program 2 button will open up the Sound Menu. The Shift

button is also used to EXIT menus, or for cancelling Store operations.

WHAT IS A PROGRAM?

A Program contains references to the selected piano and/or sample sounds, and all settings made on the panel except for Master Level. A program does not store settings made in the System, Sound or MIDI menus.

SYSTEM, SOUND AND MIDI MENUS

Press SYSTEM (Shift + Program 1), SOUND (Shift + Program 2) or MIDI (Shift + Program 3) to enter the System, Sound or MIDI menu. To read more about all available menu settings, turn to page 22.

PROGRAM DIAL

The PROGRAM dial to the left of the Display is used to select programs, to set parameter values and to enter characters in program names. Pressing SHIFT while turning the dial activates the LIST function, which will display all programs in a list.

PROGRAM LIST, ABC AND CAT

The LIST (Shift + Program dial) view provides great overview when browsing programs linearly (Num selected in the display) but also presents two additional sort modes: Abc (Program 2) and Cat (Program 3).

LIVE PROGRAMS

The Nord Piano 4 has ﬁve easy-to-access Live programs. These programs are special in that edits to them are automatically stored. When exiting a Live Program or

powering off the machine all edits are saved, without the need for a manual Store operation. To select a Live Program, press LIVE MODE and then any of the 1-5 buttons in the Program area.

A Live program can be stored to a location in the program banks using the standard methods. Conversely, a regular program can also be stored into a Live program location.

TRANSPOSE ON/SET

The Nord Piano 4 can be transposed in +6/-6 semitone steps on a per-program basis. Hold down TRANSP (Shift + Live Mode) and set the value by turning the dial. Pressing TRANSP turns off or on a transposition. Transpose settings are saved and recalled as part of a program.

 To set up a transpose that affects all programs, use the Global

Transpose parameter in the System Menu.

MONO

In MONO mode (Shift + KBD Touch) all stereo sampled pianos will be played back in mono. The mono versions of our piano sounds are specially designed to provide optimal sound, even in mono.

Abc sorts the list alphabetically while Cat will display all programs of the selected category. To select a speciﬁc character or category, hold down the Abc or Cat soft button respectively (as indicated by the “6“ symbol) and use the dial.

M The List sort mode is remembered until List view is entered again.

NUMERIC PAD NAVIGATION MODE

There are two distinct options for how programs and banks are navigated: The default "page based" mode and the Numeric Pad mode. Which mode is used is determined in the System Menu (see page 22).

In Numeric Pad mode the Program 1-5 buttons are used for entering any program number (11-55) within the current bank, rather than directly switching between the 5 programs on a page. As an example, to select program 12 within the current bank, ﬁrst press Program button 1 (to select page 1) and then Program button 2 (to select program 2 within that page). Here are some additional points to keep in mind:

• The Program dial can be used for switching programs incrementally, just as in the default navigation mode.

Page 15

5. PROGRAM | 15

158

Studio Grand 2 Med

Piano80

A:1-

Studio 80

num

Program Organize

A:11 Royal Grand 3D A:12 Nefertiti Mk I A:13 Amber Upright A:14 Orch Strings

Swap Move

Program A:12

A:23 Mellow Upright A:24 Nefertiti Mk I A:25 Velvet Pad A:31 Grand Imperial

Undo

Program A:12

B:41 Rays Reeds B:42 Nefertiti Mk I B:43 Pop Piano B:44 Organ Flute

Undo

• A “num” symbol in the top right corner of the display indicates that Numeric Pad navigation is active.

In this example, the Program 1 button has been pressed. The dash (-) indicates that another digit can be entered, to select program 11-15.

ORGANIZE

The ORGANIZE (Shift + Program 4) view allows for moving or "swapping" programs within the program banks.

ENTER THE ORGANIZE VIEW

1 Press ORGANIZE (Shift + Program 4)

E Note that programs between the source and destination locations

are shifted one step up or down, changing which programs are part of each page within the affected range.

M Programs can also be organized using the Nord Sound Manager.

MIDI LED INDICATOR

The MIDI LED, located below the Master Level dial, blinks as incoming MIDI messages are received by the MIDI In port, or over USB.

PANIC

If hanging notes are experienced when using the Nord Piano 4 in a MIDI setup, or if all sound should be terminated for other reasons, use the PANIC (Shift + Program 5) function. This will execute an internal “All Notes Off” message, and reset incoming CC messages.

SWAP TWO PROGRAMS

A Swap operation interchanges the positions of two programs.

2 Use the dial to select the program location which should be

swapped with another and press Swap.

3 Use the dial to select the destination and press Ok to complete the

Swap operation. Pressing Undo will instead cancel the operation.

MOVE A PROGRAM

4 Use the dial to select a program which should be moved to another

location and press Move

5 Select the destination location for the operation, using the dial and

press Ok. Pressing Undo will instead cancel the operation.

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16 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

AllNum Cat

SAMPLE SYNTH

LIST VIEW

Pressing SHIFT while turning the SAMPLE SELECT dial allows for browsing all samples in a list. The default sort order is numerical, but samples can also be browsed by category, by activating the Cat soft button. The 3 and 4 soft buttons can be used for quickly jumping between categories. .

Sample Ens Strings

OrchStrings Leg HiVib

OrchStrings Marc HiVib

OrchStrings Tremolo

OrchStrings Pizzicato

ON/OFF AND LEVEL

The Sample Synth section is turned On or Off by pressing its ON button. The LEVEL dial controls the volume of the Sample Synth section.

OCTAVE UP/DOWN

Use OCTAVE UP (Shift + Dynamics) or OCTAVE DOWN (Shift + Pedals) to transpose the Sample Synth section up or down by octaves (+/- 12 semitones). When assigned to the entire keyboard it can be transposed one octave up or down. When assigned to only one zone the available transpose values will vary, but always provide access to the entire range of the synthesizer.

SUSTAIN AND VOLUME

SUSTAIN (Shift + Octave Up) activates any attached sustain pedal for the Synth section.

VOLUME (Shift + Octave Up) assigns any attached control pedal as a volume control for the Synth section.

Read more on how to conﬁgure attached pedals on page 22.

Holding down the Cat button allows for browsing and selecting all available categories from a list.

SHAPING THE SOUND

There are several ways to ﬁne-tune the sound and behaviour of a loaded sample, in order to make it more or less dynamic and responsive. Each sample comes with preset values for the parameters below, which are automatically loaded when a sample is selected. Of course, all controls can still be adjusted manually as desired.

DYNAMICS

AMP

With the AMP setting turned off, samples will always play back at full velocity. When active, the sound level of the Sample Synth responds to the velocity with which you are playing.

FILTER

Activate FILTER to apply a velocity sensitive low pass ﬁlter to the Sample Synth. The ﬁlter reacts to how hard the key is being played and gives the sound a more dampened quality when played softly and a brighter character when more force is applied to the key.

ABOUT THE SAMPLE SYNTH

The versatile Sample Synth section can hold up to 512 MB of samples and comes with a large selection right out of the box. Additional samples can be found in the Nord Sample Library section of the www.nordkeyboards.com website, and are downloaded to the instrument using the Nord Sound Manager software. To further the possibilities, custom samples can be created from any sound source using the Nord Sample Editor application, also found on the Nord website.

SELECTING A SAMPLE

Use the SAMPLE SELECT dial to scroll through the available samples. The position and name of the selected sample is shown in the Program area display. Which sample is selected is stored in the program, when a Store operation is performed.

ATTACK, SUSTAIN AND DECAY/RELEASE

These controls allow for setting the contour, or envelope, of the Sample Synth sound:

ATTACK controls the time it takes for the sample to reach its full level while DECAY/RELEASE determines how quickly the sample fades after having been triggered. At 12 o’clock the sound is in SUSTAIN mode, meaning that a sample will sound as long as the key is being pressed. Settings past 12 o’clock give samples an increasingly long tail after the key has been released.

Page 17

7. EFFECTS | 17

EFFECTS

ACTIVATING EFFECTS

To enable an effect, press its ON/OFF button. The LEDs above the button indicate which sound engine the effect is assigned to; PIANO or SYNTH. Press SOURCE (Shift + On/Off) to change the sound engine assignment.

 Source can also be changed by double-clicking the Source button.

EFFECT 1

The EFFECT 1 unit offers six different types of modulation effects. Use its Selector button to switch between the available settings.

TREM (TREMOLO)

TREM (Tremolo) provides a volume modulation that continuously varies the volume of the output signal. Tremolo is a very common effect to use with electric pianos.

There are three intensities, TREM 1, 2 and 3 (1+2) to choose from.

PAN (AUTO PAN)

PAN is an automatic panning modulation that smoothly moves the signal between the left and right sides of the stereo panorama.

There are three different intesities, PAN 1, 2 and 3 (1+2) to choose from.

WAH

The WAH (Wah-Wah) effect gives the sound a characteristic, “Quack”like character and can be extremely useful on electric pianos and Clavinets. The Wah-Wah modulation is a lowpass type of ﬁlter that can be swept across the frequency range using the Effect 1 knob. During the sweep, the ﬁlter’s characteristics also changes.

The Wah effect uses the signal’s amplitude to control the ﬁlter sweep range, making the effect “velocity sensitive” (technically referred to as an “envelope follower”).

 This effect can also be used as a traditional Pedal Wah with an

expression pedal connected to the Vol/Ctrl Ped jack, if the CTRLPED mode for Effect 1 is engaged.

RM (RING MODULATION)

Ring Modulation (RM) is a type of modulation where two signals are multiplied with each other, resulting in an in-harmonic “bell like” sound. On the Nord Piano 4 the instrument signal is multiplied with a sine wave.

The Ring Modulation amount is ﬁxed, and its rate is controlled by the Effect 1 knob.

CTRL PED

All effects in the Effect 1 section can be controlled by a pedal connected to the Ctrl Ped input jack, achieved by pressing CTRLPED (Shift + Effect 1 selector). For the Tremolo and Pan effects, the pedal controls the effect amount – something which can not be done from the panel.

For Wah and RM, the pedal mirrors the Effect 1 knob which in case of the Wah makes it behave as a traditional Pedal Wah, and with the RM effect provides pedal control of the modulation rate.

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18 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

EFFECT 2

EFFECT 2 provides a selection of modulation effects, including two types of Phaser, a Flanger, two Chorus types and a Vibe effect. Each effect has its rate controlled by the Effect 2 knob.

PHASER 1 & 2

The PHASER effect produces a characteristic “sweep” effect, commonly used with electric piano sounds. The digital models for the phasers of the Nord Piano 4 are inspired by classic units such as the Bi Phase and the Small Stone.

FLANGER

The FLANGER produces a dramatic comb ﬁlter effect, giving the sound a “swooshy” and resonant quality.

CHORUS 1 & 2

The versatile CHORUS effect gives the impression of “widening”, or with more extreme settings severely detuning, the sound – achieved by blending a number of modulated copies of the audio signal. There are two Chorus types, the second being more bold in character.

EQUALIZER

The 3-band equalizer features bass, sweepable midrange and treble controls. The BASS frequency is 100 Hz, the TREBLE frequency is 4 kHz and the MID frequency can be set between 200 Hz to 8 kHz, using its FREQ knob. The boost/cut range is +/- 15 dB.

VIBE

The VIBE effect draws its inspiration from a classic foot pedal effect and produces a sound with both pitch-bending and phasing qualities. The effect is created through a digital model of a staggered series of phasing ﬁlters, unlike the usually aligned ﬁlters of a normal phasing effect.

DEEP

Engaging DEEP mode (Shift + Effect 2 selector) increases the modulation amount for any Effect 2 selection.

DELAY

The DELAY unit produces echo/repeat effects. The Delay time is set by tapping the TEMPO button, or by pressing down on it and SET the tempo using the Program section dial.

The FEEDBACK button determines the number of delay repeats, or taps. At the lowest setting (LED unlit) only the initial tap is heard, while the 1, 2 and 3 settings give an increasingly long feedback tail.

The DRY/WET knob adjusts the balance between the dry signal and the delay repeats.

TEMPO TAP

Use TAP to set a delay time matching the tempo of a song. Simply tap the Tempo button in the tempo you wish the delay to sync to a number of times, and the delay time will be adjusted automatically.

AMP/COMP

The AMP/COMP unit includes sophisticated ampliﬁer and speaker cabinet simulations, a versatile tube distortion setting and a useful compressor effect. The amount of drive or compression is controlled with the DRIVE/COMP knob. The LED indicates whether any overdrive is active, and will light up whenever the compressor is working.

AMP MODELS

There are three different ampliﬁer/speaker simulations, each with its distinct character:

SMALL: A simulation of the built-in tube amp and speakers of a reed-based electric piano.

JC: A simulation of a classic solid-state ampliﬁer and speaker cabinet.

TWIN: A simulation of a classic twin speaker tube ampliﬁer and cabine

DIST

The DIST setting provides a tube style overdrive effect which can be used for anything from subtle saturation to screaming distortion.

COMP

The COMP (Compressor) effect reduces the dynamic range of the sound, making low level signals louder and high level signals more quiet. This produces a tight, punchy sound and makes the overall level easier to control in a live mix situation.

Page 19

7. EFFECTS | 19

REVERB

The REVERB unit simulates the natural sound reﬂections in various acoustic environments. The Reverb is a “global” effect, which is to say that it will always be applied to all active sound engines.

The HALL reverb has the response and character of a spacious hall, with a long decay. The STAGE reverb has a medium decay time while the ROOM reverb is a smaller ambience with a short decay time.

In BRIGHT mode (Shift + Reverb selector) more high frequency content is preserved in the Reverb signal.

The DRY/WET control sets the balance between the unprocessed and the processed signal.

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20 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

MIDI

MIDI FUNCTIONS

The Nord Piano 4 can be used as a master keyboard to control other hardware units or software sound sources, and it is also possible to control the Nord Piano 4 from a separate keyboard or MIDI device.

MIDI CHANNEL

The MIDI channel is used both for transmitting and receiving MIDI information, at the same time. It allows for external control over every aspect of the Nord Piano 4 – much like playing its own keyboard – and is used for sending keyboard, pedal and panel actions to another MIDI device or sequencer.

 MIDI messages are sent and listened to on both the USB and MIDI

In/Out connections simultaneously.

RECORDING AN PIANO 4 PERFORMANCE TO A MIDI SEQUENCER OR DAW

Here is how to record a Piano 4 performance including any pedal actions and parameter adjustments to a DAW or MIDI sequencer.

1 Set the DAW or sequencer to use the Nord Piano 4 USB MIDI

driver, if connected through USB, or the appropriate MIDI interface if connected through the 5-pin MIDI connectors.

2 Set the DAW or sequencer track to route back incoming MIDI on

the MIDI channel set on the Nord Piano 4.

3 Set Local in the System menu to Off on the Nord Piano 4. 4 Select the Program on the Nord Piano 4 that you wish to use. 5 Start the recording on the sequencer.

M If a Transpose value is set, either by the panel Transpose function

or the Global Transpose setting in the System menu, its effect on MIDI depends on the “Transpose MIDI at” setting – see page 23.

• If a Control/Expression pedal is connected to the Control Pedal Input,

this is transmitted and received as Controller 11 (Expression).

• If a sustain pedal is connected to the Sustain Pedal Input, this is trans-

mitted and received as Controller 64 (Sustain Pedal).

• Almost all other controls (knobs and buttons) on the front panel are

also transmitted and received as Control Change messages. This can

be used for recording front panel actions into a MIDI sequencer. For a

full list of MIDI Control Change messages, refer to page 25.

PROGRAM CHANGE

Loading a program, Live program, Piano or Sample will send a Program Change message on the global MIDI channel, each content type identiﬁed by its Bank MSB value. Conversely, incoming Program Change messages will select the corresponding content on the Piano 4. The message consists of three parts, as deﬁned in the table below:

Program Piano Sample Live

Bank MSB (CC# 0) 0 3 4 6

Bank LSB (CC# 32) 0-15 0-5 0-X 0-1

Program Change 0-24 0-X 0-49 0-3

X = the amount of relevant values depends on the number of pianos/ samples in memory.

M A Program Change message that reaches the Nord Piano 4

unaccompanied by Bank Select messages will take effect in the currently selected Program or Live bank.

In the System Menu, you can select if the Nord Piano 4 should send and/or receive Program Change messages on the Global channel. See page 23 for further details.

LOCAL CONTROL ON/OFF

MIDI MESSAGES

The following MIDI messages can be transmitted and received by the Nord Piano 4:

NOTE ON/OFF

• Note On and Note Off messages including velocity are transmitted

and received.

CONTROLLERS

• From the System menu it can be determined whether the Nord Piano

4 should transmit and/or receive Control Change messages. See

If Local Control is set to Off, the keyboard and the panel on the Nord Piano 4 will be “disconnected” from its sound engines. Use the Off setting when the instrument is set up in a MIDI loop, for instance when using it in conjunction with a DAW or seqencer. Local Control On/Off is set in the System menu, which is described on page 22.

PANIC

Page 21

5. NORD SOUND MANAGER | 21

NORD SOUND MANAGER

ABOUT NORD SOUND MANAGER

Nord Sound Manager is an essential application for any owner of a Nord instrument, which allows for organizing, altering and backing up content within the various memory areas on the Nord Piano 4. These are some of the common tasks performed through the Nord Sound Manager:

• Organizing and naming Programs

• Downloading new Piano sounds to the Piano partition

• Downloading new Samples to the Sample partition

• Uploading Programs from the Nord Piano 4 to a computer

• Uploading bundles containing programs and their associated piano and sample ﬁles

• Performing backups of the entire instrument

• Restoring the entire instrument to a previous state

The Nord Sound Manager and the user manual for the application can be found at the www.nordkeyboards.com website, in the Software area.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Mac OS X 10.6 or later Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Nord USB Driver version v3.0 or later required for Windows.

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22 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

MENUS

Any settings that are made in the System, Sound and MIDI menus will take immediate effect, and will be stored until they are changed again.

M The Local Control MIDI setting is an exception and will always

revert to “On” when the Nord Piano 4 is powered up.

Enter a menu by holding SHIFT and pressing SYSTEM, SOUND or MIDI (Program buttons 1, 2 and 3). Menus are navigated with the

on-screen3 and 4 soft buttons and settings are changed with the PROGRAM dial. Soft buttons are also used to access additional settings, where applicable. Exit a menu by pressing EXIT (Shift).

SYSTEM MENU

1 - MEMORY PROTECT

The memory protection setting is On when a Nord Piano 4 leaves the factory, preventing accidental overwriting of programs. Setting this to Off enables Store operations. Menu settings and Live programs are not affected by this setting.

Range: On (default), Off

2 - NUMPAD PROGRAM SELECT

6 - SUSTAIN PEDAL TYPE

This allows you to select the type of pedal connected to the SUSTAIN PEDAL jack, in case the functionality of the pedal is reversed (when the pedal is up, sustain is on and vice versa). The Auto setting can automatically determine the pedal type.

Range: Triple, Open, Closed, Auto (Default)

7 - CONTROL PEDAL

TYPE

The Nord Piano 4 accepts many of the most commonly available control pedals through its CONTROL PEDAL input. Select a setting here that matches the pedal being used.

 If a connected pedal is operated while in this menu, a percentage

indicating the range of the connected pedal is displayed.

Range: Roland EV7 (default), Yamaha FC-7, Korg, Fatar/Studiologic

GAIN

This setting allows for adding some gain to the pedal signal. This can be useful if an attached pedal does not reach its maximum level or setting.

Range: 1 - 10

Program selection can be set up to work in two distinct ways. By default, the standard “page based” mode is used, but selection can also be done by using “numeric pad” input. WIth NumPad Program Select turned On, the Program 1-5 buttons are used for numeric input, giving access to all 25 programs (11-55) within the current bank. With NumPad Program Select turned Off the 1-5 Program buttons correspond to the ﬁve programs within the current page.

Range: Off (default), On

3 - GLOBAL TRANSPOSE

This setting allows for transposing the entire Nord Piano 4 in semitone steps. This setting will be added to any on-panel transpose value stored with a program.

Range: +/- 6 semitones (default value is “none”)

4 - FINE TUNE

Fine Tune can be used to ﬁne tune the pitch of the Nord Piano 4 in ﬁner increments.

Range: +/- 50 Cents (+/- half a semitone). Default value is “0”

5 - OUTPUT ROUTING MODE

In Stereo mode, all sounds are sent to both audio outputs. When set to Piano:L Synth:R, Piano sounds are sent to the Left output and Sample Synth sounds to the Right.

Range: Stereo (Default), Piano:L Synth:R

SOUND MENU

1 - PIANO PEDAL NOISE LEVEL

Sets the level of the dynamic Pedal Noise feature which can be turned on for pianos that support it, if a Nord Triple Pedal is connected to the Nord Piano 4.

Range: +/- 6 dB (0 dB default

2 - PIANO STRING RES LEVEL

Sets the level of the String Resonance feature that can be turned on for selected pianos (acoustic Med, Lrg and XL sizes).

Range: +/- 6 dB (0 dB default)

MIDI MENU

1 - LOCAL CONTROL

MIDI Local Control determines if the Nord Piano 4 keyboard and panel will control internal sound engines and programs or only transmit MIDI. Local Control On is the normal “play mode”. When Local Control is in Off mode, front panel and keyboard actions are transmitted via MIDI only.

Range: On (Default), Off

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10. MENUS | 23

M Local always defaults back to “On” every time the Nord Piano 4 is

powered on

2 - MIDI CHANNEL

This sets the transmitting and receiving MIDI channel for the Nord Piano

4. This MIDI channel transmits all keyboard, pedal and panel actions as MIDI signals. It can also be used as a receiving channel with full control of the entire Piano 4.

Range: 1-16, Off (Default 1)

3 - CONTROL/PROGRAM CHANGE MODE

MIDI CONTROL CHANGE

This allows you to set if you want your Nord Piano 4 to transmit and/or receive MIDI Controller Messages or not on the MIDI channel.

Range: Off, Send, Receive, Send & Receive (Default)

MIDI PROGRAM CHANGE

This setting determines whether your Nord Piano 4 transmits and/or receives MIDI program Change Messages, on the MIDI channel.

Range: Off, Send, Receive, Send & Receive (Default)

4 - TRANSPOSE MIDI AT

When set to In, active transpose values (global and/or set per program) are not applied to outgoing MIDI, but only to incoming MIDI data. In Out mode sent MIDI notes are transposed but not incoming ones.

Range: In (Default), Out

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24 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

CONNECTIONS

AUDIO CONNECTIONS

General guide on audio connections: Before turning on your ampliﬁer, make all audio connections. Always turn on the ampliﬁer last, and when shutting down, always turn off your ampliﬁer or active speakers ﬁrst.

E Using your Nord Piano 4 at high volumes can damage your

hearing.

HEADPHONES

1/4 inch stereo headphone jack. Audio is always output through the Headphones output, regardless of Output Routing settings.

LEFT & RIGHT OUT

1/4 inch unbalanced line level outputs for ampliﬁer or recording equipment. The Nord Piano 4 is a stereo instrument with separate signal paths for left and right audio channels.

When shipped, the Nord Piano 4 is conﬁgured to output all audio through the Left & Right outputs. Refer to the System Menu section on page 22 for other possible settings.

MONITOR IN

1/8 inch jack for connecting devices such as smartphones, tablets or computers to the Nord Piano 4. This is useful for playing and rehearsing to pre-recorded music or a metronome, or to use an additional sound source on stage. The Monitor In signal is routed to the Headphones and Left & Right outputs.

USB CONNECTION

The USB port is used for connecting the Nord Piano 4 to a computer. The connection can be used for transferring MIDI, for OS updates and for connecting to applications such as the Nord Sound Manager or Nord Sample Editor. These applications, and the latest OS version can always be found for download at www.nordkeyboards.com.

M MIDI over USB and standard 5 pin MIDI connectors are both

active at the same time. There is no need to choose between the two options in a menu or similar.

PEDAL CONNECTIONS

SUSTAIN PEDAL

1/4 inch connector for all common types of sustain pedals, and for the included Nord Triple Pedal. Sustain pedal polarity can be detected automatically or set manually in the System menu, see page 22.

VOL/CTRL PEDAL

1/4 inch connector for an expression pedal of continuous type, used for controlling Piano and/or Sample Synth volume, and/or Effect 1 amount. Most of the common expression pedal makes and models are supported, and can be selected in the System menu, see page 22.

E The Nord Piano 4 Master Level control does not affect the level of

the Monitor In signal.

MIDI CONNECTIONS

MIDI IN

The 5 pin MIDI In connection is used for receiving MIDI data sent from external devices such as controller keyboards, sequencers and computers.

MIDI OUT

The 5 pin MIDI Out connection will send MIDI data to devices such as external sound modules and computers.

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APPENDIX | 25

APPENDIX: MIDI CONTROLLER LIST

Nord Piano 4 Parameter MIDI CC #

Bank Select MSB Program 0

Bank Select MSB Live 6

Bank Select MSB Piano 3

Bank Select MSB Sample 4

Bank Select LSB 32

Volume 7

Pan 10

Sustain 64

Soft Pedal 67

Sostenuto 66

Ctrl Pedal (Expression) 11

KBD Split 3

Piano Enable 33

Piano Level 34

Piano Octave Shift 35

Piano Sustain Pedal 49

Piano Ctrl Pedal 50

Piano EQ 40

Piano Acoustics 52

Piano KBD Touch 51

Piano Pedal Noise 53

Nord Piano 4 Parameter MIDI CC #

Delay Source 92

Delay Dry/Wet 93

Delay Rate 94

Delay Feedback 95

Delay Enable 97

Amp/Comp Type 100

Amp/Comp Drive 117

Amp/Comp Enable 118

Amp/Comp Source 119

EQ Bass 102

EQ Mid 103

EQ Treble 104

EQ Enable 105

EQ Source 106

EQ Mid Frequency 107

Reverb Enable 116

Reverb Type 115

Reverb Dry/Wet 113

Reverb Bright 112

Sample Synth Enable 42

Sample Synth Level 43

Sample Synth Octave Shift 44

Sample Synth Sustain Pedal 45

Sample Synth Ctrl Pedal 46

Sample Synth Attack 68

Sample Synth Decay/Release 69

Sample Synth Amp 72

Sample Synth Filter 73

Effect 1 Enable 82

Effect 1 Type 83

Effect 1 Source 84

Effect 1 Ctrl Ped 85

Effect 1 Rate 86

Effect 2 Type 87

Effect 2 Source 88

Effect 2 Deep 89

Effect 2 Rate 90

Effect 2 Enable 91

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26 | NORD PIANO 4 USER MANUAL OS V1.0X

INDEX

III

Amp models 18 Amp (Sample Synth) 16 Attack (Sample Synth) 16 Audio Connections 24

Bass (Equalizer) 18

CC (MIDI Menu) 22 Chorus 1 & 2 18 Clavinet 11 Compressor 18 Connections 24

Decay/Release (Sample Synth) 16 Delay (Ef fect) 18 Digital (Piano) 11 Dyno 1 12 Dyno 2 12

Effect 1 17 Effect 2 18 Effects Section 17 Electric (Piano) 11 Equalizer (Piano) 12 Exit (but ton) 14

Factory presets 5 Filter (Sample Synth) 16 Fine Tune 22 Flanger 18

Gain (Ctrl Pedal) 22 Global Transpose 22 Grand 11

List view (Piano) 11 Live Mode 14 Local Control (MIDI) 20, 22

Memory Protection 22 Menus 22 Mid (Equalizer) 18 MIDI 20 MIDI Controller List 25 MIDI In 24 MIDI LED indicator 15 MIDI messages 20 MIDI Out 24 Model (Piano) 10 Monitor In 24 Mono 14 Move (Organize) 15

Nord Piano Library 10 Nord Sound Manager 21 Nord Triple Pedal 11 Numeric Pad (program selection mode) 14

Organize 15 OS (Operating System) 5 Output Routing 22

Panel MIDI control 20 Panic 15, 20 Pedal Noise 11 Phaser 1 & 2 18 Piano 10 Piano Info 10 Piano Select 10 Piano size 10 Piano String Res Level 23 Program 14 Program (buttons) 14 Program Change 20 Program dial 14

Store As 13 String Resonance 11 Sustain Pedal 22 Sustain (Sample Synth) 16 Swap (Organize) 15

Tap Tempo (Delay) 18 Transpose 14 Transpose MIDI At (MIDI Menu) 23 Treble (Equalizer) 18 Tre m ( Tremo l o) 17 Triple Pedal 11 Type (Ctrl Pedal) 22

Upright 11 USB connection 24

Vibe 18 Vol/Ctrl Pedal 24

Wah (Wah-Wah) 17 www.nordkeyboards.com 5

Half Pedaling 11 Headphones 24

KBD Touch 11 Keyboard Split 13

Left & Right Out 24

Reverb 18

Shift (button) 14 Soft buttons 7, 22 Soft Pedal (Una Corda) 12 Soft Release 11 Sostenuto 12 Sound Menu 23 Split 13 Split Position 13

Page 27

FCC Information (U.S.A.)

1. IMPORTANT NOTICE: DO NOT MODIFY THIS UNIT!

This product, when installed as indicated in the instructions contained in this manual, meets FCC requirements. Modications

not expressly approved by Clavia may void your authority, granted by the FCC, to use the product.

2. IMPORTANT: When connecting this product to accessories and/ or another product use only high quality shielded cables. Cable/s supplied with this product MUST be used. Follow all installation instructions. Failure to follow instructions could void your FCC authorization to use this product in the USA.

3. Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment is found to be the source of interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

– Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

– Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

– Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.

– Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

(1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and

(2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

Unauthorized changes or modication to this system can void the users authority to operate this equipment.

This equipment requires shielded interface cables in order to meet FCC class B Limit.

For Canada

NOTICE

This Class B - digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

AVIS

Cet appareil numérique de la classe B - est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.

DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

Compliance Information Statement

Model Name: Nord Piano 4

Type of Equipment: Digital Organ and piano

Responsible Party: Clavia DMI AB

Address: P.O. BOX 4214. SE-102 65 Stockholm Sweden

Telephone: +46-8-442 73 60

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