I have just about decided on the Nord for the truest Leslie(outside of a real one). I rigged up my Receptor and B4II. It sounds good, but the Receptor suddenly quits and reboots for no reason. No program change, even. It costs $250 plus shipping to send it to Muse. If I have to worry about it, bye bye.

Bernie

Bernie, I am curious why you do not use a laptop for the soft synths...

Fran
I thought about putting B4II into my laptop, but read of problems with drivers and recognition. The zinger was when I read, at the NI website, not to use the same sound card for B4II and may sequencer. The sequencer is the main use for my laptop. The other reason is that if I mess up my laptop, I'm crippled. However, that is the most practical solution for a real computer savvy person, I guess.

Bernie, I use all my music programs on my laptop..with all my soft synths including B4...In fact B4 is the most stable synth in my collection...

I use a pentium 4 with 1 gig ram on my laptop..

I am not aware of conflicts using the same sound card for sequencing and the B4..

I recently have started using the Edirol USB audio interface for all..

Fran
Maybe you are right. I am trying to figure out if I am playing from the notation, or reading lyrics, how am I going to change settings in the B4 program, unless I don't use the GUI, and send program changes with the controller. If that's the case, we are getting into MSB,LSB,cc goblety gook.

Bernie, if and when you get your Muse back fixed (and I wouldn't get a Nord until you do), do a 'ghost' image of the hard drive, and if problems re-emerge, you should have a pretty quick way of getting back on your feet.

I must confess, from all I've read, the Muse should be able to do B4 without breaking the slightest sweat. It's a VERY processor light plug-in (it even ran well on my old 400MHz G3 mac clone. years ago).

I'm not sure I would plonk down over a thousand for a Nord rack, when I had something so capable already in my rack as the Receptor.

And, I'm sorry, but if you think that PC#/CC00/32 stuff is gobbledygook, trust me, you are going to have issues with ANYTHING you connect to your arranger. Maybe you are going to want to use the B3 clone as a style part. Just sending the codes is the LEAST of your worries! What about expression, C/V on/off commands, Leslie F/S, Perc on/off and selection?

There's no shortcut (short of actually carrying around one or more extra keyboards, with all that hassle!) to getting a module to work with an arranger. In fact, most arrangers are MUCH worse at doing this than they were a few years ago, when they sounded so bad you often HAD to add things

Getting your mind around the patch codes is nowhere as complicated as you make out (correspond with me privately if you want a few tips and tricks), and fully remotely controlling the Nord is going to be not much less of a hassle than the Receptor. The main thing to remember about those things is - they are simply a computer. Handle them, and transport them with the care you'd give a computer, and they should stay reliable. Never let anyone touch yours except you! Especially as it is in a rack... Most people handle things MUCH rougher when they see it protected by a flight case!

Put 'Glass! Breakable! Delicate!' stickers all over it! Don't dolly it in, carry by hand, things like that. I hope you get yours fixed, and all these worries go away, but, as I said, I wouldn't get the Nord until you have at least got the Muse reliable (which it should be under such a light load) and tried it on a gig....

Diki
Thanks, but I am thinking of the Nord 61 keyboard, not the rack. Hauling the Muse or a Nord would be the same with one of my arrangers. The other way I go with my Karaoke show, is to use the Muse as my drawbar organ, and SD2 for other lead sounds, using two controllers. My laptop has midi sequences for singing and playing over it, as styles aren't necessary for that. I will call the Muse tech Monday to see if he can come up with a solution.

Bernie