I’m going to be buying a second keyboard to use in conjunction with my Nord Stage, and one of my choices is the M06. I think I’ve gotten the MIDI concerns figured out and know how I’d use the two devices in tandem to achieve what I want, but I have a couple questions that didn’t get answered by reading through the manual.

In order to get a full 16 parts multitimbral for live performance, I believe I have to create a song, set the MIDI channels correctly on the parts of the song, and load the song into a master (necessary since I want the M06 to be sending external program change messages). Is this correct?

I want to make sure I understand fully how MIDI channels are used in the M06 when playing a song in a master in a live setting (no sequencer data). I believe it’s like this:
MIDI data coming from an external source always triggers the parts in a song that are on the same channel, regardless of zone settings (so if I have 5 parts on channel 5 and the rest on channel 1, and I play an external keyboard sending on channel 5, all parts on channel 5 will sound). Zone settings control what is done with MIDI data generated from the M06 itself, sending it to the internal tone generator AND/OR sending it to external devices.

Am I correct?


Also, the manual seems to be saying that I can only save songs on a USB device. Is there any way I’m missing that will let me go through a number of masters, each loading a different song, without me having to set up voices, panning, and such each time? Alternately, can I load a number of songs into DRAM at once and switch between them in master mode? I want to avoid having to load from a USB drive in the middle of a gig but don’t mind having to wait more when I first turn on the keyboard.

EDIT: I found this post suggesting that I could save my voices and such as mixing templates. Is there an easy way to call up a mixing template from master mode, ideally without saving anything on the USB drive?

Re: Zone/multitimbral question

In order to get a full 16 parts multitimbral for live performance, I believe I have to create a song, set the MIDI channels correctly on the parts of the song, and load the song into a master (necessary since I want the M06 to be sending external program change messages). Is this correct?

Yes, the gist of this is correct. You can create a SONG MIXING or PATTERN MIXING setup that has 16 different sounds each on the MIDI receive channel that you require. You can freely assign the different sounds to MIDI channels… The default condition is PART 1 = MIDI channel 1, PART 2 = MIDI channel 2, and so on. But if you need to create complex split/layers, etc. you can place multiple PARTS on the same MIDI channel.

By the way there are 64 SONG MIXING setup and 64 PATTERN MIXING setup locations.

The MIXING setup can then be associated with a MASTER program… This allows you to transmit on as may as four Zones simultaneously. So you can have certain of the Zones transmitting internally to the MO and have a Zone reserved to address your external device.

I want to make sure I understand fully how MIDI channels are used in the M06 when playing a song in a master in a live setting (no sequencer data). I believe it’s like this:
MIDI data coming from an external source always triggers the parts in a song that are on the same channel, regardless of zone settings (so if I have 5 parts on channel 5 and the rest on channel 1, and I play an external keyboard sending on channel 5, all parts on channel 5 will sound). Zone settings control what is done with MIDI data generated from the M06 itself, sending it to the internal tone generator AND/OR sending it to external devices.

Am I correct?

Yes.

Also, the manual seems to be saying that I can only save songs on a USB device. Is there any way I’m missing that will let me go through a number of masters, each loading a different song, without me having to set up voices, panning, and such each time? Alternately, can I load a number of songs into DRAM at once and switch between them in master mode? I want to avoid having to load from a USB drive in the middle of a gig but don’t mind having to wait more when I first turn on the keyboard.

When you save your data to a USB drive as an ALL data file you save all the USER Voices, Performance, arpeggios, SONG setups, PATTERN setups, Master setups, and Utility mode settings.

There are 256 User Voice, 128 Performance, 64 Song locations, 64 Pattern locations and 128 Master programs. Not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you have to set them up each time. Once you store them you have done it. Recalling it them is simple enough.

YOu can create an AUTO LOAD routine so that when you power up your MO it will automatically look for the ALL data file and it will restore all your customized USER settings when you power up the unit. It is like your computer’s “Startup” routine for your MO. 

Additionally the MO can keep 32 MIXING TEMPLATES in permanent FLASH ROM that can be recalled and restored to any SONG or PATTERN Mixing location.

Is there an easy way to call up a mixing template from master mode, ideally without saving anything on the USB drive?

Mixing Templates are a function of SONG or PATTERN mode. You recall a Mixing Template to a SONG or PATTERN… that SONG or PATTERN MIXING setup can then be associated with a MASTER. Master mode is simply an overlay… it will always reference a Voice, a Performance, a Song Mix or a Pattern Mix. It is not necessary as once you have your USB drive auto load your MO, everything you need will be ready to play

You need a USB drive - thumb drives are convenient and mean you can carry all your data from home to the gig in your shirt pocket. Pop the drive in the USB slot, power up, and your ready to rock.

Re: Zone/multitimbral question

Thanks so much! I was thinking in terms of loading individual songs rather than autoloading everything. That’s probably possible too, but if autoloading doesn’t take too long (it shouldn’t, given that it’s only loading data files), there’s no reason not to keep it simple.