#512

I have a non-pro beatstep sitting around because it’s not worth selling and i was pleased to find that for a recent performance, it was the perfect little generic encoder box for me and norns - mapped it to filter & level on each MLR track and it was grand

4 Likes
#513

I have been using the OP-Z with cheat codes and grid as well. Such a killer combo!

3 Likes
#514

i’m interested in a poly synth that can assign separate midi channels to different voices, thinking it would be a very fun pairing with norns. any good options in the <$600 range?

#515

@hghrlearning, not sure if this would be overkill, but the Arturia Keystep Pro would fit the bill.

#516

@rennerom oh sorry, i should’ve worded it better but looking to sequence with norns and send out to multiple channels of a synth. keystep does not have built in synth engines that i’m aware of, is that true?

#517

Aha, I see. @hghrlearning yes, you’re right, Keystep has zero built in synth engines.

1 Like
#518

I’m a little late to this party, but, is the audio input actually stereo as well?

#519

Digitone is great with Norns!

3 Likes
#520

I own a Nord Rack 2X, endless fun, robust manufacturing, and sounds amazing.
20 voices. 4 part multitimbral.
You can get one for less than 500€ here in Europe.
Haven’t tried it with my norns yet but it should be fun with scripts like Kria and others.

2 Likes
#521

I’m on this norns + OP-Z combo and intend to stick with it. For audio i find the audio signal from OP-Z headphone jack into norms to be weak (low umph) and low volume too. I don’t have a hardware mixer or another device between them. Anyone else? Would a better cable be a remedy? I use some thin 3.5mm jack noodle :ramen: I had laying around.

I’ve started to use USB audio between the two (since i use USB cable for MIDI anyway), which helps. I wrote a little norns program called Connect-OPZ for convenience, if it is interesting for anyone.

IMG_20201031_165924
IMG_20201031_1659244608×2176 2.18 MB

This setup also frees up my norns audio input, so i can sample dorky autotuned animals from YouTube (or whatever) on my smartphone lol.

5 Likes
#522

Do you just connect with an audio cable and turn the OP-Z all the way up? And do you do some boosting on the norns side or something? I find the signal to be a bit weak from OP-Z to norns, and my sounds are really quite different when I connect the headphones directly to OP-Z (and have volume really as low as possible, close to mute), vs connecting headphones to norms and OP-Z at full volume to norns input.

1 Like
#523

Yes. Me.

The “issue” is that norns is designed to take a +4dBu signal while a lot of devices only output at +0dBu.

All of this is due to the fact that line level is not one clear standard but more a collection of them.

You’d need a line-level preamp (a regular mic preamp would be sub-optimal due to impedance mismatch) such as the one found on a mixer.

EDIT: There are also dedicated boxes w/ fixed gain called line-level shifters that also enforce the signal to be balanced.

@zebra proposed this patch allowing the boosting of the input gain. There is also an open discussion on making this feature standard.

See also: my original analysis.

3 Likes
#524

strange, i never noticed anything funky with the levels… i just do audio out on the z from a 3.5mm to quarter inch splitter cable. but generally i guess I’m running norns out to some sort of powered speaker which also has a gain control, so maybe its just that i’m boosting the signal after its already out of norns…

2 Likes
#525

OP-z has a stereo output im assuming so using a trs 3.5 to two 1.4 tr into the 2 inputs on the monome might provide more volume then a adapter thats loosing one of the stereo outputs.

#526

@xmacex has a norns shield pictured, which has 1 TRS 3.5mm input jack instead of 2 x 6.35mm like the regular norns.

So he’s got the 2 channels connected.

#527

His pictures has the opz hooked up with usb and no audio cable and doesn’t mention what cable but I’m also unfamiliar with the other trs ins and outs. But hey :crazy_face:

#528

Wondering if it would be possible to map the knobs on an OPz to control parameters on Norns kind of like an alternative to Arc? Has anyone tried this?

1 Like
#529

Those knobs should send midi and would thus be mappable to norns params.

To get that act as an arc (using arc functions etc) would require some kind of translation library similar to what people have done with midigrid

#530

Paging @dan_derks. Cheat Codes has some neat “opZ as arc” functionality.

2 Likes
#531

Yeah I was thinking it would work for CheatCodes :grin: