Nord Sound Manager

About conversion of Stage 3 programs and what to expect
Although many program configurations and settings are converted in a way to sound almost identical on the Nord Stage 4 there is a range of Nord Stage 3 Synth features that can not be mapped to similar settings on the Nord Stage 4. Primarily, these include various Oscillator Configurations that do not have a direct counterpart on the Stage 4 and in those cases one will have to revisit the program on the Stage 4 and use other Synth features instead. The browser based Conversion Log will indicate when an acceptable conversion has not been possible.

Nord Sound Manager v9.10 introduces a number of new features for resolving these situations, outlined below.

Resolving missing dependencies

If downloading a Bundle for program conversion, required Sample files can be downloaded from the bundle by following the steps of the Bundle Down dialog

If downloading and converting individual Program files, or generally - when encountering a program with a “Not Found” message - missing dependencies can be resolved manually:

• Right-click the Program with the missing dependencies and select “Restore”. This will look for the sample file in the online Sound Library, as well as in the local cache and download it to the instrument if found.
  

• If additional memory is required for performing the Restore, there is the option to use the Auto Delete function, which is described under Bundle Download features further below.
• If the Restore function does not resolve the issue you may also look for similar samples that are already on the instrument, and use the Relink feature to use that sample instead.
  

• There is also the option to visit the Nord Sample Library online, select Nord Stage 3, and find the sample there – for manual download to the instrument using Sound Down or drag and drop.
• User created samples that are not found automatically in the local cache, when using the Restore function, need to be manually located outside of the application.

Missing Piano files will automatically be mapped to pianos with the same name, regardless of version or size. If the particular size of a piano is important, this will need manual attention in the form of a Substitute operation, or such.

Step 1

Program Bundle Download
If a Program Bundle requires additional free memory for either samples or pianos the Program Bundle Download is divided into two separate steps. On Step 1, select the Destination Bank and whether to Add to or Replace programs therein.

Step 2

Option 1: Download Programs Only
On Step 2 options for how to proceed with the download are presented, the first of which is to Download Programs only and Restore manually. After download the Programs can be Restored manually (see Resolving missing dependencies above), after having freed up space, or Relinked to use content that is already present on the instrument.

Option 2: Auto Delete
A second option, if additional space is required, is to select the Automatically remove Pianos/Samples and Download complete Bundle alternative. Before proceeding with the Download it is recommended to select Show Auto Delete List which will open a browser based list of which content will be removed and which programs and presets, if any, are affected.

The Auto Delete function prioritizes content for removal according to a set of rules, including to what extent a file is being used, its category, size, whether it is a User sample and more.

To use the hint, make a selection in the Program tab, either by selecting a single program, shift-clicking on the desired range of programs or using Ctrl/Cmd+A to select the content of an entire bank. Then navigate to the Program or Samp Lib tab, and any Piano or Sample that is referenced by a program in the current selection will be highlighted as such.

This can be useful for determining which Pianos/Samples can be deleted or substituted, without affecting a specific set of Programs.

• The Sound Library view is only shown when Piano or Samp Lib is selected and will close when other tabs, for instance the Program tab, are active.

• Sounds that are already present in the connected instrument are indicated with a small keyboard icon in the list.
• Sounds that are present in the computer file cache (available for offline use) are indicated with an arrow in a red circle, similar to the "Save To Offline Cache" icon.
• Some legacy Nord instruments, such as the Nord Wave, Nord Piano 2 and Nord Electro 3 and 4 will always present the full list of samples on the instrument, regardless of selected sample category in the Sound Library view.

• Below the Piano list is the size selection area, where all available sizes are displayed. Select the desired size here, before transferring a Piano to the instrument.

• For Piano sounds, remember to also select the desired Size.
• To download one or more sounds to the computer, making them available for offline use, select them in the Sound Library list and press Save to Offline Cache.
• The Transfer to Instrument and Save to Offline Cache options are also available in the context menu when right-clicking a sound.
• From the right-click menu there is also an option to download all sounds in the selected Category to the offline cache.

• The Downloads list is automatically closed when any of the tab buttons (Piano, Samp Lib, Program etc.) is clicked.

• Press Sound Library and choose your Nord from the Instrument dropdown list.

• Substitute is also available from the context menu when right-clicking a Piano or Sample in either the Sound Library or instrument area, as long as sounds have been selected both on the instrument and in the Sound Library.

• Feel free to check out the Update History link, for details on the updates contained in the latest OS. We always recommend Nord users to update to the latest version available for their instrument.

• Settings for The Nord Sound Manager File Cache are found in the Edit menu, by selecting “Preferences”.

• For the Sound Library feature to work the File Cache should remain enabled, and if any issues are experienced with sounds not being successfully downloaded, the maximum size of the File Cache can be increased to a larger number.