Electro 4 Program Reference Card

[cEgws]

I recently acquired a Nord Electro 4D 61. So far, I love it. I'm using it to replace an unreliable MainStage rig for light gigging.

The numeric display is fine for me (one more digit than my Juno-106!), except when I want to remember the names of the programs and their contents with my laptop shut off. Nord Sound Manager's HTML sound list export is not very useful to me because of its sequential list format. I had in mind something like the patch reference card I use for my older synths: a grid that corresponds to my mental map of the sounds.

So I wrote a little Python script to transform the Nord export into a format that looks good to me. I thought — who knows? — maybe this would be useful for someone else. I'll attach the script and a sample of the output. You can list the programs from high to low (the default) or low to high, and show just the program name (the default) or add the sample or organ type on a second line.

Please note that the script produces an HTML file that you need to load in a web browser and print. The sample output is an image — I can't upload an HTML attachment.

Here is how to use the script:

Code: Select all

usage: parse_ne4_programlist.py [-h] [-s] [-r] [-o OUTPUTFILE] inputFile

Creates a Nord Electro 4 Program Reference Card.

positional arguments:
  inputFile             the input Nord Electro 4 Program HTML file

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -s, --showSample      display the sample or organ category below the program
                        name
  -r, --reverse         print the patches in reverse order (from low to high)
  -o OUTPUTFILE, --outputFile OUTPUTFILE
                        the output HTML file

[pablomastodon]

This is blowing my mind a little bit...THANX!!

[cEgws]

Thanks.
A couple of details:

• For organ programs, the card will show the organ model, not the unused sample that may or may not be loaded into the piano/sample playback side. (I mean, who cares what sample is there an whether or not it has been deleted from memory?)
• The programs that are empty still have a place in the grid, unlike the Nord Sound Manager's list.

[jfenton]

nice!

[pablomastodon]

I imagine that with slight mods this could be used to perform similar translations on any Nord instrument, eh? (de facto Canadian here)

[cEgws]

I only have the E4D and don't know what the output is like from other models, but I'll be happy to take a look at other exports and improve or fork the script as I have the time & bandwidth. There is nothing magical about this code; it's beginner's Python, and I bet there are other forum members who could take it to the next level.

[Arjan P]

I'd love to see something like this for the NE3 - and some info on how to use such a script..

[cEgws]

Post or PM me your program list export from other keyboard models and I'll see what I can do to make something similar. The Electro 4D is the only Nord keyboard I've ever owned so I have no idea whether or not this concept and my script would be at all appropriate for other models.

Running the script requires Python, something that's installed by default on Mac OS X and (I expect) Linux. For Windows, you need to install Python, probably from here: https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/

[cEgws]

NS2 HA88 Program List

[cEgws]

An update is available. For more information and any further discussion, see general-nord-forum-f29/program-referenc ... 12064.html