Upgrading from NS2 to NS3: will my programs/sounds import?

[reggoboy]

Hi folks,

Seems like a basic question, but searching wasn't yielding any quick results.

I currently have an NS 2 HA 88. I think it's NOT the EX.

If I were to get an NS 3 HA 88, could I take my latest backup from my NS 2 and restore it to the NS 3?

Obviously, I have a ton of programs, samples, sounds, and so on that I've carefully customized, and I don't want to lose anything. Will that just work? When I plug the NS 3 into the same laptop, can I use Nord Sound Manager to restore to the NS3?

Thanks in advance!

[cphollis]

All programs have to be recreated. The samples themselves can move forward, but one at a time via sound manager.

[ericL]

You can't do a direct import between the two platforms. However, one of this forum's members created an extremely helpful "Program Viewer" that should greatly simplify the process of converting sounds. See this thread.

nord-stage-forum-f3/ns3-program-viewer- ... lit=viewer

[reggoboy]

All programs have to be recreated. The samples themselves can move forward, but one at a time via sound manager.

Oh no, this is horrible news. How is that an acceptable solution for professionals who spend years designing these programs and sounds?

[reggoboy]

You can't do a direct import between the two platforms. However, one of this forum's members created an extremely helpful "Program Viewer" that should greatly simplify the process of converting sounds. See this thread.

nord-stage-forum-f3/ns3-program-viewer- ... lit=viewer

This is dreadful news, but sure this tool should keep it from being virtually impossible.

Glad to see it supports importing backup files. Does that mean it will report on every single program you have all in one shot?

[reggoboy]

The samples themselves can move forward

What about all the instruments that I have loaded into the Piano memory?

[ericL]

All programs have to be recreated. The samples themselves can move forward, but one at a time via sound manager.

Oh no, this is horrible news. How is that an acceptable solution for professionals who spend years designing these programs and sounds?

This is the case with most instruments and we've all lived and breathed it. I invested years on NS2 programs and got my NS3 before the fancy program viewer was available. I just sucked it up and gradually did the conversion manually and learned a lot about the NS3 in the process. It's inevitable with most anything and is what you'd see with most other manufacturers. We're lucky Nord has such a vast selection of pianos and samples that are portable across multiple platforms.

As for the piano samples, that's pretty easy. Just grab a snapshot of what you're using the NS2, delete the samples in the NS3 that you don't need, and download piano samples into the NS3. They are fully compatible across these platforms.

There are also a TON of great NS3 Programs on this forum and I'm curious if you might be able to also supplement your transition by looking around for useful Programs that generous forum users have contributed over the years. Also there are commercially available Programs available for purchase or folks that may do this on a commission basis.

[cphollis]

Best advice I can give: fully embrace your new instrument. And don't look backwards.

I spent a lot of time programming my NS2. I thought about bringing stuff forward, and said "nahh". I invested the time to see what it could do, and then went about incrementally recreating various sounds. The sounds came out better than before. If a gig came up while I was doing this, I'd take the old board until I was comfortable with the new one, at which time I sold it for a good price to a happy musician.

[reggoboy]

All programs have to be recreated. The samples themselves can move forward, but one at a time via sound manager.

Oh no, this is horrible news. How is that an acceptable solution for professionals who spend years designing these programs and sounds?

...
As for the piano samples, that's pretty easy. Just grab a snapshot of what you're using the NS2, delete the samples in the NS3 that you don't need, and download piano samples into the NS3. They are fully compatible across these platforms....

Thanks for the reply.

Just to be clear, my NS2 may be dead. I have a current backup, but I may never be able to get into it again. So my use of the "viewer" and whatever else people recommend will be limited to what I can accomplish with my backup file.

So when you say "grab a snapshot", what are you referring to? A current backup?

Also, you mention piano samples. To be clear, I'm talking about pianos from the piano library, like this:

https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-lib ... hite-grand

But I don't remember all the pianos I carefully selected and used in my programs. That's why I was hoping they could be transferred from my backup file to the NS3.

Thanks in advance!

[reggoboy]

Hi,

there is a way to identify which pianos are in the backup file - these files are in fact .zip files.

Make a copy of the backup (!) then just rename the file extension of the backup file copy to .zip and extract everything from the file into an empty folder on your hard disk. You will end up with a couple of subfolders for the different elements like programs, samples etc. and also pianos. The content of the pianos folder should have all piano samples which had been on your NS2 when you created the backup file, you can take them and transfer into the NS3 with the help of the Nord Sound Manager