Nord User Forum

Hi,
since I have received a couple of questions regarding using patches between the classic/EX and Nord Stage 2, just a few words.
Since Nord introduced a new file format with the NS2, basically the patches are not interchangable. That is, NS2 owners basically need to create their patches "from scratch".
I think the main difference are in the Synth section which required the new file format, which makes sense given the greatly enhanced capacities of the NS2 (just look at the file size: 426 vs. 547 bytes). Subsequently the Synth Patches (.nss) cannot be used on the NS2 neither.

So if one really needed to carry over a particular patch the easies would be having both instruments and just copying all settings "by hand" on the front panel. Given the easy layout of the Nords this should be quite easy while only having the nspg file will not allow you to do so.

So I would say sorry for the moment at least, but .nspg patches are EX/Classic ONLY, and vice versa.
Still maybe it could be technically be possible for NORD to develop a converter for the PC which would convert classic patches into NS2 ones (obviously one would loose the ES/Classic only features (OK the only one I can think of is the LOW/HIGH EQ in the Synth section).

If one were crazy enough to look into the NSPG file format one could maybe reverse engineer the format.
Basically, the NSPG patches (426 bytes) seem to contain in total MAX(!) 16*20 Offsets, i.e., a maximum of 81920 bits of information content, so by (a hell lot!!) of trial and error one might find out which byte=00 switches to 01 if, e.g., Piano Section A is enabled etc.
Here is an example of the Hex view for one patch, you can see the magnitude of 00 and 01 while for quasi-continuous values the coding requires even more guess work.

But I honestly don't think it would be very useful!
Moreover, playing around with the values could seriously damage your very valuable and thus expensive instrument!! Not to mention you' lose any warranty!!
After all, the Nord Stage is very easy to program and create patches "on the fly" so for me there is no point in messing around with the great stuff provides us with.
(Now if I were to buy a Kronos with its basically fullfledged PC inside running some kind of a linux derivative it might be another story...)

But maybe Nord COULD release a small utility to convert CLASSIC/EX patches into the .NS2P format (if and only if it is technically doable)! It would IMHO be a great recognition of the Classic/EX line in this sense maintaining backward compatibility!

But for the time being, there is no way around it, so you have to ask someone with a Classic/EX to tell you the settings of a particular patch and dial it in manually!

Cheers!

Hi Johannes,
reading your post brings me back to an old request posted here a couple of times:
a software for editing the programs, suitable for all Nords; I think it would be great and it would give us presicion in the programming.

@Dieguet: You are right I remember, kind of similar issue. But it does not seem very likely for such an editor to come out does it?
In the mean time, a converter would we much easier I presume, but we'll see what Nord has planned...

Johannes wrote:If one were crazy enough to look into the NSPG file format one could maybe reverse engineer the format.

Unless data in these files are compressed and/or encrypted (which at first sight looks unlikely), I'm convinced it should be very easy, for someone who has access to both instruments, to find each parameter location in their respective formats. After which writing a converter is pure slush ;-)

3 years ago, I took up a much crazier challenge for the Korg Pa-series arrangers (Pa80, Pa800, Pa2X etc.), with thousands of parameters inside completely undocumented files, including data compression with an unknown algorithm...

Alain

Unless data in these files are compressed and/or encrypted (which at first sight looks unlikely), I'm convinced it should be very easy, for someone who has access to both instruments, to find each parameter location in their respective formats. After which writing a converter is pure slush ;-)

For someone with developing/programming/whatever knowledge maybe ;-)
Anyhow, giving this another thought I figured the AEG/FEG/LFO settings will be a bit more complex as they changed quite a bit and one would have to translate settings of the various buttons in values of the LFO and the new ADR curves, but still seems not totally impossible.
And while I agree it would be not too difficult for a man of knowledge, it would be way easier for a man of knowledge employed by Nord ;-)

Johannes wrote:And while I agree it would be not too difficult for a man of knowledge, it would be way easier for a man of knowledge employed by Nord ;-)

Indeed! ;-)

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm wondering if anything's happened to do this?

Nothing, in all probability. It would take someone not just with both a Stage Classic/Ex and a Stage 2, but also a lot of time, determination and quite a bit of technical knowledge to figure this out. I wouldn't be surprised if this undertaking would take at least 30-80 hours (rather conservative estimate) and even then you'd need to do the work by hand and wouldn't be able to do it for 100% of all programs. Doing it automatically (due to technical constraints) would be even harder.

hi there, if I remember it right, apart from all new parameters in NS2, there is also a new filter section, that sounds different to NS Classic/EX.
I'd love to hear a Low pass filter sweep with & w/o resonance on both NS versions.
I would gladly upgrade to NS2 88, if I knew that I could recreate my synth patches from NS EX88. The new arpeggiator, LFO, keyboard, and sampler section are major enhancements.
PS. thanks for this lovely user forum!

The problem is that the files contain a checksum I cannot figure out how to calculate. I've compared several files and the "checksum" always changes when changing a parameter. Without the checksum being correct, the sound manager refuses to load it into the Nord Stage.