Nord Stage 2 - Sysex

[ab_keyboards]

Hi,
I want to send Sysex-data to my NS2 but can't find a Sysex-Chart. So I don't know what data to send.
Can anybody help me?

[maxpiano]

There is no public list of NS2 Sysex-es, not even sure it actually uses them (maybe it does for communicating with Nord Sound Manager). What would you need them for?

[cliff]

It does use sysex as the program dumps triggered from the panel are in sysex format. It is useful for anyone who wants to talk to the keyboard from software. I need the details too.

[RedLeo]

There's no publicly available information on what protocol the Nord Sound manager uses for communicating with the instruments, so I guess they don't want you to know, or don't consider the information useful. I honestly don't think you'll be able to build your own software for data dumps.

[pablomastodon]

I have no "inside knowledge" about this, but do have my suspicions. I would guess that the largest factor is probably that there is such excellent midi implementation via midi cc that Nord does not perceive that there is a valid need to publish sysex details. For another, the basic underlying philosophy of the Stage series is that they are for the STAGE. Up front control of all performance parameters is an even more basic principle of Nord design. Diddling about under the hood via computer is not what it's all about (though, admittedly, it could be fun).

I'm given to understand that program level editing can be accomplished via CTRLR (it's been ~4 years since I've tried that path). Anyone with the right skill set, along with some time and patience, could create a set of programs and then dissect their hexdec to figure most everything out -- if program level editing is what you're after and you'd rather hoe your own road than use CTRLR. Be pretty boring though, and probably not a good use of time.

I'm very curious to know what the intended purpose for sysex is...what you hope to accomplish via sysex? Nord Sound Manager is fairly adept at talking to the keyboard via its GUI. What are these other conversations you wish to have with your NS2 that they must be in another language? Genuinely curious here, not criticizing...

Bless,

Pablo

[RedLeo]

This is the same guy that was wanting to develop an iPad app for dumping and loading sounds and samples. I think he was expecting to be able to send sysex messages from his app to initiate dumps from the Stage.

Just for curiositys sake, I'd be interested to know myself how the Sound Manager communicates with Nord instruments. Does it even use sysex?

[ilyau]

To see sysex messages press midi button midi, select one program dump and press store.
Receive sysex dump on your computer. You can look at the header of the message and make sense of it, modify it and write back to your nord from the computer to set same program as was dumped.
You can modify bank/slot and dump program back into a different bank/slot.
I noticed that newer OS version (have to check which one) rejects my message that was collected with the older version. Need to debug it, likely in the message header there is os version that needs to be adjusted.

[pablomastodon]

For the benefit of the forum, here's my response to Ilya's sysex file OS version conflict issue, which arrived on my desk at work today. My guess here has not yet been confirmed, but this seems likely:

What OS was the instrument which produced the sysex files running? What OS is the other one running? I wouldn't think that there would be huge differences between most OS', but there were big changes which occurred between v1.4 and v1.6. The program format was expanded to add data for piano/sample names, resulting in lots of new and very cool features in Nord Sound Manager, most significantly bundles and info. If your two NS2 units fall on opposite sides of this divide, then you have a problem indeed.

As I recall, the first time NSM is run on an instrument which has been updated from v1.4 to v1.6+ a little window will pop up advising you that your programs do not conform to the new data profile and asking for your permission to convert them. If this is in fact the source of your problem, I believe that the solution will be to use NSM in this manner to perform the program conversion process, after which you should be back in business with your sysex files.

Much more will be known about this when we learn what OS' the two NS2s are running. I would think that v1.4 programs will load into a v1.6+ instrument without a hitch, but not vice versa. Once those programs have been converted to the v1.6+ format, any instrument running v1.4 or earlier will not know what to do with all that extra data and refuse to accept the dump.

Bless,

Pablo

[pablomastodon]

followup: at this moment it appears that my above guess was off the mark in this instance, but will leave that up there in case it is useful for others to remember that there were these big changes in program format between v1.4 and v1.6