Samples and pianos

Sample instruments (.nsmp) and piano libraries (.npno) hold encoded audio. Both move to and from the instrument with get and put, like a program. The verbs below reach the audio.

Samples

nord sample decode inst.nsmp -o out/                 # every zone as a WAV
nord sample verify --deep inst.nsmp                  # walk every encoded stroke too
nord sample project new --zone a.wav=C3 --zone b.wav=C4 --name Marimba -o marimba.nsmpproj
nord sample build marimba.nsmpproj -o marimba.nsmp   # render a Sample Editor project

encode turns a single WAV into an instrument, and build renders a whole project, loops and stereo included. --generation 2, 3 or 4 picks the layout, and v2 is the default. v3 and v4 also need --unverified, because they have not been played on an instrument.

Both take 16-bit PCM WAVs at 44.1 kHz, mono or stereo, in the plain or the extensible WAV format. Convert anything else first.

Pianos

nord piano inspect grand.npno                      # roots, layers, keys, tuning
nord piano inspect grand.npno --keys               # every key, its root and fine tune
nord piano decode grand.npno --key C4 --layer 0 -o c4.wav
nord piano edit grand.npno --name "My Grand" --tune C4=-2 --map C8=C7 -o out.npno
nord piano trim grand.npno --drop-bank release --layers 3 -o small.npno
nord piano split grand.npno --at C4 -o halves/
nord piano verify --deep grand.npno

edit, trim and split rewrite the library without touching its audio: rename it, retune or reroute a key, drop a bank or the quieter layers, narrow the range, or cut it in two. trim and split never write over their input, and edit does so only with --yes.

Building a piano library

build makes a library from a directory of WAVs, one per stroke, named <root>-b<bank>-l<layer>.wav. 060-b0-l00.wav is MIDI note 60, the attack bank, the loudest layer. Banks are 0 for attack, 1 for pedal resonance and 2 for release. The WAVs must be 16-bit PCM, mono or stereo, in the plain or the extensible WAV format. Any sample rate is accepted.

nord piano build strokes/ --kind mallet --name Marimba -o marimba.npno
nord piano build strokes/ --template grand.npno --name Marimba -o marimba.npno
nord piano rebuild grand.npno -o again.npno        # re-encode a library's own strokes

Every key up to a semitone above the highest root plays the nearest root at or above it. Keys beyond that are silent. Within a root, velocity picks the layer, with the layers spread across the velocity range in order. To set a layer’s velocity value directly, name the file with v12 in place of l00.

build writes piano format 6 unless --format 5 asks for the older format, for an instrument that does not play format 6. A template’s format decides when you give one. Layer values run from 0 to 135 in format 6 and from 0 to 27 in format 5; nord piano inspect names a library’s format.

A WAV with a loop in its smpl chunk, which most sample editors write, makes a stroke that loops there while the key is held. Audio after the loop’s end is not used, and the loop’s last four samples are replaced by the four just before its start, which a seamless loop already has. While the key is held, the loop fades the way the instrument’s own pianos of that --kind do, faster on higher keys. --loop-fade sets the rate at middle C in decibels per second, and 0 holds the loop at its level. A stroke without a loop plays to its end, and a release stroke cannot loop. A release plays at the level the note has fallen to at key-up, and not at all when the attack recording is silent there. A loop is exact in a WAV at 35,002 Hz. At any other rate its ends move to the nearest frame of the resampled audio.

Whatever the audio does not decide, such as decay and per-note tables, comes from --template when you give one. Without a template, --kind, --gain, --damper-top and --loop-fade set the playback values, and the rest uses neutral defaults. Each stroke’s level follows its layer either way.

What is supported says which of these libraries have been played on an instrument.