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Build a sample

Build a sample turns your own recordings into a sample for a Stage 4 (.nsmp4) or Stage 3 (.nsmp3), or a piano (.npno). Open it from User Samples › + Add › Build a sample….

  1. Start a build. New build starts one; Open a project file… opens a saved .onsample project. Your builds are listed under Your builds.
  2. Name it and pick what it is for: Stage 4, Stage 3 or Piano. For a piano, also choose the Piano type and an optional Variant. Pianos are marked “Not yet tried on a Nord”.
  3. Add recordings. Under Clips, Add files… (.wav) or drag files in.
    • OpenNord finds each clip’s pitch and puts it on the keys. A clip without a clear pitch waits until you give it a key with Place….
    • Split… cuts one long recording of several notes into one clip per note, at the pauses between them.
  4. Shape each zone: level, loop on or off, fades and key range. The take editor sets the Start and the Loop seam. A piano has velocity layers, soft to hard (up to 30 per zone).
  5. Map and listen. Auto map spreads the zones across the keyboard. Play it on screen or from a MIDI keyboard.
  6. Fix what’s listed under Before you save.
  7. Save.
    • Save sample (or Save piano) adds it to your Library, or saves it into your folder. A piano downloads when no folder is connected.
    • Save project file keeps the whole build as .onsample, to carry on later or on another computer.

The build saves as you go, with undo and redo. Deleting a build removes its recordings, but not the samples you saved from it.

Only share samples and pianos you made from your own recordings. See Legal.