Nova Set Manager User Guide
Editing, merging and moving Korg Pa sets between models
Nova Set Manager opens the sets of Korg Pa arranger keyboards on your computer and lets you edit them. You drag styles, keyboard sets, pads and sounds from one set to another; the program brings along the sounds and samples the items you move are using. It also moves sets between models: an earlier Pa's set to the Pa5x, a Pa5x set to an earlier model.
Your own set never changes. Every save writes a new set.
1. The main screen
The screen looks like the keyboard's selection screen:
- TARGET on the left: the set you are editing. Changes go here.
- SOURCE on the right: the set you take items from. The source is only read. Hide or show it with Source panel at the top.
- STYLE / KBD SET / PAD / SOUND: which kind of items you see. Both panels always show the same section.
- Banks (the buttons on the left) and pages (P1, P2…): as on the keyboard; each page has 10 slots.
- Search…: finds items by name in the current section.
- The bar at the bottom: how much of the keyboard's memory the set's samples take (see section 8).
- The information area at the very bottom: what the selected item is, how many sounds it uses, and what you can do with it.
A red dot at the top right of an item means some of the sounds it uses are not in the set; on the keyboard those channels may play a wrong sound.
2. Opening sets
- With Browse… choose the folder holding your sets (or a single set). Every set in the folder appears in the list above the panel.
- Choosing a set in the list opens it. The program remembers the last folder.
- Pa5x sets are .KST folders; the earlier models' sets are .SET folders.
Which models?
| Model | Opens | Can be edited as the target |
|---|---|---|
| Pa5x | yes | yes |
| Pa4X, Pa1000, Pa700 | yes | yes |
| Pa3X, Pa900, Pa600, Pa300, Pa3X Le | yes | yes |
| Pa2X, Pa1X, Pa500 | yes | no (source only) |
| Pa50, Pa60, Pa80, microARRANGER | yes | no (source only) |
Sets of the "source only" models open in the right panel; you can move their contents to the other models, but nothing is saved for these models.
3. Copying between sets
- Open the target set on the left and the source set on the right.
- Choose the same section on both sides (for example STYLE).
- Drag an item from the source onto an empty slot of the target. You can select several items and drag them together.
- To take a whole bank, use Copy the bank to the target under the source's banks, or right-click the bank.
Items waiting to be copied show a blue bar and "← source set"; they are not saved yet. Right-click → Do not copy, or drag them to another slot.
With Bring user sounds along ticked (recommended), the user sounds used by the styles, pads and keyboard sets you copy come too, with their samples. If another sound already sits in that slot of the target, the sound goes to a free slot and the item is changed to select its new place.
Sounds
In SOUND you can move user sounds and drum kits one by one; they are copied with their samples. Drum kits go only to DK banks, other sounds only to USER banks.
Select an item and press Sounds it uses to see which sounds it uses.
4. Editing
- Rename: double-click the item, or right-click → Rename…
- Delete: select the item and press Delete, or right-click → Delete. The program tells you when items use a sound you delete.
- Move: drag the item to another slot of the target; to move it to another bank, drop it on the bank's button, or right-click → Move to another bank.
- Banks: right-click a bank button to rename it, sort it A–Z, delete it, or add a New bank (Pa5x).
- Undo: takes back the last change. Cancel: drops all unsaved changes.
The top bar shows how many changes are waiting.
5. Saving
Press Save… and choose the new set's name and folder. The program writes the changes as a new set and checks the copy afterwards. If it finds a problem it warns "THE CHECK FAILED, do not load this set into the keyboard".
It also warns before saving when the set will not fit the keyboard's memory.
6. New set
New set… creates an empty set you can fill from the sets on the right. First choose which keyboard it is for: Pa5x, Pa4X, Pa1000, Pa700, Pa3X, Pa900, Pa600, Pa300 or Pa3X Le. The new set's name starts with a prefix such as "Nova-5x" or "Nova-Pa1000"; you can change it.
7. Working with earlier models
Editing an earlier model's set
When a set of the Pa4X, Pa1000, Pa700, Pa3X or Pa600 family is open as the target:
- Open a Pa5x set on the right and drag styles, pads, keyboard sets and sounds. They are converted to that model's format when saving.
- You can also open another earlier model's set on the right (for example from a Pa600 to a Pa1000). Items both models read are copied as they are; the others are written again in the target's format.
- You can delete or rename the set's own styles, pads, keyboard sets and sounds. Items to be deleted look faded and say "to be deleted".
- The set's banks are fixed; no new bank can be added.
Moving a Pa5x set to an earlier model
With a Pa5x set open as the target, Export to an earlier model… converts its styles, keyboard sets and pads, with the sounds they use, into a new set for the model you choose (Pa4X, Pa1000 / Pa700, Pa3X family).
Moving an earlier set to the Pa5x
With a Pa5x set as the target and an earlier set as the source, when you drag a style, keyboard set or pad (or press Copy the bank to the target), the program offers to convert all the earlier set's styles, keyboard sets and pads, with the sounds they use, into a new Pa5x set next to it ("… PA5X"). The converted set opens as the source; drag what you want from there to the target. Sounds can be dragged directly in SOUND.
Good to know
- Some of the Pa5x's newer sounds cannot go to earlier models (when they use factory samples whose number on that model is not known). The program lists them at the end of the save.
- The Pa3X family (Pa3X, Pa900, Pa600, Pa300, Pa3X Le) cannot read the Pa1000 / Pa4X newer sound format; such sounds are left out and listed.
- Protected (encrypted) samples only play on their own model; sounds using them are not moved to another model.
8. The memory bar
The bar at the bottom shows how much of the keyboard's memory the set's samples take and how much is left. Choose your keyboard's memory in the Memory box at the top:
| Model | Memory |
|---|---|
| Pa5x | 2 / 4 / 8 GB |
| Pa4X | 400 MB (OS 1.2 / 2.x) or 1.5 GB (OS Next) |
| Pa1000 | 480 MB |
| Pa700 | 128 MB |
| Pa3X | 128 or 256 MB |
| Pa900, Pa3X Le | 192 MB |
| Pa600 | 96 MB |
| Pa300 | 32 MB |
The Pa1000 and the Pa700, and the models of the Pa600 family, write identical sets; the program cannot tell them apart from the files. The model chosen in New set is remembered; for a set opened from disk choose your keyboard in the Memory box once.
9. Clean and the set's health
Clean makes a clean copy of the set without the samples no sound uses and without unneeded files. For an earlier model's set the sample table is rebuilt too; styles, pads and keyboard sets stay as they are. After deleting sounds, run the saved new set through Clean to free the space.
For Pa5x sets the top bar shows ✓ The set is healthy or ⚠ … warnings; click it to see the set's problems and how to fix them.
10. Licence and demo
Without a licence the program runs as a demo: you can use every screen and open and try your sets; saving, cleaning and exporting to earlier models need a licence.
Press DEMO in the top bar and:
- With a serial number: enter the NOVA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX number from your dealer, or
- With a novapp account: sign in with the e-mail and password of your account at novapp.com.tr.
A licence works on one computer only; it can be entered again on the same computer. Once activated, the program works for 30 days without internet. If you change computers, contact the dealer you bought it from or us; your licence is moved to the new computer.
11. Other
- Language: choose Turkish or English in the language box at the top; the program restarts.
- Updates: when it opens, the program checks for a new version; if there is one it shows what is new and installs it in one click. You can also check from About.
- Report: send us a request, a suggestion or a bug report. When reporting a bug, say briefly what you did and what happened.
12. Troubleshooting
I cannot save. The program runs as a demo; activate your licence (section 10).
A sound does not play, or plays wrong, on the keyboard. Select the sound and read the information area: the program warns before saving about sounds that are already damaged in their own set. A healthy copy of the same sound may be in another of your sets.
The set does not fit the keyboard. Make sure your keyboard is chosen in the Memory box, delete the sounds you do not use and run the set through Clean.
The keyboard does not open the set. If the save ended with "THE CHECK FAILED", do not load that set and write to us with Report.