Disklavier

Thanks for the info!  Now I fully understand.

I must say,. though...I don't think my piano behaves the way yours does when playing Fur Elise from the demo folder.  My pedals certainly don't freeze up when playing that section... Something sounds screwy.

-Kevin


________________________________
 From: Geoff Ward <gward1211@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2013 8:52 PM
Subject: RE: [disklavier] Pedals not working
 


  
Hi Kevin
 
I agree that it’s not DKVBrowser that causes the
problem, but the files supplied by Yamaha.  I can reproduce the problem just
using the PRC 100.  I’ve worked out the problem and it is
reproducible.  In the music files that came with the DKV, there is a file
called “Introduction to the Piano” (intro piano.pspg) in a 
folder called PianoSoft Plus Graphics (Demo).  Towards the end of this
file is a pedal demonstration which plays a segment from Fur Elise.  If I
drag the progress slider in DKVBrowser (or the PRC 100) back a bit to play the
pedal demo again (why would anyone want to do that!) it often disables the
sustain pedal.  The soft pedal continues to function and going to Standby
and back again restores the sustain pedal function.
 
Another file in the same folder is Fur Elise itself
and this also produces peculiar results.  Each time I play it (including
from a power-down and reboot of the piano and laptop – I also did a reset
to factory defaults), the right hand plays the acoustic piano and the left hand
plays the Tone Generator piano (and no LH key movement).  This is easily
fixed by changing the Piano Part Ch R in Song details in DKVBrowser from ## to
2.  I don’t understand this, as it is the left hand that is not
functioning correctly, not the right hand.  Piano Part CH L was set to
1.  Why also would Yamaha create files to showcase their pianos which
don’t play properly?  I have also found other files where the
setting for Piano Part Ch R is ##.  This leads me to wonder whether there
could be something wrong with my setup which is causing the DKV to not respond
correctly?  Any comments on this would be welcome.
 
You asked about my wireless setup.  I use
vanBasco’s Karaoke Player to play my midi files on the DKV using a Sony
Vaio laptop.  I like the very versatile playlist manager in vanBasco and I
have several hundred midi files with lyrics added by means of the great piece
of software – Lyric Adder - offered by Spencer Chase (http://www.spencerserolls.com). 
VanBasco is perfect for my needs.  My real interest lies in collecting and
creating midi files from player piano rolls.  I also have a QRS keyboard
scanner under the keys of a player piano and can make respectable midi copies
of 88 note rolls from my roll collection.  More than 10,000 midi files
from scanned rolls are available online, including more than 5,000 from Spencer
Chase.
 
I have a NETGEAR wifi extender mounted under the piano
and connected to that is a device from IO Gear (iogear.com) called a wireless 4
port USB sharing station  (GUWIP204).  This device essentially gives me a wireless USB
link to the USB port of the DKV, using my home wifi network.  The NETGEAR
wifi extender also has the normal Ethernet cable connection to the DKV to give
the DKV a connection with the internet, my iPhone and DKVBrowser.  As a
later improvement, I mounted a separate router under the piano and set this up
to provide an extra, dedicated network comprising the DKV and my laptop only,
with no internet connection.  On Christmas day there were more than 10
devices connected to my home wifi network (kids with iphones and iPads, etc)
and this interfered with the orderly flow of data to the DKV.  Having a
dedicated wifi network for the DKV with no internet also means that bulky updates
from Microsoft and McAfee, etc. don’t interrupt the data flow to the DKV
(as sometimes happened in the past).  One downside is that I now have
different networks for DKVBrowser and vanBasco.  I might have to re-think
the use of the second router.
 
With this arrangement, I can play midi
files wirelessly from my laptop on the DKV from anywhere in the house.  I
also use Cakewalk home studio for recording midi files from the piano, and this
also works over the wifi USB link.
 
So, installed under my piano at the moment
is a network extender, a router, a wireless USB link and 2 powerboards –
one always on and one switched by the DKV.  There’s not much space
left.
 
Kind regards
 
Geoff
 
 
 
 

________________________________
 
From:disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto: disklavier@yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of Kevin Goroway
Sent: Monday, 30 December 2013
12:11 AM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Pedals
not working
 
  
Hi
Geoff,
 
I don't think
DKVBrowser has anything to do with this.  My best guess is that the songs
that you are playing when using DKVBrowser are somehow exercising the pedals
quite a bit more than the songs that you normally play from your laptop.
 If this is a reproducible situation, you might want to try moving some of
the songs from your laptop to the piano's "From-To-PC" folder, and
then play them from DKVBrowser.  You should experience the same
pedal-failure rate as playing from your laptop directly.  (I think the
demo songs on the MarkIV are marked as "don't copy", so you probably
can't do the reverse.)
 
You also said that
you play your files from your laptop "wirelessly via USB".  I'm
confused.  I assume you mean that you are playing MIDI 
files (using what player?) via USB, but the wireless part has me intrigued.
 
Anyway, for further
conversations on DKVBrowser, I run a yahoo group dedicated to the software over
here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dkvbrowser/info
 
Enjoy!
-Kevin
 

________________________________
 
From:Geoff Ward < gward1211@... >
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2013
10:17 PM
Subject: RE: [disklavier] Pedals
not working
 
  
Hi Bill
 
Thanks for your detailed
reply.
 
I have carried out the
tasks you set and the pedals worked flawlessly.  
 
The piano in 9 months old
– purchased March 2013 from a Yamaha Australia dealer.  The serial
no. is 6338593.  I would be interested to know when it was manufactured.
The problem only occurred
yesterday when I was playing around with DKVBrowser.  After the comment in
these pages “The best software since the dawn of time”, I thought I
should check it out some more.  The only files I played were those demo
and sample files which came with the DKV (I retain all my music files on a
laptop which I connect to the DKV wirelessly via USB).  In doing that the
pedals stopped working 3 times.  The first time I completely powered down
and fixed it.  The 2nd and 3rd times, going to
standby was sufficient.
The piano has the latest
operating system and was calibrated when new. I think the pedal problem I
experienced yesterday will remain a mystery.
 
Another question, if I
may:  How often should a full keyboard calibration be done?  I have
the full service manual and have previously done a full calibration myself.
 
Kind regards
 
Geoff
 
 
 
 

________________________________
 
From:disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
[mailto: disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
] On Behalf Of Bill Brandom
Sent: Sunday, 29 December 2013
6:00 AM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Pedals
not working
 
  
Hi Geoff,
 
I am sorry to
hear about the problems you explained in your email. If your pedals are failing
as often as you say, then you have a hardware problem. Having your pedals quit
3 times an hour is NOT the norm with the Disklavier Mark IV and is a problem
that needs to be corrected. The problem I described in an earlier post is
something that occurs after leaving the Disklavier on for long periods of time
(typically longer than 2 weeks.) This problem is corrected by doing a complete
power down, disconnecting it from power and letting it "rest" for 30
minutes or more. Through the years of Mark IV production, this problem was
pretty much solved, but not totally eliminated. I have found that if I go
through this power down procedure about once a week, then I never have a pedal
playback problem.
 
Lets
troubleshoot this a little bit. How old is your piano? If you are not sure,
give me the serial number of the piano (a seven digit number on the plate or
harp) located under the treble end of the music desk. How long has this problem
been happening? Have you reported this problem to Yamaha? If so, what was recommended
and what was the result? When was the last time you had the piano calibrated?
Has your piano been updated to the latest operating system?
 
If I was
there, I would try the following. Normally this is done by a Disklavier
technician, but if you are careful, you can do it yourself. Power down the
piano again and disconnect it from power. On the back side of the key drive
unit under the treble end of the piano, you will find a box that contains the
CSP (Central Signal Processor) board. There are a number of RCA connections to
this box. Disconnect and re-insert the the two connectors labeled TO I/O BLUE
and GREEN. Disconnect and re-insert the connector labeled TO PD. Go to the I/O
unit and disconnect and re-insert the BLUE and GREEN connectors located on one
end of the I/O Center above the LAN connector.
 
Plug the
piano back into the A/C and power back up. Record a two minute song of playing
the damper pedal and shift pedal (right and left pedals), depressing each pedal
every two seconds. Then, play this song back 4 or 5 times. If the pedals
continue to work, then play your music as you normally do and see if the pedals
continue playing or not.
 
Let me know
the results. Hopefully, your pedal issue is solved.
 
Bill
 
On Fri, Dec
27, 2013 at 7:27 PM, <gward1211@bigpond.com>
wrote:
  
Hi Bill
 
I also have a
Mk IV  (C3 DKV).  I experience the pedal problem often, 3 times in
the space of an hour when playing files on the HDD through
DKVBrowser.  I can fix it simply by going to standby mode and on
again.  I rarely have the problem when playing midi files from my laptop
using VanBasco's Karaoke Player.
 
I power down
and turn the power off at the wall socket every night.
 
This seems to
be an identifiable and common bug affecting a lot of users - probably every Mk
IV user.  Do you know why Yamaha doesn't  put out a fix for it?
 
Many thanks
for your knowledge, wisdom and help in these pages.
Geoff
 
Long live
Disklavier