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Re: [disklavier] DKV volume

2014-02-21 by Spencer Chase

I doubt that anyone would be interested but I have a cute little program that I wrote that can be used to send any controller to any MIDI device using a USB joystick to control the values. It could be useful, for example, to hold the dampers at a certain point for testing or regulation. Later versions of windows do not allow access to a MIDI device from multiple sources so you either need to use just the joystick program or use MIDI yoke to merge multiple sources. You can use the program to send any of the 128 different controllers so you could also use it to experiment with volume and expression controllers as well. The program is not well documented because I made it just for myself. It has facilities for calibration to different joysticks and this is the confusing part. If there were a lot of people who wanted to use it, I would document it better (Geoff, do you want to do this?) and or simplify it. Joysticks are notoriously sloppy. I actually used it with joysticks I made myself with an Arduino and voltage control. Can use a potentiometer or a ratiometric hall effect sensor. the ardiuino (i also have the code for anyone who wants it) lets you make all sorts of cool pedal devices.

i initially wrote the program and arduino code to allow adding new pedal data to an existing performance. you can, for example take a performance that had bad pedaling and replace it with better pedaling. i used the hall effect sensor connected to the piano pedal trapwork so it could sense the actual pedal movement for recording. this is the reason for all the calibration stuff in the program. if calibrated correctly, you can remove the original pedal data from the MIDI file and play it on the DKV while recording the new pedal data. since you are using the actual piano pedal, you get immediate feedback of the effect the new pedal data will produce.

On 2/20/2014 2:57 PM, Geoff Ward wrote:

Sam

The attached screenshot is of the settings I found best, but it depends on the regulation of the piano. On mine, the dampers just clear all of the strings at a midi value of 60 (I created a test file with various levels to ascertain that figure). So I set it at a max of 70 to ensure strings were undamped. At 40 all strings were fully damped. So a range of 40 to 70 minimises the pedal travel. However, the ramps of midi 64 controllers thus created still descend to 0 if time permits, so I\u2019m not quite sure what the pedal off threshold of 40 determines. It does seem to put a shoulder in the ramp at the 40 mark and affects the position of the ramp. This is always a compromise. The sustain pedal will take effect at a later point in time and will come off earlier and I think that the threshold levels are intended to position the ramps so that the sustain actuation occurs as close as possible to where the former on/off controllers occurred. It\u2019s not perfect because damper lift-off is not perfect. On my piano, which is new, the damper lift-off range is about 50 to 60.

The soft pedal is not so critical. For the soft pedal, the ramp is set to run the full range from 0 to 127, as you would expect. I\u2019m again not sure of the significance of the on and off threshold values, but these settings worked for me.

Kind regards

Geoff

From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Skanter123
Sent: Thursday, 20 February 2014 5:29 PM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Cc: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] DKV volume

Geoff, do you have an idea what would be good starting settings for MPX100II?

This is a mark II DKV, not mark II XG.

Sam


On Feb 20, 2014, at 1:26 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@...> wrote:

i wrote the program but Geoff did the testing and has a DKV to test on so he is the authority for appropriate settings, at least for pianos similar to his.

On 2/19/2014 10:16 PM, Sam Kanter wrote:

Wow - this looks like just what the doctor ordered to fix the noisy on/off pedaling issue. Can't wait to test it during day hours. Thanks!


Sam Kanter
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 1:05 AM, Spencer Chase <lists@...> wrote:

i uploaded the new version of the pedal modifier program do not use the link in the last e-mail because the name has changed. go to the download page of my site spencerserolls.com and find the On Off to Gradual Pedal converter program (New) actually, this link might work from e-mail but best to visit the download page instead.


On 2/19/2014 8:20 PM, Skanter123 wrote:

Geoff, what is the exact name of Spencer's pedal program? I could not find it...

Sam

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