Disklavier

That was a great save for you!


Slamming the floppy into the drive at least in your case,

freed up a floppy drive mechanism that was sticking or

you were able to dislodge some dirt that had over time,

accumulated on the write/read head(s) of the floppy

drive preventing the head(s) from reading the revolving

magnetic disk and it's data.


But sometimes, if you slam the floppy

disk in, I too have become frustrated, :-)

it finishes off the drive and it no longer

responds and the battle is over.


I am happy that this was not your story!

DNA



On 12/19/2016 9:53 PM, Skanter123 skanter123@... [disklavier] wrote:
> Two years ago I obtained a 1998 MkII that had hardly been used, but 
> the floppy drive did not function. As I said before, Yamaha wanted 
> $315 for their proprietary drive, and I would have to install it 
> myself or pay another $300 for a DKV technician to do it.
>
> The whole situation made me so angry that I took a floppy and SLAMMED 
> it into the drive with full force. To my surprise, that fixed it. :-)
>
> I now use a desktop computer next to the piano to record, store, save 
> and play thousands of MIDI files. I have a $10 USB floppy to convert 
> all Yamaha disks to MIDI files. Everything works perfectly. I 
> recommend dedicating a cheap laptop for this function instead of an 
> expensive DK-850 unit. I don't, however, use DKV Radio or TV, it would 
> not work with my piano anyway.
>
> Sam Kanter
> www.keyboardcollective.com <http://www.keyboardcollective.com>
> (212) 684-3304
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 19, 2016, at 7:52 PM, dashby dashby@... 
> <mailto:dashby@...> [disklavier] <disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> Mostly just a lurker here, I like to know about player pianos, I am a
>> piano player as well. I also have a 35 year career in A/V recording,
>> some community television and as a computer technician.
>>
>> Floppy drives and disks have been around
>> from about the mid 1970s into the late 2000s.
>>
>> (See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk)
>>
>> Along with aging, they have always been problematic because as
>> with audio tape and video tape, the floppy drive head(s) is/are in
>> actual physical contact with the magnetic rotating disk.
>>
>> Eventually as with all audio tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, 8 track,
>> audio cassette and all video tape machines, i.e. reel to reel, Sony
>> 3/4 inch U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC VHS cassette, the heads get
>> dirty and clogged with dust and audio or video tape gunk which
>> in the old days you had to periodically clean off either by bringing
>> the unit to a repair shop, or taking it apart and cleaning it yourself
>> by hand with Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol and a Degausser.
>>
>> (See Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degaussing
>>
>> Or you could try a self-contained audio reel to reel, 8 track, audio
>> cassette or video reel to reel, Sony 3/4 U-Matic, Sony Beta or JVC
>> VHS cleaner. Sometimes you cleaned the units and they would start
>> working again, sometimes not. As a repair tech, I cleaned by hand,
>> hundreds of these units. In addition, some floppy drives just plain
>> mechanically wear out over time and use or got damaged by the
>> floppy disk.
>>
>> Examples of Floppy Drive self-contained Cleaners:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Floppy-Drive-Diskette/SubCategory/ID-131
>>
>> Fast forward to 2016. The floppy drive and floppy disks were never
>> meant to last this long and most are only going to fail faster and
>> faster over time.
>>
>> In the old days you just bought off the shelf from a computer store,
>> a standard floppy drive because the Data Connector and Power
>> Connector and Data Protocols were universal.
>>
>> Example of a Standard Internal Floppy Drive: $8.49 plus shipping.
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010633
>>
>> Examples of Standard External USB Floppy Drives:
>> Range from $18.99 to $29.99 plus shipping.
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007543%20600010635%20600010634
>>
>> It may be that Yamaha, like many companies, in order to lock you
>> into their system and pay their higher profits, has a proprietary
>> floppy drive so you can't go to a computer shop and pay about
>> $9 to $20 for a new floppy drive, instead of about $300 which I
>> read someone here mentioned as the cost to buy a floppy drive
>> via Yamaha Repair Service and you have to install it yourself.
>>
>> If this is the case, their price is not in line with the OLD technology
>> they are selling you and they are gouging customers because
>> proprietary means they can.
>>
>> I see over time, more and more people here are complaining about
>> floppy drives. So it is probably very wise indeed for everyone who
>> is still relying on the floppy drive built into their Yamaha Player
>> Pianos to be making plans to migrate as rapidly as possible to
>> other sustainable solutions as have been mentioned by other
>> members here.
>>
>> There is no winning with this floppy drive, floppy disk game.
>>
>> Please plan ahead because increased Floppy Drive and
>> Floppy Disk failures are coming to a theater near you. :-)
>>
>> Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> DNA
>>
>> ---
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> 



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