Disklavier

Thank you George for a more thorough description of the teaching capabilities of the modern Disklavier.  I note that use of 3rd party software and an internet connection is essential for accomplishing these wonderful capabilities.

 It seems as if Yamaha is only providing the piano and the player mechanism these days.  If you actually want to use the new Disklavier, you must provide your own hardware separately, i.e. an Apple mobile device to control it, and a router connected to the internet along with a wireless connectivity adapter.  This is necessary to buy music because you can’t even play the Yamaha Music library you already own without extra hardware (a floppy drive).  MIDI CDs cannot play.  You would need to buy a computer and use 3rd party software to convert your Library to play thru the PC folder.

Further, to share a standard MIDI file with an older Disklavier that has been recorded to the thumb drive of the new Disklavier, requires additional hardware for the older model (DKC850 or a wireless Bluetooth adapter) as well as third party software.

The only software Yamaha provides is the EN app in the App store.  Disklavier Radio seems to be the only way to buy music.  

On the other hand, the new system is a lot cheaper to make because it does use 3rd party hardware and software. The hardware necessary to use the new system is not proprietary to Yamaha and therefore can be easily replaced. People with older Disklaviers complained about the cost of replacing the floppy drives and the CD drives, and the PRC controllers and hard drives of the Mark IV.  Now when something breaks, you can go to Best Buy to replace it. That is an advantage.

Although I don’t use them, those 3rd party teaching capabilities are a marvel.  It would be nice though,  to be able to use a portable floppy disk drive, or a portable CD drive to play my Yamaha Piano Soft library in the new Disklavier.

Carol Beigel