Disklavier

Hi,

Many thanks to all who sent me valuable information. I hope to purchase
the said Disklavier next month. As a new comer to the Disklavier field
all the information sent to me where quite useful. Special thanks to the
Moderator, Carol Beigel (who sent me the disk utilities program) and
Suresh Mysore with whom we have been talking about tone generators.

1) Suresh, I could not find any of the Tone generators you mentioned in
Sri Lanka. Not even the old TG100 or mu series. However, for give my
ignorance, there is a (secondhand) QY100 Music sequencer and has loads
of built in voices and rhythm. Could this be used as a Tone Generator
for the Disklavier? (It is available (privately) for Rs: 45,000/- (Rs: 1
= US$ 96) hence at US$ 468.75). Would it be worth it? The owner says it
will work like a tone generator.

2) Does any one use a PSR 2000 or similar Keyboard with the Disklavier
mark II? Would like to know whether Pianosoft Plus works correctly with
it? Such as giving the correct sound etc. 

3) Also, any suggestions how to upgrade my Disklavier unit DKC100R Mark
II to get XG and general Midi? Moderator says it can but does this mean
exchanging the units or a kind of a chip upgrade? Also the a cost
indication.

4) What is the computer program that can drive a disklavier through Midi
using a laptop? I have cakewalk but it does not support *.FIL files but
supports Midi files and works well with the PSR keyboards. Would this
work with the Disklavier using MIDI? 

Rgds
Budds.



-----Original Message-----
From: Suresh Mysore [mailto:suresh@...] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 4:17 AM
To: Budds
Subject: Re: DKV's

The tg100 is the oldest tone generator, it is antiquated.

THe mu50 is about 6 years old and is still made

http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gPIO00001KMU50
(url does not work with netscape on my computer- works with IE)

Then came the MU80( I could not find it on the yamaha site - it may be
discontinued)

The yamaha usa site says all yamaha sound cards are no longer in
production. They may still be available in stores and on ebay do a
search.
I found the following

http://www.yamaha.com/ycaservice/mp4model/sw1000xg.htm
http://www.yamaha.com/ycaservice/mp4model/db50xg.htm  this is the
equivalent of the mu50
http://www.yamaha.com/ycaservice/mp4model/sw60xg.htm
http://www.yamaha.com/ycaservice/group003/group003.htm

I dont know anything about the psr 2000 - it sounds like a keyboard not
a tone generator.

The mu50 can do only 16 polyphony. the mu80 could do 32. Some midi files
have more than 16 instruments now a days. 

The yamaha sound cards could do 32 polyphony. I have no experience in
using these cards.

suresh

Budds wrote:
> 
> Thanks for taking time to write and explain Suresh. Yes I have a
> computer. Could you give an model no of one of these Yamaha Sound
cards?
> And a approximate cost of one?
> 
> Also the Mu50 what you use, is it the same thing like a TG100 tone
> generator and how much does it cost. Looks like what you are doing is
> what I am trying to build up to. I was looking to getting a PSR 2000
to
> do the same work what you are doing with the mu50 so that if I want I
> could also have the option of using the PSR keyboard independently
too.
> Any suggestions on that?
> 
> The Yamaha agent here does not have very much information in this area
> let a lone prices. I don’t blame them as there is no market here for
> these and also the relative cost these equipment for average people
> would be far too high. Hence I hope to get them down from an overseas
> dealer.
> 
> Thanks
> Budds
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Suresh Mysore [mailto:suresh@escape.ca]
> Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 2:16 AM
> To: Budds
> Subject: DKV's
> 
> 1. E-Seq is yamaha's proprietary format. They are not usually
available
> on the internet. Things made by yamaha like pianosoft disk's are in
this
> proprietary format. They play on yamaha piano's etc.
> 
> 2. On the internet the MIDI music files are in SMF 0 or SMF 1 format.
I
> have a Mark II and it plays smf 0 ( and of course e-seq). So there is
no
> need to convert these types of files.
> If you need to convert, there are free utilities on the net and in
this
> groups utilities section (called dkv utilities I think) which will
> convert files to whatever format you need. If you find smf 1 format
> files on the net and there are many of these - use the free utilities
or
> free programs to convert them.
> 
> The DSR unit is very expensive - it does 2 things 1. Play smf 0 and 1
> files(which you can do yourself by using the free utilities) and 2. it
> plays other instruments which are on the midi file(other than piano)to
> accompany your piano by sending these signals to your own amplifier
and
> speakers which YOU have to buy.
> This is very worthwhile(listening to only the piano instrument does
get
> tiresome) but an expensive way of doing things. I use a mu50 tone
> generator which costs 30% of the dsr to do the same job. The mu50
> converts all the nonpiano instrments from midi to a signal which you
can
> feed to your amplifier and speakers. Then the piano plays the piano
part
> of the midi file and your amplifier and speakers produce all the other
> instruments which are on the midi file.
> You can do this even more cheaply by buying some yamaha sound cards
> which do the same job - they cost about 10% of the dsr - but you need
a
> computer.
> 
> So the best (and it also happens to be the cheapest) way is to buy a
> computer if you dont already have one - with( or add later ) the
correct
> yamaha sound card.
> 
> Hope this helps
> 
> suresh