Disklavier

--- In disklavier@y..., Ray Reich <rreich@s...> wrote:
> Could someone please explain why some downloaded midi files, once 
> converted to the Type 0 format do not play on the disklavier?  As 
an 
> example, I can put 10 songs on a disk, all in the correct format 
and the 
> disklavier will play only the first song and show it as songs 1-10 
on 
> the display.  When you play the disk it repeat the first selection 
over 
> and over.

Ray, see below my stock answer to this problem.  By the way, so you 
have a playback-only model Disklavier (one that does not record)?

Mike McGregor
Lockhart, TX

I presume you have already checked to make sure you have only one 
type of file saved on the diskette (no mixing of MIDI type 1 and 
type 0, and no mixing of MIDI and ESEQ-formatted files (the native 
Yahama format for older Disklaviers) on the same diskette. 

When I have encountered the MIDI file playback problems you 
describe, I have got past them by trying one or more of the 
following:

1. Making sure I did not try to modify the file name after it is 
copied onto the floppy. (Should delete the diskette copy, change 
the name on the hard disk file, and transfer to diskette.)

2. Shortening the file names before transferring to diskette. No 
more than 6 characters + 3-char suffix. (You may be able to use 
longer file names with certain combinations, but 6 or fewer always 
seems to work as long as other rules -such as no. 3 - are not 
broken.) BUT see rule 7

3. If using mixed letters and numbers in the file name, put all the 
numbers before the letters. Best to use exactly the same naming 
convention for all files on the floppy.

4. Making sure I start with a freshly-formatted diskette. If I 
transfer - and then delete - a lot of files on the diskette, I 
sometimes have to reformat the diskette again.

5. There may be a limit on how many files the control unit can 
manage on a floppy. I generally limit my sets to fewer than 25 
titles, But I have not figured out the exact threshold.

6. It is possible that one of the files is being corrupted as it 
was downloaded. That is not at all uncommon. In that case, you'll 
probably get a "cannot execute" message or similar. But maybe not. 
There are a number of ways to detect and correct this condition. 
For MIDI files, it means using a piece of freeware to restore the 
file type bits so the file can be recognized as a MIDI file again. 
You can check to see if MIDI file type is recognized by playing the 
file on your computer with MIDI player software (e.g. Quicktime or 
Windows Media Player). If it won't play, the file is corrupted. 
For ESEQ files (.fil suffix), try indexing the files so that there 
is a .dir file on the floppy. I believe the record-capable pianos 
can index sets of ESEQ files in the control unit - you'll have to 
check your manual. (My piano is playback only, so I use a PC 
utility to do this.) Any corrupted files simply won't be indexed. 
But I don't know if their presence on the floppy will be a problem.

7. ESEQ-formatted files with directories seem to be more forgiving 
of long file names, variable length file names within sets, and 
randomly-mixed alpha-numerics in file names. So conversion to 
indexed ESEQ file sets (using the utilities available on this site) 
may be the quickest and surest way to get all the files to play 
without the restrictions of the (MIDI) file names.

Hope this helps.

Mike McGregor
Lockhart, TX