Disklavier

On Wed, 23 Apr 2003, jazornes wrote:

> Mark Fontana --
> I would like to migrate my huge Yamaha and PG Music etc. MIDI
> collections onto CD.  I purchased a used MIDIMAN converter last year
> to start this project.  I have a MarkIII DC6A disklavier.  I live in
> the Bay area (Hillsborough).
>
> If you are still interested in helping the group learn how to copy
> FDs onto Cds, let me know and let's see what we can work out.


Hi Aaron and group,

I've put together a Windows app called Mid2PianoCD that batch converts
MIDI and ESEQ files into WAVE audio files that can be burned to CD to
control PianoDisc and Pianocorder systems. I haven't figured out the
format of Yamaha's CD control signal yet, but once that is known, I
could add support for the Disklavier format as well. (In addition, I'm
working on support for QRS Pianomation/Baldwin ConcertMaster CDs.)

Anyone who'd like to try a beta version of this software may find it at:

   http://dp70.dyndns.org/mid2pianocd/

(Please don't copy this into the group archives or upload it to other
sites yet, as this is still under development. A link to the above URL
is OK, though.)

One thing I've learned recently is that Yamaha's CDs do NOT use the
MIDIMAN encoding-- that format is used by QRS and Baldwin. Yamaha
appears to developed their own format.

Some of you may not realize that this "audio" encoding of MIDI data
limits you to the audio capacity of the CD-R... typically 80 minutes.
Because the "audio" encoding is so inefficient, you cannot pack a full
700 MB of MIDI files onto such a CD, rather just a dozen or so files at
a time. So it will take quite a few CDs to hold a sizable collection.

Another factor to consider is that the timing of the MIDI events is less
accurate in this format than when playing from diskette.

Together, these factors make the current CD format less-than-optimal
for the purpose of storing a large music library.

If you want to maintain the best timing accuracy on your Disklavier,
here are the ways of playing music data ranked from most-accurate to
least-accurate:

  1. play from floppy disk or memory disk (delta times of zero
between notes can truly be played as such... NO transmission delays)

  2. use a "To Host" cable and send MIDI to the piano from a PC (this
offers a higher data rate than standard MIDI but will still result in
small delays between notes that are to be struck simultaneously)

  3. use a standard MIDI link (results in greater delays between notes
struck simultaneously)

  4. play from CD (even greater delays... it's barely adequate)

I recently had the opportunity to see a Baldwin ConcertMaster system
running the latest firmware. The engineers for this system have added
support for playing standard MIDI files from a standard ISO9600 *DATA*
CDROM (no audio encoding required). This feature works extremely well
and it would be nice if Yamaha and PianoDisc would follow suit.


Mark Fontana