Disklavier

You cannot upgrade  a Mark II to a MarkIII disklavier. However, you can 
update any Disklavier to have most of the goodies that are available to play 
floppy and CD music available from Yamaha's PianoSoft collection.

The first upgrade is the DSR1 control box which updates a MarkII and earlier 
to a MarkIIXG system that  provides XG sounds, playing and recording of 
standard MIDI files, using both DD and HD floppy disks, flash memory 
software updates, and at least 1 memory disk.  The second upgrade is the 
DCD1 CD player.

The newest upgrade for all systems is Piano Smart - the ability to record, 
or playback a prerecorded piano performance, on a floppy disk with the 
Disklavier playing along with an audio CD using the MTC (MIDI Time Code).  
This upgrade for the MarkIII Disklaviers is now available as version 4.45, 
but a new version, 4.46 will have a different loader program.  The 
PianoSmart update for all other Disklaviers will be available very, very 
soon.

In order to run PianoSmart on any Disklavier older than a MarkIII, you will 
need to have 8 meg of memory.  Don't rush to obtain this memory until Yamaha 
releases its final instructions and the list of CDs that will sound the best 
on DKVs that are not MarkIIIs.  You probably already have the required 
memory if the model number of your control box has a "W" in it, i.e. 
DKC500RW; or has Smart Key; or EMK-1; or is running a 2.22 version of the 
software.  For those of us with MX100IIXG running version 1.44 of the 
software, we will need the memory upgrade in the form of a new control 
board.  The price and distribution of this hardware will be released by 
Yamaha soon.  Don't do anything, now!

What the MarkIII brought to Disklaviers was built-in audio (people singing 
on CDs) that is transposable, built-in Ensemble sounds with speakers, 16 
different memory disks, and included the Smart Key and Silent features built 
in.  Two of these features cannot be upgraded to - the Silent system and 
transposable audio.  MarkIIIs can compensate if the pitch of the audio CD is 
not the A440 standard; older models cannot.  Therefore, Yamaha will be 
providing a list the of the PianoSmart CDs that will sound best for your 
listening enjoyment!  Back in the olden days when so much of this audio was 
created, there was not digital audio.  The pitch is at the mercy of the 
motor speed on the tape drive the original analog signal was recorded.  
Also, a song could be speeded up to make it fit on a vinyl record or CD.  
Recording studios don't always get their pianos tuned, etc.  Whatever the 
reasons, many audio CDs and cassette tapes do not produce a true, standard 
pitch.  It is amazing that the technology has come so far that the MarkIII 
does what it does so easily!

The rest of us will just have to keep being creative!



Carol Beigel
crbrpt@...


>From: Joe <joe@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: "'disklavier@yahoogroups.com'" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: RE: [disklavier] UPgrade floppy to CD
>Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 14:04:58 -0400

>
>Can I upgrade my Mark II to a III?  And how do I find out how much memory I
>have?
>
>I already have the DCD1.
>
>
>
>Joseph F. Bert, CFP
>

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