Disklavier

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, tillsbury2000 wrote:
> The only FREE ones that work properly are the utilities that you can
> download from here, and because they bugger about with the PC
> internally (you're not supposed to be able to write DD disks), they
> are written for DOS.  Hence, they don't work at all under XP.

Hmm, thats not strictly true - there is no reason you shouldn't write DD
disks on modern PC's - the hardware allows it. Microsoft feel that you
shouldn't because it is such an old format now, hence why the default
options in XP don't allow it. The software for DOS for making backups /
accessing Disklavier files works by directly accessing the floppy drive
controller hardware rather than using Windows drivers, and as such can do
a lot of extra things. Windows versions based on NT (ie NT, 2K, XP, 2003)
don't allow you to access the hardware directly, so the program doesn't
work as it should.

<snip>

> Failing that, you have to consider whether you really want/need the
> files on floppy at all.  Many users on this site have found that
> controlling the piano directly from a PC is so much more flexible
> (me included, and I was very much against the idea to start with).

I've yet to try this properly - doesn't the disklavier have problems
predicting when to play each note if you play it over midi (hence the
500ms delay option)? Does the 500ms delay affect everything going into the
piano, ie the synthesiser sounds as well as the piano, or does it just
affect the normal piano ?

Cheers,

James