Disklavier

The first post of this message must of gone into oblivion, so my appologies 
if it shows up later!  Of course I didn\ufffdt save it, so this one is a little 
different.

The PianoSmart upgrade kit is now available from your local Yamaha piano 
dealer or Customer Service at 1-800-854-1569.   The software and the manual 
part number is #DCD1PS and the MIDI cable is #TXMIDI.  There is also a 
PianoSmart Operations Manual for MarkIII owners part number PSMARTMAN.  
PianoSmart is the ability to have your piano play along with an audio CD.

For MarkIII owners with built-in CD players, only a simple software update 
is needed to version 4.45.  Any Disklavier not already equipped with the 
Yamaha CD Player will need the DCD1+PS CD player to use PianoSmart.  If you 
already have a DCD1, then you need the upgrade kit with the software to 
update both your Disklavier Control Unit and the DCD1 CD player, and the 
extra MIDI cable.  You must have the ability to play standard MIDI files 
from 1.44 MB floppy disks, so Disklaviers older than the MarkIIXG systems 
will also need the DSR1 Control Unit.  MarkIIXG systems that have not 
already been upgraded to EMK1 kits or SmartKey will also need a new control 
board.

This PianoSmart upgrade is a fine piece of work and shows Yamaha\ufffds 
commitment to supporting the Disklavier with updates and upgrades so that 
most features are available without replacing the entire unit.  There are 
some limitations that the PianoSmart DCD1 upgrade has that runnning 
PianoSmart on a MarkIII does not.  The most obvious is the choice of titles 
from the Smart PianoSoft floppy catalog.  Many audio CDs were not recorded 
at A440, so even though their companion Smart PianoSoft floppies will work, 
the audio coming through the CDs will not match the pitch of the piano if it 
is in tune.  The MarkIII can adjust the pitch of an audio CD to A440, but 
the DCD1 cannot.  Therefore, Yamaha has published a list of CDs with 
companion Smart PianoSoft floppies that were recorded close to A440 and they 
are constantly adding titles.  However, ALL of the PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs 
that Yamaha produces are recorded at A440 and that entire library is 
playable with the DCD1.

For those of you who cannot wait until your kits arrive, and can scrounge an 
extra MIDI cable, I have posted the instructions and the PianoSmart software 
on my website at www.carolrpt.com/pianosmart.htm .  These instructions are 
how I explained the system to myself.  I have also included excerpts from 
the Yamaha documentation as well as the list of DCD1+PS Compatible 
PianoSmart titles.  I strongly suggest that you also order the official kit 
from Yamaha.

Many thanks to the Yamaha technical support team for providing this update, 
and helping me learn about it!

Carol Beigel
carol@...

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