Disklavier

When it comes to assuring quality MIDI files, it usually comes down 
to, `you get what you paid for'.  However, there are a number
of great sites where you can download free MIDI files of excellent 
quality.  Check out the various links provided in this forum. Many 
Disklavier users have already sorted through the myriad of sites and 
provided a few recommend sites. A number of Disklavier user's
also have web sites that offer excellent quality MIDI files.  I 
estimate that about half of my vast MIDI library was acquired 
through downloading free MIDI files from the Internet. 
Unfortunately, I usually discard most of the free files as they are 
of inferior quality.  I'm guessing that I probably keep one out
of every eight or ten files I download.

Yamaha have a large library of MIDI song disks especially designed 
for the Disklavier, covering most musical tastes.  A quick perusal 
of the Yamaha web site shows a large number of classical titles.  
The Yamaha disks are of very high quality in terms of playing and 
production and have the benefit of being designed for the 
Disklavier. That said, the pianist's style may not always suit
your liking.  While all artists are skilled and professional, I have 
come to know which artist's I like and others I find too
flowery for my tastes.

Doing a search on the word PianoSoft at www.google.com will bring up 
many internet sites that sell the Yamaha PianoSoft disks.  For 
example, I have purchased many Yamaha disks from www.pianotouch.com 
and have always received great service and very reasonably prices.  
There are many good sources to purchase PianoSoft disks just by 
looking around.

One place to get familiar with the various disks available, and/or 
to purchase the disk directly from Yamaha, is to visit Yamaha's
web site: www.yamahamusicsoft.com

If you click on Disklavier (upper left hand corner), you'll be 
directed to a web page that presents the various recommended 
products for the Disklavier.  Clicking on any of the various icons 
in a category will bring up the various titles available within that 
category.  To ensure compatibility with your MX100A, click on the 
icon `Is it compatible with my instrument?'  This will open
up another window that lists whether the disks within that category 
are either:  Recommended, Compatible, Not Compatible, or Not 
Applicable.  Assuming you have a tone generator, the following 
categories appear to be okay:  Disk Orchestra DOC, PianoSoft Solo, 
PianoSoft Plus, Virtuoso Performance.  If you have an XG tone 
generator with your MX100A, the PianoSoft Plus XG and the Disk 
Orchestra XG will work as well.

Also, from the Disklavier page, click on the icon `New York City 
Rising Star Series'.  You'll find the icon on the right hand
side.  A number of classical titles are available.

One great thing about the Disklavier titles presented on the Yamaha 
web site is that you can often preview a short sample from one of 
the songs contained on the the disk.  The samples are in MP3 format.

Also, if you have an XG tone generator I highly recommend anything 
from the Yamaha XG MIDI Song Files library which contains over 2600 
titles from all musical styles.  Because this collection of MIDI 
files is not specifically designed for the Disklavier, you'll
want to select songs that showcase acoustic piano.  Many files have 
no piano whatsoever as the MIDI file was designed to emulate the 
original recording which may not have any piano. The title
`Spain' by
Chick Corea is something that comes to mind as a good example of the 
superb quality of these MIDI files and will satisfy event the most 
discriminating jazz aficionado.

The XG MIDI Song Files library can be accessed by clicking on
`see complete listing' which is located above the price column on 
the Disklavier page.  Once you select this option, scroll down 
towards the bottom of the page and you'll find an icon for XG MIDI 
Song Library.  Alternately, try the following URL:
www.yamahamusicsoft.com/index.php?
action=ProductCatalog&category_id=141

I've been in the business for a long time and of the few hundred 
MIDI files that I've purchased commercially, I would put any of
the Yamaha XG MIDI files at the very top of my list.  The playing, 
arrangement, production are first class.  Unfortunately, the library 
is no longer updated and recent titles will not be found.

Other sources of usually good quality commercial MIDI files are:

www.midi-hits.com
www.trantracks.com
www.tune1000.com

I'm sure many others who frequent this site can suggest top quality 
sites for classical.  My tastes tend towards jazz (tradition and 
modern).


Regards,

Robert

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "normanpetersau" <norm56@t...> 
wrote:
> Hi all.  I have an MX100A disklavier. My local Yamaha retailer is 
> getting out of stocking PianoSoft titles, leaving me nowhere to 
buy 
> (hopefully) quality performances locally, and I don't necessarily 
> want to buy from Yamaha's web site.
> 
> I have done the usual of downloading MIDI files and converting 
them 
> to ESEQ as my machine needs to play, but all to often the 
> performances are (not to put too fine a word on it) CR*P!
> 
> My question is this - can you point me to web sites where good 
> quality MIDI files are available - most of the stuff I have 
> downloaded recently is poorly sequenced and badly played, and it's 
a 
> waste of such a fime instrument just to play rubbish.  
> 
> My tastes are Beethoven (Appassionata is a favourite), Mozart, 
etc, 
> plus some jazz and bits of modern music.  Any ideas?
> 
> Season's Greetings