Message
Re: [disklavier] Repost to bench
2004-10-15 by PianoBench@aol.com
In a message dated 10/15/04 11:38:08 AM, re_p_g_c@... writes:
Hi Bench, this is an old question for me.
Is MIDI controler 7 (volume) used by the mechanical (Piano) part or
the DKV?
How?
This means that chages of volume on MIDI channel 1 have an effect?
How is this related to the set point of volume in the control unit?
Is the MIDI control 11 (Expésion) also realted to this?
MIDI has a total of 128 controllers, some of which are defined and others of which are not defined. The ones that relate to the acoustic portion of the Disklavier are:
7--Volume (but this is true only of the Mark IIXG and later)
11--Expression (but this is true only of the Mark IIXG and later--I think)
64--Sustain Pedal
66--Sostenuto Pedal
67--Soft Pedal
All of these controllers and most of the other controllers potentially apply to the Disklavier's tone generator.
When you make a piano recording on the Disklavier, the Disklavier inserts both General MIDI Reset and XG Reset System Exclusive messages at the beginning of the file. These messages are intended to cause the Disklavier (or any other compatible playback device) to reset its controllers and pitch bend wheel to their defaults before playing the file. In addition, the Disklavier adds the following controller messages on each track that you record;
Controller 0 (Modulation) = 0
Controller 32 (Modulation Wheel) = 0
Controller 7 (Volume) = 100
Note that the Disklavier does not put in any value for Expression.
Controller 7 (Volume) and Controller 11 (Expression) are implemented on many MIDI instruments in the same way. That is to say, they control volume, much like turning up the volume knob on your stereo system.
Many professional authors of Standard MIDI Files use Controller 7 on each track at the beginning of the MIDI file in order to set overall volume balances between the tracks. Then, they may use Controller 11 to make fine adjustments to track volume within the piece itself.
There is no standardization with regard to this technique that I have described, but many authors do this.
(NOTE: The creators of very high-end software sound libraries often use Expression for other purposes.)
In the case of the Disklavier, the most intuitive implementation of Controller 7 or 11 for the acoustic piano would be to adjust the height of the lid. In other words, if adjusting the height of the lid in response to a MIDI message were possible, it would make sense to use Controller 7 or 11 to do so. Obviously, that is not practical.
Starting with the Mark IIXG Disklavier, the engineers made the Disklavier piano responsive to Controllers 7 and 11. 100 is the default value for Controller 7. If Controller 7 is set to a higher value than 100, the Disklavier will sound louder than you would expect, based on the note-on velocities in the file. If Controller 7 is set to a value less than 100, the Disklavier will sound softer than expected.
In general, I advise people to set Controller 7 to 100 for the piano parts of their MIDI files. Then, if the piano is too loud or too soft relavitive to the accompaniment tracks, adjust the volume levels of the other tracks and/or adjust the velocities of the piano tracks. Lastly, when playing back a well-balanced file, if everything is too loud, use the volume control on the Disklavier control unit to quiet everything down.
I am not sure why the acoustic piano portion of the Disklavier also responds to Controller 11, but my guess is that this is to make the Disklavier's MIDI implementation compatible with that of other MIDI keyboards.
I have not experimented much with the Controller 11 and the acoustic portion of the Disklavier, but it does seem to overide the Controller 7 value. It also seems to me that if you use Controller 11 on the Piano tracks in a MIDI file, any value lower than 127 makes the piano quieter. In other words, it seems as though the default value of Controller 11 should be 127 for the acoustic piano portion of the Disklavier.
Regards,
PianoBench