Disklavier

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004, Claude Renaud wrote:
> Hi all,
> 	I'm new on your group.
> A little introduction of myself.
> I'm a french blind man.
> I'm 32 years old.
> Last month I bought a Yamaha DU1A Piano equipped with the Disklavier
> Mark III technology. I hope my piano will arrive around the Christmas 
> Day.

Hello Claude!

Welcome to the groups, and congratulations on your purchase - you are 
going to really enjoy your instrument! I own a MPX1Z (the model before the 
DU1A) and it is the best thing I ever bought.

> I have some little questions to ask you.
> 1. First My piano is equipped, as I told with the Mark III generation of Disklavier.
> I also know that the Disklavier Mark IV recently arrived on the market.
> A. Do you know if there are currently pianos available on the market 
> which are equipped with this disklavier generation ?

Yes, there are Mark IV disklaviers on the market, but only in the grands. 
As far as I am aware there are no plans to produce a Mark IV upright in 
the foreseeable future.

> B. Does the Disklavier technology is something "upgradable" or should we 
> need to buy a new instrument each time a new version of Disklavier 
> appears ? Concreetly, my piano is a Mark III, should I have to buy a new 
> one in few years if I want to have a mark XX instrument ?

Theoretically, yes - you need to change instrument each time. However, in 
the past Yamaha has produced add on controllers for older modles which 
give the functionality of the new models. This may happen with the Mark IV 
technology. If not, it is possible to replicate most of the functionality 
(at the moment at least) using a PC/Laptop.

> C. Are there any kind of Disklavier related software we can find on the 
> internet in order for example to convert cd audio track in file 
> "understandable" by the disklavier system ?
> If yes, could you give me some info about it ?

There is some cutting edge research in this field, but the problem is a 
mathematical nightmare and unlikely to be solved to a satisfactory level 
any time soon. Software (and hardware) exists to convert a single 
monophonic melody to midi data, and some very simple polyphonic music, but 
it is not really usable yet. The best way is still using the two flaps on 
the side of your head and what's in between them (unfortunately?).

> 2. Generally speaking, what kind of complementary software we can find 
> to work with the disklavier system ?

If, by software, you mean music to play back then there is a lot. Yamaha 
sell a large range of quality music for the disklavier, as do Pianodisc (a 
competing system) which your disklavier should be able to play.

As for computer software, there is quite a lot around - Carol Beigel (one 
of the disklavier gurus on these lists) has a great site at 
http://www.carolrpt.com which contains a lot of useful software, such as 
conversion utilities and software for playing files back to your 
disklavier with MIDI.

You can also use your disklavier with Cubase or other sequencers, just as 
you would any midi device (with one small difference - for accurate 
playback the disklavier  needs to add a 1/2 second processing delay to 
everything - although this can be overcome, and only affects playback not 
recording).

> That's all for today, I think I will come again with numerous questions 
> when my piano will be under the Christmas Tree !!!

Please do - I'm sure some of us will be around over the Christmas break. 
I'm not going anywhere this year as I'm playing Christmas Eve and 
Christmas Day this year at a hotel, so I will probably be around some of 
the time if you get stuck!

Take care for now!

James Fry