Disklavier

Sounds like a great start to me.

--- Tom Wheeler <tnwheeler@...> wrote:

> It has now been one year since Yamaha released the
> Mark IV disklavier, 
> and the last software update for the Mark IV was in
> March of this year.  
> There are a number of critical software features
> missing from the Mark 
> IV that I would very much like to see included in
> the next software 
> upgrade for the Mark IV whenever that might be
> (hopefully sooner rather 
> than an indefinite later).  These features are so
> important that I feel 
> that anyone considering purchasing a Mark IV should
> be aware that they 
> are not presently on the Mark IV.  So, here is my
> wish list (that I have 
> made known 10 months ago to Yamaha). 
> 
> 1. Enable the Mark IV to be added into my home
> wireless network.  This 
> would allow the transfer of files directly to the HD
> of the Mark IV 
> without having to crawl under the Media Center and
> plug  in a USB flash 
> drive. 
> 
> 2. Enable connection to the Internet via the tablet
> (TRC-100) remote.  
> The advantages of this are enormous and would
> include allowing one to 
> download midi files directly from the Internet to
> the Mark IV, allow one 
> to participate in online instructional videos in
> which the video appears 
> on the screen of the TRC-100 while the midi audio is
> played back via the 
> Mark IV's acoustic piano, etc.  It is ironic that
> the Mark IV in the 
> U.S. is supplied with a tablet remote that is a
> full-fledged tablet PC 
> made by Hitachi and yet is so crippled by the
> software running the 
> TRC-100 that the TRC-100 can do less than the
> supplied pocket remote the 
> PRC-100.  Why did Yamaha even supply the TRC-100 is
> it is not going to 
> be put to good use?
> 
> 3.  Enable a  Search Function.  I have thousands of
> songs stored on my 
> Mark IV.  Currently there is no way to find anything
> other than going 
> through the contents of each album which can take
> hours.   Search 
> functions have been a part of computer software as
> far back as I can 
> remember and it is astounding that the Mark IV is
> missing such an 
> essential feature. 
> 
> 4.  Provide an indicator on the remote that shows
> the available free 
> space on the 80 GB HD of the Mark IV.  Currently I
> have no way to 
> determine how much free space I have on the 80 GB HD
> of the Mark IV.  
> While it is true that the capacity of this drive is
> sufficient to store 
> a huge number of midi files, 80 GB is not so large
> when it comes to 
> storing the CD's (640 MB each) that are required for
> Yamaha 
> PianosoftPlus Audio and Yamaha SmartPiano software. 
> I don't want to 
> have to go find these CD's each time I access this
> type of software and 
> so I store the CD on the Mark IV HD and allow it to
> synchronize with the 
> floppy disk that is also stored on the HD.  An
> indicator of available 
> free space can simply not be that hard to add to the
> Mark IV's operating 
> system and again I am amazed that this has not been
> done. 
> 
> 5. Provide a means of backing up the HD of the Mark
> IV.  I have spent 
> many many hours placing the huge amount of software
> that I have on the 
> Mark IV and creating play lists for this software. 
> All HD's crash.  It 
> is not a matter of if the disk will crash, but a
> matter of when.  Should 
> that happen now, I and every other Mark IV owner
> whose HD crashes would 
> have to manually restore all of their data to their
> HD when it was 
> replaced.  I realize that Yamaha is rightfully
> concerned about illegal 
> distribution of copies of their software, but a
> backup could be created 
> that would have a cpu  identifier key that would
> permit restoration only 
> the Mark IV having that identifier key. 
> 
> 6. Enable the USB ports on the Media Center and I/O
> centers to accept 
> and utilize external USB 2.0 drives as a means of
> extending the capacity 
> of the Mark IV.  Perhaps others have found some
> external USB 2.0 HD's 
> that will work with the Mark IV.  If so, I would
> appreciate it if they 
> would post that information.  I am not talking now
> about USB Flash Media 
> drives which will work with the Media Center USB
> port on the Mark IV but 
> are of relatively low capacity, but rather about USB
> 2.0 external drives 
> that can be purchased in large capacity quite
> inexpensively and would 
> provide a great means of expanding the storage
> capacity of the Mark IV.  
> While the Windows operating system allows
> plug-in-play of USB 2.0 
> external drives, the proprietary Linux OS of the
> Mark IV does not and 
> hence as far as I know you cannot just hook up any
> external USB 2.0 
> drive to the Mark IV.  If I am mistaken and Yamaha
> has successfully 
> hooked up some external USB 2.0 drives to the Mark
> IV, I would like to 
> know the make and model number of those USB 2.0
> drives. 
> 
> I would be interested in hearing from other Mark IV
> owners as to whether 
> they feel these items are important to them and also
> if they have 
> additional software items that they would include on
> the list.  Maybe 
> someone in Japan reads our postings and is
> listening.
> 
> The Mark IV is a wonderful musical instrument with a
> huge unrealized 
> potential.  It is also a very very expensive piano
> and should not be 
> without the essential features listed above. 
> Current Mark IV owners 
> should not have to wait for the release of a Mark V
> at some future date 
> to benefit from these features, which are software
> only and do not 
> require Yamaha's engineers to develop new hardware
> for the Mark IV. 
> 
> Tom Wheeler
> DC3M4t Owner
> 



		
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