Disklavier

Good afternoon, everyone.

Carl, I have never observed anyone from Yamaha publicly commenting on  
development plans. However, I know for a fact that many people at  
Yamaha in both the US and Japan read messages posted to this list.

Please don't take the lack of a public response as a comment on the  
worthiness of your suggestion.

Interestingly, your concept is already partially implemented in the  
Mark IV: it runs on Linux.

Regards,
PianoBench

On Nov 28, 2005, at 12:55 PM, Carl Youngblood wrote:

> One thing that Yamaha should really do with this (Please let us know
> if somebody at Yamaha is reading this) is open-source the software
> portion of the Mark IV.  The software is, after all, pretty much
> useless without the hardware.  What that would do is allow hackers and
> tinkerers to post bugfixes and new features without Yamaha even having
> to lift a finger.  This is the genius of the open-source model--any
> single company just doesn't have enough resources and expertise to
> improve their product as much as the combined knowledge and expertise
> of their loyal fans.  By befriending the community they actually
> enrich their own product for free and mark my words, they will see a
> big increase in sales because of it.  This kind of collaboration is
> especially effective for companies that sell hardware, because they
> make their money off selling the hardware, not the software.  So it is
> in the best interest of both company and consumer to collaborate in
> improving the software, since it will sell more hardware and make the
> consumer happier.
>
> Carl
>
> On 11/22/05, Glenn <G.SMUTNY@...> wrote:
>>
>> Just my 2 cents, but I think we all need to keep in mind that Yamaha
>> probably had two choices.
>>
>> One to wait until some unknown point way down the road, to  
>> completely 110%
>> perfect the Mark IV and everyone of its features and attributes,  
>> and then
>> introduce it.  Of course the downside of that is that none of us  
>> would be
>> enjoying our pianos.
>>
>> Or on the other hand they could bring out the Mark IV and put it into
>> eveyones hands and over a period of time, enable it's features one  
>> by one as
>> they perfect them through software updates.  The Mark IV is not a  
>> step back
>> from the Mark III. Yamaha has made vast improvements over the Mark  
>> III.  And
>> the cost difference between the two was minimal.
>>
>> I grant you the fact that there are a few yet to be enabled  
>> qualities that I
>> wish my Mark IV had - many of which are noted by Tom Wheeler, but  
>> I do
>> believe that Yamaha is well aware of all of these items as this  
>> site has
>> seen numerous similar requests over the past year.  I think  
>> instead of
>> trying to "make sure all potential buyers are aware of the pianos
>> shortcomings" we all need to be a little more patient and forgiving.
>>
>> Yamaha will get it right. Besides, who else can we go to to get a  
>> piano
>> system of this caliber with a library of music of this size.
>>
>> I feel sorry for people like Robert that put their purchase "on  
>> indefinite
>> hold until the Mark IV's basic development has been advanced  
>> further".  The
>> piano playback quality of the Mark IV is nearly the equivalent of  
>> the Mark
>> III PRO.  The system has a fabulous human interface - a little  
>> slow but none
>> the less a 1000 times better the Mark III.  And I would believe  
>> that until
>> some future date when the Mark V comes out, which I will bet will be
>> everybit of 5 years from now, they know that they have a system  
>> that is
>> setup with as much future technology as they could possibly  
>> forsee. And keep
>> in mind that the only thing that you all are waiting for is new  
>> software.
>> Software that they will send you for free.  And of course as time  
>> passes,
>> the cost of the piano will go up. So my thinking is that they will  
>> never be
>> as cheap(?) as they are right now.
>>
>> One other note that I know for a fact is that even if the hardware  
>> is able
>> to be upgraded, all they have to do is change out the I/O Center  
>> or the
>> Media Center and you have a new piano with all of the new updated  
>> features.
>> I will also bet that the future Mark V could be nothing more than  
>> just that.
>>
>> Odds of the hardware changing is slim. From what I have been told,  
>> until
>> Intel or AMD comes out with a processor faster than 350MHz that  
>> doesn't need
>> a cooling fan, we are all stuck with the speed and features that  
>> currently
>> exist. I may be wrong, but I don't think the USB port is even a 2.0.
>>
>> Yes, the system is not 110% perfect, but I would not be without  
>> mine.  I
>> know that while the Roberts of this world are waiting for  
>> perfection, I will
>> be enjoying my Disklavier Mark IV.
>
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