Disklavier

Good afternoon, everyone.

Tobin, just checking: has everything been working correctly?

Regards,
PianoBench


On Aug 26, 2008, at 5:02 PM, slothmachine wrote:

> Hi George,
>
> A little confusion there: We recorded about 30 separate files. The
> MIDI dropout occurs in about 15% of those files at different places
> in each file (in other words, in one file it may occur 15 seconds
> into the file, in another file it may occur 5 minutes into the file)
> but in every case, the dropout lasts for 30 seconds. In any one
> given file where the dropout occurs, however, yes, obviously the
> dropout occurs in the same place all the time. MIDI data is
> definitely not present during those dropouts.
>
> That's excellent news that a floppy should be able to hold about 2
> hours. I think we're going to use that as a backup. If we find that
> we're experiencing dropouts again, we'll immediately check the floppy
> to see if it also occurred on that.
>
> Again, thanks for your help.
>
> Tobin
>
> --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "George F. Litterst"
> <PianoBench@...> wrote:
> >
> > Good afternoon, everyone.
> >
> > I am a little confused, Tobin. On the one hand you indicated that
> the
> > dropouts on playback do not always occur in the same places each
> time
> > you play back a file. That tells me that all of the MIDI data is
> > present in the file. However, you also said that you checked the
> file
> > and saw no MIDI data in the event list where dropouts occur.
> >
> > The first and most important thing is to figure out if data is
> being
> > continuously recorded during the performance. The event list
> should
> > confirm this. If the data for the entire piece is present, you
> should
> > be able to listen to the entire piece without dropouts by
> directing
> > the MIDI output of the sequencer to an internal tone generator on
> your
> > computer (QuickTime GM Synth on the Mac or Microsoft GS Wavetable
> SW
> > Synth on Windows). Playback by those 2 soft synths may be muddy
> > (because they don't understand incremental pedaling), but you will
> be
> > able to confirm aurally that all of the notes are there.
> >
> > Assuming that all of the notes are there, there should be no
> droupouts
> > on playback by the piano. If there are, the most likely culprits
> are:
> >
> > --sequencer
> > --the MIDI cables or interface
> > --the Disklavier
> >
> > In the case of the Disklavier, overheating can cause playback
> > dropouts. However, consistent overheating usually results in an
> error
> > message on the control unit.
> >
> > If you choose to record to high density floppy disks (formatted as
> > HD), you should be able to get 2 hours of normal piano playing on
> a
> > floppy (assuming that the piano is not a version called the Pro).
> >
> > Regards,
> > PianoBench
> >
> >
> > On Aug 26, 2008, at 11:26 AM, slothmachine wrote:
> >
> > > Athomik & George,
> > >
> > > Thank you very much for replying with such good suggestions.
> > > Athomik, I think your suggestion is best to actually record on the
> > > piano itself, in addition to sending it through the MIDI outputs.
> I
> > > think the reason we didn't do that the first time is that those
> > > floppy disks don't hold that much information, so we would have
> ended
> > > up continually replacing them. We could be wrong though about how
> > > much info they hold. About how much time does one of those disks
> > > hold? (I know that with MIDI it's not time that takes the space,
> but
> > > the number of notes played, but just assuming that he's playing
> some
> > > normal piano music, how much time...)
> > >
> > > George, to answer your questions, the dropouts don't always occur
> in
> > > the same place, but they seem to almost always last for about 33
> > > seconds. This is kind of what made me rule out faulty cables,
> > > because it would just be too much of a coincidence that cables
> would
> > > fail, several times, each lasting 30 seconds. The behaviour would
> > > seem to me that it's some device along the way, whether it's the
> > > piano sending to the DKC100R, the DKC100R sending to the MIDI
> > > interface into the computer, or the MIDI interface into the
> computer,
> > > that somehow gets overloaded with info and takes 30 seconds
> > > to "restart" itself at which point it continues to spit out MIDI
> info.
> > >
> > > The MIDI and audio both get recorded simultaneously into the
> > > sequencer REAPER, and yes, we're certain that for those dropouts
> > > there is no MIDI at all. You just have to look at an event list to
> > > see that there's nothing there.
> > >
> > > Also George, as per your suggestion, I will instruct the engineer
> to
> > > pay close attention to the flashing lights on the MIDI interface
> > > while he records to make sure that that is being recorded
> correctly.
> > >
> > > Thanks again for your help, I now have some very useful
> information
> > > for when we go into the studio next.
> > >
> > > Sincerely,
> > > Tobin
> > >
> > > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "George F. Litterst"
> > > <PianoBench@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Good morning, everyone.
> > > >
> > > > I recommend looking at the MIDI data carefully on the computer
> and
> > > > determine with certainty whether that MIDI data is present.
> > > >
> > > > Assuming that the MIDI data is present, I think that it is worth
> > > > determining:
> > > >
> > > > --whether the dropouts always occur at the same places on
> playback
> > > >
> > > > --determine what happens if you start playback at a location
> where
> > > > there is a dropout
> > > >
> > > > --look at the MIDI status LEDs on the MIDI interface (if there
> are
> > > > any) during playback and see if the interface shows MIDI data
> going
> > > to
> > > > the piano during the dropout
> > > >
> > > > How are you synchronizing the audio and the data? Are they both
> > > being
> > > > played by the same sequencer?
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > > PianoBench
> > > >
> > > > On Aug 25, 2008, at 7:00 PM, slothmachine wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Hi all,
> > > > >
> > > > > I recently had a recording session that used a Disklavier. We
> > > needed
> > > > > to record the actual piano sounds as well as get the
> corresponding
> > > > > MIDI. For the most part, it worked well. Our resulting audio
> files
> > > > > are great, and the corresponding MIDI almost always matches
> > > > > perfectly. There were a few exceptions though. In a few of the
> > > > > files, the MIDI would cut out for almost exactly 30 seconds,
> then
> > > > > after that silence, it would return, still in sync with the
> audio.
> > > > >
> > > > > There are a few possible explanations for this. It's certainly
> > > > > possible that the MIDI interface going into the computer was
> > > faulty
> > > > > in some way (audio and MIDI both recorded into Reaper). Me
> feeling
> > > > > though is that it was probably something getting stuck on the
> > > > > Disklavier's end. The exact devices were Disklavier II, and
> the
> > > > > controller that spit out the MIDI was a DKC100R.
> > > > >
> > > > > Has anyone else had similar issues? Any suggestions for how
> to fix
> > > > > this? We're planning on going back to the same studio, with
> the
> > > same
> > > > > setup, in a few days, so we were hoping to have something new
> to
> > > try.
> > > > >
> > > > > I did try searching previous posts for "lost MIDI", but wasn't
> > > able
> > > > > to find anything pertinent.
> > > > >
> > > > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!