Disklavier

Greetings Joan,

It is good to hear of interesting uses of the display. Educational and music display sound like very legitimate uses. Appropriate introductory visuals for the music also make sense. A distracting slide show still sounds like  a horrible distraction from good music that you might want to listen to.

It is unfortunate that there are not a lot of good Karaoke files. I would guess that most are musically terrible. There were thousands of piano rolls made in the 20s and 30s and many of these are songs that are still known today. Porter, Gershwin, Berlin etc. are all as much fun to sing as they were when they were written. Unfortunately it takes a lot of effort to add lyrics to a MIDI file and to do a good job. 

Tom Lear has given me a few fun songs and I had added lyrics to a few myself although I am not very good at it. According to Tom, Powertracks is a good program for adding lyrics. Cakewalk is not easy to use. I am considering writing a program to make adding lyrics easier but there is probably not enough interest to make it worth the effort.

I usually listen to classical music but have been getting more interested in pops of the 20 and 30s recently and have been having fun playing them with a new program that I wrote. It displays lyrics and also allows you to interpret the performance yourself, changing the loudness (velocity) and tempo to create an interesting performance from a flat one. It uses a gamepad control to let you modify the music while it is playing. A little practice and you can get the feel of it and really have some fun. It would be most fun to use with pops that have lyrics but you can also try your skill at interpreting classical music.

The program can control any MIDI device including the computer synth an external hardware synth or keyboard or the DKV. It runs on a PC with XP only. (I don't have the patience to try to get it to work on Vista. I have wasted too much time with Vista already.) If a file has the basic notes entered from sheet music as do many of the old piano roll arrangements, you can make them come alive with a little interpretation.

If anyone is interested in trying this program, contact me and I'll give the link for it. You do need to buy a $15 gamepad control to use it.

Monday, September 8, 2008, 5:04:09 PM, you wrote:
> There is an option to display the lyrics to a karaoke file that has
> been saved in midi format on the tablet. I have tested that and it
> works as well. Unfortunately most of the karaoke midi files are not
> that good. We basically enjoy strictly piano only type midis,
> although we have the other types also on the piano, but enjoy the true
> quality of piano on our Mark IV.

> If I want to listen to some other audio CD I prefer to use a better
> stereo system. However, since our disklavier is set up via WIFI with
> our Macs, we can also use the airport connection plugged into the
> socket near the piano to play any of our iTunes music through the
> speakers on the piano.

> I like the options available, not that I use them, but do think that
> if it is feasible why not have those options for those that might use
> them. 

> There are a lot of input/output sources on the tablet that have not
> been implemented as well, and it will be interesting to see what
> develops for these i/o ports through future updates. At least they
> had the foresight to incorporate these i/o ports for future possibilities.

> Joan

> --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Spencer_Lists <lists@...> wrote:

>> Greetings Joan,

>> Watching a performance make sense. That is the first I have heard of
> this possibility which looks a little bit in the future. I still think
> that looking at a home made (or otherwise) slide show is just a
> distraction from the music. We have made music such a small part of an
> otherwise complicated environment in so situations that the music is
> just a secondary and often poor quality aspect. I thought that people
> who were interested in piano were more likely to appreciate the
> performance and not just want a bunch of complicated distraction with
> elements that serve little purpose than possibly distracting from
> badly played music. 

>> It is certainly possible that a performance can involve well
> integrated video and audio parts. Ballet, movies etc. If this is the
> sort of work that can be produced for the Disklavier (preferably with
> a high resolution and quality monitor) then I will certainly vote for
> that. A slide show on a crappy monitor is not going to impress me.

>> Another possibility would be to display lyrics on the monitor as
> slide show images but that would be better done by displaying the
> lyrics contained in a MIDI or Karaoke file.

>> Monday, September 8, 2008, 2:40:59 PM, you wrote:
>> > Someone asked about the transfer and use of the 'Pictures' folder that
>> > is available in the system of the Mark IV Disklavier. I was just
>> > answering that question. 

>> > I believe the original intent and future capabilities of the
>> > disklavier Mark IV which hooks to a TV monitor will be for the option
>> > of hooking up with satellite TV and viewing musicians in concert
>> > playing on the TV monitor while the midi is streamed to your piano ...
>> > thus a virtual experience of seeing possibly and hearing on your own
>> > piano the performance of someone such as Elton John.

>> > As far a multimedia presentations, on my Mac I am able to develop
>> > those myself without the need of a professional to do it for me. As
>> > far as the capability of viewing pictures on the tablet in slideshow
>> > format ... I don't see anything wrong with that, very similar to the
>> > same device people by to display their photos in a digital manner. 
>> > What is wrong with another option or use for the tablet? If the
>> > capability is there why not offer it to those that might want it?

>> > Joan

>> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Spencer_Lists <lists@> wrote:

>> >> Greetings Joan,

>> >> Just wondering why anyone cares about looking at the monitor when
>> > listening to the piano. I thought the reason for having a Disklavier
>> > was that listening to a real piano is superior to listening to a
>> > recording. If you want a multimedia presentation, why not get a DVD
>> > video by a professional. It will be much better than any slide show
>> > you can put together with such primitive tools.
>> >> -- 
>> >> Best regards,
>> >> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@
>> >> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
>> >> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
>> >> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
>> >> Lists@spencerserolls(dot)com
>> >> http://www(dot)spencerserolls.com 
>> >> replace (dot) with a .
>> >> (707) 984-8356



>> > 

>> -- 
>> Best regards,
>> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@...
>> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
>> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
>> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
>> Lists@spencerserolls(dot)com
>> http://www(dot)spencerserolls.com 
>> replace (dot) with a .
>> (707) 984-8356


>  

-- 
Best regards,
Spencer_Lists Chase        mailto:lists@...
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville,  CA 95542    Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454    UPS only.
Lists@spencerserolls(dot)com
http://www(dot)spencerserolls.com 
replace (dot) with a .
(707) 984-8356