Disklavier

Rich,

I have an older Mark II (MX100II) with a broken floppy drive, so I was trying to figure out how to upgrade it much like you.  The official upgrades from Yamaha (DSR1 and DCD1) were discontinued by Yamaha and were way too expensive anyway.  So then I discovered the Disklavier's MIDI ports, connected them to my Mac iBook laptop with the Yamaha USB MIDI interface, and purchased Metro SE from Sagan Technology (http://www.sagantech.biz/products), which I found to be a really nice and inexpensive MIDI sequencer for the Mac.  This product enables me to play and record from the Disklavier really easily and intuitively, using my Mac's hard drive instead of the piano's floppy drive.  I looked at GarageBand, but then decided on Metro SE when I saw what a great price it was and what great features it had.  This doesn't answer all your questions but I hope it helps.

Bill


--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Freeman Richard <rfreeman26@...> wrote:
>
> I'm the original owner of a Disklavier DSC2 Grand with Mark II XG  
> control unit.  I would love to have features / capabilities now  
> available with the Mark IV series, such as access to content via the  
> internet, hard-drive storage, etc., however I'm not going to spend a  
> small fortune replacing my entire piano to do so.  There must be  
> alternatives to upgrading.... I hope.  It irritates me that Yamaha's  
> upgrades are seriously limited and don't allow migration to successor  
> series. Maybe they finally got it right with the Mark IV, but that  
> doesn't help me.
> 
> I'm new to this forum, so have several questions to ask.  I greatly  
> appreciate any replies.
> 
> a) I would like to play Piano Soft + Audio, or Smart Piano Soft  
> media.  Is adding the DCD1 module the only option?
> 
> b) If yes, I understand the DCD1 is no longer manufactured by Yamaha.   
> Will there be a successor unit?
> 
> c) Does anyone have experience in using a PC / or Mac connected to the  
> Disklavier in order to play MIDI files, or PianoSoft, PianoSoft Plus  
> titles? If yes, I'd greatly appreciate any tips.  I have both Mac and  
> PC machines I could use.....
> 
> d) Lastly, has anyone used Garageband (Mac) to send data to the  
> Disklavier.  I understand Garageband requires a plug-in in order to  
> enable Midi out.  Again, if anyone has experience with setup, any tips  
> would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks in advance for the help.  I hope to return the favor some day!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rich Freeman
>