Disklavier

Kevin,

Thanks for letting me know that the 33 MHz processor is capable of  
multitasking.  I think that the "lazy programming" has unfortunately  
been the case from the introduction of the Mark IV in 2004. An example  
is a backup method that requires each time a full system backup rather  
than allowing for incremental backups. I would truly love to see that  
mess straightened out in a future Mark IV update.  It's no fun leaving  
your Mark IV running for more than 12 hours every time you want to do  
a backup. Yamaha charges a premium price for this equipment, and I  
think it is time that Mark IV owners pressed for a system that  
measures up to the premium being paid for it.

Kevin, I also want to expressly thank you for producing and making  
available the DKV Browser -- a fine addition to the Mark IV.

Tom

On Sep 5, 2009, at 2:01 PM, Kevin Goroway wrote:

>
>
> Bill, I'm salivating just knowing that more updates are being worked  
> on.  :-)
>
> Tom, just a note about the 333Mhz processor not being able to do  
> multiple things at once...
>
> As it turns out, it's already doing about 40 things at once  
> (processes running under the linux OS).  And it could *certainly*  
> support the ability to manage your library while a song continues to  
> play.  It's just lazy programming that makes the current situation a  
> reality.
>
> I'm pretty certain that it could even deal with decoding MP3 and  
> keeping it in sync with MIDI.
>
> Phil, Thanks for sparking this topic!  I think many of your  
> suggestions, unfortunately, require hardware changes.  That being  
> said...there are slots available in this box that are just waiting  
> to be taken up by some cool new toys.  Judging by how much Yamaha  
> charges for a battery for the PRC-100, I'm not inclined to believe  
> that hardware upgrades will be cheap, though. ;-)
>
> -Kevin
>
> From: Bill Brandom <BBrandom@...>
> To: "disklavier@yahoogroups.com" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2009 1:46:55 PM
> Subject: RE: [disklavier] Mark4 Software
>
> Great suggestions Phil. I am fowarding on your suggestions to our  
> engineers. Several of your suggestions are already "in motion." I  
> just am not at liberty to say what they are at this time.
>
> In the next 10 days I will be able to share a couple of exciting  
> Mark IV updates that will be coming...
>
> Bill
>
> Bill Brandom
> Senior Technical Manager
> Keyboard Division
> Yamaha Corporation of America
> bbrandom@yamaha. com
> 714-522-9417
> ____________ _________ _________ _________ _
> From: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com [disklavier@yahoogro ups.com] On  
> Behalf Of Phil Blah [phil.blah@yahoo. com]
> Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 2:15 AM
> To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com
> Subject: [disklavier] Mark4 Software
>
> Hey Guys,
>
> No much happening with the Disklavier forums lately, perhaps  
> everyone is content with their piano!
>
> Does anyone know if Yamaha are going to release new software for  
> their pianos? (psst Bill Brandon you still here?)
>
> I must say that the DKVBrowser software that Kevin has made is so  
> great! It makes moving files around so easy.. the clunky old PDA is  
> pretty crappy for this!
>
> On a side note, has anyone tried running the java app on an iphone?  
> it would be much better than the clunky old PDA's... the battery  
> does not last long (even a new one only lasts 2 hours max). Also the  
> wireless is pretty weak signal. Perhaps the DKVBrowser can be made  
> for iphones? lol.
>
> Dear Yamaha, here is my wish-list/advice for version 4 of the  
> software :)
>
> 1) Disk image needs to support 'fresh' install. This has various  
> advantages.. as the old 80gb drives clag out people can just put in  
> a new HD easily or they want a bigger HD so they can install from  
> scratch. A fresh install will be clean and have performance  
> advantages too. Plus it will solve 99% of peoples problems if their  
> software gets screwy.
>
> 2) Finish off the half done Graphics support.. ie allow songs to  
> have .jpgs attached to them as a slide show or just as a cover to  
> the song (this is the TV out part, not all Disklaviers have the  
> tablet thing like in Australia for example!).
>
> 3) Allow access to the XG voices in performance mode.
>
> 4) Make a new 'live sounding' special drum and base kit.. the  
> current base and drums are alright but they all sound too synthetic.  
> Surely Yamaha can try harder with these most critical synths...  
> There are free drum/base sound fonts on the net that people have  
> just recorded a real drum and base that sound better! Lets face it  
> guys, no one listens to crappy midi with their beautiful piano...  
> the only exception is Jazz that has a base/drums only. Most Sue  
> Downs songs are excellent like this.... anyway having a 'live' drum  
> sound font would be perfect!
>
> 5) Better strings and wood instruments overall... some songs are  
> just embarrassing with these cheezy synths, sounds like a big mobile  
> phone with most midi's.
>
> 6) More control with the network setup ie wep keys/ip everything  
> overall etc. Also as they use Samba it would take 2 seconds to put a  
> basic password for windows networking (not everyone has their piano  
> in their home!).
>
> 7) MP3 Support. Wave files are so inefficient. MP3's have been  
> around since 1995 or eairler and as it runs linux I am sure it can  
> handle it (yes ofcorse pun was intended). For quality freaks, the  
> MP3 can be 256bit rate so its losless. Then each song will be about  
> 8 - 12 meg rather than 40+
>
> 8) Faster seek for playing/stopping songs!
>
> 9) Faster and better methods of recording... I am not sure if it's  
> just me, but when you 'know' that it's recording you usually make a  
> mistake while playing a song and then want to quicky start the  
> recording again. But the current way is all bumbly and clumsy and  
> slow... worst case is I have to just keep it recording and I copy  
> the midi to my computer and use cakewalk to edit... but that's a big  
> pain.
>
> 10) Backup! - Like most people, we just trust everything will just  
> keep working and we get complacent.. . but imagine if your HD failed  
> tomorrow, all the songs you bought all the CD's that took you hours  
> to save on the HD... all the midis and files arranged... all gorn!  
> So a backup option would simply copy everything to a network share  
> as a big archive file (to preserve the secret database etc etc). And  
> you can simply restore it all back if needed.
>
> 11) Better playlist managment and random play
>
> 12) Guys this is not a mark3 nor is it 1990. It's a linux box that  
> is already multitasking, surley we can play a song while searching  
> or copying things! So yes, a song needs to contiune to play while we  
> do other things.
>
> 13) Back to recording, It's a bit hard to figure out how to simply  
> record while a .wav/CD (god bless) is playing... So we need to  
> simply be able to play a CD/.wav and you can record your piano  
> playing. Also recording other voices and in performance mode is not  
> easy to do. My 1992 Yamaha Clavinova makes it easy.
>
> 14) Just on my 1992 Yamaha Clavinova, it has several built in drum  
> beats and groovy synth riffs even with a 'varation' button! but  
> there are no built in drum kits with the mark4.... bit sad  
> really..... nothing more fun then just having a good beat and  
> playing the piano with it!
>
> 15) Better use of the internet, while it might sound all cool 'wow  
> the pianos on the internet' but it's really a closed system,  
> Yamaha's mini web thing only.... the whole internet piano thing is  
> NOT available to normal people only 'special' Yamaha people... can  
> we get over this and allow our pianos to connect to friends.
>
> 15b) As a Yamaha Radio subscriber and regular song buyer... I think  
> Yamaha needs to allow people to 'trial' a song... the little 20  
> second preview is not really enough somtimes.. even if it costs 20c  
> or something to play only but not save would be good, I think $4.50  
> USD for a song is so over priced... some songs are just awful and  
> lifeless.. Also the fact that they even tell people that 'the midi  
> file might be unacceptable' ... those songs should be heaps cheaper.
>
> 15c) Just with the whole internet thing, just like you can stream  
> internet radio like 'smoothjazz. com' surley they can stream songs  
> with audio and midi data. They could quite easily setup a large  
> buffer to handle 192k streams... and lets face it we all have  
> broadband these days, not like people are on modem or somethin!. So  
> Even if it costs a bit more or they charge per hour or something...  
> there is a time when I just crave a voice with piano and get so sick  
> of my usual collection!
>
> 15d) Yamaha need to allow for Piano Soft with Audio downloadable. ..  
> I don't always want to buy an entire CD just for 1 song, plus the  
> whole slow clumsy CD thing is not very modern for a company trying  
> to make out how modern they were (the piano on the internet thing).  
> I am quite happy to pay $6 per song if it had audio!
>
> Well that's all I can think of for now.
>
> Let's hope these features will be in Version 4 :)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Philip
>
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