Disklavier

There's a pretty simple reason why this doesn't work (besides the obvious one that it isn't supported :-) )

When you copy things (anything at all) to the "FromToPC" share on the piano, the piano doesn't know about it.  It's just a file, in a directory, on the hard-drive.  It turns out that this is made available via a technology referred to as "Samba".  You can put anything you'd like in there, it's just storage space on a "computer" on your network, no different than a NAS, or any other PC in your home/office.  (Albeit one with limited storage space available).

That all changes when you tell the piano to "Refresh" the "FromToPC" area.  At that point, the piano "scans" this area for any files ending in ".MID", and surprisingly enough, ".WAV".  It *does* support multiple levels of directories, and will find those files as well.  (However, the interface flattens your directory hierarchy when it shows you those multiple levels)  It *doesn't* take the time to scan the MIDI files for song titles (it only does that the first time you play the song).  The results of this "scan", as has been mentioned by Phil, is that the piano's internal database is now updated to reflect that those songs are available.  And yes, it is fairly slow.

Even if they chose to support links, there are other technical hurdles (D:\mySongs doesn't mean much to a computer elsewhere on your network, especially one based on linux)  (symlinks on the Mac would have to be /nfs references, and the piano would have to support nfs).

Anyway, we can only hope for improvements!

-Kevin



________________________________
From: mjburby <mark.burby@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 21, 2009 6:07:35 AM
Subject: [disklavier] Re: Request for better network functionality

  
Good idea George, so tried this out but unfortunately it doesn't recognise (or display) the shortcut to the folder. I also tried a shortcut to a file but no luck. This could simply be a limitation (unintentional) / restriction (intentional) of the PRC application.

--- In disklavier@yahoogro ups.com, "George F. Litterst" <PianoBench@ ...> wrote:
>
> Good evening, everyone.
> 
> I am out of town at the moment, so I cannot try this:
> 
> Has anyone tried accessing the From/ToPC folder on their PC and 
> copying a shortcut to one of their PC folders to that location?
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> www.georgelitterst. com
> www.timewarptech. com
> 
> On Oct 20, 2009, at 5:39 PM, Kevin Goroway wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hmm, your 4th (and most important) request could be an interesting 
> > DKVBrowser feature...
> >
> > Of course, it would mean that a PC would have to be on and running 
> > DKVBrowser while you were using that feature, but maybe that would 
> > be acceptable?
> >
> > I suppose it makes sense to wait and see what Yamaha delivers in 
> > this next promised release, but I don't think it would be difficult 
> > for me to implement this... Basically, you point DKVBrowser at a 
> > directory, and tell it to play the MIDI files in there...it would 
> > seamlessly place them on the piano, and start playing...in the 
> > background, it could move the next file there, and when the first 
> > file is done, it can automatically remove it and place the third 
> > file there.  I already have the code to detect when a song is 
> > "finishing" since I needed that for the "source random" feature. 
> > Hmm...
> >
> > -Kevin
> >
> > From: mjburby <mark.burby@ ...>
> > To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com
> > Sent: Tue, October 20, 2009 12:49:52 PM
> > Subject: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality
> >
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > Not sure if this has been posted about before, but one feature I 
> > would LOVE to see implemented on a future version of software is the 
> > ability for the Disklavier to be able to access files from a 
> > networked hard drive. Having access to networked hard drives offers 
> > many benefits including elimination of storage limitations, stream 
> > music direct from the remote storage to the piano over the network, 
> > cleaner backup of the internal hard drive, ability to manage files 
> > better, no need to physically attach anything (USB stick USB hard 
> > drive or CD) to the Disklavier other than the network cable which 
> > nearly all of us have already.
> >
> > Currently, the PRC has been programmed so that you don't get to 
> > chose which locations it looks in, the PRC has these preset; you 
> > click on CD to access the CD drive, USB for the USB port, and 
> > FromToPC to access the FromToPC folder on the Disklavier hard drive. 
> > I appreciate that this is to enhance usability and make things less 
> > complex but access to a directory list of music locations accessible 
> > to the disklavier would not phase too many people out. If necessary, 
> > this could be tucked away in the Setup section.
> >
> > Firstly I would like to be able to list drives such as the CD, 
> > floppy, USB, and hard disk as a list, and drill into the directory 
> > structure of each.
> >
> > Secondly, I'd like the ability to add network drives to this list.
> >
> > Thirdly, I'd like to be able to have the facility to move/copy files 
> > from one location to another e.g. from my disklavier hard drive to 
> > my network drive or vice versa
> >
> > Fourthly (and most importantly) , to have the ability to play music 
> > stored on a network drive directly, streaming it real time over the 
> > network (this could be buffered in the disklavier much as the 
> > internet radio streams do) to basically obviate the need for the 
> > attached hard drive.
> >
> > I don't think I'm asking for too much - the functionality is there 
> > but the UI on the PRC doesn't give you access to it.
> >
> > Providing this functionality effectively eliminates the issue of the 
> > built in hard disk space limitation and provides a cleaner way to 
> > ensure that the disklavier hard drive is backed up.
> >
> > Please please Yamaha implement this high value, low effort facility.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>