Disklavier

Mark,

Nothing to be ashamed of...Glad that you like it!  In general, I try to keep in depth discussions of DKVBrowser off of this list, and on the other one (that you just joined).  This cuts down on the noise for the non-MarkIV owners on this list.

But, a quick answer to your suggestions.

The PC that I mentioned would only have to be the one that is running DKVBrowser...the storage, as you described can be anywhere that that PC can see.  I myself use a Windows Home Server to support my whole household, so I'm familiar with the concept.  I would like to begin work on this feature in DKVBrowser, but I'm also curious about the functionality in the next version.  If they are going to support something like this natively, I'd rather build on top of it, instead of building it from scratch.

-Kevin




________________________________
From: mjburby <mark.burby@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 21, 2009 6:38:27 AM
Subject: [disklavier] Re: Request for better network functionality

  
So am ashamed to say that I've only just discovered your DKVBrowser and its a thousand times more useful than the virtual PRC. Thank you for creating this! DKVBrowser would be an ideal application to add this functionality to. 

In terms of possible locations for network drive you have three main options:

1) Use a PC as you indicate. Advantage is that nearly everyone has one. Disadvantage is that it needs to be on when you want to access the drive, and of course it has to be networked.

2) Use a dedicated network drive called Network Attached Storage (or NAS) - this is what I have at home. These are dedicated hard drives that simply plug into your network and much like your internet router are on 24x7 (unless you configure them otherwise). They are usually much lower energy to have running constantly than a PC. Some products manage your entire home media content (music, videos, photos) from one device. Advantage - accessible at any time and independent of PC, expandable, easy to back up. Disadvantage - cost, config time and knowledge

3) Use a remote storage service over the internet using HTTP/FTP. All you would need is the remote IP address/folder/ directory plus user name / password given to you by your service provider and use your existing internet connection. Advantage: Use existing internet connection, available 24x7, accessible anywhere globally so you could access your files from any PC or Disklavier attached to the internet (though you can set up your NAS to do this too), possibly free services available. Disadvantage: time to set up, possibly some config to do though a clear set of instructions would be sufficient for most people, possible cost for use of service, dependency on internet connection being up.

Option 3 offers some interesting possibilities including the open sharing of (non-copyrighted) music files between Disklavier owners, much as we do with files on this group. There is also the potential for more commercial file sharing services (though Yamaha would lose exclusivity with its Disklavier Radio.) Personally, I am an advocate of the free market economy, which improves quality of service, keeps prices down, reduces monopoly, and will ultimately make Disklavier a much more appealing product to own = more sales for Yamaha.

Piping data over the network to (and from) the piano offers hundreds of other possibilities e.g. imagine streaming live Pianosoft + graphics (babbling brooks, karaoke, concerts)

Hmm... and to do all this, you just need to give access to one tiny little bit of functionality - a network drive.

P.S. I work for Cisco Systems so I live for this sort of stuff :-D

--- In disklavier@yahoogro ups.com, Kevin Goroway <kgoroway@.. .> 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.
>