Disklavier

Hi Rich,

Yes it is still in the works. Can't say much more but if you get a chance, come to NAMM in January.

Bill

Bill Brandom
Senior Technical Manager
Keyboard Division
Yamaha Corporation of America
Phone: 714-522-9417 FAX: 714-522-9301



From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Freeman Richard
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:54 AM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality



Bill,

You mentioned previously that upgrades for pre Mark IV Disklavier's was also in the works - considering that the DCD1 is no longer available. Is this still on track?

Thanks in advance,

Rich Freeman

On Oct 21, 2009, at 8:28 AM, Bill Brandom wrote:



Hello everyone,

Over a month ago I went to Japan to discuss the next version update for the Disklavier Mark IV. Before I went, I had assumed I would be able to report to the group of the new functions that are planned in Version 4. This update is scheduled for release in the spring.

After much discussion with our Japanese Sales and Engineering staff, they have requested that I do not make any announcements at this time. We plan to be showing a beta version of the update at the upcoming NAMM show in January. As we have done in the past, we will establish a beta group to test new functions.

I apologize for not being able to give you any information at this time.

Bill

Bill Brandom
Senior Technical Manager
Keyboard Division
Yamaha Corporation of America
Phone: 714-522-9417 FAX: 714-522-9301



From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Kevin Goroway
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 3:59 PM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality





Hah!  I think you give me too much credit.  I don't believe for a second that I have any power what-so-ever to "nudge" Yamaha.  I think that they do what they do because they really do want the DKV to stay the world's greatest piano.  (Afterall, I've only had my piano for 2 years now...they did plenty before I was around!)

I do admit that I listen very carefully to suggestions for how Yamaha can improve the piano, and immediately try to figure out how I might be able to provide the same thing.  DKVBrowser exists for one reason, and one reason only.  When I bought my piano, there was no "Search" functionality built in.  I found that unacceptable, and set out to fix it.  If I had bought my piano one year later, when "search" had already been added, I'm not sure what might have pushed me toward trying to figure this all out.

Anyway, thanks...This made me smile.  But, yeah!  What happened to the information about a forthcoming version?

________________________________
From: Glenn R. Smutny <G.SMUTNY@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, October 20, 2009 6:05:25 PM
Subject: RE: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality


With all due respect to Yamaha and particularly the "face" that we all know and are thankful to have in our corner- Bill Brandom, I love the way Kevin unintentionally but effectively keeps nudging Yamaha to continue with their commitment to making sure the DKV stays the world's greatest piano. By the way, weren't we supposed to be hearing something about a new release about a month ago?

Thank you both for all that you do for us.

________________________________
From: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com<http://ups.com> [mailto: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com ]On Behalf Of Kevin Goroway
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:39 PM
To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Request for better network functionality


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@gmail. com>
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.