It might be helpful to remind Disklavier owners that the
"volume" has different aspects than can be adjusted by the user, no matter what
model of Disklavier is being used. Basically, there are 3 areas you can do
something about: MIDI data, voicing the piano hammers, and controlling the
sound coming from the piano soundboard.
First, the MIDI data control velocity is set somewhere
between 0 and 128. Most Yamaha Pianosoft disks have a default velocity
(volume) setting of 100. To my ears this is too loud. QRS uses a
constant 64 setting, but has less dynamic range. I sometimes question the
need for a great dynamic range greater than 20 points. The Fix: use
the Veloset utility to lower the velocity settings for the ESEQ files (or MIDI
files). ; Pull up the bottom to around 40, and limit the top velocity
setting to 65 or so. Remember though, to make copies of your original
disks first, as these programs overwrite the data it is looking at. For my
own enjoyment, I have made a separate set of disks (or files on a playlist) that
lower the velocity and dynamic range. Since many of you already have
playlists of files for your Disklaviers, make a copy of these lists and run a
batch fix on the entire list. This is the data that is sent to the
solenoids that determines how fast they respond. Faster response is
louder, lower numbers are softer.
Second, the hammer voicing on your piano. A piano
only plays as quietly as a person playing it can. Some solenoid systems can
pulse more quietly than others mimicking this effect. As pianos get
played, the felt in the hammers that hit the strings gets harder. You
can probably see grooves cut into the tops of the piano hammers. The felt
in the bottom of the grooves gets more compacted each time the note is
played. What is usually needed is for the piano technician to "needle" the
hammer grooves to soften the felt. Every time I tune a piano, I touch up
the voicing in the piano hammers in this manner. Makes a HUGE difference
in the quality of the sound. Some of you have pianos that were designed
with very hard hammers - especially the smaller pianos. Back in the years
they were released, I needed to steam these hammers to get them soft enough, or
use major voicing needle techiques to get them resilient enough. Your
piano technician should be able to help soften the piano hammers to get a more
mellow voice.
The third aspect to quieting a piano is absorbing the
sound it makes before it goes out into the room. This is done with foam
baffles or placing carpeting or large pillows underneath the piano. I have
never had an unhappy outcome as long as I placed 2 layers of foam stuffed under
the soundboard along with a blanket of foam tucked inside the lid. This
foam sandwich works better than just foam placed on one side of the
soundboard. I use a special pour of foam made for sound absorption, but
even styrofoam egg cartons stuffed with styrofoam packing peanuts will go a long
way to helping this.
The reason "volume control" does not work the same for all
Disklaviers is due more to the pianos than the electronics used to play
them. You can put a different limit to the value of energy that activates
the solenoids, but in the end, what you are hearing in acoustic mode is the
piano hammer hitting the strings. This is why action regulation and
voicing, along with tuning, are essential in keeping your piano playing
beautifully.
Carol Beigel
----- Original Message -----From: Kevin GorowaySent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 7:07 PMSubject: Re: [disklavier] DKC 850 and Piano Volume?I was under the impression that the minimum volume is mostly controlled by the sensitivity of the solenoids that activate the keys. If that is the case...no software upgrade will be able to affect that...
From: Mark in Idaho <MarkGMID@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, March 24, 2010 6:22:15 PM
Subject: Re: [disklavier] DKC 850 and Piano Volume?
Bill Brandon,
Yamaha has made a BIG mistake by not including a better volume control. This is like Toyota continuing to sell cars with accelerator problems. They could have hit it out of the park with a volume control that offered a lower volume and an option of linear or progressive volume reduction. This could all have been done with software.
Additional volume control only would have almost made the price worthwhile.
How does Yamaha get their feedback before designing an upgrade like this?
Mark in Idaho
On 3/24/2010 12:08 PM, Bill Brandom wrote: