Disklavier

Ron, on the MK4 the Volume control on the PRC is pretty much as discussed below by Carol, they use the word 'volume control' but it's really just a cap to the loudist velocity with a few 'normalizing tricks'.

The gray bar is a 'recommended' minimum setting for the 'volume'. Yamaha have this so they can say "I told you so" because they don't want customers putting the piano at say 2 and then question why songs sound "dead".

The MK4 piano is very good at handling this than older upright Disklaviers, there whole way of controlling the solidnoids is very smooth and accurate with the whole optics gray scale sensors etc. 

I find that a volume of 80 is the lowest I wish to go to, otherwise the particular key strikes that the 'piano player' did get absorbed. I play by ear and just love a vibrant clear piano. But ofcorse there are times when I just want a quiet piano in the background so setting it to 10 works fine.

A piano needs a good room to be appreciated. I have grave concerns when people want to muffle the piano with all these other methods. Yamaha pianos are known to be 'brighter' than other brands, in many ways this ensures a modern, crisp clear sound. It also allows the piano to keep 'singing' even at 20 years old. Ofcorse a over hard hammer is not good either.

Cheers,

Philip







________________________________
From: Ron Ayanzen <ayanzen@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, 26 March, 2010 7:35:11 AM
Subject: RE: [disklavier] Disklavier volume

  
Carol,
 
Thank you for your very detailed explanation.  What, then, does the 'Voulme Control' in the upper left corner of the PRC set?  I'm referring to the horotonal red bar which, if I'm not mistaken, ranges from 0 to 127.  Is this the velocity of the hammer?  Also, what about the shorter gray horozontal bar, which is parallel to and immediately below the red bar?  What does that indicate?
 
ron
 

________________________________
 To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com
From: thecarolb@comcast. net
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:29:33 -0400
Subject: [disklavier] Disklavier volume

  
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 Goroway 
>To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.com 
>Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 7:07 PM
>Subject: 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@cableone. net>
>To: disklavier@yahoogro ups.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: 
>
>  
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