Disklavier

Thank you for the responses on balancing the velocities on my DKV files.  
When you refer to Cakewalk, which program are you referring to?  I have 
Cakewalk Home Studio 9 and Scorewriter, but for some reason these products 
continue to crash my computer - especially when the MIDI port is in use by 
another program.  I know you can't run these products using a 16-bit 
soundcard, and things did get better when I installed a 32-bit card in my 
computer, but I have been dissappointed using Cakewalk products on the PC.  
Cakewalk Metro 5 however, seems to run OK on my Powerbook (Mac).

Only on upright pianos will the touch of the keys feel mushy starting at 
volume settings of -6 (not -4 as I previously posted) as that is the point 
where the soft pedal is engaged.  There really is no such thing as a "soft" 
pedal on either an upright or a grand piano.  The way this pedal works on an 
upright piano is simply to move the hammers closer to the strings, thereby 
limiting the distance the hammers travel.  On a grand piano, the action is 
shifted to the right just far enough so the piano hammers are either 1) 
hitting one less string, or 2) the hammer is now hitting the string not in 
the well-worn groove, but on the softer, more fluffy felt between the 
grooves.  The feel of the piano keys is not affected when using the shift 
(soft) pedal on a grand piano.

My concern as a piano technician is the difficulty you are encountering not 
being able to play files using a velocity of less than 25 without losing the 
dynamic range.  Are we talking an upright or a grand piano here?  The 
Disklavier should be able to play the piano as softly as someone sitting at 
the keyboard can, and no softer!  I personally feel that a velocity of 100 
is too high for a piano action - espcially an upright. Played at that 
velocity over time, the center pins will start walking out of the flanges.  
Am I correct in assuming that a MIDI file with the piano part set at 100 
played at a volume of -10 means the file is being played at 90?  Still too 
loud!

Each time your piano is tuned, is the technician also running the Maintence 
Mode?  The DKV occassionally needs recalibrated to compensate for the wear 
and tear on the piano action, and the resulting changes in its geometry.  If 
the piano or the DKV gets too far out of whack messages will start showing 
up in the Error History.

  It is also very important that the minimum velocity (PPP) for each key be 
set correctly, and I suspect this is where we are talking about limiting the 
voltage.  The volume control on the DKV is not really a volume control like 
on a stereo, but a limiter.  You have to have enough voltage flowing thru 
the solenoids to make them fire.  For the average grand piano, the minimum 
PPP value (the amount of voltage needed to make a sound) is about 4 to 11, 
depending upon the friction encountered in the piano action. When running 
the Keyboard Measurement in the Maintenance Mode, the DKV is trying to find 
a range of voltages after proper adjustment has been done to the piano 
action and pedals.

I am a new user of the Disklavier, and admit to having a knowlege gap in how 
to play with the thing!  But I do know that I would like to learn to "tweak" 
the system (just like most of my DKV clients!) so  that I am not constantly 
adjusting the volume of the piano and the speakers!

Carol Beigel

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