Disklavier

Carol,

I was referring to the use of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 as the software 
sequencer which I use to adjust internet midi files for playback on the 
disklavier.  I have had no problems whatsoever with  Cakewalk Pro Audio 
9 crashing or not working properly on the PC that I am using (an 850 MHz 
AMD Athlon processor and Windows 98SE).  One thing to note in Cakewalk 
Pro Audio 9, however, is that if you scale velocities within the tracks 
display, this scaling will not permanently alter the file but will only 
alter the note velocities on playback from Cakewalk.  To alter the 
velocities in the midi file itself in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 select 
Edit>Scale Velocity and you can then alter the velocities in the midi 
file either by an absolute amount or scale by a percentage.  Of course, 
this can be done on a track by track basis to yield the desired balance 
of various instruments (including the disklavier piano) within the 
music.  There is an excellent book (435 pages) entitled Cakewalk Power!" 
by Scott R. Garrigus available from Barnes & Noble which I have found to 
be an indispensable guide to Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. 

If you have only one sound card in your computer and another program is 
using the midi port, it is not unusual to have a crash result when you 
attempt to have another program address the same midi port. 

I have also recently purchased and started to use a software sequencer 
by Yamaha entitled XG Works (http://xgmidi.wtal.de/ ) which allows for 
very detailed editing of the XG voices produced by  my Yamaha 
disklavier's tone generator.  I t also allows for extensive adjustments 
to velocities and a score of other XG specific parameters. 

Tom



Carol Beigel wrote:

> 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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