Disklavier

Thanks for the tips. The piano is not excessively bright (at least to my ear) although it is noticeable brighter than my neighbor's Kawai US50. It is on carpet but against an internal wall (standard dry wall). I'll try put something between the piano and the wall to see if I can tune it down a bit.

Cheers

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, George Frederick Litterst <PianoBench@...> wrote:
>
> Good evening, everyone.
> 
> I am wondering if your piano is especially bright, is positioned directly on a wood floor, and has its back against a hard reflective surface. It is possible that some voicing of your piano, a rug under the instrument, and even a wool blanket or other baffling between the back of the piano and the wall behind would tone down the piano. This would mean that you don't need to go to such extreme lengths to edit down the note-on velocities.
> 
> Additionally, your piano may need calibration by a technician.
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> www.georgelitterst.com
> www.timewarptech.com
> www.zenph.com
> 
> On Mar 9, 2011, at 7:03 PM, jboxnz wrote:
> 
> > Thanks PianoBench and Spencer for the info. 
> > 
> > I did use Veloset to compress the midi files I got from the internet. What I did so far is that if the file has maximum velocity over 100, I'll first use the left slider on Veloset to move the whole range lower (to the left until the max is at 100, or all the way to 1), and if the max is still over 100, I'll then use the right slider to compress it. This way I think will give a theoretic broader dynamic range (1-100) for the midi file, however it means the file will have notes in the 1-30 range which maybe all be played by the piano at ~30, so the bottom part of the notes get compressed more while the upper part is less compressed. 
> > 
> > Another way as suggested by Spencer is to limit the lower limit to ~30 as well as capping the upper at 100. This may match better the piano's capability, and provide a better linearity (whole ranged compressed the same amount) but gives a lot less theoretic dynamic range(only 30-100).
> > 
> > Which way do you think is better?
> > 
> > I also found that the volume control on the control unit does lower the playing volume, but more on the upper range (Before it engages the soft pedal). So if I lower the volume, it seems to have a effect of compressing the upper range.
> > 
> > By the way, I don't play piano although I do enjoy music. The piano was bought for my kids to learn.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > 
> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, George Frederick Litterst <PianoBench@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Good afternoon, everyone.
> > > 
> > > This is true. The early Disklaviers compressed the dynamic range on playback, boosting the low MIDI velocities and capping the high MIDI velocities.
> > > 
> > > Starting with the Mark IIXG Pro, Yamaha achieved a full spectrum of playback possibilities on the Disklavier. The original Pro and subsequent Pro models have been unsurpassed in this regard and offer more resolution in between the traditional 0-127 velocity measurements. The Mark III, current E3, and Mark IVs non-Pros also have a much wider dynamic range compared to the early model instruments.
> > > 
> > > Regards,
> > > PianoBench
> > > 
> > > www.georgelitterst.com
> > > www.timewarptech.com
> > > www.zenph.com
> > > 
> > > On Mar 9, 2011, at 1:24 PM, Spencer chase wrote:
> > > 
> > > > the older dkvs do not play soft notes very well. also they only play the range of something like 30 to 100 just as you have discovered. if you have files that use the whole dynamic range from 1 to 127, you can remap them to the DKV range with either Veloset or with my midimod2 program. You will never be able to change the capabilities of the piano by modifying the software but you can achieve a better match between the source and what the piano wants.
> > > > midimod2 is on the following page: http://www.spencerserolls.com/Files4Download.html
> > > > 
> > > > On 3/8/2011 10:42 PM, jboxnz wrote:
> > > > 
> > > >> 
> > > >> Did some further test with test midi samples of different velocity ranging from 5 to 100. The piano did play the samples with different volume. However the loudness of samples with note velocity 5, 10, 20 and 30 are almost the same (all pretty loud to my ear), while those with 40, 60, 80, 90 and 100 have discernible difference, progressively louder).
> > > >> 
> > > >> It seems to me that the piano cannot play very soft notes well, and notes with velocity 1-20 are all played at similar volume. It works best for 30-100...didn't try anything over 100 though.
> > > >> 
> > > >> Really great to have the piano play by itself...and all the midi music from the web.
> > > >> 
> > > >> Cheers
> > > >> 
> > > >> --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "jboxnz" <junkbox.nz@> wrote:
> > > >> >
> > > >> > Hi,
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > We recently bought a grey market U3 (originally from Japan) with a playback-only Disklavier systerm. The S/N on the piano indicates it's a 1986 model, although the test menu on the controller seems to show 1993 firmware (Maybe a retrofit system). It looks like a MX80 unit with separate control unit and has the same physical layout and test menu as the MX80 according to the service manul I found on the web.
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > I hooked it via a USB-Midi cable to my computer and to play the downloaded midi files (From www.kuhmann.com). What I found is that the piano seems to play at same volume no matter what I do with the velocity of the midi files (I use Veloset). Also for soft notes it also plays quite loud. Say for a midi piece with note velocity ranged from 10-100, all notes seems were played at same volume.
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > However in the test mode, it seems can play softely and forcefully.
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > Is this normal for it or something wrong?
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > I've made some more test midi files with different velocity and volume settings, and will do more test tonight.
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > Appreciate any info.
> > > >> > 
> > > >> > Cheers
> > > >> >
> > > >> 
> > > > 
> > > > -- 
> > > > Best regards, Spencer Chase
> > > > 67550-Bell Springs Rd.
> > > > Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
> > > > Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
> > > > Spencer@
> > > > http://www.spencerserolls.com
> > > > (707) 984-8356 
> > > > (425) 791-0309
> > > > 
> > > >
> > >
> > 
> >
>