Disklavier

Good morning, everyone.

Casual loud playing on a Disklavier will yield note-on velocities in the 90s. Very loud concert playing will yield velocities between 100 and 110. It is rare to see velocities much higher than that, although I have seen velocities in Piano-e-Competition files get up to about 120.

I don't know why the Disklavier engineers have employed the velocity scale that they chose. However, I can say that it makes sense to have built some headroom into the scale.

For example, let's say we create a velocity scale in which the loudest note that YOU can play is 127 (the highest MIDI note-on velocity). Isn't it likely that there is someone in the world who can accelerate a hammer at still a higher velocity? And if so, isn't it likely that there is someone who can create an even higher velocity than that?

In order to accommodate a wide range of possible hammer velocities, normal playing should never reach the top of the scale.

As a result of having headroom in the velocity scale, the number of velocity increments used to record normal playing is well under 100--unless, of course, you have a Disklavier Pro whose full range is 0 to 1023.

Regards,
PianoBench

www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com
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On Jul 22, 2011, at 3:33 PM, johnny.robot wrote:

> I'm just starting to use my new DC3M4 as a MIDI controller, and I'm finding that I can't get high enough velocity output. Is there any way to adjust the velocity curve of the Disklavier's output? (No matter how hard I press the key, I can't get velocity higher than the 90's.) Is 100 the maximum velocity output of a non-PRO Disklavier?
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