2014-06-30 by mangez@...
For what it's worth, I would get the floppy drive replaced (cheapest way to get the piano going again) and then connect it to a laptop via MIDI. Among other things, this gives you mass storage, you can download songs form the internet, you can use something like VanBasco to organise your music and playlists and you can run sequencing software, should you decide to start recording/creating/editing songs.
Adrian Thomas Music Services
www.adrianthomas.net
On Jun 30 2014, 'Jon Arnold' jonarnold@... [disklavier] wrote:
Ok, now I am totally confused based on George's very thorough answer and
this answer.
Basically I want the disklavier to work again, but instead of simply
replacing the floppy drive (which is probably the most economical solution),
I was looking at what possible and cost effective upgrades could be done.
I'm not in a position to upgrade to the cosmic top-of-the-line $1700 unit
recommended by my Yamaha dealer (where a disklavier specialist needs come
from Orlando - 70 miles), despite the fact that it allegedly comes with
$1200 worth of music inside it.
I am a piano player and enjoy the disklavier immensely (when it works) but I
am not comfortable going with an unsupported or non-recommended solution,
nor unfortunately a solution where I need to tape this and solder that where
it SHOULD work. While I could probably get it to work by doing that, I do
not have the time to put into that.
Is a unit with a CD better? I don't know. Is it cost effective? Is that
too much of a quantum leap from what I have now (that does not work)? Is it
easier and more cost effective to do something where I can plug a USB thumb
drive into a port and play the music from there, assuming that I can FIND
the music, assuming I can FIND the music at a reasonable price AND format
the USB thumb drive properly?
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 11:29 PM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Disklavier problem - upgrade or fix?
I upgraded a Grand Mark II to a Mark II XG and so far have not needed the
extra circuit boards to make the upgrade from a DKC100R to a DKC500RXG.
All I needed was a single cable adaptor to convert from 9 pin to 15 pin (or
x pins to y pins.)
It works perfectly and I have seen no issues despite NOT installing the two
circuit boards Yamaha says you need.
I still do not know why the circuit boards are supposedly 'needed'?
Dan
----- Original Message -----
From: 'Jon Arnold' jonarnold@... [disklavier]
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 7:33 AM
Subject: RE: [disklavier] Disklavier problem - upgrade or fix?
Thanks for the great response. Do you have any idea where to purchase one
of those and/or how much it costs? Any recommendations for service in the
Melbourne Florida (Satellite Beach) area?
From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 9:28 AM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [disklavier] Disklavier problem - upgrade or fix?
Good morning, everyone.
Jon, your model Disklavier is a Mark II and was made between 1992 and 1997.
It supports double-density floppy disks but not high density floppy disks.
It records in E-SEQ format and does not recording in the industry-standard
SMF format although it will play back SMF files if they are Type 0.
If you can get the necessary circuit boards from Yamaha, you can cleanly
replace your control unit with a DKC-850. The DKC-850 will provide you with
innumerable benefits. You can check it out here:
http://yamahaden.com/news/item/273-how-to-upgrade-an-older-disklavier
If the replacement circuit boards are not available, you can upgrade to the
DKC-850 in a piggyback manner in which the new control unit connects to the
old control unit with MIDI cables. Functionally, the main difference between
using the DKC-850 as a replacement control unit vs. an add-on control unit
is that the add-on scenario does not support DisklavierRadio and
DisklavierTV.
Regards,
PianoBench
On Jun 28, 2014, at 8:25 AM, 'Jon Arnold' jonarnold@...
[disklavier] wrote:
I bought a beautiful Yamaha 5'2" grand, love it. It came with a Yahaha
Disklavier DKC100R unit (the one that uses the floppy disks), and the
original owner had it wired up underneath with an amplifier, speakers,
really nice. The original owner also gave me a few dozen floppies of
various genres which I have enjoyed immensely.
About 6 months ago the unit was generating an error every time I would put a
different disk in. I took a handful of the disks that it failed with, down
to the local dealer, where each of them played just fine. So the tech came
out and made some adjustments to the unit, then they worked fine.
Now 6 months later, the same thing is happening, and its not from overuse
because the number of times I've used the unit since the te ch was here 6
months ago can be counted on one hand.
Perhaps it needs an upgrade? What would you suggest? A new disk drive?
Upgrade to CD? (Yikes, $1700!) Or am I further ahead to get something
where I could put a thumb drive into a USB port and have it play music from
there? If the latter, does the thumb drive need to be formatted in a
special way so that the unit can read it?
Thanks!