Disklavier

Greetings One and All!

This is my first post on this forum, but I look forward to posting more.

I recently purchased a used DGC1-MK IV built in 2009 about three weeks ago. With this purchase I fulfilled a lesser dream I've had ever since I first heard a disklavier playing "Linus and Lucy" back in 1992 or so. So far I have been very impressed by the instrument despite it's needing a tuning - scheduled to occur sometime next week.

The one thing I have been disappointed with however, is the seemingly lack of contemporary selections available in the smart pianosoft lineup. I was really enamored with the idea of tying the disklavier into my home audio system and having it play along with my Coldplay and Adele CDs but so far, I am tracking I am not in fact able to do this with those particular discs and Yahama's system. At a minimum, I thought I would be able to reenact the first time I heard a disklavier playing the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" only to find out that that particular smart pianosoft selection is nowhere to be had. My hope is that I just don't know what I am doing and perhaps someone here can set me straight such that I am able to maximize the instrument's capabilities.

In short, is my disappointment in the amount of available music shared, or am I just not looking in the right places? Any feedback would be welcomed.

Regards,

JD

You might check out the albums offered by eBay seller dca100: 
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dca100/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

These are not PianoSmart albums but rather PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs that 
have the original albums already present and synced up. Adele and 
Charlie Brown Christmas albums are right there on the first page of 
search results.  The seller claims the piano accompaniments added are 
all original and his use of the original album audio is legit, but I 
figure it would be almost impossible to get permission to release albums 
like this in the U.S. (he's in Canada).

Another third-party source of PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs is WebOnly Piano: 
http://www.webonlymusic.com/brands/WebOnlyPiano.html

Mark Fontana

<http://www.webonlymusic.com/brands/WebOnlyPiano.html>

On 02/06/2015 11:54 PM, d_day6666@... [disklavier] wrote:
> I recently purchased a used DGC1-MK IV built in 2009 about three weeks 
> ago.  With this purchase I fulfilled a lesser dream I've had ever 
> since I first heard a disklavier playing "Linus and Lucy" back in 1992 
> or so.  So far I have been very impressed by the instrument despite 
> it's needing a tuning - scheduled to occur sometime next week.
>
>  The one thing I have been disappointed with however, is the seemingly 
> lack of contemporary selections available in the smart pianosoft 
> lineup.  I was really enamored with the idea of tyingthe disklavier 
> into my home audio system and having it play along with my Coldplay 
> and Adele CDs but so far, I am tracking I am  not in fact able to do 
> this with those particular discs and Yahama's system.  At a minimum, I 
> thought I would be able to reenact the first time I heard a disklavier 
> playing the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" only 
> to find out that that particular smart pianosoft selection is nowhere 
> to be had. My hope is that I just don't know what I am doing and 
> perhaps someone here can set me straight such that I am able to 
> maximize the instrument's capabilities.
>
> In short, is my disappointment in the amount of available music 
> shared, or am I just not looking in the right places?  Any feedback 
> would be welcomed.
>

Thanks Mark.  
I did in fact purchase a few items from dca100.  In my opinion, there definitely was a bait and switch on the part of his marketing.  Using pictures of artists used to market the original pianosoft material and such in my opinion is more than mer puffery and constitutes a misrepresentation of a material fact.  Had he posted the FAQ list that came along with the disks on ebay, I would have made a more informed decision rather than feeling duped.  Regardless,  I purchased the Guaraldi trio material and found it lackluster compared to my memory.  Not knowing why this was so, I thought I'd simply purchase the smart pianosoft version and compare it with dca100's offering.  Unfortunately, the smart pianosoft material is nowhere to be found.  I am not certain if this is because the original was was using a 5X5 floppy and never made it past that formate or what.  Anyway, until I am able to compare dca100's offering with yahama's I am withholding any comment on the quality of his wares.  If I am unable to find  the Guaraldi disc I will consider purchasing dca100's version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."  
I note that yamaha does offer a version of the "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" but not with acoustic instrumentation or the children's choir.   The piano sounded pretty so I may opt to make that purchase and just lower the voices.
Anyway, thanks for your response.
Regards,
JD





     On Saturday, February 7, 2015 7:58 AM, "Mark Fontana mark@... [disklavier]" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:



  
 You might check out the albums offered by eBay seller dca100:   http://www.ebay.com/sch/dca100/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

 These are not PianoSmart albums but rather PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs that have the original albums already present and synced up.  Adele and Charlie Brown Christmas albums are right there on the first page of search results.  The seller claims the piano accompaniments added are all original and his use of the original album audio is legit, but I figure it would be almost impossible to get permission to release albums like this in the U.S. (he's in Canada).

 Another third-party source of PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs is WebOnly Piano:  http://www.webonlymusic.com/brands/WebOnlyPiano.html

 Mark Fontana


 On 02/06/2015 11:54 PM, d_day6666@... [disklavier] wrote:

   I recently purchased a used DGC1-MK IV built in 2009 about three weeks ago.  With this purchase I fulfilled a lesser dream I've had ever since I first heard a disklavier playing "Linus and Lucy" back in 1992 or so.  So far I have been very impressed by the instrument despite it's needing a tuning - scheduled to occur sometime next week.   The one thing I have been disappointed with however, is the seemingly lack of contemporary selections available in the smart pianosoft lineup.  I was really enamored with the idea of tyingthe disklavier into my home audio system and having it play along with my Coldplay and Adele CDs but so far, I am tracking I am  not in fact able to do this with those particular discs and Yahama's system.  At a minimum, I thought I would be able to reenact the first time I heard a disklavier playing the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Merry Christmas  Charlie Brown" only to find out that that particular smart pianosoft selection is nowhere to be had. My hope is that I just don't know what I am doing and perhaps someone here can set me straight such that I am able to maximize the instrument's capabilities. In short, is my disappointment in the amount of available music shared, or am I just not looking in the right places?  Any feedback would be welcomed.

I have bought several discs from dca and I don't think they are as good as the smart pianosoft from Yamaha but there is very little selection from Yamaha so it's better than nothing 

Sent from my iPhone

> On 7 Feb 2015, at 18:19, John Dohn d_day6666@... [disklavier] <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Mark.  
> 
> I did in fact purchase a few items from dca100.  In my opinion, there definitely was a bait and switch on the part of his marketing.  Using pictures of artists used to market the original pianosoft material and such in my opinion is more than mer puffery and constitutes a misrepresentation of a material fact.  Had he posted the FAQ list that came along with the disks on ebay, I would have made a more informed decision rather than feeling duped.  Regardless,  I purchased the Guaraldi trio material and found it lackluster compared to my memory.  Not knowing why this was so, I thought I'd simply purchase the smart pianosoft version and compare it with dca100's offering.  Unfortunately, the smart pianosoft material is nowhere to be found.  I am not certain if this is because the original was was using a 5X5 floppy and never made it past that formate or what.  Anyway, until I am able to compare dca100's offering with yahama's I am withholding any comment on the quality of his wares.  If I am unable to find  the Guaraldi disc I will consider purchasing dca100's version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."  
> 
> I note that yamaha does offer a version of the "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" but not with acoustic instrumentation or the children's choir.   The piano sounded pretty so I may opt to make that purchase and just lower the voices.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for your response.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> JD
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Saturday, February 7, 2015 7:58 AM, "Mark Fontana mark@... [disklavier]" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>  
> 
> You might check out the albums offered by eBay seller dca100:   http://www.ebay.com/sch/dca100/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1
> 
> These are not PianoSmart albums but rather PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs that have the original albums already present and synced up.  Adele and Charlie Brown Christmas albums are right there on the first page of search results.  The seller claims the piano accompaniments added are all original and his use of the original album audio is legit, but I figure it would be almost impossible to get permission to release albums like this in the U.S. (he's in Canada).
> 
> Another third-party source of PianoSoft Plus Audio CDs is WebOnly Piano:  http://www.webonlymusic.com/brands/WebOnlyPiano.html
> 
> Mark Fontana
> 
> 
>> On 02/06/2015 11:54 PM, d_day6666@yahoo.com [disklavier] wrote:
>>  
>> I recently purchased a used DGC1-MK IV built in 2009 about three weeks ago.  With this purchase I fulfilled a lesser dream I've had ever since I first heard a disklavier playing "Linus and Lucy" back in 1992 or so.  So far I have been very impressed by the instrument despite it's needing a tuning - scheduled to occur sometime next week. 
>>  The one thing I have been disappointed with however, is the seemingly lack of contemporary selections available in the smart pianosoft lineup.  I was really enamored with the idea of tyingthe disklavier into my home audio system and having it play along with my Coldplay and Adele CDs but so far, I am tracking I am  not in fact able to do this with those particular discs and Yahama's system.  At a minimum, I thought I would be able to reenact the first time I heard a disklavier playing the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" only to find out that that particular smart pianosoft selection is nowhere to be had. My hope is that I just don't know what I am doing and perhaps someone here can set me straight such that I am able to maximize the instrument's capabilities.
>> In short, is my disappointment in the amount of available music shared, or am I just not looking in the right places?  Any feedback would be welcomed.
> 
> 
> 
>

There are a couple of other options for purchasing Smart Pianosoft and Pianosoft titles (many of them dropped from Yamaha's store site). Right now EastCoastMusic dot com is running their 10 year anniversary sale with free shipping. Just type in Pianosoft in the search box. They also have a decent selection of Pianosoft + Audio which has the original artists accompanied by the Disklavier all on one CD. I really like: "The Tracks of My Tears" - "David Garfield and the Monster Trio" and all of the Sue Downs and Mike Garson CDs.

Other options are: sheetmusicplus, halleonard, & music44. Yamahamusicsoft site has 20% off sales throughout the year (usually around holidays), and they do let you download some Pianosoft titles (which saves in shipping and waiting time).

Also search this site for help on getting your Smart-Pianosoft floppies to play with the commercial CDs. Keep in mind that you MUST purchase the EXACT matching CD catalog number listed on the front of the SmartPianoSoft package. As CDs albums often get reissued or change distributors the piano accompaniment on your Disklavier may not play at all if the CD is not the exact match.