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Smart Pianosoft registering process.

Smart Pianosoft registering process.

2015-03-30 by ISKI1@...

Question 1:


I have a Mark III and when I play a Smart Pianosoft disk the first time the controller goes through a registering process on each song. I assume the controller is syncing the floppy midi's with the CD songs.


I am wondering if the changes are saved to the floppy.


I would like to use Mid2pianocd to make a CD with the midi's combined into a single CD.


If my above assumption is true it seems I would want to use the Midi's that the controller has already processed instead of the original floppy files.


Can someone confirm my thought process?


Question 2:


If I save the modified wav files to my PC can I simply connect my PC audio out/ headphone to the Audio input jacks on the Mark III and play them with Itunes or Media Player?. The audio input jacks are RCA but I have a RCA to phono converter.


If this does work I could also use a bluetooth audio receiver and connect an MP3 player or phone to the piano.

Re: [disklavier] Smart Pianosoft registering process.

2015-03-30 by ROBERT LEBLANC

When the display on the DKV control unit indicates ' registering ' it indicates the Smart PianoSoft (SPS) adjustment function is automatically correcting for any time synchronization shifts that may otherwise occur when the CD is being played back with the SPS disk. 
  
As far as I am aware, the synchronization information is stored on the DKV control unit (or DKC850 equivalent) and will be retained unless a (factory) reset is performed which will then result in the SPS adjustment values being deleted. Should this happen, the DKV will recreate the synchronization information the next time the SPS disk is played back. 
  
Mid2PianoCD is a fabulous tool for such things as merging a commercial music CD with the associated Yamaha SPS piano accompaniment disk.  Many here regularly use Mid2PianoCD and we’re most fortunate that Mark Fontana created this invaluable and easy-to-use utility program. 
  
There are however a few caveats to be aware of when merging the CD and SPS disk. 
  
First, be aware that the merging process results in the original stereo left and right channels being merged into mono on the left channel with the SPS MIDI information being encoded on the right channel. During playback, the left channel will still be directed to your left and right speakers (if using two speakers) and, while this still sounds great, playback is not in stereo.   If loss of stereo separation is not a concern, the merged CD + SPS can provide great convenience and allows streaming off your laptop, mobile device, etc. 
  
Secondly, while Mid2PianoCD does a great job of syncing the CD with the SPS disk for the most part, it sometimes cannot perfectly sync certain SPS disks. This is because the MIDI stream on the SPS disk contains undocumented Yamaha System Exclusive (SysEx) messages used by the DKV control unit to help keep the piano in sync with the CD during play back.   If someone can provide documentation for these SysEx messages, I have no doubt that Mark could nicely incorporate them into Mid2PianoCD.   
  
My suggestions would be play around with Mid2PianoCD and see if you like the results.   T he majority of your SPS disks may sync up nicely, if luck is on your side. 
    
For these ‘problem’ SPS disks (actually, the CD is more than likely the problem) that require a lot of synchronization shifting on-the-line, you’ll have to import the CD and MIDI file into a sequencer application (sound editing software) and do the syncing manually, which entails some time and effort. Often, multiple syncs and offsets are required for a single song. 
  
I’ve pasted some info below originally posted by Chine-Chine Wang (reference he enclosed link) that generally describes the process of how to manually merge the CD and SPS disk. 
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/disklavier/conversations/topics/4929 

  
Now it's the tricky part, you have to figure out the time offset for pasting 
your copied wave form into the empty left channel of the other .WAV file. 
Since there is no visual indicator in the flatline-looking analog MIDI channel, 
you pretty much have to use trial and error to get it exactly right. I usually 
start at a 3-second offset ( i.e. pasting in the left channel with a starting point 
3 seconds later than the right channel), save it, put it on my iPod, connect it to 
my DKV and have a listen. If the DKV piano part is out of sync with the part 
coming out of the speakers, I go back to the computer and move the left 
channel forward of backward a little, then listen again. Note: You can bypass 
the transfer to iPod part if the computer you're doing the conversion on has a 
decent soundcard (it is important that the audio channels do not bleed into 
each other) and is close enough to be connected directly to your DKV by 
audio cable. In either case, you will probably need a converter "Y" cable that 
has stereo mini plug on one end (to plug into your computer or iPod's 
headphones jack) and left/right RCA connecters on the other end (to plug into 
the DKV control unit). Also, do not even consider converting the .WAV file 
into .MP3 - the MP3 compression will result in signal loss and randomly 
missed piano notes, even at high bit rates. 
Perhaps others will weigh in with their experience, suggestions and/or possible workarounds. 
  
Robert 
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----- Original Message -----


From: "ISKI1@... [disklavier]" <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> 
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2015 12:20:16 PM 
Subject: [disklavier] Smart Pianosoft registering process. 

  




Question 1: 


I have a Mark III and when I play a Smart Pianosoft disk the first time the controller goes through a registering process on each song. I assume the controller is syncing the floppy midi's with the CD songs. 


I am wondering if the changes are saved to the floppy. 


I would like to use Mid2pianocd to make a CD with the midi's combined into a single CD. 


If my above assumption is true it seems I would want to use the Midi's that the controller has already processed instead of the original floppy files. 


Can someone confirm my thought process? 


Question 2: 


If I save the modified wav files to my PC can I simply connect my PC audio out/ headphone to the Audio input jacks on the Mark III and play them with Itunes or Media Player?. The audio input jacks are RCA but I have a RCA to phono converter. 


If this does work I could also use a bluetooth audio receiver and connect an MP3 player or phone to the piano.

Re: [disklavier] Smart Pianosoft registering process.

2015-04-07 by thirdharmonic@...

Do these undocumented Sysex messages fly under the radar? Meaning they are invisible to detection. The only Sysex messages I have seen are the usual identifiers for machine type, initial settings, i.e. patch/volume and song information. These messages can be seen during the loading and playing of files using "Midi Monitor", a shareware program.

I was able to see much more info from my old PSP diskette. The newer diskettes and downloads from Yamaha do not show as much info. Which leads me to conclude the protection scheme has been beefed up.

midi2CD does work very well, for me. When I program with it I remove the SysEx data as it isn't needed. (Unless I'm missing something.) I inspected several PianoDisc CD's using the Midi Monitor program, none of them seemed to supply SysEx data. And if you are just syncing to audio, patch information isn't needed. The timing data is on the CD.

This SRS recording feature is a bit "dark" because it will not allow you to edit the SRS sequence once saved on the DK. Yes, you can "live record" and add as you go, but will not work if you have a polished sequence that you would like to pair with a CD using SRS. The identity of the file is "orphaned" once you modify it using an external editor. It changes the file's name. I've tried to edit it to reflect the same name, but it will not work. This is something I would like to see if we can change.

Re: [disklavier] Smart Pianosoft registering process.

2015-04-07 by Spencer Chase

i do not seem to have the e-mail that this is replying to so i am just guessing that someone thinks that sysex messages are messing up playing. i have a program that i wrote that will remove sysex and sequencer specific messages as well as a bunch of other stuff from midi files. i call it midi cleaner. i have a few versions for different purposes but could combine them into a single graphical program that had checkboxes for each message type to remove or leave.
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On 4/7/2015 6:28 AM, thirdharmonic@... [disklavier] wrote:

Do these undocumented Sysex messages fly under the radar? Meaning they are invisible to detection. The only Sysex messages I have seen are the usual identifiers for machine type, initial settings, i.e. patch/volume and song information. These messages can be seen during the loading and playing of files using "Midi Monitor", a shareware program.


I was able to see much more info from my old PSP diskette. The newer diskettes and downloads from Yamaha do not show as much info. Which leads me to conclude the protection scheme has been beefed up.

midi2CD does work very well, for me. When I program with it I remove the SysEx data as it isn't needed. (Unless I'm missing something.) I inspected several PianoDisc CD's using the Midi Monitor program, none of them seemed to supply SysEx data. And if you are just syncing to audio, patch information isn't needed. The timing data is on the CD.

This SRS recording feature is a bit "dark" because it will not allow you to edit the SRS sequence once saved on the DK. Yes, you can "live record" and add as you go, but will not work if you have a polished sequence that you would like to pair with a CD using SRS. The identity of the file is "orphaned" once you modify it using an external editor. It changes the file's name. I've tried to edit it to reflect the same name, but it will not work. This is something I would like to see if we can change.

-- 

Best regards, Spencer Chase
67550-Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
(425) 791-0309

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