2015-08-26 by George F. Litterst
Good evening, everyone.
Carlos, the comments that Spencer made are true. Nonetheless, in your situation, you should turn the MIDI Input Delay to ON.
There is rarely a reason to turn OFF the MIDI In Delay. Exceptions are using Disklavier-aware software from my company, TimeWarp Technologies, such as Internet MIDI or Home Concert Xtreme.
There are oddities when you send MIDI data to a mechanical piano in real time. For starters, the playback timing becomes mushy. The reason is that loud notes will be heard sooner than soft notes. Why? Because loud notes, of necessity, have a higher key-down velocity than soft notes, which means that they sound sooner.
The next issue is that in the case of rapidly repeated notes, note-off messages may come in quickly and be acted upon before the note-on keystroke has finished. The result is that the pianos stumbles and mumbles.
When the Disklavier’s MIDI Input Delay is set to ON, the Disklavier buffers the incoming MIDI data, looks at the timing and velocities of the various incoming notes, and then determines when to move the keys so that playback is accurate. The result is that you hear the notes exactly 1/2 second late.
I recommend that you set the playback volume of your Mark IV to the neutral setting (100), turn ON the MIDI Input Delay, and try playback from your computer again.
One other thing to note: People who create performance data in a sequencer or notation program without an understanding of the normal range of MIDI velocities found in a Disklavier performance may end up with files that are much too loud or (less likely) much too soft.
To create a good Disklavier performance on a computer, start by setting the controller 7 value (volume) to the Disklavier’s default setting of 100. Don’t put in a value for controller 11 (expression), because that may effectively contradict the controller 7 setting.
Next, avoid letting the loudest playing go beyond note-on velocities of about 105. In fact, you may find that playback is plenty loud with note-on velocities in the range of 80-95.
For casual-style playing, soft playing works in the range of 20-40. If you are going for whisper quiet playing, you can go all the way down to a note-on value of 1, although you’ll probably need a Disklavier PRO in order to appreciate super low-velocity notes.
Lastly, I should point out that calibration of your Disklavier is important. The Disklavier has hidden calibration procedures that are normally run by a piano technician. These routines enable the Disklavier to test its own playback and make adjustments if playback is not accurate.
Something to consider: Record yourself on the piano, playing very quietly and very loudly. Then examine the MIDI data in a sequencer. That will give you a clear sense of the normal Disklavier velocity range. And, you’ll see the typical SysEx, patch, and controller messages that the Disklavier puts at the beginning of each recording.
Regards,
PianoBench
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> On Aug 25, 2015, at 7:09 PM, sanchezc2264@... [disklavier] <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
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> Hello, George. The MIDI Input Delay is set to OFF. Thanks!
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