Disklavier

Hi all

Just a quick question.  My piano dealer has located a DCD1 CD player 
which will connect directly to my IIXG tone generator.  A major 
reason for purchasing would be the ability to burn MIDI compilations 
direct to CD and bypass the problems of floppy disks.

However the DCD1 brochure is unclear about whether this can be done, 
and Yamaha Australia and my piano dealer just don't know.  I read a 
comment from Mark Wisner (message 1026) which indicates that MIDI 
files would need to be converted to audio MIDI prior to compilation. 
If so it sounds like a lot of fuss to avoid shuffling floppy disks.

Any suggestions folks?

Regards.  Ken Batten

Ken, here is the way I've done it.  I have an inexpensive laptop with a CD drive
and a Midi Sport MIDI interface.  I have Cakewalk installed, although the much
cheaper Power Tracks would work admirably.  My PianoSoft collection has been
converted to MIDI (using the Giebler Utilities) and placed in folders on the
CD.  I use long names including the composer, name of the work, and the
pianist.  That allows me to locate what I'm looking for with Windows "Find".

Also on the CD, I have "PlayList" files for a jukebox operation.

One of the catches is this:  Yamaha PianoSoft files are not consistent with
respect to pedaling:  Some provide only on/off pedaling directed to channel 1;
others provide, in addition, continuous pedaling directed to channel 3.  While
there is a work-around that I'd be happy to describe, in the former case, you
need to set the DKV's "MIDI IN" to CH=01; in the latter case, to CH=HP.

I will wager that you will enjoy much greater and longer use of a laptop
purchased for less than the price of a DCD1, although you will not have won the
love of your piano dealer.

Good luck! 

"kenit.sold" wrote:
> 
> Hi all
> 
> Just a quick question.  My piano dealer has located a DCD1 CD player
> which will connect directly to my IIXG tone generator.  A major
> reason for purchasing would be the ability to burn MIDI compilations
> direct to CD and bypass the problems of floppy disks.
> 
> However the DCD1 brochure is unclear about whether this can be done,
> and Yamaha Australia and my piano dealer just don't know.  I read a
> comment from Mark Wisner (message 1026) which indicates that MIDI
> files would need to be converted to audio MIDI prior to compilation.
> If so it sounds like a lot of fuss to avoid shuffling floppy disks.
> 
> Any suggestions folks?
> 
> Regards.  Ken Batten
> 
> 
> To Post a message to the group, send it to:   disklavier@...
> 
> To Post a private message to Todd Muncy, the group's founder and moderator, send it to:
> disklavier-owner@...
> 
> To reach our group's web site go to:
> http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier
> 
> Todd's family web site was completely rewritten in June 2001 and contains some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among other things, The url is:
> http://MuncyFamily.com
> 
> THINKING OF LEAVING THE GROUP?
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> 
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-- 
Robert Welcyng
Anchorage, Alaska

Hello Everyone,

In a message dated 2/1/02 4:07:58 PM, Ken writes:

<< Just a quick question.  My piano dealer has located a DCD1 CD player 
which will connect directly to my IIXG tone generator.  A major 
reason for purchasing would be the ability to burn MIDI compilations 
direct to CD and bypass the problems of floppy disks. >>

You can certainly add a DCD1 to your Disklavier and play 
commercially-published CDs from Yamaha and other sources. However, you will 
not be able to burn your own MIDI CDs and play them. Yamaha and other 
companies store their MIDI data on the CD in the form of encoded audio tones 
and then decode the audio back into MIDI on playback. At the same time, a 
second pure audio channel is played through the speakers.

The Yamaha system for doing this is the only system that offers full MIDI 
bandwidth at this time, and Yamaha does not make its encoading software 
available.

Regards,
PianoBench

In reply to an enquiry I made of the group re CD capability, Robert 
E. Welcyng wrote:
> Ken, here is the way I've done it.  I have an inexpensive laptop 
with a CD drive
> and a Midi Sport MIDI interface.>

Robert is entirely correct, and using a small notebook with a Roland 
USB MIDI out port and Cakewalk Express for converting files to MIDI 1 
format I can get much more utility out of my Dk. The MIDI port 
permits recording direct from the Dk to the PC (without changing 
settings at the piano end) and therefore access to a lot more control 
over editing. Many thanks for the tip, Robert.

Today's question concerns a jukebox type program. Cakewalk comes with 
Virtual Jukebox, but has anyone found a program which permits the 
selection of multiple play lists?

Regards to all

Ken, I'm glad that the latop and MIDI interface idea worked out well for 
you.

Using Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, and I assume the same is true of Cakewalk 
Express, one can open one, and only one, play list at a time.  If I 
understand correctly, you would like to open a number of play lists at a 
time.

I don't happen to know of a sequencer with that capability.  I can't 
think of a logical reason why that feature couldn't be included.

You might contact PG Music (www.pgmusic.com) and inquire if their 
PowerTracks Pro Audio 7.0 is capable of opening multiple playlists.  (I 
couldn't find that detailed information on their web site.)

Good luck!

kenit.sold wrote:

> In reply to an enquiry I made of the group re CD capability, Robert 
> E. Welcyng wrote:
> 
>>Ken, here is the way I've done it.  I have an inexpensive laptop 
>>
> with a CD drive
> 
>>and a Midi Sport MIDI interface.>
>>
> 
> Robert is entirely correct, and using a small notebook with a Roland 
> USB MIDI out port and Cakewalk Express for converting files to MIDI 1 
> format I can get much more utility out of my Dk. The MIDI port 
> permits recording direct from the Dk to the PC (without changing 
> settings at the piano end) and therefore access to a lot more control 
> over editing. Many thanks for the tip, Robert.
> 
> Today's question concerns a jukebox type program. Cakewalk comes with 
> Virtual Jukebox, but has anyone found a program which permits the 
> selection of multiple play lists?
> 
> Regards to all
> 
> 
> 
> To Post a message to the group, send it to:   disklavier@...
> 
> To Post a private message to Todd Muncy, the group's founder and moderator, send it to:
> disklavier-owner@...
> 
> To reach our group's web site go to:
> http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier
> 
> Todd's family web site was completely rewritten in June 2001 and contains some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among other things, The url is:
> http://MuncyFamily.com
> 
> THINKING OF LEAVING THE GROUP?
> If you are thinking of unsubcribing because you are getting too much mail, go the the web site and change your email delivery option instead.  That will fix the problem, while maintaining your access to the group.  If you insist on leaving us completely send a blank email to:
> disklavier-unsubscribe@...
> 
> Know someone who wants to join?  Have them send a blank email to:
> disklavier-subscribe@... or give them this link:
> http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier/join
>  
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Robert Welcyng
Anchorage, Alaska