Disklavier

Greetings!  I have just returned form the Piano Technicians Guild convention and have seen the latest from Disklavier, PianoDisc and QRS Pianomation.  All 3  companies are distributing music to their new systems in a similar fashion over the internet.  

What is new…. control of any Disklavier with an IP address from an IOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) using short range Wi-Fi (range of about 50 feet but subject to interference and internet overload).  Yamaha is selling a short range wi-fi dongle to attach to the Disklavier. Not designed to work with an Android.  Replaces PRC100 and remote controllers.  Download the Yamaha EN controller for the App Store. To purchase and download music from Yamaha, the piano must be connected to the internet (the other Wi-Fi than runs through your house).

For older Disklaviers without an IP address, the purchase of the DKC-850 control box ($1200?) is necessary to download music from the store or connect to Disklavier Radio (only works on models where the MIDI ports are not used to connect to the DKC850). Music will no longer be available to buy on floppy disks or CDs

If you do want to upgrade your Disklavier to an IP address,, you can use a $50 wireless Bluetooth cable (MD-BT01) and plug it into both the MIDI In and MIDI Out ports on your Disklavier.  Convert  what you have on floppy disks to standard MIDI files ASAP.  Keep a copy of them on a USB drive as well as upload them to a cloud, i.e. Dropbox or iCloud.  Purchase an app, like Sweet MIDI Player to make playlists of your songs.  Details at:  midiplayertools.com/Connecting.htm <http://midiplayertools.com/Connecting.htm>

PianoDisc does the same thing with their music, but they use a built-in Bluetooth wireless interface (which in my opinion is more stable) and does not need a dongle - just and IOS device.  They have an app PIanoDisc IQ, and PD Calibrate that can control the audio from an IOS device without crawling under the piano.  They will give you credit for the music you have purchased over the years and download it at no extra cost into your system.

QRS music has no app, but also uses this wireless wi-fi technology, claims it has built-in bluetooth, and says you can use your MIDI files from a USB drive.  Could not get the built-in bluetooth to work.  Claims it will work with Android somewhat, but that did not work either.  All their music comes inside the controller and is unlocked by code.  The first year the entire library is free.  There is an interesting universal controller coming out later this year.

One really cool thing about QRS is that it now has the OTs - over the key players that stand alone.  Comes with the carrying cases and speakers.  Absolutely very, very cool if you want a portable player system that works on any piano, anywhere!

At least Yamaha makes no claims that do not work. I am certain their wireless capabilities will be expanding.   Also learned that you cannot use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at the same time!

So for us with older systems, start converting your files to MIDI as soon as you can!

Carol Beigel

It’s not the ESEQ format that’s the hard part.  ESEQ is a light treatment on MIDI.

The issue is the Yamaha disks have an unformatted block 0 which makes it hard to read on most “real” computers.

 

The good news is you can capture the mini out from the piano (after appropriately configuring it) and catch the ones that are pure eseq/midi stuff.

The difficult ones are the things that play along with a audio CD.

From Carol begel:

“If you do want to upgrade your Disklavier to an IP address,, you can use a $50 wireless Bluetooth cable (MD-BT01) and plug it into both the MIDI In and MIDI Out ports on your Disklavier. Convert what you have on floppy disks to standard MIDI files ASAP. Keep a copy of them on a USB drive as well as upload them to a cloud, i.e. Dropbox or iCloud. Purchase an app, like Sweet MIDI Player to make playlists of your songs. Details at:  midiplayertools.com/Connecting.htm <http://midiplayertools.com/Connecting.htm>”

This is how I’ve been doing it and it works fine - highly recommended! One can easily use the files from the Yamha Signature MIDI Collection as well if you COPY (not OPEN) the MIDI file into Sweet MIDI Player on iPad or iPhone and make sure settings are correct to find the MD-BT01. Unfortunately the settings aren’t remembered and have to be reset each time you use SMP.

Sam Kanter
www.keyboardcollective.com
(212) 684-3304

Recent Photos:
https://skanter.smugmug.com/Recent-Photos

Native New Yorker (book):
http://www.blurb.com/b/7943076

Sounds like you are using the wrong controller.  The EN controller is for the new Enspire; the E3 for the E3, etc.  Download the plain Disklavier controller.

Carol


Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 31, 2018, at 6:08 PM, smalston@... [disklavier] <disklavier@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Hello Carol,
>   I'm trying to use the EN controller on my iPhone to control my Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV
> The EN controller never sees my Disklavier.  Hitting the Refresh Disklavier List has no effect.  Is there anything else I need to do to make this work?
> My network setup is as follows:
> - Both the Disklavier and iPhone are on the same Local Area Network.  (I can PING the disklavier from my iPhone)  
> - The disklavier is plugged in from the LAN port to a switch port on my Router/Switch device.
> 
> Thanks,
> Stephen
> 
> 
>