Disklavier

I know there has got to be at least a couple of comuter geeks here who 
might be able to answer this. While I'm waiting for my Disklavier to 
arrive I'm wondering what kind of notebook I should be looking to 
purchase. Mainly I'm wondering if there will be a need for firewire or 
USB with the Disklavier. From my understanding USB-2 is extremely fast 
for transferring data. Thanks, Jeff

The Disklavier does not need a fast connection to work with a notebook 
computer. There are two reasons why an older notebook may be more useful and 
trouble free than a new one.

MIDI data can be transmitted between a DKV and computer two ways. Both have 
the exact same quality in the results. The control box on your new 
Disklavier will have a To Host port which uses a serial connection through a 
CBX cable and driver available from Yamaha.  New laptops do not necessarily 
have the old style serial port the other end of this CBX cable needs.  The 
other connection scenario is through a MIDI interface and one or two MIDI 
patch cables.  MIDI interfaces connect to any port on a computer; serial, 
parallel or USB ports and to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports on the control 
box of the DKV.  You would need a software program running on your computer, 
like Cakewalk or Yamaha XG Works, to edit or play this MIDI data.

The two utilities I use the most to copy DKV disks or adjust the volume of 
the data both use DOS.  The dkvutil and Giebler software both need real time 
DOS, not DOS windows, to work.  New laptops come with Windows XP or Windows 
2000; neither of which have DOS. (Hopefully some Windows XP users will 
correct me if these utilities work on XP systems!)

For Disklavier use, I haven't found anything better than the older, slower 
machines that use Windows 98 and have a real serial port.  However, the new 
MarkIII DKVs extended memory disks (16 of them) eliminate the need for play 
lists.  Copy the songs from your PianoSoft disks into memory and put away 
the original disks for safe keeping.  You can still edit recordings made on 
a DKV by putting the data on a floppy disk.  Remember, MIDI data is very 
compact, so you can put an enormous amount of music in a very small space.

Carol Beigel
crbrpt@...

>From: "yamahamale <kwfla@...>" <kwfla@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [disklavier] computer geeks here? firewire, USB-2?
>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 05:51:42 -0000
>
>I know there has got to be at least a couple of comuter geeks here who
>might be able to answer this. While I'm waiting for my Disklavier to
>arrive I'm wondering what kind of notebook I should be looking to
>purchase. Mainly I'm wondering if there will be a need for firewire or
>USB with the Disklavier. From my understanding USB-2 is extremely fast
>for transferring data. Thanks, Jeff
>


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From: "Carol Beigel" <carolrpt@...>

<snip>

> The two utilities I use the most to copy DKV disks or adjust the volume of
> the data both use DOS.  The dkvutil and Giebler software both need real
time
> DOS, not DOS windows, to work.  New laptops come with Windows XP or
Windows
> 2000; neither of which have DOS. (Hopefully some Windows XP users will
> correct me if these utilities work on XP systems!)

<snip>

Hi Carol,

re: Windows XP:

On my desktop, 'dkvcopy' and XP Home seem to work just fine...

'dkvcopy' does appear to be to try to work on my Dell Latitude 500 Mhz with
XP laptop with one exception: it of course wants immediately to have access
to a floppy drive which my laptop does not have. I use ethernet to have my
laptop 'communicate' with all other drives and devices.

BTW, one thing, the main problem that older Yamaha disklaviers seem to have
is they do not have a fairly priced upgrade path from Yamaha to more
'modern' type technology. Many here still have to find the older 720K disks,
(which are becoming increasingly difficult to find), if you do not have a
MIDI interface you need to use the serial port where according to your post,
the newer PCs do not work with, etc. (a USB interface would be great, much
more flexible than the serial port which is going away.)

This is pretty scarey stuff. You go out and invest anywhere from $10K to
$50K or so for a disklavier which may be literally unusable in the
mid-to-long term future. Are they going to address this?

(And this makes a used disklavier worth much less if the buyer cannot use
the dislavier facilities in it. In which case, we may get 'stuck' with them
at some point in time...)


Danny

Actually, I wouldn't worry too much about the usefullness of older 
Disklaviers.  They have been around for twenty years now; still working and 
still possible to buy music and parts!  You can even buy 720k disks over the 
internet for $4.50 for a box of 11 from www.shoplet.com

The DSR1 upgrade is available new for about $1000 U.S. This new control box 
uses the more common High Density floppy disks and has the XG tone generator 
built into it.  It also has a memory disk equal to one floppy disk.

Although new laptops are coming out with no serial port, you can still buy a 
MIDI interface and two MIDI cables for less than $100.  MIDI interfaces can 
use a parallel, USB or joystick port depending upon which one you buy.  You 
need to chose what port you are going to use before you buy  MIDI interface.

Remember that Yamaha does not produce the utility software that allows us to 
adjust the volume, convert files or copy the disks.  This is all third party 
stuff. Just save those old computers.  I have one laptop that runs Windows 
3.1 in black and white, and has an 85 megabyte hard drive that works great 
with this software.

My understanding is that Windows XP is a supposed improvement on Windows 98 
and runs virtual DOS.  Windows 2000 is a version of Windows NT that never 
did DOS or plug and pray.

The biggest thing for users of older DKVs is being able to convert ESEQ 
files to MIDI to use in play lists; play MIDI files at all by converting 
them to ESEQ format, and formatting a 720k floppy disk.  At this time, these 
things are still possible to do.

I bought my Dad a new laptop for Christmas that runs XP Home.  I haven't 
wrapped it yet because everyone else in this household has been coveting and 
playing with it!  I guess maybe I'll take a turn before I give it to him and 
see what it will do for the Disklavier!  It is a Compaq Presario and does 
not have a serial port.


Carol Beigel
crbrpt@...





>From: "Danny" <simpsond@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: Re: [disklavier] computer geeks here? firewire, USB-2?
>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 08:21:28 -0500
>
>From: "Carol Beigel" <carolrpt@...>
>
><snip>
>
> > The two utilities I use the most to copy DKV disks or adjust the volume 
>of
> > the data both use DOS.  The dkvutil and Giebler software both need real
>time
> > DOS, not DOS windows, to work.  New laptops come with Windows XP or
>Windows
> > 2000; neither of which have DOS. (Hopefully some Windows XP users will
> > correct me if these utilities work on XP systems!)
>
><snip>
>
>Hi Carol,
>
>re: Windows XP:
>
>On my desktop, 'dkvcopy' and XP Home seem to work just fine...
>
>'dkvcopy' does appear to be to try to work on my Dell Latitude 500 Mhz with
>XP laptop with one exception: it of course wants immediately to have access
>to a floppy drive which my laptop does not have. I use ethernet to have my
>laptop 'communicate' with all other drives and devices.
>
>BTW, one thing, the main problem that older Yamaha disklaviers seem to have
>is they do not have a fairly priced upgrade path from Yamaha to more
>'modern' type technology. Many here still have to find the older 720K 
>disks,
>(which are becoming increasingly difficult to find), if you do not have a
>MIDI interface you need to use the serial port where according to your 
>post,
>the newer PCs do not work with, etc. (a USB interface would be great, much
>more flexible than the serial port which is going away.)
>
>This is pretty scarey stuff. You go out and invest anywhere from $10K to
>$50K or so for a disklavier which may be literally unusable in the
>mid-to-long term future. Are they going to address this?
>
>(And this makes a used disklavier worth much less if the buyer cannot use
>the dislavier facilities in it. In which case, we may get 'stuck' with them
>at some point in time...)
>
>
>Danny
>


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Can anyone tell me where to purchase 2DD diskettes for
a disklavier?

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They are available on EBAY, or call some computer stores that carry refurb
systems or old systems

  -----Original Message-----
  From: john weiler [mailto:jmw_iowa@...]
  Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 12:38 PM
  To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [disklavier] Re: Diskettes



  Can anyone tell me where to purchase 2DD diskettes for
  a disklavier?

  __________________________________________________
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  Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
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  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 the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Try these places for double density 720k floppy disks:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/meritline/500pcsflopdi.html
http://www.ezlabel.com/500pcsflopdi.html

They're very cheap indeed.  The price has actually gone "up" - one of
these sites used to sell 500 of them for $20.  Now it's 100 for $10. 
The only problem is that 100 is still too large a quantity for most
anyone...

CCW


john weiler wrote:

> 
> Can anyone tell me where to purchase 2DD diskettes for
> a disklavier?
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> 
> 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/