Disklavier

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Art Goldberg wrote:

> Is it possible to produce the output for not only Channel 1 (the
> signals for pianomation) but also the Channel 2 where you might have
> accompanying audio?


Currently, MID2PianoCD leaves the accompanying audio track blank.

There have been some requests to have the software render non-piano MIDI
accompaniment parts (drums, etc.) into the audio track. Doing that with
a high level of quality is difficult, plus it is redundant if the CD
will be played on a piano equipped with a tone generator (such as a
Yamaha MU-50 or Roland Sound Canvas).

Creative users can use audio editing software such as "Audacity" to fill
this track in with appropriate material to play in sync with the piano
(for example, a recording of a singer or backup instrumentation).

I'm hoping we might see some PianoSoft Plus Audio compatible material
produced for the Disklavier which serves more of a niche market...
material Yamaha could not afford to produce.

For example, I'm a big fan of Alex Hassan's novelty piano recordings
(http://www.noveltypiano.com). He's produced some nice CDs of Billy
Mayerl songs with some vocalist friends. It would really neat if we
could convince Mr. Hassan to recreate these recordings as Disklavier CDs
in which the piano is played live via MIDI and crystal clear vocals are
isolated on the accompaniment track.

Or perhaps someone involved at a university could, with students'
permission, create CDs of voice recitals, voice competitions, choral
performances, etc.

My wife is a mezzo soprano (though currently not singing
professionally), and I have some experience as an accompanist (though
also not working professionally). We have started to experiment with
recording the Poulenc Banalites and some Sondheim songs as piano+audio
CDs, mostly for fun and to test the software.

Mark