Disklavier

Has anyone successfully played a DKV with a PC using Windows Vista Media Player WMP (this software) and any serial or USB to MIDI interface? It seems it will

Greetings JORGE,

WMP is a bitch to configure. They also keep changing it every release. Although there might be a way to change the output device, in the latest version, I sort of remember that it is only possible to play to the default MIDI device. You can change this in the multimedia control panel but I can't find anything like this in Vista and have been looking for a while. I found some references to the fact that the only way to change the default is to change the registry key. There are supposed to be tools for doing this but the one I tried to chase down  was not found. I also wrote a tool for doing this on XP and have not tested it on Vista. It is amazing how difficult the simplest things are in Vista. The better solution is to just use VanBasco's Karaoke player. My E-Rolll Player software also works on Vista amazingly.

I have Vista on one computer and am slowly making it almost as useful as XP. I can do some testing but I am sure it is possible to get WMP to work with external MIDI devices. I doubt that the CBX driver would be compatible with Vista. 

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7:20:54 AM, you wrote:

> Has anyone successfully played a DKV with a PC using Windows Vista
> Media Player "WMP" (this software) and any serial or USB to MIDI interface?
> It seems it will only use the internal software synthesizer and does not like any other device.
> I have a brand new laptop that came with Win vista preloaded and
> plan to use it only to play (not edit) music files MP3 and midi.
> Regards.
> Note.
> I installed a USB to serial (RS232) interface and the CBX divers,
> no evident problems but did not work. The issue seems to be Vista
> and WMP, maybe an USB to MIDI interface will work, need advice before buying anything.

> Saludos
> Jorge Fernández
> |                          ''' 
> |               |         (0 0)
> |___,,,^..^,,,__/----oOO---(_)---OOo--- 

>  

-- 
Best regards,
Spencer_Lists Chase        mailto:lists@...
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville,  CA 95542    Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454    UPS only.
Spencer@spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
(707) 984-8356

You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with its
speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd but
around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
<http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
working properly.

I have a Clavinova (CVP-70) which I used regularly with XP, and then 
had the same problem when I upgraded to Vista.  I think Spencer is 
right in that there seems to be no way of getting Media Player in 
Vista to recognise an external MIDI connection.  I even tried 
modifying the registry (you can use the utility REGEDIT), but it made 
no difference.  My solution has been to buy Sweet Midi Player from 
www.ronimusic.com, which happily picks up my Yamaha UX-16 interface.  
Sweet Midi can be used to modify the MIDI files, but it also has a 
playlist facility, much like Media Player.  There is a trial version, 
or the full version costs $29.95, which didn't seem too bad.
Hope that helps,
John Farmer
UK
www.musicanic.com

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "JORGE FERNANDEZ" <jorgefedez@...> 
wrote:
>
> Has anyone successfully played a DKV with a PC using Windows Vista 
Media
> Player "WMP" (this software) and any serial or USB to MIDI 
interface?
> 
> It seems it will only use the internal software synthesizer and 
does not
> like any other device.
> 
> I have a brand new laptop that came with Win vista preloaded and 
plan to use
> it only to play (not edit) music files MP3 and midi.
> 
> Regards.
> 
> Note.
> I installed a USB to serial (RS232) interface and the CBX divers, 
no evident
> problems but did not work. The issue seems to be Vista and WMP, 
maybe an USB

> to MIDI interface will work, need advice before buying anything.
> 
> Saludos
> Jorge Fernández
> |                          '''
> |               |         (0 0)
> |___,,,^..^,,,__/----oOO---(_)---OOo---
>

Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it. I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.

Greetings JORGE,

I fiddled more with this last night. There are a couple of utilities out there that offer to change the default MIDI player for wmplayer and sites that suggest the registry setting that need to be changed. I fiddled for quite a while and had no success. I have written some programs that use the wmplayer and have been amazed at how difficult, undocumented and unpredictable it is. It is the typical microsoft pile of garbage in which they decide what the user wants and provide even less than this. 

I wrote a simple "midi picker" that works on XP and will let you change the default player so media player will output to your chosen device. I tried to find the relevant registry settings to change in Vista and gave up. Everything I have had to modify in vista to make it just barely useable has taken hours and hours or days and some things are still evading me and even Microsoft. Don't ask me about the 17 hours I have spent on the phone with Microsoft trying to get Vista to network with my XP machines. 

Vista plus MIDI plus media player is just too much Microsoft to have a chance of working. The Vista online midi pickers i tried don't work either.

Media player is everywhere but it is useless for anything other than what Microsoft wants you to do with it. Any other player that I have tried is much better.

I installed XP as a boot option on my new fast machine so I can boot to XP if I need to run something that does not work on Vista. However the computer manufacturer (HP) will not provide information on some of the board resources and network adapters regarding XP drivers. They are probably not even available so unless I rip the machine apart and replace everything but the box, I am pretty much stuck with Vista if I want all of the hardware to work.

Bottom line: Stay as far away from Windows Media Player and Vista as you possibly can unless your goal in life is to waste countless days and increase your frustration.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:56:22 AM, you wrote:
> Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed
> Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it.
> I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.
>  
> I am trying to upgrade a very old and slow Pentiun IV I have in the
> living room , connected to the DKV
> (change it mainly for cosmetic reasons) 

> 2008/5/14 konaneil <konaneil@...>:
> You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with its
> speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd but
> around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
> <http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
> discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
> working properly. 














-- 
Best regards,
Spencer_Lists Chase        mailto:lists@...
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville,  CA 95542    Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454    UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
(707) 984-8356

Greeting Spencer, thanks, I really know what you mean. I am going to give Vista a last chance for my living room. The machine I have there is really old and

Greetings JORGE,

I bought a cute little HP Slimline mini desktop for a similar reason. It is small but much cheaper than a good laptop computer. The problem is that it is an HP (support means reformat your hard drive) and it had Vista. The network cards do not have XP drivers and probably never will. If you don't need the modem, you could remove the one PCI card and put a known wireless card in it and it might do all you need. I found the 'puter on Buy.com for just around $300. Another stupid thing HP did was to install 32 bit Vista on a machine with a dual core 64 bit processor.

Don't even think of running Vista on a machine with less than 2 G memory unless you are prepared to spend hours turning off every service and feature.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 1:19:52 PM, you wrote:
> Greeting Spencer, thanks, I really know what you mean.
> I am going to give Vista a last chance for my living room.
> The machine I have there is really old and ugly, you can imagine
> what my wife, sons and friends say about it.
> I will try the venerable Winamp tonight it seems it will work since
> the midi plug-in it has, handles both, the old "midi in-out" "MIDI
> Mapper" or the new "direct music"; here at the office it even offers
> me the "Yamaha CBX diver" option for MIDI out, let's see what
> happens with a real midi device plugged…
> Just imagine a nice looking, brand new, computer with Windows Vista
> running free WINAMP and playing an old midi piano roll on a Yamaha mark II upright DKV.
> Weird isn't it?
> Regards


> 2008/5/14 Spencer_Lists <lists@spencerserolls.com>:
> Greetings JORGE,

> I fiddled more with this last night. There are a couple of
> utilities out there that offer to change the default MIDI player for
> wmplayer and sites that suggest the registry setting that need to be
> changed. I fiddled for quite a while and had no success. I have
> written some programs that use the wmplayer and have been amazed at
> how difficult, undocumented and unpredictable it is. It is the
> typical microsoft pile of garbage in which they decide what the user
> wants and provide even less than this. 

> I wrote a simple "midi picker" that works on XP and will let you
> change the default player so media player will output to your chosen
> device. I tried to find the relevant registry settings to change in
> Vista and gave up. Everything I have had to modify in vista to make
> it just barely useable has taken hours and hours or days and some
> things are still evading me and even Microsoft. Don't ask me about
> the 17 hours I have spent on the phone with Microsoft trying to get
> Vista to network with my XP machines. 

> Vista plus MIDI plus media player is just too much Microsoft to
> have a chance of working. The Vista online midi pickers i tried don't work either.

> Media player is everywhere but it is useless for anything other
> than what Microsoft wants you to do with it. Any other player that I have tried is much better.

> I installed XP as a boot option on my new fast machine so I can
> boot to XP if I need to run something that does not work on Vista.
> However the computer manufacturer (HP) will not provide information
> on some of the board resources and network adapters regarding XP
> drivers. They are probably not even available so unless I rip the
> machine apart and replace everything but the box, I am pretty much
> stuck with Vista if I want all of the hardware to work.

> Bottom line: Stay as far away from Windows Media Player and Vista
> as you possibly can unless your goal in life is to waste countless
> days and increase your frustration. 


> Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:56:22 AM, you wrote:
>> Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed
>> Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it.
>> I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.

>> I am trying to upgrade a very old and slow Pentiun IV I have in the
>> living room , connected to the DKV
>> (change it mainly for cosmetic reasons) 

>> 2008/5/14 konaneil <konaneil@...>:
>> You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with its
>> speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd but
>> around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
>> <http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
>> discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
>> working properly. 

> -- 
> Best regards,
> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@...
> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
> Spencer@...
> http://www.spencerserolls.com
> http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
> (707) 984-8356





-- 
Best regards,
Spencer_Lists Chase        mailto:lists@...
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville,  CA 95542    Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454    UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
(707) 984-8356

Good afternoon, everyone.

Spencer, I found your commentary on Windows VIsta to be very  
interesting. As you know, I am also a MIDI software developer (www.timewarptech.com 
).

Mostly we use Macs. However, we do develop for Windows and have to  
keep Windows machines around.

Not long ago my old Windows 98SE vintage computer died. I had  
previously turned it into a triple boot machine (98SE, 2000, XP). At  
this point, our development for Windows is focused on XP and Vista.  
So, I bought a Mac mini as a replacement. We made it into a triple  
boot machine (XP, Vista, Mac OS X Leopard).

The Mac mini works great as a Windows computer!

Regards,
PianoBench

www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com

On May 14, 2008, at 3:33 PM, Spencer_Lists wrote:
> Greetings JORGE,
>
> I fiddled more with this last night. There are a couple of utilities  
> out there that offer to change the default MIDI player for wmplayer  
> and sites that suggest the registry setting that need to be changed.  
> I fiddled for quite a while and had no success. I have written some  
> programs that use the wmplayer and have been amazed at how  
> difficult, undocumented and unpredictable it is. It is the typical  
> microsoft pile of garbage in which they decide what the user wants  
> and provide even less than this.
>
> I wrote a simple "midi picker" that works on XP and will let you  
> change the default player so media player will output to your chosen  
> device. I tried to find the relevant registry settings to change in  
> Vista and gave up. Everything I have had to modify in vista to make  
> it just barely useable has taken hours and hours or days and some  
> things are still evading me and even Microsoft. Don't ask me about  
> the 17 hours I have spent on the phone with Microsoft trying to get  
> Vista to network with my XP machines.
>
> Vista plus MIDI plus media player is just too much Microsoft to have  
> a chance of working. The Vista online midi pickers i tried don't  
> work either.
>
> Media player is everywhere but it is useless for anything other than  
> what Microsoft wants you to do with it. Any other player that I have  
> tried is much better.
>
> I installed XP as a boot option on my new fast machine so I can boot  
> to XP if I need to run something that does not work on Vista.  
> However the computer manufacturer (HP) will not provide information  
> on some of the board resources and network adapters regarding XP  
> drivers. They are probably not even available so unless I rip the  
> machine apart and replace everything but the box, I am pretty much  
> stuck with Vista if I want all of the hardware to work.
>
> Bottom line: Stay as far away from Windows Media Player and Vista as  
> you possibly can unless your goal in life is to waste countless days  
> and increase your frustration.
>
> Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:56:22 AM, you wrote:
> > Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed
> > Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it.
> > I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.
> >
> > I am trying to upgrade a very old and slow Pentiun IV I have in the
> > living room , connected to the DKV
> > (change it mainly for cosmetic reasons)
>
> > 2008/5/14 konaneil <konaneil@...>:
> > You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with  
> its
> > speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd  
> but
> > around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
> > <http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
> > discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
> > working properly.
>
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@...
> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
> Spencer@...
> http://www.spencerserolls.com
> http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
> (707) 984-8356

I have no problems sending MIDI out from my computer to my piano using a USB-to-MIDI adapter on Vista.    I bought it on ebay for $15.  I haven t tried using

Matthew, I am in the process of attempting to get a new Toshiba notebook, running Vista to take the place of a lot of diskettes.  Did you use the UX 16 USB to

No, I bought a no-name brand from ebay.  It was about $15 and it is purple. It has IN and OUT LED indicators.

Greetings Matthew,

Edirol UM1-EX by Roland also works on Vista. I have had few problems with MIDI on Vista it is just the Windowzmediaplayer on Vista that is trouble.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:44:44 PM, you wrote:
> No, I bought a no-name brand from ebay.  It was about $15 and it is
> purple.  It has IN and OUT LED indicators.

> On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 9:27 PM, Ray Parks <raymphs@...> wrote:
> Matthew, I am in the process of attempting to get a new Toshiba
> notebook, running Vista to take the place of a lot of diskettes. 
> Did you use the UX 16 USB to MIDI adapter sold by Yamaha?
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Teeter
> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 8:47 PM
> To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: Re[2]: [disklavier] Re: Windows vista WMP 11 and MIDI
>  
> I have no problems sending MIDI out from my computer to my piano
> using a USB-to-MIDI adapter on Vista.    I bought it on ebay for
> $15.  I haven't tried using WMP to output to the piano though; I don't think it can do that.
> Matthew
> On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 3:43 PM, George F. Litterst <PianoBench@...> wrote:
>  
> Good afternoon, everyone.
>  
> Spencer, I found your commentary on Windows VIsta to be very
> interesting. As you know, I am also a MIDI software developer (www.timewarptech.com).
>  
> Mostly we use Macs. However, we do develop for Windows and have to keep Windows machines around.
>  
> Not long ago my old Windows 98SE vintage computer died. I had
> previously turned it into a triple boot machine (98SE, 2000, XP). At
> this point, our development for Windows is focused on XP and Vista.
> So, I bought a Mac mini as a replacement. We made it into a triple
> boot machine (XP, Vista, Mac OS X Leopard).
>  
> The Mac mini works great as a Windows computer!
>  
> Regards,
> PianoBench
>  
> www.georgelitterst.com
> www.timewarptech.com
>  
>  
> On May 14, 2008, at 3:33 PM, Spencer_Lists wrote:
> Greetings JORGE,

> I fiddled more with this last night. There are a couple of
> utilities out there that offer to change the default MIDI player for
> wmplayer and sites that suggest the registry setting that need to be
> changed. I fiddled for quite a while and had no success. I have
> written some programs that use the wmplayer and have been amazed at
> how difficult, undocumented and unpredictable it is. It is the
> typical microsoft pile of garbage in which they decide what the user
> wants and provide even less than this. 

> I wrote a simple "midi picker" that works on XP and will let you
> change the default player so media player will output to your chosen
> device. I tried to find the relevant registry settings to change in
> Vista and gave up. Everything I have had to modify in vista to make
> it just barely useable has taken hours and hours or days and some
> things are still evading me and even Microsoft. Don't ask me about
> the 17 hours I have spent on the phone with Microsoft trying to get
> Vista to network with my XP machines. 

> Vista plus MIDI plus media player is just too much Microsoft to
> have a chance of working. The Vista online midi pickers i tried don't work either.

> Media player is everywhere but it is useless for anything other
> than what Microsoft wants you to do with it. Any other player that I have tried is much better.

> I installed XP as a boot option on my new fast machine so I can
> boot to XP if I need to run something that does not work on Vista.
> However the computer manufacturer (HP) will not provide information
> on some of the board resources and network adapters regarding XP
> drivers. They are probably not even available so unless I rip the
> machine apart and replace everything but the box, I am pretty much
> stuck with Vista if I want all of the hardware to work.

> Bottom line: Stay as far away from Windows Media Player and Vista
> as you possibly can unless your goal in life is to waste countless
> days and increase your frustration.

> Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:56:22 AM, you wrote:
>> Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed
>> Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it.
>> I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.

>> I am trying to upgrade a very old and slow Pentiun IV I have in the
>> living room , connected to the DKV
>> (change it mainly for cosmetic reasons) 

>> 2008/5/14 konaneil <konaneil@...>:
>> You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with its
>> speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd but
>> around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
>> <http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
>> discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
>> working properly. 


-- 
Best regards,
Spencer_Lists Chase        mailto:lists@...
67550 Bell Springs Rd.
Garberville,  CA 95542    Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454    UPS only.
Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
(707) 984-8356

*I tried with WINAMP last night. It did NOT work.* My Conclusions: ·       The Yamaha CBX serial driver does not work in Vista (more on this bellow) ·