Disklavier

Hello Everyone,

In a message dated 4/14/01 2:21:03 AM, Emmanuel writes:

<< Now, I would like to come back on my initial question which was to know if 
it was possible to turn a non-silent disklavier into a silent-disklavier as 
the problem also occurs when I play myself...it is too noisy for my 
neighbours and it is not funny to play all the time with the soft pedal.


So before thinking about switching to a silent system, I was willing to know 
if it was possible to make the transformation.  My dealer does not know this 
answer, and Yamaha France said no....but just in case. >>

Yamaha does not offer the silent system has a retrofit.

Regards,
PianoBench

The current configuration of the Disklavier only supports  the "silent 
system" with an extra tone generator card, called an MN board that has a 
head phone jack.  The sounds you hear when using the headphones with a 
"silent system" are not the same sounds you hear through the speakers during 
playback.  The normal XG sounds you hear during playback with speakers are 
on a different sound card.  The Pro models have a switch that toggles back 
and forth between the two different sound cards depending on which mode you 
choose to hear.

However, it seems to me that it might be possible to use what you have 
"silently" if the following occur:

1) Install a rail to keep the hammers from hitting the strings when you 
play.  That is easy enough to do as they are available from other 
manufacturers if they are not available from Yamaha.  It is also a tricky 
adjustment when using these rails so that the piano feels the same on your 
fingers.  Yamaha Disklaviers have the fanciest and best system as they use 
special piano action parts (jacks with an extra bump) to achieve this.  
Anything else just won't feel the same but could work.

2)  You would have to put your Disklavier in "record" mode and select a 
voice to listen to to use the sounds on your XG soundcard.  That is easy 
enough to do.

3)  You would need either a speaker with a head phone jack (and a set of 
headphones to plug into it) or a pair of amplified headphones to connect to 
the audio output on the rear of the Disklavier control box.
I don't know if there are such things.

or

4) you could use your piano keyboard as a MIDI controller (if you had 
installed the rail in 1) above, connected appropriately to a computer 
running MIDI software, and using the computer speakers.

The sensor system under the keys on your disklavier is already in place to 
provide MIDI information so it seems to me that this is possible.

However, to get the very most enjoyment from a "silent" system would be to 
trade in what you have to a model that has this feature installed at the 
factory.

Carol Beigel



>From: "Emmanuel HERMAND" <emmanuel.hermand@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [disklavier] Transformation into "silent system"
>Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 22:03:49 +0200
>
>
>So before thinking about switching to a silent system, I was willing to 
>know if it was possible to make the transformation.  My dealer does not 
>know this answer, and Yamaha France said no....but just in case.
>
>Thanks again
>Emmanuel

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I thought I replied to this message this morning, but I must have hit the 
wrong button.  Please excuse if this reply comes across twice.

On Yamaha "silent" pianos, the sounds you hear coming from the headphones 
are coming from a different tone generator than the sounds you hear coming 
from the speakers.  The silent pianos use an MN board with the audio jacks, 
and the speakers are outputting tones from the XG daughter board inside the 
control panel.  On Disklavier Pros, there is a switch to toggle back and 
forth these soundcards.

Also, on the silent pianos, there is a rail installed to keep the hammers 
from hitting the strings.  In order to have the keys on the keyboard still 
feel the same using the silent mode, Yamaha has installed special piano 
action parts (jacks with an extra nub) to accomplish this special "let-off" 
adjustment.

However, I think that it might be possible to make a regular Disklavier play 
in silent mode if you did the following:

1) install a rail to keep the hammers from hitting the strings.  Keep in 
mind that the let-off adjustment would be tricky and probably not as nice to 
the touch as a Yamaha factory install.  The rails are available from 
third-party vendors.

2)  you would have to put the Disklavier in "record" mode and select another 
instrument using the voices button.

3)  connect a speaker with a headphone jack or an amplied set of headphones 
(if there are such things) to the audio output on the rear of the control 
box.  I don't know if such things exist.

or

4) connect a computer to the disklavier, using appropriate MIDI interfaces 
and software, and connect headphones to the computer sound card.

However, I think the best idea, if you really, really need the Silent 
function, is to trade in your Disklavier for a model that has this feature 
already built into it!

Carol Beigel



>From: "Emmanuel HERMAND" <emmanuel.hermand@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [disklavier] Transformation into "silent system"
>Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 22:03:49 +0200
>
>Thanks to all for those suggestions which will allow me to tune down the 
>volume when playing diskette.  Already one part of the problem which is 
>solved.
>
>Now, I would like to come back on my initial question which was to know if 
>it was possible to turn a non-silent disklavier into a silent-disklavier as 
>the problem also occurs when I play myself...it is too noisy for my 
>neighbours and it is not funny to play all the time with the soft pedal.
>
>So before thinking about switching to a silent system, I was willing to 
>know if it was possible to make the transformation.  My dealer does not 
>know this answer, and Yamaha France said no....but just in case.
>
>Thanks again
>Emmanuel

_________________________________________________________________
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