Good morning, everyone.
John, I also have a DKC-850. Mine is connected to a Disklavier Pro (Mark IIXG vintage). According to the DKC-850 manual, the product is a replacement control unit for many listed Mark IIXG and Mark III series Disklaviers. Many of the listed models come with the DKC55RCD control unit which you have. However, the manual does not list any DGT instruments.
The manual further states that the DKC-850 can piggyback onto to a Mark II with MIDI cables.
In the US, you can reach Yamaha's customer service number and inquire as to whether the DKC-850 officially supports DGT instruments: (800) 854-1569. Let us know what you find out.
Concerning your points below:
(1) My unit did not come with a mounting bracket either. I have not missed it because I prefer to have my control unit on a table next to the piano. I am not sure if one is available. Let us know what you find out.
(2) My Pro has a silent mode feature in which the hammers are prevented from hitting the strings and I hear a digital piano sample instead. As with your DGT7A, I used to have the option of setting another voice and keeping the digital piano tone at the same time. This feature is not present in the DKC-850.
Although the DKC-850 is largely a terrific upgrade for older Disklaviers, it is a downgrade in certain respects for certain customers. In the case of the Disklavier Pro, these additional features are also missing:
--Playback of XP Data
The DKC-850 does not playback XP song data.
--Sending XP Data On/Off
The DKC-850 does not send XP data although it does send aftertouch data for silent notes.
--Receiving XP Data On/Off from External MIDI
The On/Off selection feature is missing. Apparently the DKC-850 does not respond to XP data from an external source.
--Keyboard Out Split/Transposition
The opportunity to control an external tone generator with a keyboard split and transposition is gone.
--MIDI Thru2
This feature was previously available in order to allow you to connect an external tone generator. The incoming MIDI data stream would get the 500 ms delay applied to it before it was pass to the MIDI Out port. This feature is gone.
--Piano Part Ensemble Out On/Off
The DKC-850 gives you an opportunity to designate MIDI Out as either Keyboard Out or Ensemble Out. If you choose Ensemble Out, by default, the old control units and the DKC-850 do not send the piano part of a song out the MIDI port or USB MIDI port during playback. The old control units, however, gave you an option to turn on Piano Part Ensemble Out when you turned on Ensemble Out.
--Voice: Option to have Piano Tone On or Off
This option is missing.
(3) I have experience a hum as well. However, my hum does not have the same symptoms as yours, and I am not sure if the problem lies in an aging component of my piano or in the DKC-850.
I have experienced a hum when I connect the USB MIDI port to my laptop. I have been able to squelch that hum with a hum eliminator. Oddly, however, I have sometimes found that the hum comes back when I disconnect the USB cable from my computer but leave it connected to the DKC-850.
I have not had the time to troubleshoot the problem definitively. I am currently using the DKC-850 connected via USB to a Mac Mini and have no hum and no need for the hum eliminator. Perhaps my flaky hum problem had something to do with my laptop.
TIP: You may find that if you keep your DKC55RCD control unit in place (perhaps mounted where it is not seen) and connect to the DKC-850 with MIDI cables (as described on page 10 of the manual) that you can use the original piano tone with voices that are selected on the DKC-850. This may necessitate some creative audio cabling--I don't know. I am not stating this as a solution but as something to look into.
Regards,
PianoBench
On Feb 13, 2011, at 8:20 AM, john felker wrote:
I have the cable installed works fine as a player and self play.
Problems:
1. Mounting bracket not there.. will call the dealer. Anyone have the part number?
2. I cannot have Piano and Voice at the same time. On the DKC55RCD there is a "Piano ON/Off" in the voice menus, a setting that I have not found in the menu structure of the DKC850
3. And now the biggest issue. Amplifier HUM.. and Volume of the Voice or CD Audio being played via the AUX in.. With nothing playing there is the hum and there is amplifier hiss, and when audio CD or VOICE are played I cannot get a quiet volume.. -10 on the DKC850 is still what I would call a "normal" volume level.. aka 5/10 volume setting. The Volume dial for the DGT7A (located to the lower left) does not effect the volume of sound produced from the DKC850..
Thanks for the help... Is there a Tech support Number to call for Yamaha?