Disklavier

On Mar 11, 2011, at 7:00 AM, athomik <mangez@freenetname.co.uk> wrote:

> The MX80 (not 84) was produced between 1990 and 2000. It's a very basic (Mark I) Disklavier, it doesn't have an internal tone generator, no silent function and it can only read E-Seq files from double density floppy disks. You can update it to give you CD, USB and network connectivity by connecting a DKC850 control box to it via MIDI, but you will not be able to play Disklavier Radio on the piano.
> 
> While Disklavier electronics are pretty reliable, bear in mind that electronic parts will become obsolete at some point, before spending a lot of money trying to update an old (lowish value) piano. As with all Disklaviers, you also need to get a technician to check it thoroughly, in case it has spent the last 20 years playing for 12 hours a day in some hotel lobby.
> 
> athomik
> 
> On Mar 10 2011, Lawrence wrote: 
> 
> >Trying to find out the capabilities of a "MX 84" disklavier upright. DKC5R control unit.
> >
> >Can this be upgraded to a cd control unit? Any info is appreciated
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Larry
> >
> >
> 
>

>
> I have a MX 85 that I bought in 1993. It works as well today as it did the day I bought it. It is limited compared ro today's models but it was state of the art back then. The MX 80 series of pianos were all the same on the inside the 80 had a black finish, the 85 which I have was a French provential design in cherry and the 84 if I recall was a basic Oak finish. I have hundreds of DS/DD blank disks if you need some. They are hard to find these days. 
> 
> The only thing I have had to fix was the floppy drive about 6 years ago. 
> 
> Larry McKenzie
> 
> On Mar 11, 2011, at 7:00 AM, athomik <mangez@...> wrote:
> 
> > The MX80 (not 84) was produced between 1990 and 2000. It's a very basic (Mark I) Disklavier, it doesn't have an internal tone generator, no silent function and it can only read E-Seq files from double density floppy disks. You can update it to give you CD, USB and network connectivity by connecting a DKC850 control box to it via MIDI, but you will not be able to play Disklavier Radio on the piano.
> > 
> > While Disklavier electronics are pretty reliable, bear in mind that electronic parts will become obsolete at some point, before spending a lot of money trying to update an old (lowish value) piano. As with all Disklaviers, you also need to get a technician to check it thoroughly, in case it has spent the last 20 years playing for 12 hours a day in some hotel lobby.
> > 
> > athomik
> > 
> > On Mar 10 2011, Lawrence wrote: 
> > 
> > >Trying to find out the capabilities of a "MX 84" disklavier upright. DKC5R control unit.
> > >
> > >Can this be upgraded to a cd control unit? Any info is appreciated
> > >
> > >Thanks,
> > >Larry
> > >
> > >
> > 
> >
>

>
> I have a 186 U3 play back only version of this which we bought 2nd hand (a grey markey version). I have only one floppy disk that came with it so it took me a couple of months to figure out what to do (a lot of googling...). Now I have an old laptop connected to it via a USB-midi cable and I can play thousands of midi files downloaded from the internet. I just use Windows Media Player to orgnise and play this files. Works great.
> 
> There is a service manual that you can download somewhere on the internet. It is not that useful thought as you cannot change anything other than doing some diagnostic. It does tell you how many hours it has been played (assume it's for the electronic part) so give you some indication on the history. Mine shows it only played 46 hours....don't know whether I can trust it but look good. I can try to dig out the link for the manual if you want or maybe upload to the file section of this group.
> 
> I don't know anything about DKC850 but to me a cheap PC/laptop is the best low-cost option for play-back (and record if your piano can do). It is easy to get a cheap pc/laptop for this task if you don't have one already. You don't need any high spec computer to drive the midi function. A 10 year old PC/laptop (with Windows XP and a USB port) can easily handle this. USB-Midi cable only cost around US$10 on Ebay or similar. YOu can then download whatever midi file you can find on the net and enjoy.
> 
> 
> Cheers
> JB
> 
> --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Larry McKenzie <lkmckenzie@> wrote:
> >
> > I have a MX 85 that I bought in 1993. It works as well today as it did the day I bought it. It is limited compared ro today's models but it was state of the art back then. The MX 80 series of pianos were all the same on the inside the 80 had a black finish, the 85 which I have was a French provential design in cherry and the 84 if I recall was a basic Oak finish. I have hundreds of DS/DD blank disks if you need some. They are hard to find these days. 
> > 
> > The only thing I have had to fix was the floppy drive about 6 years ago. 
> > 
> > Larry McKenzie
> > 
> > On Mar 11, 2011, at 7:00 AM, athomik <mangez@> wrote:
> > 
> > > The MX80 (not 84) was produced between 1990 and 2000. It's a very basic (Mark I) Disklavier, it doesn't have an internal tone generator, no silent function and it can only read E-Seq files from double density floppy disks. You can update it to give you CD, USB and network connectivity by connecting a DKC850 control box to it via MIDI, but you will not be able to play Disklavier Radio on the piano.
> > > 
> > > While Disklavier electronics are pretty reliable, bear in mind that electronic parts will become obsolete at some point, before spending a lot of money trying to update an old (lowish value) piano. As with all Disklaviers, you also need to get a technician to check it thoroughly, in case it has spent the last 20 years playing for 12 hours a day in some hotel lobby.
> > > 
> > > athomik
> > > 
> > > On Mar 10 2011, Lawrence wrote: 
> > > 
> > > >Trying to find out the capabilities of a "MX 84" disklavier upright. DKC5R control unit.
> > > >
> > > >Can this be upgraded to a cd control unit? Any info is appreciated
> > > >
> > > >Thanks,
> > > >Larry
> > > >
> > > >
> > > 
> > >
> >
>