Disklavier

Good morning, everyone.

I am pleased to announce that Home Concert Xtreme for the iPad is now available in the iTunes store. It was accepted by Apple 2 days ago. 

If you have fantasized about being able to play your Disklavier and enjoy automatic page-turning and orchestrated accompaniments that actually follow your playing, you need not fantasize any longer. You can now enjoy these features with your Disklavier and iPad.

As many of you know, HCX is a software program for Macintosh and Windows computers (and now iPad) that works with Standard MIDI Files. This includes most of the MIDI files available for the major piano methods and supplementary books, piano concerto MIDI files, and properly formatted MIDI files that you create yourself or find on the Internet. HCX turns the keyboard part into standard notation for display on the screen. As you play, HCX accompanies you by playing the other tracks.

Imagine being able to see your music on a handy tablet display, resize it using the "pinch" and "spread" techniques, or turn the pages by swiping the screen. Even better, imagine connecting the iPad to your Disklavier and letting HCX turn your pages automatically and musically coordinate accompaniment tracks with your playing. If you are learning a new piece and want some help, HCX will patiently wait for you to play each not correctly and even show you the right note if you get mixed up. If you engage Perform mode, the program will actually coordinate the accompaniment tracks with your playing.

To connect an iPad to your Disklavier, use a MIDI interface (such as the Yamaha UX-16 or UX-96) and attach it to Apple's Camera Connection Kit USB adapter for the iPad. Alternatively, use the iPad-native iConnectMIDI interface (www.iconnectivity.com) and 2 MIDI cables to connect directly to the iPad itself. 

HCX for iPad has a built-in General MIDI tone generator. You wont need to use that with a Mark IIXG or later Disklavier. However, if you have an older Disklavier that lacks a GM tone generator or a Yamaha MIDI instrument that lacks the GM voices--such as an AvantGrand or a CLP Clavinova, you can use the built-in GM tone generator and route its sound through speakers.

HCX for Macintosh and Windows costs $99.00. HCX for iPad will be a $39.99 program starting August 1, 2011. Between now and then, we have placed it in the iTunes store at an introductory price of $9.99.

You can get more information about the program here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-concert-xtreme/id443017184?mt=8

Even more information, including a video and a PDF manual, is available here:

http://www.zenph.com/zenph-software/home-concert-xtreme/hcx-for-ipad.html

Regards,
PianoBench

George F. Litterst

I came across an issue using HCX on my iPad with my Mark III.

HCX appears to only use the Sostenuto pedal as the "Special Signal"
that appears in some of the MIDI files -- HCX stops playing until it
receives the "Special Signal".

The problem with this scheme is that the Mark III doesn't have MIDI
sensing for the Sostenuto pedal -- so you can press it as much as you
want, but HCX will not continue playing the MIDI file.

HCX needs to have an option to allow the user to configure the
"Special Signal" for some other input, like maybe C10?

John

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for your comment, John. I am impressed to find a Home Concert Xtreme user on the iPad who is this advanced with the program at this early stage in the life of the iOS version of this program.

HCX is an amazingly deep program on both Macintosh and PC platforms. A lot of that depth is accessible in menus and preference windows that apply to various feature segments of the program.

As you know, the iPad does not provide developers with a traditional way of offering menus and preference-type windows. For this reason, in the development of HCX for iPad, we have proceeded methodically to create new ways of accessing the Mac/PC features that are consistent with Apple's iOS user interface guidelines. At the present time, we have ported all of the functionality of HCX to the iPad, but there are certain features--such as the choice of MIDI trigger for the Special Signal--that have not yet been implemented on this platform.

I can assure you that we have some free updates planned and offering a choice of Special Signal is one of them. In the meanwhile, the Special Signal is hardwired to the sostenuto pedal in order to provide Special Signal funcationality. You can, of course, delete the Special Signal if you don't have a sostenuto pedal.

I hope that you'll hang with us as we continue to add features.

Regards,
PianoBench

www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com
www.zenph.com

On Jul 6, 2011, at 5:47 PM, John Cagle wrote:

> I came across an issue using HCX on my iPad with my Mark III.
> 
> HCX appears to only use the Sostenuto pedal as the "Special Signal"
> that appears in some of the MIDI files -- HCX stops playing until it
> receives the "Special Signal".
> 
> The problem with this scheme is that the Mark III doesn't have MIDI
> sensing for the Sostenuto pedal -- so you can press it as much as you
> want, but HCX will not continue playing the MIDI file.
> 
> HCX needs to have an option to allow the user to configure the
> "Special Signal" for some other input, like maybe C10?
> 
> John.
> 
>  
>