Experience with DKC-850 USB memory storage. (may also apply to the E-3)
2011-11-01 by kassey22000
I added the 850 configured as an "add-on" to a DC5-PRO MKII XG and have learned a few key issues with regard to USB Storage that may solve problems for others. 1. Choose your USB device carefully. I started with a 500gb Go-Flex portable USB hard drive to store my large library of Midi and .FIL song files. Many of the newer mechanical hard-drives (not flash or solid state drives) go into "sleep-energy conservation" mode after a few minutes of no-activity. Bad for the 850, the iPhone, and the cool DKV-Browser application (that Kevin Goroway beautify designed). Often this is "hard-wired" into the drive and can't be disabled with formatting or software configuration. This stall just goofs up everything, playlists stop mid-way, songs stop playing, and the controller can hang. It took me awhile to track this down and the EASY FIX is just use a USB-FLASH DRIVE, Thumb Drive, or Memory Stick style. My 8gb HP USB thumb drive holds hundreds of songs and in over 75 playlists and never hangs, stops, or confuses the controller now. 2. This was covered in an earlier post when Carol carefully reviewed the DKC-850 shortly after it was introduced. But it is worth repeating. Keep your play lists to NO MORE THAN 99 individual playlists (folders with songs). Keep each set of SONGS on each play list to no more than 99 songs per playlist/folder. Once I pared down my library to include only the songs I am most likely to play on the Disklavier, the number of problems with long lists stopping and 850 hang-ups stopped. If you have more than 99 play lists just divide them onto multiple USB drives (one for classical, jazz, popÂ… etc). Break-out your playlists to keep them under 99 songs, (jazz A-E, jazz F-M, etc). USB drives are super fast, cheap now, and easy to change out. I never pull out or put in a USB device while the 850 is running, I wait to change them out between boot/start-ups. While I don't have access to an E-3 Disklavier, I'm pretty certain that these suggestions will also apply. Happy listening and playing.