Disklavier

The other day, I noticed that the DKC55RCD controller for my DC3A wasn't reading my floppy disks. It would sort of grunt twice, then give up. 

A few days later, I got a can of compressed air, sprayed it into the slot, loaded a floppy, and it worked fine. I thought, "Okay, it was just a little dusty, and now it's fixed." 

Wrong!

Now it's doing the same thing again, and a lot of spraying hasn't helped. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting it to work again? Is it possible to open the unit up and replace the drive?

Thanks.

--James

An expensive fix would be a DKC850!  :). Although you can hook a disk drive to the unit, it is much easier to use the common utilities to just convert them and then load them all into the memory. No more disks.....  SJ

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "jthyder" <jhyder@...> wrote:

>
> The other day, I noticed that the DKC55RCD controller for my DC3A wasn't reading my floppy disks. It would sort of grunt twice, then give up. 
> 
> A few days later, I got a can of compressed air, sprayed it into the slot, loaded a floppy, and it worked fine. I thought, "Okay, it was just a little dusty, and now it's fixed." 
> 
> Wrong!
> 
> Now it's doing the same thing again, and a lot of spraying hasn't helped. 
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for getting it to work again? Is it possible to open the unit up and replace the drive?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> --James
>

I'd love a DKC850, but I just can't justify spending $1600 for the moderate-to-light use I would give it. 

I don't have any data stored only on floppy: it's all on my PC, too. But I do have a lot of performances on the DKC55RCD's memory disks that I've never copied off. About 95% of them are things I could easily do without, but a handful are pieces (mostly by other people) that I'd like to keep if possible. 

If the floppy drive is permanently dead, is there any way I can copy these files off the DKC55RCD? If I play them back, can I record them via MIDI on a connected computer? (Since moving, I haven't bothered reconnecting the piano to the computer and outboard synth I have but rarely use. But I could if I needed to.)

Also, is there a way to play back MIDI files from the CD? ISTR that a few years ago I read here about a utility that did that, but when I tried it, songs would play to a certain point and then stop. 

Thanks.

--James  

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, George Frederick Litterst <PianoBench@...> wrote:

>
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> I strongly recommend the DCK-850 in this situation. It will substantially modernize your experience.
> 
> You'll still be left with the issue of what to do with your floppy disk content. IMHO, it is worth the effort to migrate that data to the computer and then to USB flash drive.
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> www.georgelitterst.com
> 
> On Aug 21, 2012, at 12:15 AM, sjhart110110 wrote:
> 
> > An expensive fix would be a DKC850! :). Although you can hook a disk drive to the unit, it is much easier to use the common utilities to just convert them and then load them all into the memory. No more disks..... SJ
> > 
> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "jthyder" <jhyder@> wrote:
> > >
> > > The other day, I noticed that the DKC55RCD controller for my DC3A wasn't reading my floppy disks. It would sort of grunt twice, then give up. 
> > > 
> > > A few days later, I got a can of compressed air, sprayed it into the slot, loaded a floppy, and it worked fine. I thought, "Okay, it was just a little dusty, and now it's fixed." 
> > > 
> > > Wrong!
> > > 
> > > Now it's doing the same thing again, and a lot of spraying hasn't helped. 
> > > 
> > > Does anyone have any suggestions for getting it to work again? Is it possible to open the unit up and replace the drive?
> > > 
> > > Thanks.
> > > 
> > > --James
> > >
> > 
> >
>

James,
 
   I suspect that you can replace the floppy drive in the DKC55RCD as I was
able to do in my DKC500RW. But while it is a relatively easy job, if you
have no experience building up PCs from components I would *strongly*
recommend you find a friend or relative who does have such experience to do
the actual work.  
 
Warranty issues are really no longer a concern for this unit, so you can
search the internet to buy a similar 3.5" floppy drive which are usually
available for $50 or less.  
 
 As indicated, I have done this on my DC3 PRO's DKC500RW control unit a few
years back and aside from the normal sweaty time knowing I was "now totally
on my own" everything went quite smoothly.  But I've built up countless PCs
over the years, so many issues didn't trouble me along the way that probably
would have without that experience.
 
I've since moved on to a DKC850 controller, but it doesn't know the PRO
features (my only complaint with the 850, but one that seems unlikely to
ever be changed - sigh), so it reduces the resolution to a normal DC3 level.
Thus I have had to keep the old controller available so that with a quick
cable swap I can get back the PRO resolution when that matters to me.  
 
So like you now, I needed to keep the old controller running when the floppy
died, and found that replacing the drive worked as expected with (in my
case) a slim line laptop style 3.5" floppy drive.
 

  _____  

From: disklavier@yahoogroups.com [mailto:disklavier@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of jthyder
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 11:43 AM
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [disklavier] Re: Floppy drive in DKC55RCD has failed


  



I'd love a DKC850, but I just can't justify spending $1600 for the
moderate-to-light use I would give it. 

I don't have any data stored only on floppy: it's all on my PC, too. But I
do have a lot of performances on the DKC55RCD's memory disks that I've never
copied off. About 95% of them are things I could easily do without, but a
handful are pieces (mostly by other people) that I'd like to keep if
possible. 

If the floppy drive is permanently dead, is there any way I can copy these
files off the DKC55RCD? If I play them back, can I record them via MIDI on a
connected computer? (Since moving, I haven't bothered reconnecting the piano
to the computer and outboard synth I have but rarely use. But I could if I
needed to.)

Also, is there a way to play back MIDI files from the CD? ISTR that a few
years ago I read here about a utility that did that, but when I tried it,
songs would play to a certain point and then stop. 

Thanks.

--James 

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com <mailto:disklavier%40yahoogroups.com> ,
George Frederick Litterst <PianoBench@...> wrote:
>
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> I strongly recommend the DCK-850 in this situation. It will substantially
modernize your experience.
> 
> You'll still be left with the issue of what to do with your floppy disk
content. IMHO, it is worth the effort to migrate that data to the computer
and then to USB flash drive.
> 
> Regards,
> PianoBench
> 
> www.georgelitterst.com
> 
> On Aug 21, 2012, at 12:15 AM, sjhart110110 wrote:
> 
> > An expensive fix would be a DKC850! :). Although you can hook a disk
drive to the unit, it is much easier to use the common utilities to just
convert them and then load them all into the memory. No more disks..... SJ
> > 
> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com <mailto:disklavier%40yahoogroups.com>
, "jthyder" <jhyder@> wrote:
> > >
> > > The other day, I noticed that the DKC55RCD controller for my DC3A
wasn't reading my floppy disks. It would sort of grunt twice, then give up. 
> > > 
> > > A few days later, I got a can of compressed air, sprayed it into the
slot, loaded a floppy, and it worked fine. I thought, "Okay, it was just a
little dusty, and now it's fixed." 
> > > 
> > > Wrong!
> > > 
> > > Now it's doing the same thing again, and a lot of spraying hasn't
helped. 
> > > 
> > > Does anyone have any suggestions for getting it to work again? Is it
possible to open the unit up and replace the drive?

> > > 
> > > Thanks.
> > > 
> > > --James
> > >
> > 
> >
>