> From: The Farmers <Gregory.I.Farmer-1@tc.umn.edu>
>
> what is the general opinion of some of the new player
> piano systems such as the Yamaha Diskclavier, the
> Pianocorder, or others?
>
> salesmen  [uh that's salespeople, this is the 90's dude]
> don't explain the drawbacks -
>
> what are they?

I have attended two seminars on the Diskclavier and wearing my 3 hats
as a pianist, electronic technician, and piano technician I was very
impressed with the design (mechanical and electrical) of both the
upright and grand diskclavier pianos.  I also should say that I
consider the Yamaha pianos to be one the best pianos made today. The
piano can be tuned  by your regular tuner just like any other acoustic
piano.  The player mechanism components are modular in design and are
considered to be extremely reliable. Failures apparently are rare.
Servicing of these instruments should not be a problem regardless of
where you might live. At least no more of a problem than servicing any
acoustic piano.

The only reservation that I have concerning the design of these
instruments is the fact that the electronic circuit boards are not
enclosed in a protective case.  If a string should break during tuning
(or playing), there is a strong possibility that the string could fall
on the printed circuit board, shorting out the circuitry.  At both
seminars I pointed out this potential problem to the company rep. and
received your typical salesman's blank stare.  The response was that
this problem had never occurred. Well, that may or may not be true, but
I know for sure one day it will happen.  If I ever have the opportunity
to tune one of these pianos, I will make darn sure that it is unplugged
from the wall.

Another comment that I will pass on is that you will have dificulty
getting intelligent information from the piano sales person on the
format of the Disklavier diskette music file.  This is a propietary
Yamaha file format. It does not adhere to the standard MIDI file format
0 or format 1.  One of the reasons for this apparently is because the
midi control message for the sustain pedal is full on or full off
whereas the Disklavier has a multi-position sustain pedal action.
There used to be software available which could convert midi files to
the Disklavier format but I am not sure if the company producing it is
still in business.  The last time I tried to access their Web site, it
no longer existed and I erased it from my bookmark list.  I do not know
how reliable a translation this software made from midi to the
disklavier.

Of course the most serious drawback of the Yamaha disklavier is the price.

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