I am new to pianos. This is my first post as well. I dont play but have always dreamed of getting one and plan on learning someday. I love the sound of music that comes from a piano but I am not sure I have what it takes to play so I am starting with a selfplaying one. I am also a gadget guy.
I have researched self playing pianos to the point of tracking down and speaking with Wayne Stahnke (the designer of the Bosendorfer SE and past consultant to yamaha for disklavier)-he is very nice man. Anyway, he expained that disklavier is the only system that is a "feedback closed loop system".The way I understand it is that the piano has sensors (grayscale shutters)and alters itself to compensate for example "hot solenoids" drawing more current etc.It is always monitoring itself much as our cars computer monitors itself for exhaust oxygen levels etc.
Yamaha in California says that the Pro series DCS3MPRO and bigger are their best most accurate. So I have narrowed it down to a DCS3M4PRO, DCS5M4PRO or a DCS6M4PRO (6"1,6'7 or 6'11).
1-do you agree that the best self playing and recording piano is the Diskslavier Pro's?
2-Is there that much difference betweeen the 3 sizes I mentioned?
3-Does anyone know the differences between the DCS6M4PRO and DS6MPRO-i heard one is hand made and better.
4-How do I get the best price since minumum pricing seems to get in the way of "Capitalism at its finest"?
Thanks Much for your advise

1. Yes.

2. Yes - bigger is better here, and if you have the money and the space, I'd say don't stop at the 6'11 (unless you get the Disklavier based on an S6 as opposed to a C6, see next point below), go straight to the 7'6" C7 or the 9' CFIIIS (cencert grand) based Disklavier.

3. I do not. (The S6 is billed as "hand-made", as opposed to the C6, and both can be equipped with the Disklavier... perhaps this is what you're referring to?)

4. Go salvage another used, old, beaten-up, worthless piano first, then offer said worthless piano as a trade-in, see how much trade-in credit the dealer can work into the deal for you. Just a thought.

You're a clever rascal, Ax!

Hi, Carwizard. A friend of mine recently picked up a 6' 11" DC6M4PRO which he's now using for recording on his PianoMania label. I've listened to his 2 most recent releases which he made with it and it sounds great. I see he's got some mp3 previews over on the Jazz by Mail site:

Prarie Blues

... all are the Yamaha except tracks 5 and 15 which are a Bosendorfer.

Howard

carwizard i can only comment on #4 -- there are a lot of yamaha dealers around. it might really pay off for you to visit several and compare.

i also have a question about the disklavier: does it have any particular value from a learning standpoint? i'm reminded of a recent story i heard about a child who learned songs off of a player piano by following along and putting his fingers on the correct keys as they were played. with the computer etc. the disklavier may have something more elegant and effective.

No more than any other player system. I specualte that it may be good for four-hand practice if you can stream the MIDI signal in real time so that the two pianists need not be in the same room to practice together.

(Related news: The Piano e-Competition -- contestants play on Disklaviers placed in a local cities near them, then their playing is reproduced in another Disklavier and centrally judged by a panel of judges listening to that reproducing Disklavier. The performances are made available as downloadable MIDI files... so you can "reproduce" those competition performances on your player piano too.)

Wow. Let's review...
You're a non-player, probably willing to throw down $70,000-80,000 on one of Yamaha's finest S series hand-built pianos.
You're also wondering about putting a player system on it (seems a bit like putting training wheels on a Porsche to me)...
...and to cap it off, you're wondering about how to do it on the cheap????

Man, let me save you about a gazillion dollars.

Ask your trusted dealer about putting that player system on a C1, C2, or (if you are convinced you need a 6-foot+ piano) a C3.
You will be purchasing a fine piano, and as a non-player, I suspect you will not be able to discern the difference in sound or quality.

You'll also be saving tens of thousands of dollars.

Originally Posted By Axtremus These files play well on non Disklaviers players systems despite what you may read on the e-comp website

I have heard that the Disklavier does have some "teaching" software. I believe Pianodisc does as well. QRS has the "pianoguy" DVD you see on PBS synced up to the piano. I haven't seen it myself, but something makes me think GONG!!!

Yes, the MIDI files work on non-Disklavier players too, that's why I used the generic term "player piano" in my last sentence that you quoted.

That said, the e-Competition does offer a version of MIDI files that goes beyond the "standard MIDI" to capture more detailed performance information to allow a more technically accurate playback -- i.e., they have added Disklavier's "special sauce." See *this page* for explanation. Now whether a casual listener appreciates the difference provided by this "special sauce," that's a different matter.

The e-Competition MIDI files do NOT play well on non-Disklavier pianos. I have tried them on at least 4 different Digital Pianos and the only ones they play properly on are the Yamaha Disklaviers and Clavinovas. On the non-Yamaha DPs, the soft playing is almost inaudible and the loud playing and accented melody line notes in some pieces are way too loud, and the loud playing is deafening. It's all to do with the curves in the Yamaha setup so I've been told.

Another possibility, and a less expensive one at that, is to have the new Stahnke "LX" playback system installed...it will fit into any brand piano, and will cost significantly less than a Disklavier Pro. The quality of the LX playback is excellent.

Here is a jazz recording I made of the LX, which is installed on my M&H RBB. Dick Hyman playing Fats Waller.

http://www.box.net/shared/760m24rc2m


Here is another...Bryan Pezzone playing "Somewhere in Time" taken from a Disklavier Floppy with Mark Fontana's Midi2PianoCD software.

http://www.box.net/shared/j3teu2rjr5

The New PRO (Mark IV) is extremely accurate and as well as using gray scale sensors, it uses a feedback servo system for driving the solenoids. This gives you 1024 steps for Note On, Note Off and Touch compared with 127 steps for most other systems (inc the standard Mark IV. They also have 256 steps for the pedals.

This level of accuracy is likely to be pointless for someone who is new to pianos (probably the majority of players/users who are old hands too)

If you are looking at the Disklavier, I'd decide which size suits your situation best and go for the standard Disklavier Mark IV.

Carwizard purchased his piano summer of 2006, when this thread was first initiated. if you look at his profile, you can see what he selected.

Post dates people.. post dates...

Whao! Somebody actually bought an S4 ... very rare to see on this forum!

Thanks for the heads up Jeff. We might have beaten ourselves to death offering advice to someone who has had their new pianos for months.