> PianoDisc boxes. Everyone I have seen has been installed on the piano. They hang down like an 8-track tape player from the > dashboard of a 1970 Dodge Dart (or I guess if you install one on a Bosendorfer, it would look like an 8-track hanging from the > dash of a Rolls Royce!). IMHO TACKY! Yuk, yuk, yuk. I realize this may be the only practical installation option in many > applications. But not all. If I were to ever install one on my piano, the box would go on a nearby shelf somewhere - much like a > stereo component. And to go one step further, at least in a home installation, why put those goofy little speakers under the > piano? Why not run the PianoDisk background/orchestrated/whatever-you-call-them tracks through a decent home stereo? > > Terry Farrell ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I am a PianoDisc installer. This time of year I have absolutely no life, one install after another. The dealer sold four just over the weekend and that doesn't include the orders already in line. Christmas is hell in the business. Worked till past midnight last night to finish one, got two more waiting in the shop and another coming today. Yikes! The speakers are very high quality, incredibly bass and full sound for their size. Two are recommended but one can be installed if the customer wants a budget system. They are installed in the piano so that the unit is completely self contained, something that most owners like. They can be installed anywhere, however, and certainly to any reasonable quality home stereo system. The control box can also be connected anywhere. We have requests from time to time to install them on the hinge side of the piano where the piano was to face a wall, thus hiding the box. If you want it can sit alone on a shelf, in a nearby cabinet, a drawer, or whatever. Longer cords are available to locate the box further away. Not all PianoDisc systems are equipped with accompaniment sound although features can be upgraded if the owner so desires. The most basic system is the CD only option. This has a smaller control box that will play specially recorded CDs. A complete library of "piano only" CDs are available which plays only solo piano. The next step up is to add speakers at which point you can play CDs with "orchestrated accompaniment". This is a potentially free option if the owner intends to connect the system to their own stereo since that is all that is additionally required to play the accompaniment CDs. These are very nice because in most cases the accompaniment was recorded live with other musicians and sounds really good. A few accompaniment CDs were synth recorded although even most of these sound decent. The next option is the PDS-228 model which not only has the above mentioned CD features but also a floppy drive. This allows the playing of solo piano recorded music recorded onto floppies. A step from this, however, is to add an internal sound card. With this you can play not only solo piano disks, but also disks with midi accompaniment. An alternate method, (though not publicized), is to add an external midi module. Again, in order to hear any midi accompaniment, you need speakers or an external stereo system. Any decent external CD player can also be plugged into a CD-only player, the PDS-228, or the older PDS-128 models to add the capability of multi-CD playback, (in other words players with automatic CD changers allowing hours of continuous unrepeated play). Still another option is the "MX" feature that can be added to the PDS-128 or the PDS-228, (not available for the CD only players). This is a large library if solo piano music stored on an internal RAM card. With the MX, no CD or disk is required, the music is stored internally. Beyond this is the MX "Platinum". This is an enhanced version of the MX that not only has solo piano but also contains piano with midi accompaniment. In order for the MX "Platinum" card to function, however, you must also have the sound card installed since this is how the midi sounds are played. Both the MX and MX "Platimum" features are contained on a single plug-in board thus this feature can be added at any time. Still more upgradable features include the record option. This requires at least a PDS-128 or PDS-128 control box since it must be able to record onto a floppy drive. If the control box is also equipped with a sound card you can record your own accompaniment as well. An advantage of having a floppy drive is that you can download MIDI music off the Internet for playback on your piano. This is under the condition of a few points however. First the piano track must be located on track 1. Most are but not always. Second, it must be in MIDI "0" format. There are simple downloadable shareware programs that will do this for you, including one off the PianoDisc web sight. Third, the sustain pedal is not always functional on Internet downloaded midi files although this can be added which leads to the last point. That being that the vast majority of Internet midi files are created by amateurs and thus sometimes play a bit weird due to playing and/or editing errors. If you are familiar with midi you can obtain a variety of inexpensive programs that will allow you to do some basic editing to clean the files up and add missing features to make them sound decent. I have downloaded and modified/edited a number of internet midi files which now sound absolutely beautiful when played back on the PianoDisc system. There. Now you know everything you need to know about PianoDisc features and how they work. Class dismissed. Rob Goodale, RPT Las Vegas, NV
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