Calibrating electronic players

[PDtek@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-09-11 22:11:43 EDT, you write:

> How does one calibrate the soft playing level on a Disklavier?  Ditto for a
>  Pianodisc system?  I have one each among my customer base, customers who
say
>  it makes a scant difference when set to play softly.  I have observed this 
> to
>  be true.  I have been given to understand that it is possible to learn
>  calibrating the soft playing level without learning the whole nine yards of
>  servicing either system.  
>  
>  While I restore and service pneumatic players (have one of them that plays 
> too
>  loud, too), I have my hands too full keeping up with my present priorities
>  (which include servicing a 2900+ customer base) to get into a new field.  I
>  just want to be able to help in any possible way when I am there to tune
the
>  piano.
>  
>  Bill Maxim, RPT

Bill;

As for the PianoDisc system, with a disc in the drive, press buttons 1 and 4
simultaneously to access the service mode. Press the button under the word
"setup" and then press the button under the word "learn". The player will
begin playing key 88 over and over. (If you hear nothing, it is possible that
this is one of those pianos whose design prevents the installation of 88
solenoids. In this case hit the scan down button until you hear a key play)
With the volume buttons, increase or decrease the volume of the note until it
plays as softly as possible while still having complete jack escapement and
hammer checking. After each adjustment, use the scan button to go down to the
next note, and so on until A0. Then press the play button to save the new
settings. Then play a disk with a lot of quickly played notes at the lowest
volume setting and see if there is any note drop out. If there is, you may
need to run the learn mode again to raise the volumes a bit on all or some of
the notes. You can successfully set the minimum volumes much lower on the new
silent drive series than you can on the older models.(Look under the piano, if
the power supply is black, its the silent drive. If its silver, its not.)

It is important to keep in mind that there are about a dozen other settings
that go into programming the PianoDisc for maximum performance. Several that
interact directly with the minimum velocity settings described above. If
however, ther is not a certified technician available, this one procedure can
make a big improvement on low volume playing.

Dave Bunch
Certified PianoDisc tech