Alexander Peppe learned the trade of piano tuning and repair from his father, Eric Peppe. He further developed his craft as the exclusive in-house piano technician at Starbird Music for six years, where he tuned, regulated, and repaired a wide variety of both consignment pianos and new floor models. This allowed him to explore the diverse range of pianos available in Maine, and taught him the value of listening and effective communication, thanks to Starbird’s legendary salesman, John Nickerson.
Today, Alex is an independent tuner and technician, serving throughout the Southern Maine region. He enjoys getting to meet a wide variety of incredible people, their pianos, and their pets. His goals are to provide an exceptional customer experience and to ensure customers feel their piano received more care and attention than they paid for.
With a strong foundation in acoustic piano repair and formal training in computer science and mathematics, Alex specializes in repairing Yamaha Disklaviers, hybrid pianos, and keyboards. He has a particular passion for maintaining older systems and cherishes the nostalgic sounds of vintage technology.
Alex lives with his wife Kati and his stepdaughter Saoirse. You can also check out their recipe blog, Plant-Based and Practical.
If you’d like to connect with Alex, please reach out through the contact page.
Computer and Web Hosting
Alexander Peppe got his start in computer science at the University of Southern Maine. He was the youngest student in 2002 (at 11 years old). He enjoyed writing computer code from a young age. In 2006, he was the youngest instructor at 15 years old, teaching introductory computer programming and computer architecture labs. He graduated with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics.
Alex now runs a small web hosting business, and hosts both his and his wife’s websites, along with Starbird Music, Foreside Community Church, Piano Movers of Maine, and other local businesses. You can read about his wife’s business, Diamond K9 Dog Training, or check out the Diamond K9 Facebook Page.
Alex is also a licensed Amateur Extra class radio operator with the call sign WS1Q, and an avid hiker having completed the NH48. He’s a member of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT). See Knotting Matters Issue 122 for a brief article on splicing piano wire by Alex in 2014.
I have a widijack hooked up to a pds128plus plus. Trying to hook up to pianostream but not working.What could i be doing wrong
Hello Lanett!
First, make sure you have a floppy disk in the PDS128+. A lot of these systems check to make sure a floppy disk is inserted before they become fully operation. Next, is the PDS128+ in Pass-Thru mode? To put it in Pass-Thru mode, follow these instructions:
Please let me know if that helps—or doesn’t!
Thank you!
Thank you for your response- therein lies the problem, the mode function no longer lights up allowing us to select a function. Any help with that?
The Mode button doesn’t work? That’s rather inconvenient. Another, sneakier way to use PianoStream is to plug the WIDI Jack directly into the CPU. If you crawl underneath the piano, you’ll find MIDI ports down there as well, usually on the bass end of the piano near one end of the solenoid rail. This completely bypasses the PDS128+, so you don’t need to change any settings on it at all. The downside is that you’ll need to turn on Volume Control for Older Systems in PianoStream. Richie actually has a short video on this technique here.
Alex you are getting us closer- thank you.. I got to the point of selecting the volume for older and clicked on digital piano- it’s calling for Md-BT 01 and we have a widi jack – do we need to change out these bluetooth adapters or will it work with WJ?
Provided the WIDI Jack is powered by USB, it should work just fine! The MD-BT01 is Yamaha’s Bluetooth-MIDI adapter. Richie does use that one in the video, but yours is actually much simpler to set up.
(In the video, Richie has a whole extra business with a power adapter and extra MIDI connector. This is because Yamaha’s device gets power through the MIDI OUT jack, and because there isn’t a MIDI OUT jack on the CPU, he has to add an entire extra assembly. The WIDI Jack just powers off of USB, so you don’t need to worry about any of that!)
The directions call for a UBS-C cord to use with Widi Jack and it will not stay locked in.
Is there an explanation – we have 6 cords we have tried and they will not fit.
I’ve encountered a few where the connection doesn’t feel as tight as, say, a cellphone USB port. The WIDI Jack should be secured separately (zip-tied, for instance) and should not be left hanging from its cords. If your USB cord feels so loose you don’t think it will stay in at all, there might be something wrong with the USB port on this WIDI Jack, or there might be something stuck in it.
This is a screenshot of one of their website images. You can see how the USB port is supposed to look up close.
That is exactly what we have showing – maybe you can send me a photo of the end of the cord that fits in to compare. Thank you!
Certainly!
Thank you so much for all your responses!!