If you have a suggestion, please send it in to [email protected] or reach out through my contact form. If you’re looking for free music for your Disklavier, please see my list of free sources of songs and MIDI files. These options are all paid. Yamaha MusicSoft for Disklavier Yamaha MusicSoft is the largest and most … Read more
Customers routinely ask me whether their Disklaviers can play MIDI, or only ESEQ, so I’m sharing this magnificent chart of Disklavier compatibility. This is sourced, originally, from Carol RPT’s Disk File chart, and I recommend visiting that website and seeing what they have to offer. They have a trove of information on older Disklaviers. This … Read more
The MX100II (and its Japanese counterpart, the HQ100) is typically not able to play MIDI files off of floppy disks, using instead Yamaha’s proprietary ESEQ format. I have several articles on transferring your Disklavier floppy disks and converting MIDI files to ESEQ. However, when sourcing a compatibility table for Disklaviers, I had multiple indications the … Read more
I use a wide variety of software tools when reading floppy disks and preparing ESEQ and MIDI for the Yamaha Disklavier. Below is my attempt to compile the most useful tools I use on a daily basis. If you have any input or want any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me. WinImage A … Read more
This is an article about backing up your Disklavier Floppy Disks using a specific tool called a Greaseweazle. If you do not have a Greaseweazle, and want a straightforward and less technical solution, please see the article on backing up your Yamaha floppy disks using simply an external floppy disk drive and downloadable tools. I … Read more
The Yamaha Disklavier is a sophisticated piece of technology, but typically, you’re limited to Yamaha’s song library. Many Yamaha songs include both a piano part for the Disklavier and an accompanying music track, though the Disklavier piano part might differ dramatically from the original piano part in the song. In many cases, the piano tracks … Read more
I’ve recently installed some external speakers for various Yamaha Disklaviers. Hopefully my experience with this helps somebody else! The Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV is a well-loved, sophisticated instrument. However, upgrading its control unit to the DKC-900 offers several benefits—most notably, access to Yamaha’s Enspire radio stations and On-Demand radio. This is one of my recommend … Read more
Yamaha sold Smart PianoSoft floppy disks for Yamaha Marks III and IV. This was a revolutionary technology: You could insert a floppy disk designed to play the actual acoustic piano alongside an audio CD. In other words, the piano would accompany your CD! Yamaha released many such albums, and because the piano is accompanying the … Read more
This article on Mark IV Disklavier SSD Conversion was originally contributed by Richard Zajac. The Mark IV utilized a spinning hard disk, which was more than sufficient for the technology of its time. Even advanced systems like the Yamaha Disklavier don’t demand exceptionally fast read speeds, as piano notes aren’t played within microseconds of each … Read more
This Python program will recursively rename all ESEQ (.FIL) files in the specified directory, ensuring they follow the naming convention described, and convert all filenames to uppercase. If, for instance, you have twenty albums, direct this program to run in their parent directory, and all the albums in subdirectories will be corrected. I’ve recently put … Read more