Yamaha Disklavier repair, upgrade, and music-management guides from Alex’s Piano Service. Learn about Disklavier troubleshooting, floppy disk recovery, Nalbantov USB upgrades, PianoStream, firmware updates, power supply repairs, compatibility questions, and MIDI/E-SEQ tools for older and newer Disklavier systems.
The E3’s DKC-800 control unit can be repurposed as a DKC-850 upgrade system with nothing more than the correct power adapter, three DIP‑switch changes, and one adjustment to your settings. Now that the DKC-850 upgrade kit is discontinued, this approach is one potential way to bring your old Mark I, II, or III Disklavier into … Read more
Over the years, I’ve replaced the power supplies on most of the Mark II generation Disklaviers I’ve worked on. These second-generation Disklaviers are terrific instruments—until the original power supply quits. When it does, the piano either won’t turn on, whines loudly, or randomly shuts off after running for a short period of time. This also … Read more
Unlike full E3 systems, the DKC-800 and DKC-850 piggybacked upgrades are powered by external AC adapters, such as the PJP-PS02. The original Yamaha Disklavier E3 installations use the Disklavier’s power supply, but these piggybacked installations require their own source of power. I recently had a customer reach out to me using an aftermarket power adapter, … Read more
Are you having problems with stale cookies? I recently assisted a customer via email who was having trouble using his Disklavier Piano Radio. I discovered the solution on Kevin Busse’s website; he in turn learned the solution from Yamaha’s Noah Jolly. You can read more about Noah Jolly on his website, Ground Grown Circuits. The … Read more
Yamaha Disklavier floppy disk drives are a notorious point of failure. Yamaha Disklaviers used floppy disk drives that were quite excellent for their time: They had all-metal frames, precision stepper mechanisms, and reasonably tolerant analog read electronics. Thirty-odd years later, however, these mechanical drives are far past their life expectancies. If you have an older … Read more
Learn which USB floppy drives work best for Yamaha Disklavier and PianoSoft disks, including 720 KB double-density support, common problems with generic USB floppy drives, and safer options such as Nalbantov and Greaseweazle for reading, copying, or archiving older Yamaha disks.
Electronic keyboard instruments—especially Yamaha Disklaviers, Clavinovas, stage pianos, and organs—represent significant financial investments. Some of these instruments cost well over $50,000. I’ve had a few customers ask me about the best surge protector for their Disklavier or other instrument. My predecessor in keyboard repair here in Maine, Nick Orso, was so enthusiastic about Tripp Lite … Read more
As an authorized Yamaha Service Center, I’m often asked how to connect Disklaviers to the local network. I believe this updated approach is quite simple, inexpensive, and will allow for higher connection speeds as Yamaha’s technology advances. This is the approach I trust in my customers’ homes. Previously, I used Powerline adapters to connect Disklaviers. … Read more
Learn how PianoStream works with Yamaha Disklaviers and other digital player pianos, including setup options, Bluetooth MIDI adapters, audio playback, older Disklavier compatibility, and common questions about streaming music to a player piano.
A blank LCD screen can render your Yamaha MX-100II Disklavier nearly unusable. You can replace these with brand-new LCD screens, which are still available. In the MX-100II and HQ-100SX, this is Yamaha part VN635201, although it differs for other units. As of , the screens are not available on Yamaha 24×7—it appears they stopped listing … Read more