Clients regularly ask me what digital piano they should buy. Buying a “budget” digital piano is one of those decisions that feels simple, but there are many pitfalls. I’m a piano technician and an authorized service center for Yamaha, Roland, and Casio. I see the aftermath of these purchases all the time—good and bad. The … Read more
The Kuhmann Directory (also widely known as Disklavier World) was one of the biggest free online libraries of Yamaha Disklavier-ready music files. It’s no longer available at its original home on kuhmann.com, so I maintain a working mirror of the library. I’ve written this page to answer the questions I hear most often: What was … Read more
You might be adding PianoStream to a piano that already has occupied MIDI ports, such as a Disklavier with an added DCD1 or MU50/MU80. In those cases, you’ll sometimes see the suggestion to use a MIDI Y-cable to “share” a port. It can sometimes work, but it’s not a robust way to solve the real … Read more
I frequently recommend PianoStream for older Disklaviers and other player pianos. This page answers the most common “PianoStream isn’t working” questions, especially for Yamaha Disklaviers (Mark I, Mark II, MX‑series, Wagon Grand) and systems that use Nalbantov USB floppy emulators. We’ll cover floppy/USB requirements, Analog and Digital mode, MIDI‑Bluetooth issues, and how to use PianoStream’s … Read more
Normally your ENSPIRE will inform you that an update is available, and will apply it at the push of a button. However, if you don’t have an internet connection, or if your ENSPIRE stopped mid‑update or the app now won’t cooperate, the fastest, least‑painful fix is an offline USB update. If you can’t connect with … Read more
I periodically receive requests from customers reporting that their keyboard or Nalbantov floppy disk emulator can’t read their USB stick. Usually, the issue is that the USB stick isn’t formatted correctly as a FAT32 device, or that it’s corrupt. I’ve created this guide to explain how to format your USB sticks in a manner that’s … Read more
Yamaha P-71: No Sound After a Spill The customer initially reported spilling water in the keyboard. However, on inspection, the substance was oily. It had also wicked into the keyboard contacts and speakers. The most damaged component—and the reason the keyboard made no sound at all—was the volume slider. I removed the original and soldered … Read more
I repaired multiple Yamaha Clavinovas with separating hammer strike felts this week. It’s interesting how these repairs seem to come in groups! This is an issue commonly seen in Clavinovas from the late 2000s, and it affects a wide variety of models. Usually customers complain of either a noisy action or a heavy, uneven feel, … Read more
If your keyboard sustains all the time when your foot is off the pedal, and then stops sustaining when you press it, you have the classic “reversed sustain” problem. The good news is that it’s almost always a setup/polarity mismatch and not a hardware failure. On many Yamaha instruments the pedal’s polarity (open/closed) is detected … Read more
Yamaha P-121 with Key that Doesn’t Play Two of the most common issues I encounter are keys that either don’t play at all, or play at full volume. Contact issues are, invariably, the cause. There are two parts involved in making proper contact: The rubber contact strips, which move and compress as the key moves, … Read more