CD drive

[pianogirl]

I would have rather had a CD drive on my 307 rather than a smart card.

pianogirl

[Tapas]

Hi Pianogirl,

I second your opinion!

Yes indeed, it would have been more useful to have a CD drive rather than a floppy.
I would also have welcomed an SD media slot in place of a Smart Media slot.

The inclusion or at least expansion for an mLAN port would have made me very happy. I really could have used that in my studio.

Another improvement would be adding polyphonic aftertouch to the 88 keypad and perhaps a combo modwheel/pitchbend controller. But I know, this goes beyond the purpose of this family oriented device.

What Yamaha has engineered is already a winner and a technological wonder. I am buying this over the Korg Pa1Xpro.

Tapas

[sablair]

Funny that we are talking about the CVP as if it were a computer, instead of an incredible digital musical instrument. Sure, it reads floppys, USB, Smartcards and others.....but it is meant to be PLAYED.....much like a piano. :eek: This machine combines everything I've every done with music.....keyboard, multi-sounds, midi sequencing, auto-accompaniment, and even Band in a Box.

And there IS a mod wheel/pitch bend control....its the left footpedal. Gives an awsome whammy bar with a distorted guitar. Also triggers the leslie speed for Hammond sounds and can be programmed for many other effects.

Considering the CVP has a maximum internal memory of only 3 megs, I think the capacity of a CD would overwelm this machine. Floppys, smartcards and 256Meg dongles seems to be just about the right size.

My wish list is that it would have a remote control so I wouldn't have to leave the couch......oh my.

And if I could just get it to talk to my wireless laptop......

[Tapas]

Steve,

I hear you!

But you know what? The CVP-307 is a powerful computer masked inside a piano body.

As much as Yamaha went to make it look, sound and feel and operate like a simple acoustic grand, you still know that behind this grand illusion hides a collection of DSP chips, CPUs and LSI chips custom made by Yamaha R&D.

I like your idea of reassigning the 3 pedals to control whatever MIDI parameter you want. I appreciate this kind of flexibility hidden in the OS.

The feel of the keys of this GH3 graded hammer action is amazing. This makes it the top candidate for doubling as a master controller in a studio environment. This is why a simple OS upgrade to support 4 overlapping layers over 4 resizable zones with aftertouch that can be turned selectively on or off per zone would be a big improvement.

I support your idea of having a remote control, even though you may have mentioned that in jest! You can fit around 10,000 MIDI files in a CDROM. Imagine, if you could burn your entire collection of favorite MIDI files into a CD, place that inside the CDROM drive of your future CVP and sit in your couch and control the start/stop/play buttons and navigate through your folders displayed explorer type fashion on your big screen TV hooked up via an HDMI cable at 720p resolution.

Imagine yourself sitting in your couch, holding a programmable remote like a Philips Pronto to control your future CVP, which now has become your personal jukebox to playback any MIDI file, while a Yamaha RX-Z9 multi-channel processor reads the audio/video stream from your CVP via an HDMI link and immerses you in spectacular 9.1 surround sound. If you get inspired, you could even revoice the MIDI file on the fly with dropdown choices displayed by the mixer view/track view on your TV.

Wouldn’t that be grand? I believe this is coming.

Tapas

[Midi Magic]

Hi All

"I would also have welcomed an SD media slot in place of a Smart Media slot."

You can always use a USB Multi-Card reader and then you can use whatever memery card you like. I have NOT tried it with a SD card but it does work with my Smart Media cards.


"I would have rather had a CD drive on my 307 rather than a smart card. "

Seeing as you can use a USB Floppy drive Could you not use an external USB CD rom drive or even a USB HDD.

I have ALL of my Pianosoft and Midi files stored on both CDrom and HDD and use the PC to play them via midi.

"My wish list is that it would have a remote control so I wouldn't have to leave the couch......oh my."

Well this would have to be a two way remote !!!!! For if you have 1,000 midi files stored in the CVP then you would need someway of navigating around the storage device in use.

There are even ways to do this. You could store all of your files on a laptop, or even better, a Palm PDA and then use this to send the files to the CVP via midi. (I know of one group member who uses his Palm PDA to send midi to his CVP.)

Now if you could send midi from a Palm or even a Pocket PC PDA via IR or Bluetooth then you have a Mega Remote Control.

Come on xxxxxx, you know who you are, how about a version for my Pocket PC !!!!!! Have you got it to work over Bluetooth yet?

[Tapas]

Hi Midi Magic,

You are the MIDI expert and I agree with the workarounds you have outlined. Yes, they would work. Still it seems to me that you have to add a notebook or a laptop to make the Clavinova absolutely complete. Then you get to enjoy the full potential of this beast.

I think Yamaha should address these issues on their next version:

1. Change the passive matrix LCD display to a active matrix TFT screen. The current screen is hard to read in board daylight. It looks washed away. Even with the LCD brightness set to its maximum setting of 20, it does not seem bright enough.

2. Include an mLAN port. What good is having all these fabulous natural voices and 128+128 note polyphony if you cannot quickly record multiple digital audio tracks in one pass. With the optical out, you are limited to a maximum of two tracks at a time.

I would like to be able keep the CVP against a side wall, while I control the mix levels via a Yamaha O1X control surface connected by an mLAN cable, and watch the mixer view projected on a big screen TV.

3. I like your idea of having built-in Bluetooth. A wireless remote is a not a very expensive addition. Every DVD/CD jukebox, TV, receiver comes with one. The CVP is yet another gadget and should carry one.

4. I would welcome an HDMI interface to transfer multi-channel high resolution audio to the next generation Yamaha RX-Z9 and high def 720p video to an HDTV.

Imagine the possibilities if you combine the computing horsepower of 16 audio tracks mixed down to the surround format of your choice (5.1, 7.1, 9.1) and resynthesized via the surround modes of an RX-Z9. This will be like enjoying the next generation CVP in 3D surround sound.

Tapas

[Midi Magic]

Hi Tapas

Hang on there, lets not get carried away. At the end of the day this is a PIANO and not a recording studio.

I will just comment on the remote. For it to be any use, ie not just start, stop, volume you would need to reproduce some of the display. This would then mean it would have to be a fair size.

I have a Perception Digital "Hercules Jukebox II" This is a Hi-Fi sized 40G HDD Mp3 player with built in CD drive, which is used to rip the CDs to MP3.
To use this, they give you a two-way IR remote. Basicaly, every time you turn the remote on, it reads the contents of the jukebox's HDD and displays it on it's screen. However the navagation of the songs is very primative, comapered to an iPOD, it is prehistoric. But then it IS two years old, uses USB 1.1 and is full of bugs.

Merry Christmas to you all.

[Tapas]

Hi Midi Magic,

I know, I know, I am daydreaming.

We have become so used to these computers and the fancy audio/MIDI processing, mixing, synthesizing of samples and surround effects that we get easily carried away.

Here we are buying a piano and wishing it to do everything under the sun!

But you have to admit, the possibility is so tantalizingly close. While I was playing back the Ave Maria MIDI file on the 309 yesterday, I could not help closing my eyes and thinking, what if this 309 had a way to transfer multi-channel audio via an HDMI interface or simply 6 analog outs which I can feed into an RX-Z9 and replay the whole MIDI sequence rendered by the exquisite samples of the 309 through my 7.1 home theater setup?

Imagine listening to Ave Maria in a Freiburg Church DSP setting with the Tutti Church organs pumping their deep bass through a Paradigm Servo 15 sub for the grand finale while your hear the audience applause coming through your rear speakers.

That will be a grand illusion.

A two way remote will be a necessity for the reason you stated. Even if Yamaha does not put all the functions in a remote, they could publish the discrete IR codes of every function so that any one with a Philips Pronto could customize the operation as per their specific needs.

Yamaha has done that in the past. If you visit www.remotecentral.com will find a database of all Yamaha IR codes.


Tapas

[dancaputi]

I love the idea of the remote control. That would save me the effort of messing around with Windows CE.

It's only a matter of time seeing as though they have many remote control options for the Disklavier Mark IV. It's got a detachable tablet control screen (802.11b) and a PDA-like remote (IR). Heck they even have a wrist watch remote! Check this out:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,6373,CNTID%253D499%2526CTID%253D204600,00.html

- Dan C.

[drjamesr]

how about a touch screen and a true TFT one at that?

[Tapas]

Drjamesr,

Excellent Idea!!!!

I do not like that dim dual scan passive LCD display. I went to the Casio Outlet store and bought myself a Casio EV-1000 10” LCD TV. I am going to use this one to view the score and the lyrics. It will fit very nicely on top.

In this day and age, who uses a passive LCD? Samsung and Sharp makes some stunning Active Matrix TFT screens. Yamaha could easily house an active matrix TFT screen with an 8” diagonal and full 1024x786 resolution with true 32-bit color depth.

If they use a touch screen, then they can do away with all those extra navigation buttons. It will offer a much cleaner and less cluttered interface. With a 1024x768 resolution screen, you are free to browse all websites.

Cheers!!

Tapas

[drjamesr]

Hi Tapas

Happy New Year. I certainly hope Yamaha takes up your suggestions. I can't see it being esay to do a retrofit on my 307 though unfortunately. Your idea of using a LCD TV is a good one.

cheers

drjamesr

[Tapas]

Hi Drjamesr,

The 307 cannot be retrofitted. But lets hope our suggesstions get implemented on the next generation 407 model.

I got the Casio EV-1000B 10" 640x480 LCD TV for $195. It is inexpensive and perfect for the job at hand. It is very lightweight and you can carry it to your bedroom or kitchen and watch regular TV or hook it up to your cable. It is cable ready. This thing is so bright, you can view it in broad daylight, 30 feet away.

So we have a simple workaround.

Tapas