PianoDisc versus Pianoteq

Yes, but do you know how that translates electronically? I wonder what information it would have in a midi file?

Rob

Don't forget that velocity not only influence the db levels but also the tone .  What is important to consider is not the range at such i.e. 0 -127 but the level of possible step values with a given piano dynamic ( as per notation value) . For instance , if  you play a passage in a the p region around velocity 50 ,with good stability in your playing , with a good midi keyboard ( consistent midi output) the number of times you are going to hit the same velocity number and produce the same sound is high compared to the same passage played with intermediate values. It is particularly noticeable with quick repeated notes  that sounds unnatural in absence of round robin algorithm if you play with Midi 1.0 .

Is 0-127 a major limitation ? No.  One could say the same if you compare an MP3 audio file encrypted at 320 kb/s vs  a WAV file. The devil is in the details , and human ear perception about frequency changes is   high enough ( higher than perception of decibel levels changing) to justify Midi 1.0 specifications changes. This has been one of the driver to release 2010 Midi 1.0 Extended velocity Addendum ( The famous CC#88  with 16k level) prior to Midi 2.0 specs (Midi 2.0 is much more than just 65k levels of velocity)

Hi Rob,

I'm also a Rob... piano technician and PianoDisc installer. I have an older Pianodisc IQ player system on my Baldwin 6'3" grand piano and the ProRecord MIDI key sensor rail for quiet time playing with a hammer stop rail. When you say 'PianoDisc' are you talking about the physical player/record system or the data + audio files the piano plays?

Well, first off, PianoDisc files are not MIDI. They are digitally encoded audio files that are processed by the Pianodisc solenoid board controller which drive each individual piano key and the sustain pedal. You can't 'play' them on a file player as they are not a music file but a set of instructions for the mechanical player mechanism that tell the solenoid when and how hard to strike and how long to dwell and release.

It's a proprietary format that Pianodisc has been using since the 90's when I was installing the first units that used 3.5" floppy discs in the player controller. They moved to CD-ROMs (PianoCD) and now to wireless bluetooth to transmit the songs to the Pianodisc CPU. That's what my PianoDisc IQ system and the newer Prodigy systems use. It's essentially a music song library on an Ipad that plays wirelessly to the player piano.

It doesn't have a piano 'sample' to compare to as it's more like a set of instructions for a CNC machine. the 1024 levels of expression are the amounts the solenoids can be controlled to. It's not a digital piano with a modelled or sampled sound, its a controller for a mechanical playback system that can be added to pretty much any piano.

Now, MIDI files can be converted to PianoDisc files, I've used a couple encoding apps over the years. The output is an .mp3 audio file that plays the piano through the player controller, but it is no longer a MIDI file. You can't reverse an encoded PianoDisc .mp3 file to MIDI as it's now an audio file. It does not work as a 'music' file and can't be imported into a DAW or audio player, all you'll hear is digital high-pitched noise.

So to sum up, PianoDisc is a mechanical playback system that uses proprietary music data files.