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I'm trying to get a private owner of a Spirio system to allow me to try the midi port on his controller box, and thus control it with a computer. He's a bit nervous about me trying, and would like some proof from Steinway that its benign.

Does anyone have access to the Spirio user guide so I can verify that it's possible and satisfy him? I've already contacted Steinway, but I guess because it's not MY piano, there was no response.

I suppose it might not be benign if you played a black midi file. I guess it would be silly if Steinway shipped nonworking midi ports.

By the way, my Yamaha DYUS5 Enspire standard does not have midi ports, kind of a disappointment. I use a wireless wifi adapter and drag midi files into the file structure and it plays them.

It’s ok, I’m not into DAWs and all. It doesn’t sound like your friend is into them either. Which model did he buy? A model B?

Ask your friend to contact Steinway for technology information.

There’s an easy way to solve this problem.

You can go to a Steinway dealer who has a Spirio, and say you are interested in the Spirio and want to know whether you can see whether the midi port works, since that is important for the use you want it for. I am guessing they are not going to deny a potential customer.

Yes but that won't convince my friend. Need it written or something to show.

The dealer can get you this information. Usually corporate level contacts are more responsive to dealers than they are to individuals.

You can only send MIDI out to the Spirio. It's fine, and it works (that's why the MIDI IN port is there). There is no User Guide available.

Find out whether the main control box on the underside of the Spirio is silver (first generation Spirio, based on the Live Performance LX system) or black (second generation, a new design commissioned by Steinway). I worked on the firmware for the first generation units and continue to maintain the firmware for LX owners; I was not involved with the second generation (Spirio R / Spirio Play). I believe Steinway does not officially support the MIDI IN port on the first generation systems, but they did not disable it. The MIDI port will respond to note and pedal events only on MIDI channel 1 (of 16) but predates some protective features that were later implemented in the LX firmware. To avoid trouble, don't try stunts like striking 30+ keys at the same time (might blow the stack fuse) and don't deliberately allow notes to be held on longer than 30 seconds or so. If you stick to ordinary, well-authored piano MIDI files, you'll be fine. Use MIDI note velocities in the range 24-100. If you don't need real-time control via MIDI, you will get more accurate playback (including true proportional pedaling) by encoding MIDI files to native Spirio streams using my MID2PianoCD encoder.

Hello, Mark - since you worked on the firmware, I have a new Spirio and wanted to control the volume of play by hopefully using a general setting that would control the level of key stroke pressure. Some of the performances were obviously in a large hall and the performer hammered the heck out of the keys for full effect. I have this piano in my foyer, which is reasonable sized, but wanted to mellow the play if possible. Ideas? Cheers and thanks!

Out of curiosity, why aren't you using the to host USB on the back I/O box?

That's built into the system already. Touch the volume icon when your selection is playing and simply drag it to how soft you want it. All the way to the left will read "soft play" and all the way to the right will read "Full Dynamic Range".

I believe I have a USB to WiFi transmitter on the back but I’ll look tomorrow. What am I missing?

It’s not easy to get behind the piano.

My question as well Larry. MIDI ports are so 20th century. Cutting edge products haven't needed them for, geez, almost 20 years.

Interestingly, when I looked under the first generation Spirio, I was surprised to see serial ports. Your DYUS5 doesn't have those either. (They haven't been needed for years either).

There is a LAN plug. I’m using that to a little wireless device to communicate with the UD-WL01 plugged in the front control panel.

Here is a picture of the box in the back:



https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/pianos/accessories/ud-wl01/index.html

So, what I need to do is tie in my Disklavier to the television, and stereo, which is in the living room adjacent to the dining room, where the piano is located. I need to run a 30? foot RCA cable from the RCA outputs on this box to the stereo. That way, I could enjoy DisklavierTV and any Pianosoft+Audio titles. The television is next to the stereo.

Rich, any tips? I'm trying to think who makes a decent RCA cable, a long one. I am able to follow a wall from one room to the other so I can pretty much hide the cable.

Setup guides are here: https://www.yamaha.com/usa/disklaviertv/setup.html

Not intending to revive an old thread, however Google pointed me to this page when looking up the same, so posting the following reference in case it is useful to anyone else: https://spirio-spotlight.steinway.com/quickstart-guide-r/welcome

Spirio User Guide:

* Be rich
* Have a big home
* Do not play the piano
* Show off your wealth and supposed affinity to culture to those who you want to impress by your wealth

This is actually how they market the Steinway brand here in Austria. No more Boston or Essex pianos in the main showroom and all the rest of the instruments crammed into an adjacent room. And of course no piano bench in front of the concert grand.

If you own a Steinway and need to have it repaired after 20 or so years of ownership, you will be told that they will gladly send your piano to Hamburg and send it back to you after 18 months and after handing over 40-50k EUR.

These days Steinway's sales and marketing strategy is to become the equivalent to Gucci handbags, at least in their own stores.