QRS has developed for use with its systems an extensive library of CDs comprising over 3,000 selections in every imaginable genre. Rather than synthesized music, this library is made up almost entirely of live performance recordings, including solo piano, piano with orchestral accompaniment, and piano with background music and vocals.

CDs can be purchased one at a time or obtained through NetPiano, a service through which customers can download to their Pianomation-equipped piano, through their per-sonal computer, any of the thousands of songs in the QRS library. NetPiano is now all digital, so customers can store the music on CompactFlash, on their MP3 players, or by burning their own CDs. A wireless transmitter plugged into the computer's audio jack transmits the music to the piano. This subscription-based service gives the subscriber access to songs anytime, day or night, without having to build a CD library. Subscriptions are available only through QRS dealers or through the QRS website.

YAMAHA DISKLAVIER

Yamaha Corporation of America
P.O. Box 6600
Buena Park, California 90622
714-522-9011
800-854-1569
infostation@yamaha.com
www.yamaha.com

Disklaviers are Yamaha pianos that have been outfitted with an electronic player-piano system. These mechanisms are installed only in new Yamahas, and only at the Yamaha factory. They cannot be retrofitted into older Yamahas or any other brand.

Disklavier differs from most aftermarket systems in that Disklavier is not modular. Whatever Disklavier features come with a particular model of piano is what you get (although software upgrades are possible). The sophistication of the key, hammer, and pedal sensing also varies, depending on which Disklavier (E3 or Mark IV) is associated with that particular piano model.

Some of the highlights of the Mark IV Disklavier include:

• 80 Gigabyte hard drive capable of holding all Disklavier software ever written (and then some)
• CD drive
• floppy drive
• pocket remote control to com-municate wirelessly with the Disklavier
• built-in Ethernet for connecting to your network and down-loading MIDI files
• grayscale (continuous) hammer-shank sensors (on 6' 1" and larger models) for more sensitive recording capabilities
• XG tone generator with hundreds of synthesized and sampled sounds
• dedicated digital piano sound chip
• Articulation Element Modeling (AEM) voices for greater realism in orchestrated backgrounds
• built-in speaker system
• karaoke capability
• 16-track recording capabilities
• Silent Mode: silences the acous-tic piano for listening through headphones
• Quiet Mode: silences the acoustic piano and directs the sound to speakers
• Quick Escape Action: maintains correct action regulation when using Silent Mode or Quiet Mode
• headphones
• SmartKey: a teaching device
• CueTime: a smart accompani-ment feature
• PianoSmart Audio Synchroni-zation: the ability to link a piano track in MIDI format with selected popular CDs on the general market for synchronized playback
• PianoSmart Video Synchronization: videotape a piano performance and the Disklavier will play the performance back perfectly on the piano whenever you play back the video of the performance
• Disklavier Radio: a group of streaming MIDI music stations, available on a subscription basis