midi

Yamaha Disklavier, MIDI, ESEQ, and Floppy Disk Tools

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I use a wide variety of software tools when reading floppy disks and preparing ESEQ and MIDI for the Yamaha Disklavier. Below is my attempt to compile the most useful tools I use on a daily basis. If you have any input or want any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

WinImage

A comprehensive disk-imaging suite for Windows. Notably, it successfully transfers Yamaha Electone Performance floppy disks when other tools see them as unformatted. Although it can read some Clavinova and Electone floppy disks, it can not read Disklavier floppy disks. Nonetheless, it’s a versatile floppy disk tool, and a worthwhile addition to your arsenal.

Website: https://www.winimage.com

DKVUTILS (The OG Tools for the Yamaha Disklavier)

Available in DKVUTILS.ZIP on my drive. These are essential utilities for copying and managing Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks.

ESEQ Explorer
Facilitates the creation and management of PIANODIR.FIL for Yamaha Disklavier. Using ESEQ Explorer, you can create PIANODIR.FIL directories for your ESEQ files. This is necessary for older Disklaviers, and also allows you to modify song titles and metadata.

MIDI2SEQ
Convert standard MIDI files to ESEQ for early Yamaha Disklavier compatibility.

ESEQ2MID
Transform Yamaha Disklavier ESEQ files into standard MIDI format. This tool is extremely helpful if you’re transferring your songs from floppy disks from an older Disklavier, to a USB stick for a newer one!

MID2PianoCD

MID2PianoCD is a Windows utility by Mark Fontana for encoding MIDI and ESEQ files into player piano-compatible formats. It supports various electronic player piano systems, including Yamaha Disklavier, PianoDisc iQ, Live Performance LX, Marantz Pianocorder, and QRS Pianomation. You can use it to generates CDs that can be played directly on MIDI player pianos, expanding the versatility of your Disklavier’s music library.

Mark Fontana is an extremely knowledgeable and talented individual, and his software — both this and PPFBU below — are vital staples. He requests donations on his website, and if you find his tools useful, you should support him.

Website: www.kinura.net/mid2pianocd/

Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility

Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility (PPFBU) is the premier Windows-based tool for backing up Yamaha Disklavier and PianoDisc floppy disks. It’s an indispensable tool for backing up your old floppy disks. He requests donations on his website, and if you find his tools useful, you should support him. It has a user-friendly interface, and can be used with USB floppy disk drives, even when Windows cannot see or open the disk.

Website: www.kinura.net/ppfbu/

The “Official” Recommendation for the Yamaha Disklavier: Giebler’s Yamaha DOM Package

Giebler produced a utility with wide-ranging compatibility with Yamaha devices. It will read older Yamaha Clavinova disks, in addition to Disklavier disks. However, this software is old, requiring versions of Windows that mostly can’t even be installed outside virtual machines. If you’re interested in how to get this running, read my article on using Giebler to explore old Clavinova disks.

For nearly all purposes, I recommend PPFBU above, although in isolated circumstances this software might make more sense for your particular project. Yamaha still recommends them today.

All software runs under MS-DOS on IBM PC-XT, PC-AT, or compatibles with a hard disk drive and an internal (non-USB) 3 1/2” floppy disk drive. Most programs are also compatible with MS-DOS shells under Windows 3.1, 95, 98, or ME.

Website: https://giebler.biz/

Keirf’s Greaseweazle

The Greaseweazle allows you to duplicate your Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks — or any other floppy disk — without Windows even necessarily being able to open it. Even better, the Greaseweazle can read your floppy disk as an .hfe file, which you can simply drop onto your Nalbantov USB emulator! It can be used in place of all the tools mentioned above.

The Greaseweazle captures raw flux transitions from drives, enabling the capture and analysis of any disk format, including those used by Disklaviers.

Website: https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle/wiki

Keirf’s FlashFloppy used with a Gotek

FlashFloppy is a powerful firmware solution for Yamaha Disklavier floppy drive replacement and management. A Gotek floppy disk emulator with FlashFloppy installed, used in conjunction with the Greaseweazle, is the single most reliable method of reading floppy disks in USB stick format.

When paired with Greaseweazle, a Gotek with FlashFloppy becomes an exceptionally powerful tool for managing Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks. Greaseweazle captures raw flux transitions to create accurate disk images, which can then be easily written to or read from using FlashFloppy on your Disklavier.

FlashFloppy is open-source, and Keirf’s tools are incredibly valuable for our purposes transferring old floppies. The FlashFloppy firmware can be challenging to install on a Gotek for the first time, so purchase a Gotek with FlashFloppy already installed.

The alternative to FlashFloppy is HxC’s custom firmware which is paid/closed-source, but is used by Nalbantov below:

Nalbantov Floppy Disk Emulator

Nalbantov provides premium floppy disk emulators tailored for specific Yamaha Disklavier pianos, offering seamless integration and exceptional compatibility. The Nalbantov drive comes with guaranteed compatibility and is easy to use, and their support is excellent.

The Gotek and FlashFloppy solution described above will work as an inexpensive alternative; however, it can be a challenging DIY project, and is not advisable for anyone who isn’t quite comfortable tinkering with their own hardware. Additionally, Nalbantov manufactures slimmer drives that fit in models of Disklavier the Gotek does not.

They support a wide range of Yamaha Disklavier models, including early models (MX22, MX80, MX85, MX100A/B, MX116) and advanced models (MX500, Mark II/IIXG/III), as well as various Disklavier Control Units (DKC50R, DKW10, PPC3R, etc.).

For Disklavier owners seeking a reliable and easy-to-use floppy disk emulator with guaranteed compatibility across numerous models, Nalbantov is the best choice. You can search for your model of instrument on their website, and they will send you a properly configured device accompanied by a compatible USB-stick.

GN MIDI Professional

GNMIDI is a powerful tool designed for musicians, educators, and MIDI enthusiasts to play, edit, and convert MIDI files with ease. It’s very useful for converting MIDI files from Type 1 to Type 0. You’ll need this tool to prepare MIDI files you find on the internet for your Disklavier. The professional version allows you to perform large, batch operations, but the lite version works to convert files individually.

Website: https://www.gnmidi.com/

Reading and Writing Yamaha Disklavier Floppy Disks

See my article on Yamaha Disklavier Floppy Disks, ESEQ, and MIDI Formats for more information on how to use the above tools to extract songs from your disks.

See my article on Converting MIDI Files and Creating PIANODIR.FIL for ESEQ Files for more information on how to use the above tools to convert MIDI files and prepare ESEQ files for use in older Disklaviers.

Public Domain MIDI Songs for your Disklavier

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I’ve made a brief list here of websites where you can find free or public domain MIDI files. I always recommend registering or donating if you find the services valuable. If you’re downloading numerous songs at once, I highly recommend DownThemAll, a browser extension that allows you to simultaneously download many files at once. In most cases, these should be used for personal use.

Please also see my premium list of songs for your Disklavier. This list contains only inexpensive or readily available MIDI files, typically in the public domain.

Not sure whether you need MIDI or ESEQ? Check the Disklavier compatibility table. Remember if you’re using the Pianostream app, you can use MIDI files regardless of your Disklavier model.

Kuhmann Directory (the OG MIDI Source)

This directory was my first source for high-quality MIDI and ESEQ files, and was placed online by a Robert C. Kuhmann. Unfortunately, they’re now no longer online. You can access my complete scrape of the MIDI files here. Or my complete scrape of the ESEQ files here. You’re able to download these directories from me in their entirety. If you’re curious, this is the Wayback Machine archive of Robert Kuhmann’s website.

Kunstderfuge

This website has a very large inventory of music, and they’re probably my favorite resource. They advertise that they have 20,000+ songs to choose from (1,000+ composers, 400+ pages). These are MIDI files, so you’ll need to convert them to ESEQ for older Disklaviers if you’re not using a Pianostream. They convert nicely and are organized very well.

However, they do have a five song limit if you’re not a paying member. To become a paying member, a lifetime membership is $20.

mfiles

This website has another large inventory of files, and also offer to do music on commissions. If you’re looking for a specific song you can’t find anywhere, you might try contacting them.

Music commissions are “satisfied by composer Jim Paterson. We suggest clients check his Original Portfolio for examples of his music, and contact him direct via mfiles commissions with details.”

MusicMoz

This website has yet another large inventory of MIDI files, and a search tool.

“MusicMoz is a comprehensive directory of all things music, edited by volunteers. We list, and accept submissions of, music-related reviews, articles, factual information, biographies, and websites.

You can browse the site using our hierarchy of categories, or use the search feature to locate the information you’re looking for.”

Other MIDI Sources

Have a particular song in mind? You might try using this useful bit of Google-fu. Search for your song replacing any spaces with plus signs, and include “filetype:mid” in your search. So, for instance, if you’re searching for “Hey Jude,” try Googling the following phrase:

hey+jude filetype:mid

If you’d like, I can do this for you. Just fill out the following little form below:

Yamaha Electone Performance Disks

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I was recently contacted by a person attempting to copy their Yamaha Electone Performance Disks. These files are not visible on Windows, and if you attempt to open the drive you’ll see “The disk in Drive A is not formatted.” This is typical of Yamaha’s proprietary ESEQ format, and does not necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with the floppy disk at all.

Copying the Files

None of the tools I typically use for reading Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks worked with the Yamaha Electone disk. However, I was able to easily open them with WinImage (https://www.winimage.com/). This was exciting! Give this piece of software a try, and see if you’re able to copy the contents off of the disks directly.

This will allow you to write them to another floppy disk, or store the files for the future. The software is shareware, and costs $30 after 30 days; however, this will give you plenty of time to verify that it works for your disk duplication needs!

Imaging the Disks (with optional Greaseweazle)

You can also save these images as .ima files, and they should be suitable to convert to .hfe files for use on USB floppy disk emulators such as the Gotek or Nalbantov. This is an option even if you cannot read the floppy disks at all.

If the approach of duplicating the disks for use in your Yamaha Electone without copying the contents or opening the disk appeals to you, you could also duplicate these disks using Keirf’s Greaseweazle. See my article on copying Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks using the Greaseweazle. The steps are fundamentally the same.

File Format

The files on the Yamaha Electone performance disks do not easily convert from Yamaha’s ESEQ format to MIDI. The files on these disks appear to be .b00 and .evt files. The .b00 files are consistently sized at 14,336 KB, and there’s one for each .evt file.

How to Make the Disklavier play the Piano Part of Any Song

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The Yamaha Disklavier is a sophisticated piece of technology, but typically, you’re limited to Yamaha’s song library. Many Yamaha songs include both a piano part for the Disklavier and an accompanying music track, though the Disklavier piano part might differ dramatically from the original piano part in the song. In many cases, the piano tracks are recorded as accompaniments by artists, and are either added to songs that didn’t have piano originally, or that are designed to augment rather than to replace the piano in the original recording.

I recently had a customer ask if I could figure out a way for the Disklavier to play the piano portion of a particular song that was important to him.

To achieve this, I used four programs: first, Spleeter by Deezer to isolate the piano and separate it from the other components of the song, and then Audacity, a powerful open-source tool, to edit and combine the non-piano tracks. I chose to use the service Ivory to convert the piano audio to MIDI. Finally, I used Ardour to adjust the timing in the MIDI to perfectly sync it with the audio.

As an alternative to Ivory, Onset and Frames can be locally installed. This software is dated (2018), and there are many frustrations with attempting to run such an old Python program, so I opted not to use this solution. However, if you have a high-end system with a powerful GPU and the free time to get it running, it’s a free option. You’ll also need to train your own model, with was estimated to take several days on my GeForce RTX 4080.

Separating the Tracks

I used the 5stems model in Spleeter, which allows you to individually separate the piano. See the instruction below.

spleeter separate -o ./tmp -p spleeter:5stems "sample.wav"

The output of Spleeter.
Here’s a six-second excerpt from Norah Jones’s “The Nearness of You” with the piano.
Here’s the same six-second clip without the piano.

Recombining the Tracks

After reviewing each track, I found only the bottom vocals track had usable audio; the others were filled with artifacts, so I simply removed them. However, in songs with more instrumentation, this would be an important step. Review the tracks, listen to them individually, and remove any artifacts you can, applying filters as necessary.

This is what the isolated tracks look like without the piano.

Next, I used the Ivory App to transcribe the piano audio track. Ivory is an AI-driven piano transcription tool that converts piano audio into sheet music or into MIDI files. Utilizing advanced deep neural networks, it offers high transcription accuracy. I converted my piano.wav file (produced by Spleeter) into an mp3, and then uploaded it to Ivory.

Transcribing songs on Ivory.
The resulting MIDI file, as displayed in Ardour.

Syncing the Audio

After downloading the MIDI file, I found that the MIDI file did not properly sync with the audio. In order to solve this, I synthesized the audio (using FluidSynth with Yamaha C7 samples). I then imported this into Audacity, and played the isolated piano alongside the original audio. After a few attempts, I then moved the audio back and forth until I determined exactly how much time had to be added to properly sync the two pieces.

fluidsynth -a alsa -g 1.3 -m alsa_seq -i /usr/share/sounds/sf2/Yamaha_C7__SMB_.sf2 ~/DownloadedMIDI.mid -F ~/IsolatedPiano.mp3

The isolated piano comes in much too early!
The isolated piano is perfectly in sync with the original.

After carefully adjusting the audio which I’d synthesized from the MIDI file in Audacity, I determined that the MIDI file needed a total of 1.150 seconds added to it. This is a decimal fraction, rather than seconds in 60ths of a second, which is how Ardour determines time.

Seconds in 60ths = Integer Part + (Decimal Fraction × 60)

Just take the decimal component of the number (.150, in this case), and multiply it by 60. In this case, we end up with 1:09 seconds. Now we have a number we can use in Ardour.

I’ve now carefully moved the track to 1:09 seconds (or 1.150 seconds, according to my measurement in Audacity).
I’ve now extended the MIDI track, and can export it!

Once the MIDI file is downloaded, name the MIDI file from Ivory and the piano-free audio from Audacity identically, and transfer them onto a USB stick. The properly named files will look something like this:

01MySong.mid
01MySong.mp3

Provided the filenames are identical (excepting the extension), the two files will be recognized as the same song by the Disklavier.

Your Disklavier is now ready to play both files in sync! The keys will move to the isolated piano track, and the audio will play alongside it without any competing piano sounds.

Synthesized audio from the MIDI file (using FluidSynth with C7 sampling) along with the vocals.

Combining CD Audio and MusicSoft Floppy Disks from Mark IV for the Enspire / DKC-900

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Here’s a basic outline of the steps involved:

  1. Copy MIDI tracks from Floppy Disks using Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility.
  2. Rip Audio tracks from CD as MP3 files.
  3. Put resulting files in the same directory, making sure the MP3 files and MID files for a given song have the same names.
  4. Put the collection of files in a folder with the album name.
  5. Put the folder onto a USB stick.
  6. Insert the USB stick into your Enspire and enjoy!

Copy MIDI tracks from Floppy Disks

First, you’ll need copies of the MIDI files from the floppy disks. The best tool for this is Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility, created by Mark Fontana. It’s freeware, but he requests donations. You can download it from him, or you can download ppfbu_v1.4_setup.exe from my Disklavier file collection. You can read more about this process on the Disklavier Floppy Disk Backups, ESEQ and MIDI Formats page.

The most important part of this step is that you write the files as “Renamed MIDI files.” I typically name each one with the name of the track, and make sure each name starts with the track number (00, 01, 02…). This makes it much easier to keep track of which MIDI file goes with which MP3 later on.

Using PPFBU to extract the files, and then export them as Renamed MIDI files. I’m using a dedicated Windows XP box that I keep just for this purpose. You can rename the files in PPFBU before you export them, or you can rename the MIDI files after (like I did in this case).

Rip the Audio tracks from CD

You’ll need to rip the audio off of the corresponding audio CD. You can rip CD audio natively on Windows using Windows Media Player. In the Linux environment, I used Asunder. In the Mac environment, you can actually use the Music App. The main point is just to extract mp3 files for each track on the CD.

Ripping an Audio CD using Asunder on a Linux system.

Name and Organize the Files

Below, you can see the files listed after ripping the audio CD, and after backing up the floppy disk drive using Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility. The floppy disk tracks are MIDI files and have a .mid extension. These contain the instructions to operate the piano. The CD tracks have been ripped as MP3 files and therefore have a .mp3 extension—these contain the audio.

'01 - Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley.mp3'
'01 - Tom Dooley.mid'
'02 - Greenback Dollar.mid'
'02 - Kingston Trio - Greenback Dollar.mp3'
...
'12 - Kingston Trio - (Sinking of the) Reuben James.mp3'
'12 Reuben James.mid'

All the files are present, but they will not yet play correctly in the Disklavier, as the filenames do not match.

I wrote a short Python script to automatically rewrite all the filenames to match. Using the numbers at the beginning of each filename, it pairs together matching MIDI and MP3 files and names them whatever the name of the MIDI file is, but without spaces or symbols. This appears to be the same formatting of downloadable Disklavier albums.

Whether you use the script or not, the before and after directory listings indicate how you must rename the files.The script is called using the following syntax:

python merge.py /path/to/your/directory "Album Name"

$ python merge.py . "Kingston Trio"

Copied and Renamed: 01 - Tom Dooley.mid -> 01TomDooley.mid

Copied and Renamed: 01 - Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley.mp3 -> 01TomDooley.mp3

Copied and Renamed: 02 - Greenback Dollar.mid -> 02GreenbackDollar.mid

Copied and Renamed: 02 - Kingston Trio - Greenback Dollar.mp3 -> 02GreenbackDollar.mp3

...

Copied and Renamed: 12 Reuben James.mid -> 12ReubenJames.mid

Copied and Renamed: 12 - Kingston Trio - (Sinking of the) Reuben James.mp3 -> 12ReubenJames.mp3

Listing of resulting directory, “Kingston Trio”:

01TomDooley.mid
01TomDooley.mp3
02GreenbackDollar.mid
02GreenbackDollar.mp3
...
12ReubenJames.mid
12ReubenJames.mp3

Note that now the MP3 and MIDI files have identical names for each song, identical capitalization, and that all spaces and symbols have been removed. In the ENSPIRE, unlike earlier iterations of the Disklavier, filename length does not seem to matter. Here’s a graphical representation of the last folder, ready to move:

The filenames match! It’s ready to be put on a USB stick and played in your ENSPIRE.

It’s Time to Play!

At this point, you can move the complete folder (in this case, Kingston Trio) onto a USB stick, and insert it into the front of your ENSPIRE controller.

Once your USB is inserted, you’ll see the My Songs (5) option appear in the ENSPIRE controller app. (This image is copied from the ENSPIRE Controller Operation Manual created by Yamaha, which is available from them.) Just open up the “Album” (which is the folder you created for all of your files on your USB stick), and select a song! It’ll play the piano parts, and the audio will accompany it.

Disklavier Floppy Disks, ESEQ, and MIDI Formats

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This post is intended to help you read from, write to, or replace Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks.

Some of my customers choose to upgrade their older Disklavier’s floppy drive to a Nalbantov USB drive, and want to know how to copy songs from their old Disklavier floppy disks onto a USB. Some of them just want to be able to back up their disks in case they need to make new ones later. Or maybe, you’re just trying to figure out how to write to disks your Disklavier can actually read!

If you’re adding new music to a floppy disk or Nalbantov USB and have an older Disklavier (such as the popular MX100II), you’ll need to make sure the files are in Yamaha’s proprietary ESEQ format. Using the tools below, you can convert your MIDI files to ESEQ so that they will be in your Disklavier’s native language.

The content on the original floppy disk is protected by copyright and is the property of its respective owners. These instructions are provided to assist owners of legitimate copies in converting the files for personal use on their own Yamaha instruments. Unauthorized copying, sharing, distribution, or commercial use of the converted files is strictly prohibited. By using these instructions, you agree to comply with all applicable copyright laws, licensing agreements, and Yamaha’s terms of use. I disclaim any responsibility for misuse of the information provided. Do not ask me for free copies of Yamaha floppy disk images. I will not provide them.

Have me Back them up For You

If you want your floppy disks files saved on a more modern media, you can also mail your floppy disks to me. You can either email me [email protected], or you can now simply order my floppy disk transfer and recovery service online! I also have shipping instructions for your floppy disks.

Obtaining Files from your Disklavier Floppy Disks

Yamaha floppy disks are a great source of songs that you know will be formatted correctly for your piano. However, floppy disks often don’t age well, and are very susceptible to sunlight and magnetic fields. (This is one more reason to back them up!)

Disklavier floppy disks cannot be natively read by your computer without special software. They will appear as unformatted disks.

There are several tools that will allow you to read them: I use the Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility 1.4, created by Mark Fontana. It’s freeware, but he requests donations. You can download it from him, or you can download ppfbu_v1.4_setup.exe from me. It can read and save directly in ESEQ format, even if the disk it’s reading from is in MIDI. It appears to run acceptably on Mac / Linux using emulators, although this can add complications. When backing up Disklavier floppy disks, there’s no other single tool more useful than PPFBU.

There are other tools out there. Most notably, there was a Hack-a-Day project by Tom Nardi that uses a Python script to copy the data off the floppies. His disklav.py tool is available on GitHub.

If you copied the files in ESEQ format, there’s an extra step before your Disklavier can read them. See below!

The Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility v1.4 running on my dedicated "floppy copy" box.
The Player Piano Floppy Backup Utility v1.4 running on my dedicated “floppy copy” box.

Obtaining even More ESEQ Files from the Internet

In addition to the originals you might have, you can sometimes find these on eBay or at local music stores. Older disks on eBay are seldom tested, so there’s some risk of receiving junk disks.

There are several large online repositories in both ESEQ and MIDI formats. Some of these are of dubious legality. One legitimate resource was kuhmann.com, which had quite a large repository. I have a copy of their entire database. (I worry a lot about these older resources disappearing! They disappeared. Kuhmann’s inventory does appear to be available on the Wayback Machine, but his original website is now off the internet.)

I recently created page with directory of websites with MIDI files that are either free for personal use, or public domain.

You can also source files from Yamaha’s website, although this a more expensive option. Many of their MIDI files have multiple instruments (or even limited piano), and are more designed for their keyboards and other MIDI devices. However, they do have an entire category of Piano Solos, and these are what you’ll want to search for when selecting files. When you download these, you get their associated MIDI files, which are comfortably sized for floppy disk purposes.

Converting MIDI files to ESEQ

If you want to use MIDI files with your older Disklavier, you can, but you have to convert them to ESEQ first. Yamaha Disklavier floppy disks of the era all used this proprietary format, and these Disklaviers cannot read MIDI files natively. However, there’s software that does this conversion for you. You can either get it from http://www.carolrpt.com/MIDItools.htm or you can download the whole DKVUTILS suite from me.

Once you download DKVUTILS.ZIP from my site or theirs, you’ll need to extract it. The program that converts MIDI files to ESEQ files is MID2ESEQ.EXE. This program runs only on Windows, and does not seem to run with emulators. Reach out to me and I can assist with conversion.

Using MID2ESEQ, just drag and drop MIDI files into the window.
Using MID2ESEQ, just drag and drop MIDI files into the window.

MIDI files that have only one track are called Type 0 files. MIDI files with multiple parts are Type 1. Occasionally, the piano will be spread between two tracks. In that case, you’ll find the piano is playing only half or so of the notes it should be. You can convert Type 1 to Type 0 files using the tool GN MIDI Professional. In addition to converting files individually, the professional version can convert batch groups of files. It has a 14-day free trial, and will either run on Windows or on Linux/Mac using Wine.

Using conversion software to merge all the MIDI tracks.
Using conversion software to merge all the MIDI tracks.

ESEQ Files and creating your PIANODIR.FIL

If you have a Yamaha that’s capable of playing ESEQ only, you might also need to create a PIANODIR.FIL index. I have instructions here on creating a PIANODIR.FIL index.

If you are using a Nalbantov, any USB stick you use MUST be formatted either FAT16 or FAT32.

Please also note that the ESEQ filenames should be strictly eight characters long, have no spaces, and be entirely uppercase, including the FIL extension BEFORE creating the PIANODIR.FIL file. I’ve created a script to automate this proper naming process, discussed in my creating a PIANODIR.FIL index instructions.

Formatting 2DD Floppy Disks

Some people choose to use the original floppy disk drives in their 90s-vintage Disklaviers, rather than converting to a Nalbantov. First, it’s important to make certain you’re using the correct floppy disks. The more “modern” 2HD floppy disks require stronger magnetic fields to write, and may not always be compatible with older Disklaviers. The slightly older 2DD drives, however, will work. You can tell the difference readily: 2HD disks have openings at both corners of the Disk, while 2DD disks will have only one.

2HD disks have openings at both corners, but 2DD disks do not. You'll usually find the write-protect slider in one corner, but the other will be blank.
2HD disks have openings at both corners, but 2DD disks do not. You’ll usually find the write-protect slider in one corner, but the other will be blank.

Some have reported covering the hole with electrical tape will trick the Disklavier into believing the disk is a 2DD disk. You may or may not be able to write to it using the Disklavier, but you should be able to read from it using this trick, provided your 2HD disk is formatted as a 2DD disk.

Formatting a 2DD 720KB floppy disk in Linux.
Formatting a 2DD 720KB floppy disk in Linux.

I formatted mine on my Pop!_OS Linux machine with the instruction sudo ufiformat -f 720 -v /dev/[yourdevice]. If you’re using a Windows machine, the instruction is format a: /t:80 /n:9. Pictured below, you can see what this command looks like on my Windows XP floppy transfer box. This command does work in Windows 10 and 11, but requires you to be using an external floppy disk drive that allows this format. Not all of them do.

Formatting a 720 KB 2DD floppy disk in Windows XP.
Formatting a 720 KB 2DD floppy disk in Windows XP.

At this point, you can transfer your .FIL files and PIANODIR.FIL file to your floppy disk. Put them in the root directory, and do not use any folders.

If you have a bunch of MIDI files, and you’d like to put them on a floppy disk, then first format the disk as shown above. Then follow the instructions to convert your MIDI files to ESEQ and create a PIANODIR.FIL.

Potential ESEQ Problems

If you’re using a USB stick in a Nalbantov, it must be formatted FAT16 or FAT32. Nalbantov supplies a video on how to format your USB stick.

If you’re using an actual floppy disk, it must be a 2DD disk formatted to 720 KB. See the above section on identifying the disk and formatting it correctly.

You cannot have both ESEQ files and MIDI files on a disk, even if your particular Disklavier can read both file formats. Each disk or virtual disk must use only ESEQ or MIDI.

Earlier Disklaviers can be finicky about their ESEQ files. Sometimes, they’ll work without any trouble, even without a PIANODIR.FIL file. However, particularly in earlier Disklaviers (such as the DK5R), you’ll need to be more careful with the naming conventions, and you’ll definitely need that PIANODIR.FIL described above.

I’m very grateful for the research of Mike Isreal (in the comments below), who did experimentation with his own Disklavier. Before creating a PIANODIR.FIL for your disk, make certain that all filenames are precisely eight characters long, and that both the filename and extension are in all-caps. The filename must contain no spaces.

Some have commented that it appears you can also omit the .FIL extension (at least in some cases). According to Nalbantov, there might be cases where a fully lower-case filename and extension are called for, although I have not run into that particular case yet.

Some of this is caused by the choosiness of the Disklavier itself, but it seems likely to me that a lot of the free tools we’re relying on probably add their own complications. If you are experiencing any trouble, please reach out to me for assistance. You can also Categories Disklaviers Tags , , , 24 Comments