How to Connect to Your Disklavier via Yamaha iPhone Controller App

In an effort to help others who might be having trouble using the new Yamaha iPhone Controller App with their Disklavier, I am posting another HOW TO here.  Hopefully, this will help some who might be having trouble connecting their iPhone app to control their Disklavier piano.

Last night when we returned from dinner, the lights on our Apple Express and Apple Extreme devices were flashing yellow. This was basically an indication that something was awry with the wifi home network and the bridge from this network to our Disklavier piano (possibly caused by a small power outage). After disconnecting these devices from the wall sockets and power, we recycled the modem and devices and eventually they all connected and the lights were green again. However, when this happens this seems to reset the IP Address for the Apple Express device and then our various devices that control the piano do not automatically connect again, unless we set them to the correct IP address so that the piano might be found. In the previous post, I discussed the means to connect to the Disklavier with the Virtual PRC.

Today,  I will discuss how to connect the Disklavier with the Yamaha iPhone Controller app. I was able to connect by the following steps without a problem:

Part I - Steps to connecting using PianoSearch on Yamaha iPhone Controller App.
Run the Yamaha Controller iPhone app from your iPhone.   If it does not connect you will see a spinning with the message 'Connecting'.

Below the spinning you will see the button 'PianoSearch'. Tap on the PianoSearch button. Another screen should appear as illustrated below:

The name and ID for your Disklavier should appear in the box in the middle of the app screen. Tap on this selecting your piano. This should bring up a screen of the last played song and a slider along the bottom that indicates the piano is in 'Standby' and that you need to slide this slider to turn on the piano and to be able to access the play and volume buttons, as well as to be able to change to another album, source and song or playlist.

After sliding the bar across, you can then select a new source, album, song or playlist.  Once the song is selected tap on the center of the screen and you will see the play, volume controls for that song.

You should now be connected to your piano and able to control the piano, as well as access the Yamaha Radio and store from your iPhone.

Part II:  Another Message Appears while trying to Connect your iPhone App to Disklavier
As sometimes happens in our household, my iPhone connects without a hitch and my husband has a problem.  This morning he tried connecting using the steps above with the Yamaha iPhone Controller app but in doing so, received the following messages:

45 seconds after starting the Controller app the following message appeared on his iPhone:

After a minute or so more the 'Message Box' disappeared and instantly reappeared.  After another minute or so, the 'Message Box' went away and everything worked correctly until it needed to reconnect.  It then hung up, when trying to reconnect (as shown below):

Possible Solution:
This morning he illustrated the sequence of events that had ocurred on his iPhone and to no avail he was not able to connect to the piano and the iPhone app seemed to be in an endless loop trying to continually 'Connect'.   He tried deleting the app, reinstalling the app, rebooting the iPhone, rebooting the Disklavier piano and nothing seemed to change the 'connecting' status of the Yamaha Controller app.

In an effort to find a solution, I went into the living room, where the Disklavier piano resides and noticed that the physical PRC (Piano Remote Control) did not have a light on the top of the controller indicating that it was linked to the piano.  Sometimes, this remote seems to unseat itself from the charging cradle.  So I unplugged it from the charging cradle, reseated it into its charging cradle and allowed it time to connect to the piano.   

At that point the Yamaha iPhone Controller app started to respond and a connection was made to the piano, and was working again to control the piano.   I am not sure why this was an important step in the process of connecting the iPhone app on his iPhone to the piano.  It didn't seem to be a problem with my iPhone or my Ipad connecting, but for some reason it seemed to be a factor for his iPhone app to work properly.

Note:  The message box that he was receiving on his iPhone app screen, was indicating that the PRC needs to be uptodate with the latest 4.0 system software.    If you have installed the system 4.0 to your Disklavier and have not also updated the PRC remote in the system update process, this may also be a reason that you cannot connect the Yamaha iPhone app to your piano. Tweet