I spoke with Craig Knudsen — MIDI Designer Core Test team member and Top Yamaha Consultant — about the amazing video he made with Tony DeSare and Robbie Vicencio.
…[we’re using] a YAMAHA Disklavier and an EZ-220 for the underwater shot! Just in time for the 40th Anniversary of JAWS release on June 20th, 1975.
I used MIDI Designer Pro (MDP) to enter the aftertouch codes to hold the Disklavier keys into special positions to create the “teeth” on this 88-toothed shark. Tony played the piano and I created these “animations” around his playing, bringing this shark piano to life.
With MDP I was able to create the special After Touch codes and test them out wirelessly, and see what they looked like. This was connected via a Quicco Sound MIDI device to turn the Disklavier into a wireless receiver to test the patterns. Then, using an iConnectivity midi4+ model, I isolated Tony’s MIDI performance data and switched between the two.
MDP was literally the only app I found to send these unpublished MIDI codes wirelessly to the piano during development.
Disklavier Layout for Jaws Piano in MIDI Designer (Left Side)
Tony and Robbie used several LCD projectors to broadcast the video directly on the piano. By the way, for the piano arrangement, Tony created all the sounds using the acoustic piano… or rather all the sound effects
I’m really grateful for the shoutout, and very excited to be collaborating with such high-caliber artists. For more information:
Craig on Facebook @craigaknudsen
Tony on Facebook @tonydesare
Robbie on Facebook @robbievicencio