Luckily, the data on the magnetic stripe of a Yamaha Playcard is stored as audio-frequency tones, which can simply be captured and stored as WAV files, which can then be replayed into a keyboard instead of the original card.
This page contains such audio captures of some of the Playcards I own. There is no need to open or modify your keyboard in order to load these files into it. All you need is a simple and cheap "telephone pickup coil" which can be purchased from any good electronics shop, and an amplifier or stereo system with a headphone output that goes fairly loud. Read on for more details.
If you want to know how these files were created, have a look at Archiving Playcard Data.
How To Load Captured Data Into your Keyboard
To replay the
data back into the keyboard, you don't even need to modify the
keyboard! All you need is an inexpensive "telephone pickup coil"
with a suction-cup, which can be purchased for a few
pounds/dollars from any good electronics supplier. (Credit to
Jayson Smith for the idea!) There are a few different shapes and
sizes around, but they mostly resemble the one shown right. The telephone pickup coil is used in reverse, to inject the recorded playcard signal back into the keyboard. You simply stick the coil to the top of the keyboard, near the magnetic head, and play the data through it.
For this to work, you need to play the signal back through the coil at a very high volume. An average personal CD or MP3 player will not go loud enough, nor will a typical computer sound card - you will need to use a relatively powerful audio amplifier for this.
Confusingly, the optimal position to attach the pickup coil is not directly over the magnetic head.
On the PC-100, the optimal position for the coil seems to be just behind the Playcard slot, roughly in the middle of the narrow part of the slot between the "Violin" and "Oboe" buttons. See picture below. Stick the coil here using its suction cup, and play the recorded Playcard data back through the coil. The keyboard should behave just as if you had swiped a real playcard.
On the PCS-30, the best position I can find is behind the Playcard slot, but above and slightly to the left of the "Orchestra" slider.
In the case of the PC-1000, the Playcard slot is very close to the back edge of the keyboard, and there is not enough room to attach the sucker. However, the best position on this keyboard appears, again, to be behind the Playcard slot, immediately above the letter "S" of the word "SOLO", but you have to hold the coil in place as the sucker will not attach.
 |
 |
 |
| Location of Coil
on PC-100 |
Location of Coil
on PCS-30 |
Location of Coil
on PC-1000 |
For other keyboard models, similar positions are likely to be best, but you will need to experiment. If it doesn't work, try increasing the volume, and repositioning the coil until you find a reliable location.
The Playcard
Archive - Updated 18th October 2011
So, after all
that, here comes the archive itself! Each file is PCM, 44.1kHz, 16-bit, mono. The files play for approximately 1 second, and have a file size of around 100k.
Any additional submissions for this archive will be gratefully received, and full credit will be given to all contributors (if you want).
You can download all 144 files as One Big Zip file (about 1.24MB), or get individual cards or sets listed below.
New cards will be added to this archive as I receive them, so watch this space!
Troubleshooting
All of the files on this page have been tested and they all load reliably on my PC-100 Keyboard using the method described above.If you experience problems loading the files into your keyboard, try these suggestions. It's helpful to set whatever playback device you are using to repeat a single file over and over again while you make adjustments, until the keyboard successfully reads the data.
- The
most likely cause of problems is simply that the signal into
the coil is not loud enough. You need a very high-level signal
into the coil for the keyboard to be able to "hear" the data
stream. A personal MP3 player will not go anywhere near loud
enough, nor will a typical computer sound card. I use the
headphone output on my home stereo amplifier, with the volume
control set to around half to two-thirds of maximum volume.
This level would be completely unbearable on real headphones,
and would probably damage your hearing, but it's perfect for
the Playcard reader.
- Make sure any tone controls (bass, treble, equalizer profiles etc. ) on your amplifier are set to "flat" (usually the middle position) or better still bypass the tone controls completely if your amplifier has this facility.
- Make
sure any Bass Boost or other "effects" on your stereo system
are switched off.
- Try adjusting the volume of your amplifier, both up and down. You do need a loud signal, but if you go too loud you might overload the keyboard's circuitry and it won't be able to understand the data.
- Move the pickup coil around, trying different positions until the keyboard reads the data.
- If you
are using a computer to play the files, make sure nothing is
interfering with your audio playback and adding noise to the
output signal. If you suspect this is the problem, try burning
the files to a standard audio CD and playing them on an
ordinary CD player. Note that the minimum track length for an
audio CD is 4 seconds, so the files will need to be padded
with silence to make them compliant. Most CD burning software
will do this automatically for you, but notably Nero Burning
ROM (a very popular product for MS Windows) does not do this
and simply refuses to add the files to your compilation.
Windows users can use Windows Media Player to burn the CD,
which pads the files automatically.