Since I have been selling recut rolls for the Wurlitzer Automatic
Player Piano I have started to look a little closer at original rolls.

I had assumed that all original rolls were perfect.  Original rolls
seem to have a lot of mistakes.  I have seen two Ampico rolls laid on
top of each other and there were differences in the two identical
rolls.

The nickelodeon rolls by Clark and Automatic were really bad, with
staggered notes in the chords and, in some cases, a note extended past
the original chord into the next chord (same chord repeated) which
meant that a punch stayed on when it should have turned off.

There are missing notes on some rolls.   Many, if not all, of these
mistakes have been repeated in rolls that were recut in the 1970's.
Many of those rolls also introduced new mistakes not in the original
rolls.

There are several people making computer scans of original rolls and
converting them into MIDI files.  I use Richard Brandle's "Wind"
software to look at these scans and I try to correct the mistakes I can
find.  I would like to know if anyone has scans of Link nickelodeon
rolls they would be willing to share with me.  I do not have any Link
rolls in MIDI format and would like to see them.

I have transcribed eighty-eight note rolls, using my grand at home with
the Gulbransen MIDI system, of which I am not happy.  I have used a
push-up piano player (88-note) with a Yamaha Disklavier.  Those results
were choppy sounding when played back via MIDI.  Many of my files were
transcribed by others and they seem to be better than mine.  Currently
I have a friend that is building an optical scanner which I hope will
produce more accurate scans.

With all these scans and super Brandle software we should be able to
produce rolls superior to those made in the heyday of the player piano.
I would like to see someone produce some really good nickelodeon music.
With all the technical expertise in the world it seems that it should
be fairly easy to convert rolls for a Link into 'A' rolls, or Wurlitzer
rolls into 'A' rolls, or whatever you can imagine.

Don Teach