If you are buying a reproducing piano to listen to music on (and
why else would you buy one?), then it must help to consider the roll
repertoire for each.  It's generally said that Duo-Art has the best
classical repertoire and Ampico the best dance rolls.  Red Welte has
an unparalleled collection of older European pianists of historical
interest, some of which later appeared in Licensee form.

All the systems can be made to play musically, and performance
capability isn't really a reason to select between them.

I have heard a couple caveats about Welte rolls that I'd like the
opinion of other collectors about.  It has been pointed out to me
that Red Welte rolls vary slightly from copy to copy because they
were copied 1-to-1 rather than using 3-to-1 masters used by the other
systems.  Also, comparing copies of the same piece show some rolls
with expression coding displaced relative to the notes.  Given the fast
crescendo system used by Welte, this would have a disastrous effect on
the performance.  How common is this, I wonder?

I assume the above also applies to performances cut in Welte Licensee
format, as errors in the originals used would have been embedded into
the new system.

Julian Dyer

 [ Wayne Stahnke reported to me that seldom could he locate two
 [ identical T-100 copies of the same roll number.  Practically all
 [ existent original production copies of T-100 "Red" Welte-Mignon
 [ rolls exhibit small differences; the effect on the performance
 [ cannot be determined unless two or more copies can be played and
 [ compared on the same reproducing piano.  To my knowledge, all Welte
 [ Licensee production copies were made synchronously, and therefore
 [ all should be identical, hole-for-hole.  Errors in the original
 [ T-100 roll should be faithfully copied, too!  -- Robbie