There has been a taint to the thread in regard to "loud" Duo-Arts that
I really believe misrepresent this instrument, and I would like to put
it straight.

Both the DuoArt and the Ampico were debuted at Carnegie Hall and other
major performance centers across the country.  World-famous artists were
in attendance on stage, and often, one of the purposes of the
demonstration was to determine when the reproducer was playing, and when
the concert artist was playing.  Since the score always settled down to
a 50-50 score, it was clear that not even the finest musical ears in the
country could really determine in fact when the player piano was
performing, and when the artist was playing his own music.  They often
switched around and played "duets," duets with the player, or each
other, etc.  I actually have one of the schemes used by the Ampico
Company to do this.

The point is, artistic music is never "loud"!  Artistic music gets loud
at times, but cannot be deemed "loud" except by very unmusical
individuals who couldn't discern the difference between beautiful music
and a road grader.

So my opinion is that when musical people describe their piano as
"loud," they are referring to a deficiency in expression, as opposed to
an overpowered pump.  We are here to change that, and if you will just
give us a chance, we will.  I hope that those who also own "loud"
Duo-Arts will realize that, "They ain't heard nothing yet!"

Craig B.