Hi Andy,

For years I have dreamed of a vorsester, ie a unit that can be
placed onto a keyboard, and with its fingers plays that keyboard.
Of course this was one of the earliest player piano developments.
When Marantz Pianocorder came out in the seventies, there was a
vorsester model.  I almost ended up with one.

Then there was an enterprising individual who bought a Pianocorder
kit and installed it in a player piano.  His concern was the
recording strip, so that when the player played a roll, the recording
strip would record it to tape.  Of course that put him at risk with
various copyright laws.  Fortunately he was a tinkerer, not a
marketer.  And fortunate for me because I was the one he hired to
regulate the confounded grasshopper leg contact recording strip,
in spite of my "educated" opinion that such a system might not produce
the desired results. But we were both curious, and thankfully I did
get paid, but we both realized that a better recording strip should
be developed, which was beyond our means.

So Andy, think of it this way, would you be better off developing a
better recording strip, (one placed under the keys (or there about)
to record their movement), or developing a sensor to read holes
passing over a tracker bar?

As I began, I have dreamed of a vorsester that is triggered by MIDI.
Placed on a Steinway B.  Any one know of soleniods strong enough to
get a triple forte from a B and sensitive enough to produce ppp  ?  I
could hook baling wire to the damper lift tray and avoid the
cumbersome sustain pedal solenoid(s).

Richard also dreaming

P.S.  There are pneumatic vorsesters that could be restored and made
to play a piano with a MIDI recording device.