It is important to use rolls made for a particular variation
of Violano if the proper results are to be obtained.

The Mills Novelty Company realized this when they were
making and selling these instruments and continually advised
their customers to buy new "up-to-date rolls" "for proper
sound" otherwise the performances would be compromised.

The 'whys' of all these variations to the same basic
instruments have been the subject of some conjecture over
the years.  Whatever the reason, the instruments were
continually being "improved" throughtout the entire
production period.

There were other variations of the Violanos that were never
meant to get out of the factory except for special purposes,
that I heard of, usually one of a kind, including one in
which the bow-wheels could change directions and rotate in
the oposite direction, another one that could perform
pizziccato, another one in which the strings were kept in
tune by springs rather than weights.

The first Violano that I personally owned was an odd one.
It was one of the very last ones to leave the Mills company.
There were parts in it that had been rejceted by inspectors
earlier because of some small defect.  Fortunately, these
were cosmetic but one of them was quite noticeable.  The
foundry had cast the plate with the "9" upside down so that
it indicated that this machine was patented in 1612.

I've owned five of the 'single' and one 'double' Violanos
and have worked on about forty-four others in the past forty
years and have had as many as about four hundred-fifty rolls
so I've had ample time to observe both the instruments and
their rolls.

As a side comment let me say that my first contact with the
Mills Novelty Company had nothing to do with Violano
Virtuosos.

I was a youngster living and working in Chicago.
I was an ice cream maker for the Mandel Bros. store and used
a Mills Novelty Company ice cream machine.  Once, when
needing something for ice cream machine, I visited the
Mills Novelty Company.  It was some time later that I became
aware of the marvelous musical instruments that they had
made earlier.  I was informed that nearly all of the
equipment associated with the Violano Virtuosos had been
donated to the scrap drive early during World War II.

Hal Davis - The Electric Piano Roll Company & Leslie Organ Company.

The following information has been compiled by, and
remains the property of, the Electric Piano Roll
Company & Leslie Organ Company, Box 1, Leslie,
MI 49251-0001,  This information may not be reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
by The Electric Piano Roll Company & Leslie Organ Company.

The following is a listing of variations that were
discovered through research of several hundreds of
rolls originally manufactureed by the Mills Novelty Company
of Chicago, Illinois for use on their Mill's Violano
Virtuoso instruments.

Although no specific dates are herein given, the listings
are in chronological order.

                      * * * * * *

Roll Functions for the Mill's Violano Virtuoso Rolls.

As the playing notes for both the piano and the violin
remain the same throughout the entire production from
beginning to end, the Channels indicating those playing
notes will not be repeated here for each variation.
There were, however, some early rolls made that had
only a violin part.

Please refer to the complete scale listing.

******************************************************

Basic Scale

 D    1. Bow Motor - slow slow - very soft - vanish.
BA    2. Bow Motor - fast fast - very loud - bow action.
      3. "S" Staccato
*a    4. "T" Tremolo (early)                       Gray
LL    5. Bow Motor - fast - loud.                  Blue
      6. - 18. Violin notes "D" String.
     19. Reroll - rewind- (discharge D.C.) - reverse.
 S   20. Bow Motor - soft - slow.                  Brown
     21. - 43. Violin notes "E" String.
     44. Piano Hammer rail up - piano soft         Green
     45. - 57. Violin notes "G" String
     58. Piano Hammer rail down - piano loud       Yellow
     59. - 73. Violin notes "A" String
     74. "T" Tremolo (late, after roll #1700)      Red
     75. Credit Cancel - coin box cancel - auto cut-off
     76. - 119. Piano notes
*b  120. Piano sforzando (not all machines have this.)Gray
*c  121. Piano Dampers off - Sustain (pedal)
    122. Violin mute (only on certain machines)
*c  123. Piano Dampers on - sustain off - in early machines)

*a.  With the beginning of hand played rolls circa #1700 the
Tremolo line was moved to 74 and shortly later the Tremolo
was discontinued from 4. There were some rolls produced that
had both lines for Tremolo.

*b.  Line 120 was used on certain instruments as another
level of Piano expression.  This was done by shunting a
resistor in the common lead of the lines to the Piano notes
thus causing them to strike louder thus providing up to six
levels of piano expression, and on those equipped with the
Violin mute action (circa 1924, 1925) up to eight piano
levels were obtainable.
 
*c.  Later machines do not use the Lock and Cancel type
sustain, and later rolls have the sustain holes on line 121
cut for the length of the desired sustain.  On these
instruments there is no wire lead connected to terminal 123
on the piano action terminal strip.  Early rolls cut only
for the Lock and Cancel type sustain will sound choppy when
played on a later style instrument not equipped with the
lock and cancel system.
 

******************************************************

Variation  #1.

  1. Very soft (violin)
  2. Very loud (violin)
  3. Violin expression on
  4. Violin expression off
  5. Loud (violin)
      -----
19. Reroll
20. Soft (violin)
     -----
44. Nil
     -----
58. Nil
     -----
74. Nil
75. Credit Cancel
     -----
120. Piano Expression on
121. Piano Sustain on
122. Piono Expression off
123. Piano Sustain off

*******************************************************

Variation  #2.

  1. Very Soft
  2. Very Loud
  3. Violin Expression (Accent)
  4. Tremolo
  5. Loud
     -----
19. Reroll
20. Soft
     -----
44. Piano Soft (Hammer rail up)
     -----
58. Piano Loud (Hammer rail down)
     -----
74. Nil
75. Credit Cancel
     -----
120. Piano Expression on (Accent)
121. Piano Sustain on
122. Piano Expression off
123. Piano Sustain off

*******************************************************

Variation #3

44. Unknown usually 2 to 4 opertions in the entire five
tune roll.
     -----
58. Same as 48.
     -----
74. New Tremolo

*******************************************************

Variation #4

     -----
120. Piano Expression
121. Piano Sustain on
122. Delete Piano Expression lock & cancel
123. Piano Sustain off

*****************************************************
 
Variation #5.

     -----
  3. Delete Violin Expression (accent)

****************************************************

Variation #6

  1. Very Soft (Violin)
  2. Very Loud (Violin)
  3. Nil
  4. Tremolo
  5. Loud (Violin)
     -----
19. Reroll
20. Soft (Violin)
     -----
44. Piano Soft (Hammer rail up)
     -----
58. Piano Loud (Hammer rail down)
     -----
74. Tremolo
75. Credit Cancel
     -----
120. Piano Expression
121. Piano Sustain
122. Nil
123. Nil
 

****************************************************

Variation #7

     -----
  4. Tremolo (Auto rosiner off)
     -----
76. Credit Cancel (Auto Rosiner on)
 

**************************************************

Variation #8

     -----
  3. Violin Stacatto

************************************************

Variation #9

     -----
120. Delete Piano Expression

**************************************

Variation #10

     -----
122. Add Violin Mute & Piano very soft.

************************************************

Variation #11

     -----
122. Delete Violin mute & Piano very soft

****************************************************

Variation #12

  1. Very Soft (Violin)
  2. Very Loud (Violin)
  3. Nil Delete staccato
  4. Tremolo (Rosiner off)
  5. Loud (Violin)
     -----
19. Loud (Violin)
20. Reroll
     -----
44. Piano Soft (Hammer rail up)
     -----
58. Piano Loud (Hammer rail down)
     -----
74. Tremolo (Rosiner off
75. Credit Cancel (Rosiner on)
     -----
120. Nil
121. Sustain
122. Nil
123. Nil

********************************************

Variation #13

     -----
  4. Delete Tremolo

********************************************

Variation #14
 

  1. Very Soft (Violin)
  2. Very Loud (Violin)
  3. Piano Loud (Hammer rail down)
  4. Rosiner off    see note
  5. Tom tom
     -----
19. Reroll
20. Snare Drum (single stroke)
     -----
44. Snare Drum (iterating)
     -----
58. Bass Drum
     -----
74. Cymbal
75. Credit Cancel (Rosiner on)
     -----
120. Wood Block
121. Piano Sustain
122. Piano Soft (Hammer rail up)
123. Nil

Note - This roll variation is for the Violano Virtuoso with
the matching "Drum" Cabinet. In this variation the Tremolo
is wired ON permanently.  There is a rotary switch located
inside the lower part of the cabinet next to the feeder
frame for shutting off the percussion instruments thus
enabling playing of regular rolls other than the "Orchestra"
rolls which were the ones made specifically for the Violano
Virtuoso/Drum Cabinet combination.

*********************************************************

Variation #15

  1. Very Soft (Violin)
  2. Very Loud (Violin)
  3. Nil
  4. Rosiner off
  5. Loud (Violin)
     -----
19. Reroll
20. Soft (Violin)
     -----
44. Piano Soft (Hammer rail up)
     -----
58. Piano Loud (Hammer rail down)
     -----
74. Rosiner on
75. Credit Cancel
     -----
120. Nil
121. Piano Sustain
122. Nil
123. Nil

Tremolo permanently wired on.

Additional comments.  Some of the earlier versions of the
Violanos had a rod that was raised by the feeder mechanism
during the reroll operation and that caused the rosiner to
be applied during the entire rewind cycle.

Some Violanos had an interesting variation on the converter.
This was a small rotary unit that fitted onto the shaft of
the converter and was attached to a tube which was used to
vacuum the rosin powder out of the rosin tray.

There were several Variations of the converters used in
various models of Violanos.  The more popular ones were the
ones used in the ordinary Virtuoso Violano.  There was
another variation that was capable of higher current output
that was used for certain "Home" models and presumeably for
a "single" with a "Drum Cabinet,  Then there was the larger
one such as the one used in my "double" with a "drum
Cabinet" and which provided a full ampere more than the
"standard" models.

There were some rolls made that were 'composite' rolls.
The ones of this type that I have discovered were put
together by Violano route owners who took tunes from several
rolls and spliced them together to make a 'special' roll for
their own purposes.  I had several of this type of roll.
Each one I had was an all waltz roll.  The only problem I
noticed with some of these rolls that I had was that the
tunes on each roll were not always of the same variation
and while one tune would sound great, the next might not.

*********************************************************

For Conversion to drums the following changes are made.

Change                    to

#58. Piano Loud           #3.
#44. Piano Soft         #122.
  #5  Violin Loud         ---
      Tom-tom              #5.
#20. Violin Soft       -----
      Single Stroke Snare #20.
      Roll Snare          #44.
      Bass Drum           #58.
      Cymbal              #74.
      Wood Block         #120.
#74   Tremolo - Wired permanently on
 

For Conversion back to original these changes are made.

Remove  Piano Loud from   #3. to  #58.
        Piano soft from #122  to  #44.
        Remove all drum cabinet lines.
 
Connect  (LL) Violin Loud     to   #5.
         (S) Violin Soft      to  #20.
         Violin Tremolo       to  #74.
 

----------------------------------------------------------

Harold E. Davis
Leslie Organ Company/Electric Piano Roll Company
Box 1, Leslie MI 49251-0001
tel: 517-589-8179
haldavis@modempool.com