Some of the MMD subscribers might be interested to know that Ragtime
Music  has developed and has for sale an optical roll reader /tracker
bar. It can apparently fitted into any roll playing piano. I know that
Ragtime has had a lot of bad press in the MMD but they certainly have
some interesting products. They now have a web site:

    http://www.ragtimewest.com

Phil Dayson

 [ Editor's Note:
 [
 [ This is a very professionally done Web site with LOTS of good quality
 [ scanned images.  I had no idea that Ken Caulkins had as large a product
 [ line.[ I found the pictures of his shop areas particularly fascinating.
 [
 [ There are _LOTS_ of links to sites with MIDI files.  Many of these
 [ links are new ones I've not seen before.
 [
 [ The scanning tracker bar, Model "SC 88" which mounts in your spool frame
 [ above the pneumatic tracker bar, is listed on page:
 [
 [     http://www.ragtimewest.com/li01004.htm
 [
 [ As far as I can tell, the price of the SC-88 is not listed anywhere on
 [ the Web site.  Please let us know if you know what it costs.
 [
 [  - - -
 [
 [ I do want to caution those who are interested in scanning reproducing
 [ piano rolls.  There's nothing in Ken's literature that indicates that
 [ he interprets the expression holes.  One has to assume that they are
 [ recorded into the MIDI file as note on and note off events.  If the
 [ "playback device" is a reproducing piano with electrically controlled
 [ valves, the expression will be "computed" by the piano, just as if it
 [ had been played pneumatically (assuming that the scanning is accurate).
 [
 [ If the desire is to play the scanned rolls on some __OTHER__ MIDI
 [ device (synth, Disklavier, soundcard, etc), the expression holes will
 [ have to be _INTERPRETED_ by software and converted into MIDI
 [ velocities for each note event.  If you want to play this on some
 [ _OTHER_ type of reproducing piano, the MIDI velocities have to be
 [ converted a _SECOND TIME_ into the expression coding of the other
 [ pneumatic reproducing piano system.
 [
 [ Several subscribers have written such software, and some have
 [ expressed a willingness to help with such a project.  There's
 [ definitely some work here, and the outcome will be controlled, in
 [ part, by how accurate the original scans are.
 [
 [ Q:  Laurent Coray -- Is Ken using your MIDI boards in this product ?
 [
 [ Q:  To anyone who can do the research:  Does his scanning tracker bar
 [     have its own photo emitters as well as photo sensors in the
 [     tracker bar, or is it sensitive to ambient light ?
 [
 [ Q:  Does the system have the necessary accuracy for software
 [     interpretation of the expression data ?
 [
 [ Very much looking forward to additional information
 [ Jody