Julian Dyer comments about the controllability of pneumatic players being
the reason they were better than the electrical variety.  I agree that
the pneumatic system was (and still is) quite good.  I suggest that the
reason it was good is not that it was pneumatic, but that the controls
were ergonomically right for interpreting music - presuming one had the
skills to do so.  The Telelectric system (here I go again!) had the
capability of good manual control, but the controls were inconveniently
arranged.  I have done a creditable job of expressing TE rolls, but it
is a lot more hassle than expressing the pneumatic type.  The TE had a
split stack, loudness control, accent, damper and hammer rail control,
and tempo control.  These controls did not fall easily to hand.

The kicking shoe type doesn't fall into the same class, as it did not
have the capability to control loudness except in the grossest sense.

Bob Billings