The article requesting MIDI recordings of piano rolls in MMD 980303
revived a thought I have had for some time about preserving my own
extensive collection of old piano rolls, many of which are approaching
a state of deterioration that makes them unplayable.  I currently know
very little about MIDI and what its capabilities are, even though my
computer skills are high.  Is it possible to include the words of a
song, for example, in addition to the notes and their dynamics?  What
software is available at a reasonable cost?

I would also be interested in the details of the mechanism being used
by others to read the piano rolls and how this is interfaced to the
computer.  I have a number of ideas for possible methods, and would be
interested in the pros and cons of the methods that have been used by
others.  If I were to build a reader, would there be any need for this
conversion service?  Why would others like to make the conversion to
the MIDI format?

The questions could go on and on, but I think this could make an
interesting thread for the MMD.  Keep up the great work at MMD.
I enjoy reading it each morning before I go off to work.

John J. Breen

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ MIDI files are used to store piano roll data simply for convenience,
 [ because editor and sequencing programs are readily available and
 [ make it easy to monitor the results of transcription with an in-
 [ expensive keyboard synthesizer (or a more-expensive solenoid piano).
 [ MMDer Claus Kucher has evaluated several programs for editing and
 [ displaying lyrics stored in MIDI files.  See the MMD Archives.
 [
 [ John, you should write to Wayne Stahnke <stahnke@idt.net> and ask
 [ for his tutorial package about the "VIEW" program for editing
 [ music roll transcriptions.  It's all a matter of fidelity:  a few
 [ years ago a company was selling transcriptions of QRS favorites
 [ in MIDI files.  The tempo was jerky, notes were erratic, and the
 [ songs were simply unpleasant.
 [
 [ Why?  Because the technique was too sloppy; it was simply key-
 [ contacts on a tired player piano.  Better is a system especially
 [ engineered for transcribing music rolls to computer files.  Wayne
 [ previously used a pneumatic reader with excellent results; now he
 [ uses an optical line scanner, which is easily configured for
 [ different piano systems and roll widths.
 [
 [ Experiment with the tutorial and you'll gain an appreciation for
 [ precision; the files which Wayne produces are hole-for-hole images
 [ of the original master rolls.  Then you can decide what fidelity
 [ is satisfactory for you!
 [
 [ -- Robbie