The only predecessor to the Pianocorder System was a unit sold for a
short time by Chemical Ventures Corp. in Alabama.  This was developed
by Teledyne, in Lewisburg, Tennessee.

Around 1977, Superscope, Inc., owned by Joseph Tushinsky, purchased the
entire enterprise from Teledyne, Lewisburg and then commenced spending
a lot of money redesigning the components to make them commercially
reliable, obtaining the Underwriters Laboratory listing, and creating
the most extensive music library ever seen in modern times (i.e., since
the Golden Age of automatic musical instruments).

Rumor has it that the Pianocorder System library included selections
from Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte rolls, not to mention dozens of
multi-tune cassettes played by a variety of live artists, including the
Contemporary Artists Series.  At its height, this library included 342
different 45-minute cassettes, not including a fairly large series of
never-circulated classical accompaniment cassettes.

Incidentally, there were at least a few post-introduction improvements
made in the Pianocorder System's components after 1978.  For example,
the original output transistors on the three driver PC boards were
replaced with Motorola TIP 47s.  Also, minor changes were made in some
of the components used in the PT-100 tape decks.

Regards,
Bob Baker