I am recovering from the flu and was sleeping this afternoon. I dreamed
that I was examining a late drop-action spinet piano and discovered
that it was an 88-note player with an unusual difference. It seems
that the piano had an unusual addition to the tracker bar. I'm not
exactly sure if it had a phono pickup and a vinyl strip on the roll or
a tape playback head and a magnetic strip on the roll. However it was,
the piano, in addition to playing the roll music, also had a recorded
voice or accompaniment according to the maker.
Has anyone ever heard of something like this, or is this a weird dream?
I'm sure that a magnetic pickup and a painted magnetic strip is within
the realm of possibility.
Jim Cook
[ In the AMICA Bulletin Vol. 27, No. 3, May/June 1990, Mark Reinhart
[ wrote about the "Welte-Mignon Player Piano/Phonograph". A special
[ series of T-100 'Red' rolls would play a live accompaniment on the
[ Welte-Mignon piano while a Victrola or Phonograph reproduced the
[ singing voice of Enrico Caruso or the like. An unused roll channel
[ contained synchronizing holes punched at regular intervals. The
[ phono turntable was fitted with a pallet valve and its hose was
[ connected to the synchronizing mechanism in the piano. The phono
[ record accompaniment rolls are listed on page 298 of the Welte-Mignon
[ rollography by Charles Davis Smith.
[
[ Ref. http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/Welte/patents1.html
[
[ No. 1.325.066
[ Edwin Welte of Freiburg, Germany, Assignor, by mesne assignments,
[ to Welte-Mignon Corporation of New York, N.Y. a corporation of
[ New York.
[ Means for synchronizing the operations of sound-producing
[ instruments and moving-picture apparatus or other moving parts.
[ Patented Dec. 16, 1919, Application filed June 11, 1914, renewed
[ April 17, 1918
[ 2 p. dr., 21 p text.
[
[ The pneumatic logic block of the patent (No. 1,325,066) is known
[ nowadays as a Type I phase-lock loop logic element. It looks
[ complicated but it's actually about the same complexity as the valves
[ of the Standard Pneumatic Co. 4-hole roll tracker system.
[
[ See also "Player Rolls Accompany the Phonograph" at
[ http://mmd.foxtail.com/archives/Digests/199702/1997.02.26.10.html
[ -- Robbie
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