My low cost laser piano roll perforator seems to be working quite
well. I put a lot of effort into this project in spite of the fact
that I do not have any roll playing instruments other than QRS
Play-a-Saxes and Rollmonicas. I recently made a test roll and sent
it to someone with a player and apparently I messed it up badly.
I was getting a bit depressed thinking that all my efforts were
in vain.

Bill Luecht has been building a machine based on my plans and has
been sending me updates. He was able to follow the instructions and do
a beautiful job, better than my various test machines. The following
link shows that my design and software do, in fact, work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM1IROPELzY
 

[ Laser cutting images begin at https://youtu.be/SM1IROPELzY?t=177 
[ -- Robbie

I wrote a 50-page document describing the build procedure and the use
of various software programs. Not everything is in the manual regarding
preparation of file for cutting; hopefully more information can be
collected and added to the manual. Piotr Barcz has figured out how
to use my MIDI to G-code program together with Julian Dyer's roll editor
and various other utilities by me and others to produce G-code for both
scanned rolls (from all of the usual file types) and rolls mastered
from new music.

I have been having very good success making MIDI files from audio
using the Audio to MIDI AI program together with the "improve" program
that I wrote. So it is quite possible to find piano solo music (or even
multiple instrument files if you buy the right software to separate out
the piano part) make MIDI files and produce new music. The process is
not trivial but also not difficult if instructions are followed.

My document is exhaustive and probably enough to intimidate almost
anyone but the most dedicated nerd. I am hoping to find help editing
the document. As most people know, this is impossible for someone too
familiar with the project to do.

I really hope that someone will volunteer to do this. I have
hundreds of hours into this project and if people are to build these
machines and (hopefully) to some extent, revitalize interest in
pneumatic instruments, this effort will have been worth doing. But
I really do need help with the manual.

Spencer Chase
Garberville, California
spencer@poodlex.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

[ MMD articles about converting audio to MIDI file are indexed at
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/C/converting.html 
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/A/audio.html 
[ https://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/A/audio-to-midi.html 
[
[ G-code (also RS-274) is the most widely used computer numerical
[ control (CNC) and 3D printing programming language. It is used
[ mainly in computer-aided manufacturing to control automated machine
[ tools, as well as for 3D-printer slicer applications. The G stands
[ for geometry. G-code has many variants.
[ Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-code 
[
[ -- Robbie