•There has been an awful lot of discussion on this subject, and maybe my comments are superfluous, but I have had a go at this. Since retiring to France, I have spent the last 12 months building a MIDI controlled band organ from scratch. MIDI control because (a) I would probably be dead before I had...

•I would like to make a small correction to my posting of yesterday regarding the cross-functionality of Phonoliszt and Phonola rolls. Niels Berkers has pointed out to me that it is possible to play a Phonoliszt roll on a Phonola piano as long as (1) the Phonola is an early model without the Solodan...

•Question: Should Duo-Art play chords at zero level? Hello all, Please let me clarify the issue as it was maybe misunderstood. The basic question is, can or should a Duo-Art system be able to play a 3-note bass chord on Accompaniment level 0? [Testing] with or without sustain pedal, no other coding ...

•This may seem like a silly request but here goes. What is the correct sequence of events to play a roll on an Ampico A grand? I'm asking because I think I may have the On-Off switch incorrectly wired and could use this answer to get down to a solution. Thank You, Darryl Zempel [ I believe this is t...

•I have a different experience. Since 1990 I am a collector of mechanical instruments. In 1998, together with fans and friends, we founded the Italian Association of Mechanical Music (AMMI) http://www.ammi-mm.it/ Now my instruments are in an eighteenth-century villa with five hectares of government-...

•Has anyone else noticed a problem with the QRS AMP-1002 Ampico Model "A" Test Roll? It was driving me crazy. After setting pressures using vacuum gauges, I would play the test roll. At the treble portion of the repetition test I found that it was too loud and so I would adjust the Crescendo spring ...

•Matthew Caulfield mentioned the litigation that surrounded Jerome Kern's "Ka-Lu-A". According to one biography of Kern, "Ka-Lu-A" song was apparently one of the best selling rolls of 1922. The song was featured in Kern's show "The Cabaret Girl" despite having been written a year or so earlier, and ...

•To the previous comments I would add that the thin pieces of paper or plastic be placed between the tracker bar's top and bottom few notes be taped to a piece of thin cardboard that runs the width of the spool box instead of taped to the thin board running back from the top of the tracker bar. The ...

•Some time back in the 1970s a local Player Piano Group meeting asked attenders to come up with a =L=10 note each (say, US$30 in today's money). The purpose was to host a well-known London ragtime player, Ron Wetherburn, and hear him play a selection of well-tuned pianos, just so we could experience...

•In my opinion, the best form of MIDI controlled music will be a device that can sit on top of the tracker bar, and be played from a touch sensitive MIDI piano or keyboard. This will allow the full beauty of the instrument (band organ, etc.) to still sound as it was meant to, and how good the perfor...

•Sometime in the early 1980s I attended the Australian launch of the Pianocorder at the Sydney Opera House. While impressive to an electronics engineer such as myself, it did not move me enough to want one, as my Ampico seemed so much more sensitive and expressive. In 1988, as a technical journalist...

•Hi MMDers! Amidst all the controversy on MMD over traditional roll or book music vs. MIDI files, I would like to report on my third MIDI-fied instrument. I have just completed installing the Chase-Gerety E-roll system on a 1925 Weber Duo-Art grand piano. I couldn't be more pleased with the results...

•Claudine Jones wants her pedals back so she can enjoy the participatory feeling of the player piano ["I Want My Pedals Back!", 040411 MMDigest]. Good for you, Claudine. When we got our player many years ago, I thought I'd install a vacuum pump, especially since our player leaked like a sieve. The f...

•I recently subscribed to MMD and posted a question about the original pump that would have been fitted to a Steck Duo-Art. Thanks to everyone who has replied pointing out that the "black box" is the original housing for a Motora, and that it now houses a vacuum cleaner motor. A few folk also notice...

•Hello all. Thanks to all who have replied so far. Interestingly enough, half of you think that the chords can't play and the other half thinks they should. That goes to show how little we actually know of the correct operation of these instruments. I have obtained some pictures of the actual chords...

•Hello all, This topic has fascinated me for many years and I am still non the wiser. In our past shop, I have played possibly 5000 pianos or even more over the years. I liked some and I hated others. All were usually out of tune when they came in, and they left the shop in-tune. Some came in (out-o...

•Hi Robbie and MMDers, Greetings from Australia. I have just finished installing a Bob Hunt "VirtualRoll" system in my 88-note Beale pianola. The system worked perfectly at first switch-on. The sense of relief (even joy) is hard to describe! I have posted a high definition video on YouTube at http:/...

•Hi All, I have completed the restoration of my Steinway LR Duo-Art and am now evaluating its performance. One of my chief desires is that it play soft, particularly on regular 88-note rolls. (Playing a Duo-Art roll softly is mostly under the control of the roll coding so what you hear is what you g...

•Ann, Greetings from The Bronx! Regarding your inquiry about a small nickelodeon in Texas, the instrument appears to be a Coinola 'Midget' with xylophone and percussions. It was manufactured by the Operators Piano Company of Chicago, Illinois. It plays the Coinola Style 'O' music roll. Not all Coino...

•Dear Martha, There is such a toy, although not a disc, but an aluminum rectangle with the music staff printed on it complete with treble clef and one sharp, since the comb is in the key of G. It is called a "Musicano" and I purchased mine in Switzerland last year. As near as I have been able to fin...