•Welcome, Bruce, to the frustrating world of the Residence Player Organ. On your calendar, pencil in the next ten years of your life! Could you share with us the original Opus number, so we could look up the date and history of the instrument. If the nameplate is missing, the four digit Opus number ...

•Jonathan Holmes asked the recurring question of how much to restore and complained that many restorations look too good in his eyes. He has quite a valid opinion as much of the charm in an antique musical instrument comes from the knowledge that it's eighty to 100 years old (or more for musical box...

•I am one who is convinced about the destructive power of carelessly fast rewinds on vintage piano rolls, but that is only half of the equation, in my opinion. I have destroyed more than my share of piano rolls over time and am convinced that my current practice of carefully shimming and properly ga...

•Recently, I installed the Spencer Chase/Gene Gerety MIDI system on my Steinway Duo-Art upright piano. Since this is a very new system, I thought that the MMD members might be interested in a report. The system consists of a 16-valve block with the electronics required to operate the valves on board...

•I was amazed to see a reference (MMD 030615) to the Wayne Stahnke cassette system for the Ampico. I first heard of this system in the 1970s, after I had developed a similar system, also for the Ampico. As I recall, the IMI system sold for around US$2000. I used to market mine for A$600, with each s...

•I completely agree that it is not acceptable to modify a rare or unique antique, nor is it good practice to modify even a common one in non-reversible ways if you intend to maintain its value. I have mixed feelings about instruments that are not rare and which would likely be modified or disposed o...

•I recently purchased a wonderful Chickering Ampico B and have been enjoying it immensely. It is a lifelong dream come true! In addition to the satisfaction of playing the instrument and listening to rolls, I have some rather crazy and naive ideas about incorporating computer control into the instru...

•Well, it looks like no other AMICA Convention attendee is going to give a synopsis of this event, so I'll do one. Might I premise this by saying that the weather was perfect -- hot and sunny, the whole time. The AMICA committee members met all day Wednesday amongst themselves. For the rest of us, t...

•Replying to Craig Smith's inquiry about my patents on a solenoid stack, the two patent numbers are: 5,081,892 Solenoid Mounting Systems For Player And Reproducing Pianos, and 5,081,893 Striker Solenoid Assembly For Player And Reproducing Pianos Both patents are dated January 21, 1992. The patents c...

•Regarding the player pianos of old, versus the new solenoid models, there is truly a resurgence and renewed interest in players despite the mechanical system and quality involved. But there is actually a huge gap between these two distinctly different kinds of instruments that will never be closed...

•In my letter about this subject yesterday, I should have ended by saying that the problem is definitely in the expression _system_, not "box." I might have also clarified that the finding would be contingent upon having eliminated any mechanical problems first, although at the time, I was hoping th...

•I have a few thoughts in regard to Frank and Tony Decap's question, "Is automated music a dinosaur?" In the first place, I have always hoped that automated music would not catch on again, in general, but would remain appreciated by a few musically driven people. The reason for this is that entrepre...

•Over 100 of the best Duo-Art classical rolls in electronic format for playing on the Power Roll equipped Duo-Art reproducing piano. MIDI format allow for playing on any MIDI media player and allows for editing to suit individual needs. Files for play with WindPlay may be available in the future and...

•Hi Friends. Just a reminder the we will be in the MIRC #player-piano chatroom on Starlink.org Sunday and Monday Night at 8pm CST. among other topics, we will be discussing Larry Broadmoore's power roll, and piano roll software available, Story & Clark Pianos, and who knows? Come on by and see us! B...

•I don't believe anyone has had any comments re: Spencer Chase's CD of DuoArt rolls, so I thought I'd pass along a few comments. I've played the CD via a Power Roll on my Knabe with an Ampico "B" and it sounds good. I also "play" it via a PianoDisc system and my computer on a Chickering grand and th...

•In case anyone is interested, it is possible to use Windplay on the iMac. Using a 233 MHz iMac and Virtual PC, Windplay will limp along and sound almost OK as long as the roll image is turned off. I don't know if you can get any sampled voices to go with the ensemble or if the noise that comes with...

•As followers of the MMD already know, I have been working with Richard Stibbons to develop a simple, reliable and accurate optical piano roll scanning system and the software to produce music files from the roll images. Richard developed the original process and software approach and together we ha...

•Discussion in the MMD over the last few issues has mentioned scanning music rolls and printing out the results on paper. Unless things have changed, you cannot print the Piano Roll section in Cakewalk. "Harmony Assistant" WILL print out your results. I tried a evaluation copy of the software which ...

•This is an interesting concept. As you say, there is no theoretical reason why a solenoid couldn't duplicate human performance. I think I'd drive the solenoid with a synthesized waveform, made by turning its driver on and off at a high rate and varying the width of the on time. Since the mass of th...

•It is indeed possible to play Welte-Mignon Licensee rolls on a T-100 (red paper) Welte-Mignon. Of course, a 9-to-the-inch tracker bar is necessary to play the rolls. The only provision not accounted for in Licensee rolls in the resistance change for the motor speed control. Many red pianos are no l...