Hi All, My player piano has probably never had the tracker bar and the tubes behind it cleaned out. I suspect that some of the holes don't work and am ordering a tester-roll to find out for sure. Should there be some blockage, is the suction device that QRS advertises enough, or would it be just as ...

My request through MMD some weeks ago for information about MIDI decoders which would enable me to drive a small roll playing organ from a PC, using a sequencer such as Cakewalk, has borne fruit. Whoopee! John Wale brought to my home his excellent MTP-1 circuit board which he proceeded to demonstrat...

This note is intended primarily for Spencer Chase, but is presented through the Digest for the benefit of other readers with an interest in the subject. Spencer, you have raised an interesting question that has never been satisfactorily investigated or answered. The punch advance (also called step i...

[ Editor's Note: [ [ Last August Matthew Caulfield sent to me and David Wasson this [ description of the Wurlitzer perforator and its automatic tempo- [ compensating mechanism. The Wurlitzer master rolls, to our [ understanding, were punched at constant "steps-per-beat". The master [ roll was pulled...

Hello Co-readers, Admiring the investigations of our "Master of Precision", Wayne Stahnke, I want to give also a comment on the subject of roll advance. Wayne's "experimental" value of 0.856 mm is very close to the "intended" R60 value of 0.847 mm ( 60 steps in two inches ). For Ampicos, a roll spee...

Most folks have heard of the "roller piano" or "player piano" or "automatic piano". This short paper explains the origin and further definition of the familiar terms. When it's finished I hope to post the paper prominently at the Mechanical Music Digest website, thus the story must have immediate in...

John, yes, you are correct that I overlap repair tape and slice off the excess with a steel rule and X-Acto knife. I agree that care has to be taken not to overdo it. A shortcoming does emerge from this process in that the base board becomes progressively damaged from the knife edge cuts and needs t...

When repairing and editing rolls many, many years ago I came up with a very unconventional method to make chain perforations. I am sure that it will sound very corny, but it worked for me. Remove the needle from an ordinary old sewing machine, and make a punch to fit in the needle shaft chuck. Drill...

Spencer Chase said that Eric Bernhoft prefers to use a Macintosh. So do I. :) Small in-line adapters are available which enable a Mac to connect to many other printers, especially those using "Centronix" cables and electrical protocol. The other element needed is a system (software) device driver wh...

In my search for information on conversion of piano rolls to MIDI, Laurent Coray of Octet Design told me that I should seek out Robbie Rhodes and Mechanical Music Digest. After a couple of weeks reading the digest (and the wonderful archive), I am very grateful for that suggestion. Several people ha...

Perhaps the group could share some ideas and discussion about the construction of new mechanical music machines. I have long considered producing a very small number of some type of mechanical instrument, mostly for my own enjoyment, but not without an eye for some resale down the road. Any subscrib...

> Ten years ago a Sola 2- or 3-kva ferro-resonant line conditioner for > 60 Hz cost about $2000; it will run indefinitely with no maintenance, > and protect all the computers and consumer electronics found in a home. > I think it's very well-suited for places like Florida and Jakarta! I think, start...

Ed Gloeggler mused on making durable modern players that could take advantage of technical advances yet still be collectable 100 years from now. Rex Lawson in London has been slowly proceeding with his "electronic pianola" which uses a purpose-designed Apple II program -- quite apart from transcript...

No, no, no, Robbie! You got that Link business all wrong! You don't separate the ends of a Link roll to change it. You insert a device which I can only describe as a 2-pronged fork, like a tuning fork, with one tine on either side of the roll, then turn the handle on the end. There's a flange betwee...

>[ I think Bob Lemon means "tracking holes", to operate the paper guidance >[ system. I have a weird (European?) tracker bar with holes for the >[ snakebite theme accents plus one hole at each edge of the paper, >[ presumably for the tracking (guidance) system. -- Robbie And that's how I interpreted...

Robbie was asking about terminology on a trackerbar for the benefit of the readers. Here is how I would explain them: 1. tracker holes: all the holes in the tracker bar Tracker holes are the tracking holes in each end of the bar. A tracker is a device which keeps the paper rolls aligned with the not...

Dear Robbie, a short note about tracker bars. One could say that in mechanical music instruments the notes to be played are organized in rows. All the notes "D", for example, will be placed behind each other in the same row on the source (a disc, a roll, a book...). These rows are called tracks. The...

Last year AMICA reprinted for the membership "How To Play The Pedal Duo-Art Reproducing Piano." On page 3 under MAKING READY number 3. it says: 3. It is better for the instrument not have its keys dancing up and down while you are playing music-roll. Therefore, lock the keys by pushing the Key-locki...

Robin Pratt 'phoned me a few minutes ago, about a call he had concerning a major fire at the Play-Rite Music Roll Co. factory building. The company lost the Word Roll stenciling machine, their roll inventory and Play-Rite production masters, the huge paper supply and other equip- ment, but fortunate...

I've been bothered about some Ampico recuts I bought a year ago, and something you said about Tonneson's reading technique triggered this letter. The 88-noters are okay, but the accents on the Ampico rolls are not all "clean." To an untrained ear they would sound all right I guess, but I can tell ve...