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MMD > Archives > January 2007 > 2007.01.19 > 02Prev  Next


Old Spanish 88-note Piano Rolls
By Jean-Pierre Jouandet

Hi all!  I've scanned about 100 rolls of my collection with a flatbed
scanner and I've "midified" them with a software program of mine.
The precision of my scan is (theoretically) 1/100 inch.  I sent these
MIDI files to Terry Smythe, who added them in his 24th batch.  Most
of the rolls are standard (or Themodist) 88-note:

  http://members.shaw.ca/paud122/batch24.htm

However, a lot of (good) no-name old Spanish rolls contain expression
perforations I don't recognise.  They were converted into MIDI files
(only the notes!).  Such is the case of many Spanish titles in the batch.

These rolls are similar to 88-note rolls, but contain 98 tracks which
seem to be, from left to right:

 1 - ?
 2 - sustain pedal(?) on
 3 - sustain pedal(?) off ; on 88-note roll: sustain pedal
 4 - ? on
 5 - ? off
 6 - ? ; on 88-note roll: note 1
     ... (notes)
93 - ? ; on 88-note roll: note 88
94 - unused (on my rolls)
95 - rewind (end of roll)
96 - soft pedal(?) off ; on 88-note roll : soft pedal
97 - soft pedal(?) on
98 - ?

Does someone know the scale of these rolls?  They were possibly made in
Barcelona, Spain, and they seem older than rolls of other Spanish brands
such as Victoria, Princesa, P.O.C.H.  The flanges are made of wood, and
one roll has other additional holes due to termites !

I'll attach the label of one of them (java.jpg).

JP Jouandet
Bordeaux, France

 [ The song, "La Java", is from 1922 or 1923, in spite of the wooden
 [ flanges.  I'll place the label image and the MIDI file at the MMD
 [ Sounds site,  http://mmd.foxtail.com/Sounds/index.html  -- Robbie


(Message sent Fri 19 Jan 2007, 11:33:25 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  88-note, Old, Piano, Rolls, Spanish

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