G'day all,

In February, a list was given in Digest 97.02.26 of piano rolls which were
synchronised with early disc recordings.  Inspired by the idea, I found one
roll in my collection, "Little Grey Home in the West" (Imperial 936) and I
have now located the matching Victor record (Alma Gluck, accompanied by a
cello).

To try it, I used a more modern record player with fixed record speed, so
all the synchronising was done with the piano.   The results were rather
amusing and not entirely successful since it is not easy to get them to
start together without excessive playing with the tempo control.   One or
both types of recording appear to have speed variations which make it
necessary to keep adjusting the tempo as they get wildly out of synch.
The other problem is the loudness of the piano which would tend to drown out
an acoustic phonograph.  Even with my amplified record player, I really need
to use some expression on the roll to handle the softer passages, but I have
more than enough to cope with on the tempo!
Has anyone else tried it?
I have wondered how they made those recordings in the first place.  My guess
is that the voice recording was issued first and the roll was cut later by
having the pianist play in time to the record as it played.  I imagine that
method would have needed some trial and error to get it even roughly right.

 Any thoughts?

I guess the combination phonograph and player piano units depicted in the
literature would have made the synchronising much easier.  Has anyone got
one or seen one of these animals working?

Cheers,

Darrell,
Adelaide, Australia