Bryan Cather wrote:

> Therefore, I can't imagine how repeated sustained notes could be
> simulated by simply holding down the keys for sustained pitches.

Like any good organist knows when playing legato (which is what is needed
to simulate pedaling without using the pedal) when the music rhythm
notation is :

quarter-note, quarter-note, half-note, quarter-note, quarter-note,

the actual playing done by the artist is supposed to be:

 [ I've substituted fractions to save space here.  -- Robbie

1/8-note, 1/8-rest, 1/8-note, 1/8-rest, 1/4-note, 1/4-rest,
1/8-note, 1/8-rest, 1/4-note.

The last 1/4-note is held to its full length.  This achieves a sustained
legato on an instrument that is constantly sustained.  To get an even
tighter legato from the same exact 5-note phrase, the following is done:

dotted 1/8-note, 1/16-rest, dotted 1/8-note, 1/16-rest,
dotted 1/4-note, 1/8-rest, dotted 1/8-note, 1/16-rest, 1/4-note.

Write these down and play them and you will see what I mean.  The
electronics are designed to look ahead and decide when to let go of the
note in order to play it again and sound very legato.  This was done in
Ampico rolls as you may have noticed.

Ampico rolls were cut this way in order to sell the rolls to 88-note
player piano owners and thereby increase their market.  Their rolls were
designed to be played on pianos without pedal holes in the tracker bar.
This is why Duo Art and Welte sound dreadful without a working sustaining
pedal, but if the Ampico pedal is out you may not miss it as much or at
all.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis