During my recent trip to London, England, I had the pleasure of visiting
both Denis Hall and Rex Lawson in their homes.  In both, I saw an example
of a word roll they produced for the AMICA 1995 Convention in London.
I believe Rex did most of the work in figuring out how to do it, then
ingeniously developing a way to synchronize the words to the music.

He showed me a finished roll which contained a single punch in extreme
right margin at fixed intervals.  What I did not see was some kind of
sensor on his modest dot matrix printer that he used to do the printing
and how he speeded up or slowed down the roll feed mechanism.  I believe
he did use friction feed and likely had to visually watch the progress
of every single roll to ensure true vertical tracking throughout full
length.

What was really neat is that Rex wrote a series of non-standard words to
recognizable tunes, generally tied to that specific gathering of angels,
then individually printed each copy of the roll, with words sometimes on
the right, sometimes on the left.  These rolls must have consumed a giant
chunk of Rex's time because he had to print each copy of the roll one at
a time on his old matrix printer.  He freely admits it was not a cost-
effective method, but did produce a stunning souvenir roll for those who
attended the Convention.

Perhaps Rex could be persuaded to document how he synchronized the words
to the music, something quite critical.  Without such synchronization,
I imagine the words could easily slip out of synch throughout the length
of the roll, particular being friction driven.

The entire souvenir roll was developed by Rex on his Apple computer and I
believe the roll was punched by Mike Boyd in Rye, England.  Rex then used
his same Apple computer to individually print every copy of the roll
through his printer, and I imagine a zillion ribbons.

So, it is possible to use a matrix printer to add words to a roll.  I've
seen such a roll.  And I presume all who attended that 1995 AMICA
Convention also have a copy.  But while technically possible, it is
clearly not commercially viable, although perhaps can be rationalized for
a one-of roll or special one-time events.

I understand Rex is prepared to develop and arrange special event rolls
like these on special request, in addition to his normal output of music
never before arranged for a piano roll.  He can be reached at:

  Rex Lawson
  Pianola Studios
  64a Honor Oak Park
  London SE23 1DY, England

Regards,

Terry Smythe
55 Rowand Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada  R3J 2N6
(204) 832-3982 (voice/fax)
http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~smythe