Peter, I think I wrote the ad my friend Doug Henderson refers to, about
"bothering with rolls."  I share all of the emotions you evoke in your
article, having worked with music rolls for 32 years.  I have mixed
emotions about them, however, because, as much as I love music rolls,
I love the music they make even more.

Out of the profoundest respect for authenticity I designed our
"electronic roll" tracker bar interface to be non-invasive.  In less
than one minute it can be removed without a trace that it had ever been
there.  Not a single screw has to be added to the instrument.

One can remove this five pound device from the spoolbox and fuss with
rolls all day long, if he is so inclined, then reinstall it and play
digitized, scanned rolls which might be so rare that one could never
obtain them for his collection; play Licensee rolls on a Red Roll
Vorsetzer or Red Rolls on a Licensee instrument; or someday, perhaps,
play Duo Art rolls with Ampico expression on an Ampico or vice versa.

Those who enjoy foot pumping can create a music roll electronically
from a piece of old sheet music, if they can't find the roll, and pump
the performance, adding expression by foot and lever.

When played electrically, in many cases pneumatic instruments will
sound significantly better than they do using paper rolls, due to more
accurate speed of travel than a wind motor ordinarily produces, and
superior articulation resulting from the instantaneous opening of
tracker bar ports.

One may also store thousands of scanned rolls in the space occupied by
a few paper ones; hear any selection instantly or set up a programme of
music for an entire day of listening, without once waiting for rewind.

These specially-equipped instruments are likely to get much more use
and be enjoyed more musically, than they ever would or could using
paper rolls.

Moreover, now that we have made pneumatic instruments just as
convenient to use as solenoid types, more of them will probably be
preserved and properly restored, since in many cases it will be cheaper
to do so than to buy the modern ones (setting aside the fact that the
older instruments usually sound better)!  I was seeing a trend towards
junking these treasures recently in this part of the country, which
worried me; which is one reason I developed this product.

Now, as a nineteenth-century man, I intend to make this device look and
feel as it would have had it been designed in my day; perhaps with
gold-plated engine-turned finish, or mother-of-pearl or marquetry
inlay; polished nickel or brass trim with Ampico "B" style brass inlay
set in veneer.  Or perhaps the talking-machine look: black porcelain-
ized iron, with gilt flourishes.  Send me your special requests...

Larry Broadmoore