Hi Philippe,

I sure hope you don't get me in trouble with Robbie! I am confused enough
on this debate as it is!

But I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said:

> Remember it is easier for a pianist to imitate a player piano than to make
> a very good roll letting you think a real pianist is playing !

I have been somewhat confused of this aspect of roll arranging all along.
Some people quantize all these notes in a Midi file to a mathematical
fraction of a second, and it sounds great.  Maybe I am missing something,
but when I try to do that to one of my arrangements, it becomes mechanical
sounding and just looses all  of it's life, sounding like it was played by
a robot. (Universal rolls come to mind)

There seems to be two methods of creating rolls.  One is mathematical,
keeping the notes on the measures. I wish I could master that tequnique,
but I have yet to do so.

The other method involves playing the recording and then figuring out what
you _intended_ to render. That can be a real pain.  But I do feel that
rolls created by this method tend to sound more lifelike and to trained
musical ears, sometimes odd, sometimes interesting.

But the final judgement will be made by the public, and not those who
created the roll.

It has been argued for years which method is better and there is no clear
cut answer.  Personally, I think both has their own merits.  But one thing
is certain, if the player pianist reaches for the rewind lever before
the roll is through playing, you have failed.

Best Regards
Andy Taylor

Tempola Music Rolls
http://www.bootheel.net/~tempola/