I have a question about PowerRoll since it's being discussed now.
Please note that I am in no way trying to find fault with the system as
I've heard it work and I think it is excellent. I'm sure I'll end up
buying one, but my concern is this:
I have an Ampico B and I got to wondering if PowerRoll had a way of
being told whether it is playing the A and B Ampico rolls coded on the
CDs on an Ampico A or an Ampico B? The reason I was wondering
about this is because the Ampico B intensities react quicker than the
Ampico A intensities. (One of goals of improving the Ampico A that
ending up in the development of the B).
I am lead to believe that Dr. Hickman found that this situation made
the Ampico B "jump the gun" when playing Ampico A rolls, as some of the
really precision-timed coordination between the notes playing and the
intensity coding needed to make a single note stand out and play louder
than its supposedly simultaneously sounding softer playing companion
notes in the same chord was screwed up. Similar mis-coordination would
have been encountered with an Ampico A piano playing Ampico B rolls.
The folks at Ampico dealt with this by very slightly off-setting the
intensity & cancel holes in the trackerbar down below (or past) the
line of note holes. The expression perforations on a moving A or B
roll would then arrived a fraction latter at the intensity and cancel
ports on the B trackerbar than on the A trackerbar. This would
compensate for the difference in reaction times between the A and B
systems. I never noticed this slight off- set until I read about it in
an AMICA Bulletin, so I went back and closely looked at my Ampico B
trackerbar. Sure enough, the off-set was there.
However, the offset of the intensity and cancel holes will not achieve
this timing compensation when the player is being operated by the
stationary PowerRoll device. I would think that the only way PowerRoll
could deal with this timing compensation is by use of software that
could be told whether it was playing an A or B Ampico and delay or not
delay the intensities and cancel operations accordingly.
So, I have to ask the question: Has this situation be addressed?
Regards
Dick Merchant
Carlsbad, NM
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