Hi

I have just finished my prototype, that will be a perfect companion for
the Pianomation, power-roll or Any MIDI operated keyboard.  I call it
Midi Kiosk.

The MIDI Kiosk, will operate any windows based MIDI sequence program
you wish, although I prefer Richard Brandle's "Wind Play" software,
because it not only displays the roll image, but it will also play the
excellent Ampico "Bar" files from Wayne Stahnke.

The MIDI kiosk is a small "notebook" unit with a touch screen. This is
enclosed in a handsome wood cabinet that can be set on the music rack
of a grand piano, or mounted in the spool-box location of an Pianomation
equipped old player piano. I designed this to have a small, simple to
operate unit that can be set on the music rack of any piano, just like
a song book with any number of music files being uploaded into the unit.

There is no keyboard or mouse, the Midi Kiosk operates by simple point
and touch.  My prototype was built from a  486  laptop motherboard,
with a 12" KDS monitor and a "magic touch" touch screen, and a much
abbreviated version of Windows to conserve disc space.  The 486 is a
little below the requirements of "Wind Play", but since that is all the
CPU is dedicated to run, it seems to run fine.

I am not ready for production of Midi Kiosk yet. it is still too cost
prohibitive at the moment. I am searching for the best CPU motherboards
for the money, but the LCD touch screen is expensive. I would like to
use a 12" monochrome LCD panel. That would bring the cost down a bit.
You don't need flashy colors for a roll image, so I think a monochrome
panel would be fine. The specifications is not set in concrete, but it
needs to be at least a 200 MHz processor.

Then there is the software issues/permissions of the operating system
and software to work out. As of date, I think Richard Brandle's "Wind
Play" is the best candidate for this system.

I would appreciate some feedback about this. Is there a need for a easy
to operate plug and play portable box capable of displaying roll
images/lyrics and storage for your own in music library in one unit?
Face it, desktop computers look really out of place by a piano.

Andy