Peter Edmonds wrote:

> With our world-wide activity, is it practicable for people other than
> Warren to scan rolls, and then pass on the computer file?  What are
> the hardware and software requirements for the scanning process, and
> what is the file format?

Yes, it is quite practicable for someone other than myself to scan in
the roll and create the MIDI file.  In fact, it is unavoidable since
I do not have this scanning capability myself.  However, I can accept
the file as either "MIDI Type 0" (single track) or "MIDI Type 1"
(multi-track) MIDI format.  I prefer GM files, but can take GS or XG
format files as long as you understand that the extra commands for the
extended GS/XG specifications have no meaning in this context, and only
the basic piano MIDI note data will be used in the audio conversion.
Any effects such as reverb or chorusing can be added to the audio file
in post-processing.

The folks who have developed their own scanning systems will have
to answer the part about the hardware/software that they use, and
presumably whether their setups are limited to particular varieties/
brands of music rolls.  As long as they output their converted files
in industry-standard MIDI format, I should be able to use the file
to create the audio.

The MIDI files are generally quite small (about 25 kbytes), and can be
easily e-mailed worldwide.  In fact, as a demo of the borderless aspect
of such things, I just downloaded one of John Farrell's posted MIDI
files from his web site of his demo roll arrangements, created an audio
rendering, and posted it in MP3 audio format as an example of this sort
of operation.  See my posting to his message for more details.

> At this stage I haven't any applications for generating a recording
> from a pianola roll .... "Pornographic literature!  No, I don't even
> own a pornograph."

I have neither a pianola nor a pornograph myself.  However, through the
proliferation of the MIDI files, and my piano note sample sets, I am
able to enjoy the music from the rolls without having a player piano.
I'll still have to work on getting a pornograph, though ;-)).

Regards,
Warren Trachtman
http://www.trachtman.org & http://www.wstco.com