Hi,  I have often heard, "The Pianomation will not express as well as
a pneumatic reproducer."  Would you like to bring your QRS Pianomation
system from "background" to "foreground" status?

Okay, fair enough, let's look at why and how to correct it so it will
give any Ampico a run for the money.  Here are some of my tech notes.

I had installed the Pianomation in a "stack" configuration in our
upright.  The solenoids operated fingers which in turn operated the
piano whippens.  This helped the performance greatly.

The Pianomation would still play just a little inefficiently at very
soft levels; this was always the back row of solenoids.  Also, at a
soft level, the front row would not always operate the backchecks when
the soft rail was up.  This was due to the front and back rows of
solenoids pushing the fingers at a slightly different ratios.

If the push point of the plunger is too far toward the piano action,
the power is increased by the leverage of the finger.  However, the
available stroke is reduced, and the backchecks will not always check.
Conversely, if the plunger is too far back on the finger, the travel
is fine, but power is reduced.  Either error will make the soft playing
muddy.

Pianomation usually compensates for this by raising the minimums, to
compensate for stiffness or the minute different ratios between the
front and back row of plungers.  Ideally, though, it should play all
the notes at a same level without tweaking the minimums, provided that
the point of engagements for all solenoids are exactly right.

On my stack there is an ideal engagement point where the solenoids
_must_ contact the fingers.  All plungers must contact the engagement
point at exactly the same place.  The solenoid must lift effortlessly
_and_ have enough travel to operate the back checks.  This is critical,
in order to have even playing across the piano scale.

Finding the exact plunger engagement point is just as important as
finding the hammer striking point in the piano if the performance is
expected to compete with the Ampico "B" system.  Will it compete?
Yes, it will, if it's set up with as much care as the Ampico!

The plunger wires can be bent, much like damper wires.  What you want
to do is to find the ideal engagement point.  you find this by setting
up your MIDI program to play the note at MIDI velocity 8.  Play the
note while bending the plunger wire under the finger just forward
(toward the piano action) enough so that the hammer will just check
when the soft rail is up.  Mark the point, and scribe a line across
the whole set of fingers.  You will quickly find out that the slightest
change makes a vast difference here.

Now, center the solenoid rail under the fingers, with the front and
rear rows of plungers equidistant on both sides of your mark.  By this
time you will discover the main flaw of this design: the two rows of
solenoids do not allow the same engagement point, because the front and
back rows of plungers are in different places.  If installed like this,
there will _always_ be a big difference in loudness and checking be-
tween the front and back rows of solenoids, even if they "play" the
bottom of the keys, as QRS recommends.

This is easy to correct.  Using your damper bending tool, or a jig,
bend the plunger wires on the front row in an "S" shape back toward
the mark on the finger.  Then bend the plunger wires on the back row
forward toward the mark on the fingers, forcing all of them to end up
in a straight line where all engagement points will be, in the exact
point regardless of whether it is the font or rear row of solenoids.
If you were careful in centering the solenoid rail between the mark,
the front and back plunger wires will be bent exactly the same angle.

There are several things that can be done to put the performance of the
Pianomation system right up there with any Ampico "B" and this is just
one of them that I guarantee will work.  One is the installation of
levers (fingers) to allow full stroke of the solenoids, the proper
engagement point of the whippen (or key bottom) and the proper point of
contact of the plunger with the finger, and a lost motion compensator
for the fingers, and programming the processor to operate within the
dynamic range _of the piano it is installed in._

Solenoid pianos have an undeserved bad rap.  They are often just
"thrown into" a piano that is roughly regulated, and then expected to
work.  They won't.  If an Ampico model "B" stack pushed on it's key
bottoms at two different angles, and introduced lost motion between the
stack and the piano when it's soft rail was up, and the system operated
outside of the pianos power range, and the pneumatics did not have
enough lift or travel, then that Ampico would not play worth a darn
either!  Think about it.

Andy Taylor
Tempola Music Rolls