Hello MMD readers,  While not wishing to get into the "solenoids
are better or worse than pneumatics" argument, several e-mail letters
crossed my desk today concerning a player magazine review of that
Lowell, MA concert I attended, featuring 16 Disklavier automatic pianos
and an ensemble of live musicians (percussionists and electronic
keyboard players).

While certainly no expert on the subject of MIDI, I understand that
it's a serial computer system, doing one task at a time, rapidly.
I also believe that it was not developed for solenoid player
instruments but instead electronic keyboards and synthesizers,
originally.  If so, then variables are introduced by adding the
mechanical nature of electromagnets for the strikers which, in turn,
operate the pianoforte actions.

I do know there are limitations with MIDI, just as there are with
pneumatic player-piano designs.  In one of my several professional audio
magazines (either 'Pro Sound News' or 'One-to-One') I clipped a text
which said, "MIDI is like entering the marble mansion through the dog's
door."

In other words, bottlenecks of digital commands are probably the
problem when it comes to using solenoid players with this system.
Having heard everything from the Boesendorfer SE down to any number of
Disklavier instruments, I got the distinct impression, especially when
"rolls" (i.e. transcriptions of them for the MIDI medium) were being
played, that the performances weren't up to par.  In every case, when
I knew the perforated arrangements, things were missing: little
details here and there, and they were more pronounced when the music
approached complexity while the performance demanded virtuoso piano
technique.

Perhaps the streaming of digital information skips here and there
on most of the solenoid MIDI players, as opposed to the electronic
keyboards which don't rely on the mechanics of a rod being 'shoved'
by a magnetic field to connect to the capstan of a complex mechanical
piano action.

I do know that I never heard any solenoid player, going back to the
Tel-Electric and the Mills Electric Piano days which equaled the
crisp, precise striking of the Pianola designs.  William B. White said
approximately the same thing in his book, Player-Piano Up-To-Date,
which devoted a whole chapter to the subject.

As for the number of notes that the MIDI piano-players can encompass,
I'm no expert there, but from what I've seen and heard up to now
indicates that 12-16 keys are pretty much the maximum for the
production instruments on the showroom floors.  The instruments
in Lowell rolled the chords like ocean waves, and I attributed that
to the MIDI nature of the player actions.

A Pianola will, if reasonably tight, strike large chords in unison,
and there's the added physical characteristic that the vacuum will
smooth out the strokes, much as water seeks its own level.  All the
pneumatics are tied together into a pneumatic stack with a common
vacuum source.  This is quite different from an individual solenoid,
each a separate mechanism in itself, attached to every piano key.

You might want to look at this URL which shows the size of some
large chords arranged for the pneumatic player-piano:
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/Roll2-51.htm

Not once during the Lowell concert did I see any of the many
instruments handling chords of that magnitude, and the precedence
might be cited for the case where an Ampico roll (MIDI transcription)
of An American In Paris had to be recorded by gluing together two
solenoid player grands to perform what a single pneumatic instrument
could have handled easily.

Again, my knowledge of MIDI is admittedly minimal.  However, the serial
nature of the setup suggests to me, that the limitations could surface
when an electronic design of this kind is used to play standard pianos.

Have just finished possibly the longest arranging project ever tackled,
so am taking a break by putting my laptop on top of the master roll on
the editing table, wishing to avoid tendonitis, something easily
contracted when using a spring-loaded hand punch to clean out rough
expression perforations (caused by thin, waxy paper on 2/3 of the
master roll).  Fortunately, I'll be reaching Auto-Typist paper soon,
when a splice occurs, and no post production work on the Duo-Art
expression score will be necessary after that time!

Regards,

Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, ME 04578 USA
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/

 [ In the notes accompanying "Gershwin Plays Gershwin", Elektra
 [ Nonesuch CD 79287-2, Artis Wodehouse writes: "For the recording of
 [ An American in Paris, a second 7-foot Disklavier grand piano was used
 [ in tandem with the 9-foot instrument.  Both pianos playing together
 [ made it possible to render an accurate and more expressive rendition
 [ of this mammoth arrangement."
 [
 [ I'd say that it was the producers choice, not a necessity, to use
 [ two pianos.  -- Robbie