Can someone explain what would be required in the hardware and
software to take an analog audio signal of a solo piano from a
CD or LP phono record and create a MIDI file of that?

I own what was, at the time I purchased it, a top-of-the-line
electronic keyboard.  With it you can play and the keyboard makes
what I believe is a MIDI file of that playing, and you can play
it back to hear yourself playing the piano.  Would this item of
equipment have some use like in my first paragraph question?

Ellsworth Johnson
Spokane, WA

 [ An experienced music arranger can listen to an old phono
 [ record and create the music manuscript (or MIDI file) of
 [ the notes he hears.  MMDer John Farrell has created hundreds
 [ of piano rolls this way.  But making a successful machine
 [ to substitute for a musician's brain has eluded researchers
 [ for decades.
 [
 [ An experimental shareware computer program called "Gama",
 [ which converts audio (as *.WAV file) into a MIDI file,
 [ is described by Japanese author Hiroshi Obata and offered at
 [ http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ri7h-obt/htdocs/soft/e_gama.html
 [
 [ In "demo mode" the program processes 4 seconds of audio;
 [ after payment of an $18 registration fee it will process up
 [ to 3 minutes of audio.
 [
 [ The electronic keyboard you describe would be an easy way for
 [ a pianist to make a MIDI file of his own performance.  Since
 [ your keyboard also synthesizes musical sounds from MIDI data,
 [ it can be used to test the MIDI output created by Mr. Obata's
 [ "Gama" program.  -- Robbie