Recent experiments here, with a new combined MC-2 MIDI Converter plus
CD/Keyboard Interface for the Pianocorder System, have produced some
useful results which I'd like to share.

Because the Pianocorder System was created several years before MIDI
appeared, it was not MIDI compatible until Will Dahlgren's invention of
the MC-1.  With QRS Music Technologies' CD/Keyboard Interface, one can
obtain authentic MIDI from any of their Pianomation-MIDI CDs using any
standard audio CD player/changer.

Several of our commercial customers wanted the convenience of CDs with
their Pianocorder Systems.  The MC-2 with the CD/Keyboard Interface
seemed an ideal fit except that we experienced more than a few CDs
which caused an unacceptable number of "drop-outs" (missed notes) when
played through both units into our test Pianocorder System.

So things remained until two days ago when we began tests for
incorporating the electronics of the QRS CD/Keyboard Interface into
our MC-2 MIDI Converter.  This time, we began to look at the drop-out
phenomenon differently.  Instead of using the MC-2's MIDI Volume Shift
and MIDI Volume Convert parameters, we simply increased the Pianocorder
System's FF (Volume) control.  Magically, all of the drop-outs
disappeared!

It seems that those QRS Pianomation-MIDI CDs with the most drop-outs
were, in fact, the most expressive!  Increasing the Pianocorder
System's "duty cycle" gave the key solenoids the ability to respond
to even the softest MIDI data on the CDs!

Now, such programs as Barnabas Fekete's "Mozart Piano Sonatas" and
Gunther Danziger's "Brahms Piano Works, Vol 1" produce stellar results
with dynamic expression even better than original Pianocorder System
classical cassettes!  Of course, to obtain such results, the
Pianocorder System must be in good regulation in a well-regulated
piano.

Such a discovery so late in the game is somewhat humbling.  On the
other hand, it suggests that, regardless of one's length of experience,
useful discoveries are still there to be made.

Regards,
Bob Baker
Electric Orchestras, Inc.