Spencer Chase does the original Duo-Art engineers an injustice.  He
starts by rubbishing the design by questioning whether it even warrants
being described as a piece of engineering but then goes on to state
that it produces excellent music, in spite of its design.  I suggest
that Spencer is viewing the past through spectacles tinted by knowledge
of electronic and computer software developments and ignoring the
brilliant work done in an age of mechanical, pneumatic and empirical
engineering.  Each age throughout history has been populated by
brilliant engineers and we should recognise the different products
of these ages as deserving credit in their own right.

The Duo-Art produces excellent music _because_ of its design, and all of
the features Spencer goes on to describe are as a result of that design
and the brilliance of the engineers and music editors who designed it.

Spencer is quite correct in his first paragraph and all aspect of
inertial and dynamic response within the expression system must be
faithfully reproduced in order to get a satisfactory result.

Surely the easiest way to ensure that a Duo-Art piano plays correctly
is to have it correctly restored and play rolls on it.  This appears
to be too simple for a large number of MMDers.  MIDI, etc, is all very
well for new instruments and new roll recutting projects, and should be
encouraged as an ongoing development of our technology, but I believe
that original instruments should be played as originally intended, by
rolls, books, discs, barrels, etc.

Waiting to be shot down!

Best wishes from a non-MIDI collector,
Nicholas Simons,  Great Britain