MIDI Instrument Conversion Survey

MIDI is an obvious protocol for operating organs, pianos, orchestrions
and whatever.  The paper roll (or book) dates back to the Jacquard loom,
invented by Joseph Jacquard around 1810 in France.  Organ builders
converted from pegged barrels to punched Jacquard-like books for note
control (about 1835).  A sequence of holes punched in paper was also
used by Charles Babbage (about 1850) and Herman Hollerith (about 1900)
for control of mechanical computational engines.

Hollerith's punched cards, the size of the U.S. one-dollar bill at the
end of the 19th century, were used by Hollerith's company (Tabulating
Machine Corporation) to record the 1900 U.S. census.  This company
became CTR (Computing Tabulating and Recording Corporation) and was
subsequently purchased by Thomas Watson and renamed IBM (we all know
IBM).  IBM used Hollerith punched cards to control computers into the
1960s.

A life span of 150 years for the use of punched paper for data storage
and retrieval is quite remarkable -- and indeed even today some of us
still punch paper for control of our aging mechanical musical
instruments.

Technology has moved on and we all have our own personal computers,
with nary a paper strip in sight.  Except for legacy considerations,
all new mechanical musical instruments are controlled by data supplied
in some modern data transmission protocol, the most popular being MIDI.

So here's my simple question: should we non-destructively convert our
older mechanical musical instruments to operate with MIDI control?

What is your opinion?

Bill Finch

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ Depending upon the era, the instrument owner might have converted
 [ his instrument from a pinned cylinder ("barrel") media to punched
 [ cardboard or punched paper media, and later to cassette tape or
 [ 'microchip' or computer diskette media.  The primary business of
 [ firms like B.A.B. of New York was converting old organs that played
 [ hard-to-obtain media (e.g., book music) to punched paper roll media.
 [
 [ The question of converting an instrument to computer control using
 [ MIDI wireline signals is the same question asked 80 or 100 years ago:
 [ "Should this instrument be converted to use modern technology and
 [ modern data storage media?"
 [
 [ As in earlier eras, the answer depends not on the technology but
 [ on the cost and availability of desirable music stored on the
 [ new medium.  Thus the instrument owner also considers the cost of
 [ transcribing his collection of favorite old music media to the
 [ new media format.
 [
 [ -- Robbie