The Chicago AMICA gathering looks like it will be a "watershed"
conference in the conversion of paper to digital media for mechanical
music.  The scanning technology has evidently evolved to a point where
it can actually preserve a photographic image of the roll.  Most of us
have experienced the slow deterioration of the paper media.  But E-roll
systems duplicate the function of paper rolls without wear and tear on
the media. There is a momentum now and sufficient effort expended to
make it all happen, and it shouldn't be too long before the lyrics and
other notations are in digital form as well.

A number of dedicated individuals have made roll recording and playback
possible via contemporary computer technology.  This is not a new
ambition. Ever since the microprocessor was invented in the early 1970s
efforts have been made to play pianos via computer.  My first experience
with it was mid 70s.  We had reason to buy a Teledyne "Pianocorder" for
a project.  The data rate from the cassette player was so slow that it
was awful.  So, being electronic whizbangs we knew that we could do
better.

The target piano was a Baldwin upright equipped with the Teledyne
device with new decoder-drivers.  Using a bunch of vending machine
vacuum switches, the roll and motor deck from a player piano, and
a vacuum cleaner motor, we made a recorder.  The electronics consisted
of an early microprocessor and a rack full of stuff.  The output was
recorded onto a reel to reel tape recorder in a format similar to MIDI.
It then was played back into the Baldwin.  It worked, but then was
stored in a barn for the next 25 years (I don't know where the Baldwin
ended up).

To make a long story shorter, after installing Spencer's e-valve system
into my AMPICO and purchasing Peter Philips's library of recordings
(made using 70's vintage pneumatic equipment), I _had_ to dig out my
long stored apparatus.  The vacuum switches still worked!  An ittiMIDI
encoder replaced the rack of electronics, the roll frame was updated
and, lo and behold, 88-note rolls can be recorded into MIDI (format
limited to the tracker bar installed, of course).

I'll bring this thing to Chicago. It is simple, a bit of history, and
it works great!  The only software required is Cakewalk or a similar
MIDI sequencer.

Looking forward to the Windy City.
Larry Emmons