Roger Wiegand asked about sourcing MIDI from something other than
a floppy or proprietary ROM.  I have implemented a MIDI file player
that uses a compact flash card instead of the floppy diskette.  The
main issue is how the songs are supplied: you cannot just take a MIDI
and expect it to play on any instrument -- the music still has to be
arranged for a specific organ or piano.  This is why many modern
arrangers prefer to use a ROM [read-only memory] which can handle the
digital rights management.

The advantage of floppy diskette players is that there is already
a good source of piano music available with the rights management
already taken care of.  There is also a large collection of pre-1923
music out on the 'Net which can be downloaded.  Most of this is piano
music.  Some of the collections, such as the one Terry Smith provides,
have some band organ arrangements available.

With book music, keyed and keyless, there are not as many options.
While I have a collection of such music on stencils, there are no
economic models that make it practical for me to distribute this music,
which contains work of others post 1923.  So I have not put much
emphasis on scanning this to computer files.  Yet this is where my
personal interest lies, as well as where most of my effort has gone
over the last few months.

Since I now have a working Caliola organ, I find that I tend to use
Van Bascos and an older laptop for the playback of music.  I still am
working on some alternatives using more modern chips on the controller
itself.  Because of the European "ROHS" campaign (Reduction of
Hazardous Substance), which targets lead and several other elements,
there has been a lot of confusion on the part of chip suppliers.
(I am also to understand this is affecting organ restoration too.)

In my case, in 2003 I made 20 prototype floppy disk MIDI Players, of
which I distributed about five.  Because the industry changes so fast,
the chip I used is no longer made. I still have 15 or so units which
need boxes.  None of the people who were helping me have contacted me
within the last year.

The cost on these units was $100 without a case; the case adds another
25 to 30 dollars in costs.  These floppy units can no longer be sold in
the EU.  If anyone is interested in providing cases I would be happy to
work out some sort of deal on the player electronics if there is any
remaining interest for a 100-buck floppy file player.

As noted I was able to replace the floppy with a flash memory card.
The card, which is the same used by cameras, can be written by a PC.
A prototype of such a unit cost less than 75 U.S. dollars.  In practice,
what is the point of a dedicated player when an old laptop does the
job, and can connect with wireless?  Bluetooth is a wireless option,
which can also be used to handle the link between the laptop and the
instrument.  There are some promising USB/Bluetooth implementations
that make this more than practical.

Some of the chip manufactures now sell or give away (to high volume
purchasers) low-cost demo circuit boards.  In my last communication
to Peter Phillips, I mentioned that I was able to run my file playing
software on a board which sells for $20 and is often given away for
free at trade shows, and has as much storage as a floppy disc.  Peter's
remark was that we could sell the music and give away the player for
free.

My current prototype player is powered by a couple of AA batteries or
a small 3-volt cell.  In this case the ROM and the computer are in the
same device.  Within the past few weeks a unit with USB connection has
come available for 30 bucks.  The whole thing could be mounted onto
a credit card and be read the same way as done on checkout.  Each card
would be like a music roll and electronically secure.  (And if there
are any patentable ideas of placing music onto a credit card and read
by wireless I claim first disclosure here <wink> :)

The bottleneck is the valves of the player.  My preference is for
Spencer Chase's valve board, which is undergoing revision to bring it
up to date with the state of the industry.  There are plenty of
alternatives.  On the Caliola I used some surplus magnets from old hard
disk drives of 1980s vintage. I have also used the Peterson magnet
valves after the recommendations of Mike Ames.  On new work or pressure
systems, the OSI-Reisner magnet valves work well.  These do take a lot
of power, so either a car battery or large power supply is needed.

To play the magnets, simple electronics are all that is required.
This is actually a classic text book problem for most first year
college electronics courses.  There are literally hundreds of solutions
and cribs to this problem on the net.  Most involve the interface of
keyboards, the rest often involve drums or xylophone or glockenspiel
implementations.

In the last few months (or weeks) there have been some interesting
developments with the USB standard and MIDI.  This standard is settling
into maturity.  A variation called "USB On the GO" allows for simple
controllers to access file systems on flash cards.  Again the hardware
cost on this is negligible.  The cost is in the software, which is akin
to the same as arranging music.

I have placed some photographs of my Caliola and the MIDI interface
onto the "Wurlitzer 105" Yahoo group.  At the moment I am waiting to
hear back from a few individuals who want MIDI conversions.  In the
meantime I do have some designs ready to go if anyone else is
interested.

Julie Porter