I like the mechanical solutions in MMD, which I call 'glues and screws',
but sometimes I wonder about other creative aspects of mechanical music.
Take the use of the damper (sustaining) pedal.

I have a foot-pumped 1911 Steinway upright with the Themodist player
mechanism.  If I sacrifice four notes (holes) at the top of the 88-note
portion of my tracker bar and four notes at the bottom I can play
"reproducing" rolls.  I also leave the rectangular treble and bass
Themodist holes open to activate the split-stack when I play Duo-Art
rolls.  These are common practices with a piano like mine.  But I have
started doing one more thing: I tape over the tracker bar hole that
controls the damper pedal.  Why?  That's what I'd like to throw out
for comments.

I don't know enough about them to say whether the Duo-Art and Ampico
systems use progressive levels of damper action, but I know that real
pianists do.  And I know that my piano does not.  Also, while many
aspects of the player mechanism of my piano are quick and sensitive, the
damper control is not.  Possibly the left margins of some of my rolls
don't hold a true seal of air, but I find that the damper action can
get very sloppy at times.  Notes that should be separated get smudged
before the dampers eventually reseat.  Or notes that should be phrased
together are not.

About the rolls themselves: I also wonder whether there is enough
coding on standard 88-note rolls to approximate the real playing of the
original pianist/arranger.  With many foxtrot rolls, melody notes in
either the treble or the bass are often sustained through the length of
the roll perforations.  But while these notes are being held, rhythmic
chords often strike in the middle register.  There may be no indication
of any use of the damper pedal in these passages, and the results
simply don't sound musical.

If I supply enough air to sustain the melody, the accompaniment chords
come through like gun shots.  So I use the damper pedal lever in front
of the keyboard to throw in a shallow amount of pedal, and the result
sounds a lot more like a hand-played rendition.

I control the damper so much of the time, and the automated damper
action is so inaccurate with many rolls, that I've taken to covering
up the tracker bar hole.  But I do keep an eye on the standard pedal
notations as the roll unfolds and generally mix a deeper amount of
pedal at the arranger's indicated points.  I may never win the "Golden
Footsie" award, but I wonder how those who have won it deal with the
clunky pedal coding on standard rolls.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Paul Murphy
Sarasota, Florida

 [ The sustaining pedal action should be quick and positive, just like
 [ the motion of a pianist's foot.  Check that there is no lost motion
 [ in the system, and that the pneumatic valves (primary and secondary)
 [ have adequate gap for air flow.  Pump out the dirt regularly to
 [ keep the primary bleed open.  -- Robbie