What had started out as Paul Meehan's post (MMD 12.02.14) titled
"Modernizing the Ampico Reproducing Piano" has now morphed into a
discussion of MIDI files, and rightfully so.  Paul had lamented that
the music available on the Ampico is from the past.  New tunes aren't
available.

John Tuttle joined the conversation with a good analysis of modern MIDI
music.  Geoff Ward agreed with John Tuttle, and added insights into the
complexity of unscrambling MIDI files.  He gives vectors to two sites
with MIDI files that seem quite good.

The underlying problem in finding good MIDI files is really two-fold.
First, a player piano is easily ignored unless you are the person
pedaling away.  If the piano is being played electrically, as most
reproducing pianos are, a key musical element is missing.  That element
is the person seated at the piano.  When we see a live performance, a
large part of the experience is watching the performer interact with
the music and the instrument.  We want to see the facial expression,
the hands, and the body movement.  If we don't have that visual 
contact, something is lost.  Even though the sound is the same, the
overall performance is diminished.

For our interest to be captured without the visual aspect, the
performance has to be superior to make up for the visual deficit.
This is why basic sheet music transfers to piano roll sound so bad.
The piano roll performance has to be really top drawer to hold our
interest.  We commonly hear fellow collectors remark, "Great
arrangement!" after hearing a good roll.  MIDI files commonly available
do not usually rank as spectacular performances.  Thus, lacking the
visual aspect of the performance, we find most MIDI files no better
than elevator music.  If the file is free, what do you expect?  The old
adage, "You get what you pay for," certainly applies to MIDI files.

We must remember that piano music via a roll is not an ensemble.   MIDI
files that include numerous tracks will almost always sound bad if
those "ensemble" tracks are removed.   A player piano roll is a solo
arrangement.   Everything depends on that solo.  Very simple mechanical
music can sound great on band organs and the like because the ensemble
adds to the performance.  Conversely, reproducing rolls that keep our
attention are usually are extremely masterful performances.

Who is going to record these wonderful, artistic performances of modern
music in MIDI format?

Bob Taylor
Missouri