The development of the modern solenoid reproducing piano began in
1974, tucked away in a corner of Dick Carty's player piano shop in
Redondo Beach, California.

Wayne Stahnke's prototype instrument was built into a sturdy Canadian
Loughead console piano supplied by Carty.  A 10-1/2-inch reel-to-reel
tape recorder at 15 ips recorded the hammer velocity data and played
back the music with a set of 88 solenoids, each as big as your fist.
Each push-rod connecting the solenoids to the keyboard had a velocity
transducer in a feedback path so that the solenoid responded to create
a controlled hammer velocity.

The first piano system sold was installed in a Steinway concert grand
which was placed in the music room of the Merle Norman Museum (The
Nethercutt Collection) in Sylmar, Calif.  Besides recording live piano
performances the instrument could be connected to the Wurlitzer pipe
organ recording and playback system.  Another Steinway system went to
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

A Boesendorfer concert grand owned by Joe Tushinsky was also equipped
with the Stahnke system.  Tushinsky intended to use it to record
master tapes for the Marantz Pianocorder system but this use never
materialized and the piano went to Japan when Yamaha purchased the
Pianocorder operation.

More about Wayne Stahnke and the story of his reproducing piano system
in the 1993 interview article at the link below.

Robbie Rhodes
Etiwanda, Calif.

 [ Stahnke_1993.pdf  (173 kb)
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/16/08/02/160802_190451_Stahnke_1993.pdf