Hi all,  I received the following e-mail from Dewayne Parkinson,
the gentleman in charge of converting QRS' roll production technology.
He would like as much outside info as possible.  His e-mail says:

  "I am ankle deep in the laser perforator project and am looking for
some help from MMDers or anyone that might be able to provide some
insight.  I see on MMD that there are some hobbyists that are using
MIDI data to fire a laser perforator.


  "These hobbyists have developed some software that will take a MIDI
file and convert it to an SVG file so you can perforate a roll from it.
I'd be interested in possibly talking to one or more of these people
and see what their experience has been with a laser perforating rolls.

  "I'm also interested in talking to anyone that prints lyrics on rolls
using any of the types of modern printer: dot matrix, laser, inkjet,
etc.  I'm mostly interested in those people that have developed software
for these tasks.

  "As you know, we will need a somewhat automated process that we can
create at least one spooled roll every 10 minutes or less.  I envision
a piece of software that we can import a MIDI file into (these are being
converted from the APPLE IIe to MIDI as I write) and have a visual view
of the piano roll that we can then edit as needed and add lyrics right
onto the piano roll view so the lyrics line up perfectly every time.

  "If there is a software engineer that would consider working with us
(for a fee, of course) that would be helpful too.  My goal is to help
QRS create the best perforated and stenciled rolls they have ever
produced.  I believe a laser perforator and direct to roll printing
can do that."

You may contact Dewayne by

Dewayne Parkinson
tel.: 1-814-493-6536
cell: 1-716-560-7693
dewaynep@qrsinc.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

Thanks very much for your support and assistance!

Mike Walter
Buffalo, New York