Dennis Steckley wrote [23.08.02 MMD], "I am still on the hunt for
MIDI files for Tangley Calliaphone. I know they are out there, and
I know there are some others seeking them, too, but we've been
unable to locate any."

I think part of the problem is that you are searching for "Tangley
Calliaphone MIDI files," when in fact that isn't the right search.
The various "air calliopes" were originally built as keyboard
instruments. They were intended to be played by skilled keyboard
musicians who I think played largely by ear or from piano sheet music.

Instrument owners requested a roll player for use when a good musician
wasn't available or when they were exhausted from blasting out music
for promotions. The roll player which Tangley supplied was built to
play Style 'A' rolls which were used on a variety of instruments,
including coin-operated saloon machines. The music rolls included many
tunes which fit outdoor use. Calliope owners, probably including Dennis,
know far more about the roll library than I do.

The calliope with a roll reader is just like a piano with a roll reader,
except it has pipes instead of hammers. Not all pianos have 88 keys.
The middle notes are the same.

What matters is that the Tangley basically just plays 43 (more-or-less)
Notes from the middle of the standard 88-note piano keyboard. The
calliope scale is chromatic, so virtually any standard piano MIDI
file should work, provided the calliope is properly set up. If you
play a file with too high or too low notes, they just won't sound.
You probably won't like piano concertos on a calliope even if they
play. Some files will sound better than others.

It is hard to track down player piano MIDI files for a number of
reasons. One is that the enthusiasts scanned most of the earlier
ones years ago and got tired of posting them on multiple websites.
Many websites were closed. Due to copyright restrictions, only rolls
released before about 1928 may safely be posted on websites. Only
a few new files are made publicly available each year. Newer ones
are only added to private archives.

Searching the web archives I was able to find the Pianola website
at https://www.pianola.co.nz/public/ I couldn't figure out how to
search for individual MIDI files, but it is easy to download large
batches as ZIP files. One batch file contains some 1600 tunes,
others are smaller. As a test I downloaded a collection of 100 tunes,
extracted them and found that they were in a very usable format with
all notes in MIDI Channel 1. There were a lot of nice rags which might
sound good on a calliope.

How the calliope system is set up is a separate matter. All that is
required to play the files that I downloaded for a instrument driven
by a PC is that the MIDI-to-Parallel driver board has 43 chromatic
notes in Channel 1 with Middle C as MIDI Number 60. If you are using
an SD card reader interface, you probably need to convert the files
to MIDI Type 0.

There are piano MIDI files out there which will not play on a
calliope without modification. In particular, there are files with
the right hand notes in one channel and the left hand in another.
It takes computer skills, not musical skills, to adapt these files
for playing a calliope.

It gets more complicated if the instrument has two 32-note driver
boards set up to an AMI format or some other early configuration
that uses two channels to cover 43 notes.

If you have an instrument with MIDI which doesn't play standard
piano files you should consider replacing the electronics.

I knew that Miner Company LLC was still building Tangley instruments.
I found that they offer a MIDI system designed for Tangley instruments
which have roll readers.

https://minercompany.com/tangley-calliope/ 
https://minercompany.com/calliope-midi-operating-system/ 

The price for a 43-note calliope MIDI add-on is listed as $1,895.00.
That is a kit which I assume includes 43 organ magnet valves, Tee
connections, and some tubing. If you already have those, the price
should be considerably less and involve much less work.

I'm sure Bill Klinger at Klinger Organ could also supply the required
system. 

http://www.klingerorgan.com/index.html 
http://www.klingerorgan.com/MIDIpar_.html 

Wally Venable
Morgantown, West Virginia