Hello Robbie, Jody, and all of MMD!  Now that I've succeeded in achieving at least a partial (50%) retirement, I performed a work that I had planned since, in 1994, I built two electro-pneumatic controllers for Jürgen Hocker's Ampico pianos, in a fruitful collaboration with Horst Mohr and Jürgen.

Just before Christmas (2002) the work on a third controller for my personal use was finished and I looked into the Web for (free) MIDI files that I could reproduce on my Haines Bros. Ampico piano.  Of course I am aware of the CD-ROMs offered by Wayne Stahnke, Spencer Chase and Peter Phillips.

One sample I found in the MMD Technical Library: back in 1997 Wayne Stahnke submitted a "precision" scan of Ampico roll 57504A, Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, played by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

As this file had not the webs removed, it sounded terrible on the piano.  Looking for a simple solution, I did a little exercise with CAL, the Cakewalk Application Language, and finally had a suitable MIDI file which I could reproduce on my piano.  The result did not sound as brilliant as the same oeuvre on Wayne's TELARC CD, but nevertheless I was very happy about my personal Christmas gift.

I send the CAL program to Robbie for inclusion in the MMD Technical Archive.  Please note that I did it the simplest way, e.g., I did not account for the different length of the holes in the tracker bar.

Best regards from Germany

Walter Tenten
20 Jan 2003 20:06:04 +0100

Files:
rem_Bridges.cal  (4 kB) is the CAkewalk CAL Script
57504a_ob.mid (18 kB) is the MIDI file without bridges.  (For comparison: the original MIDI file with bridges had 156 kB.)

The WEB file cited is part of a tutorial package donated by Wayne Stahnke to introduce the WEB data file format, which is used to make a hole-for-hole replica of a music roll.  The tutorial is found under the title "Transcribing music rolls" at http://www.mmdigest.com/Tech/

The critical component of the Ampico control system is the magnet valve, which must operate reliably and quickly, at 4" to 40" water column suction.  Walter's clever valve design, utilizing a cheap auto relay, is shown at http://www.mmdigest.com/Tech/mValves.html