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In the 20's there was the Telektra player that
played brass rolls of music in a
cassette. It was ingenious but most of us
have never even seen one
In the 60's Wurlitzer built a home model player
piano that played the piano using solenoids
that were fired by tiny contacts built into the
tracker bar which was the only part of the
piano that used suction from a small suction
pump. It played normal piano rolls and many of
them are still functioning. The main problem
with them is the transformer in the bottom of
the piano stays on 24/7/365 unless you unplug
the piano from the wall. This transformer burns
out and must be replaced. Some ill informed
technicians spray WD40 or other "lubricant"
into the trackerbar. This is the other most
common problem. When this is done the tracker
bar must be dismantled and cleaned. They also
tend to burn out solenoids if marimba rolls are
played too long at a time.
In the late 70's Teledyne built an electronic
solenoid operated piano playing system that
played from a tape and was sold by
Sony/Superscope/Marantz. It was named
Pianocorder. This was a successful player
system for over 12 years, but the Dollar to Yen
ratio was too unstable for the company to
afford to advertise enough to really sell what
they should have. The system began to catch on
from word of mouth by 1989-90, but then,
Yamaha, wanting to promote their new Disklavier
player system and following the time honored
tradition of predatory capitalism, purchased
Pianocorder in order to put their only
competition out of business. The Pianocorder
system is a really good system and the many
units that are out there will last a long time.
I have had very little technical trouble with
them if they were installed correctly. Parts
are still available, but it is all made from
discrete components available from any
electronics supply. Their drawback was the
installer had to do extensive engineering. I
was able to perfect a technique that allowed
for far greater spectrum of volume levels, but
many installations, I have worked on installed
by others, demonstrated to me that they often
did not understand the system. I will tell you
the secret, since the system is no longer
available. I was able to get whisper soft
pianissimos out of the Pianocorder because I
put the solenoid rails in the grand as close to
the capstan line as possible. This means in
front of the back rail and its felt. The
solenoid rail must be dropped in order to
regulate the piano action but the musicality of
playing achieved makes it worth the extra
trouble for the technician.
After Pianocorders were no longer available and
since Yamaha would not sell their retrofit kit
in this country, another company came out with
the PianoDisk player system. This system was a
seat of the pants attempt at updating
Pianocorders and played from a floppy disk. For
the first several years their system blew up
and smoked solenoids at every opportunity.
Having installed several hundred of these
systems, I watched their development with
interest. However, I wish they had not made me
feel like they used me and my customers for
their research and development. After many
updates in hardware and software, their present
system is much improved, but it is at the mercy
of the person installing it, just as
Pianocorder was.
The latest system to be designed and built has,
in my humble opinion, also become the most
dependable and was built to be the most
versatile. I refer to the QRS Pianomation MIDI
System. This trouble free system is capable of
more musical expression that any others and
will play from more sources that any other
system. This is the only system that is
completely remotely controlled, since it
normally has no media storage device attached
to it at the piano. Under normal conditions it
plays from your own existing CD player which
may be situated anywhere in the house with or
without wiring. It also plays from CD-ROM.
It can play from an audio CD, audio cassette
tape, VCR sound channel. Digital MIDI
sequencer, floppy disk, electronic keyboard,
Computer MIDI software, Hard Drive, Zip
Drive, etc. Basically, if it can store
audio analog or digital information then it can
play a Pianomation. If it is a MIDI device then
it can also be played by the Pianomation as
well. The Pianomation installed in a high
quality acoustical piano can be made to control
the console of a completely digital recording
or composing studio. One could, without wiring,
have 5 or more pianos around the house all
playing the same notes at the same time using
their wireless remote system. The system can
also be configured as a nickelodeon with the
percussion instruments added.
There was also a very high-end electronic
reproducing player piano system, with record
and playback, that was installed on
Bosendorffer grands for a few years, but there
were just around fifty of them ever built. I
refer to the Bosendorffer SE (for Stahnke
Electronic) which was designed by Wayne
Stahnke. This system was way overkill compared
to all the other systems including the
pneumatic systems. While most reproducing
player systems had from 8 to 32 to 126 volume
levels, The SE system has 1024 volume levels.
It was used to make the very popular "Window in
Time" Rachmaninoff CD's and is something that
every player piano groupie would like to have.
The only problem is they are no longer in
production according to Bosendorffer reps, and
they were costing over $100,000.00 when they
were new. I must admit that it is way out of
most folks' budget, including mine.
There are other new player systems that require
investigation, including a new one from Wayne
Stahnke and a couple others but I have not
had the pleasure of hearing any of them
yet.
Perhaps one of these companies will give me one
so I can review it.
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