QRS will no longer be making their piano player rolls. I am quite surprised that they were still making them! I love the old technology and watching how these are created and mass produced was very enjoyable. The picture above is an example of what you might have ordered from the factory back in 1917. Click on the link below to listen to the roll converted to a midi file. It is interesting that a machine which was ahead of its time when created would look like a Rube Goldberg device many years later. I am sure the same will be said of the DVD one day.
QRS_Piano_Player_21086_Follies_1917.mid
"The halt in production comes 108 years after the company was founded in Chicago, and 42 years since it moved to Buffalo. Rolls used in player pianos reached their peak in popularity in the early 20th century, when a roll of paper was able to reproduce music through perforations signifying notes played on the piano."
Via: Make
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Wow, I didn’t think they made play piano rolls still either. Very interesting video on how it’s done. It’s a shame they won’t be making them anymore. 🙁
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Wow they still made that? These punch cards did amazing things even before computers ware invented.
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but what about pressure and speed, each key sound different if press differently
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Great article, I’m really enjoying your blog.
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Nice use of the Apple ][ for the editing and another one controlling the punches.
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Pouncer, Berni: Yes, they still made some, and have a large stock of inventory. They’re moving the equipment and hope they can get it running again before they run out of backstock. We ordered some Christmas rolls for our restored player last year.
Therian: The player piano rolls ORS had no sense of pressure and hit all the keys at the same velocity, which was quite high. There were other competing technologies which could control how hard the hammer struck, but they were more expensive and are not as common now.