PLAYER PIANO ROLL TYPES
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Chase & Baker 65-note roll on green paper. This type of roll has wooden pin ends which are red instead of the usual black. No seperate roll leaders, just the label. Metronomically cut rolls with basic interpretational marking. The reason that these rolls were made on green paper (and the following Chase & Baker rolls appearded on grey paper) is they were specifically made in these colours to look more aesthetically pleasing in the piano compared to a white paper roll. Presumably green paper for natural wood coloured pianos and grey for instruments with ebonized cases. This is the only brand where coloured paper rolls were used as a marketing aid.
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Chase & Baker 65-note roll on grey paper. This type of roll has distinctly graphite coloured paper. They are not green ones which faded as some have previously thought. The rolls have no seperate roll leaders, just the label. They are metronomically cut rolls with basic interpretational markings printed on the roll.
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Angelus Melodant Artistyle 65-note Roll. This type of roll plays bottom to top and inside out. The roll width is a fraction of an inch wider than the usual size. The pin drive end is on the left as opposed to the right and has a smaller diameter. The spools are not compatible with normal 65-note machines although the scale is the same. The dynamic line and tempo line are combined into a printed chain of letters. There are no seperate roll leaders, just the label. The Artistyle printing was designed to give the "player-pianist" a guide to producing a more artistic performance from metronomically cut rolls and in this respect it was a strong competitior to Aeolian's Metrostyle system of roll over-printing. While both systems of printing have their shortcomings the Metrostyle system in practice had much greater scope for error than the Artistyle system. Artistyle was introduced in 1907 with Angelus's new Melodant system which was the same in operating principle to Aeolian's "Themodist" mechansim. For a fuller discussion click here.
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Universal 65-note Song Roll. Made in the UK by Aeolian. The numbers all begin 46xxx with the last three being the number of the tune. The last three digits are the same whatever the Aeolian Song roll. The other series (88-note Universal and Aeolian 88-note) would begin 26xxx and 36xxx. The words are down one side with a line to follow dynamics on the other. The dynamic line doesnt have a wide range across the roll like other rolls to avoid crossing over to the words.
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Themodist 88-note Roll - early unchained-perforation type. Early 88-note rolls copied 65-note roll perforations. But narrower notes meant thinner strips between notes and 88-note unchained rolls ribboned across the tracker bar potentially easier than their 65-note counterparts. This roll has sustain, themodist, green dynamic line and red metrostyle line to vary the tempo. made by Aeolian. Themodist rolls were also made for the 65-note scale with exactly the same markings, themodist holes at the margins but no sustain pedal (as 65-note doesn't play this).
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Themodist 88-note Roll - chained-perforation type. To resolve the problems of the type of roll above the notes were next cut in very close holes - close enough not to cause the note to reiterate nor lose power. The melody was cut clean to highlight it. This example has a blue line showing stack division just as the Hupfeld Animatic roll does otherwise the roll markings are the same as above. 6-holes-per-inch rolls were not chain perforated successfully. I have one example of a 58-note Aeolian Grand organ roll (6 holes per inch) with chain perforations - the bridges between the individual holes are smaller than in the 9 per inch format to prevent note reiteration with the result that the roll shreds even easier than before. The 9 per inch chained perforation like this example has become the standard as it works very succesfully. To see the Aeolian Grand roll with the disastrous result of chaining perforations at 6-per-inch click here
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Autograph-Metrostyle. These rolls are standard rolls that had the Metrostyle line makings ostensibly mastered by the celebrity (the majority of whom were composers with the rest being pianists) whose facsimile autograph and interpretational directions appeared at the beginning of the roll as in this example. In the days before hand-played rolls this concept was designed to bring the "pianolist" one step closer to producing a convincing performance. This system wasn't used for any substantial period and must therefore be considered as transitional prior to the widespread introduction of hand-played recordings by Aeolian. This example (from a piece by Chaminade) is "autographed" by Cecile Chaminade. It featured chained perforations, themodist expression and is printed additionally with a blue line showing stack division (see the other Themodist roll examples above). Now, who ever said Chaminade could be boring?
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Temporized. This is an 88-note roll with a few interesting features. At the start of the roll are the following words;- "This TEMPORIZED roll should travel over the tracker board at a UNIFORM speed of 6 feet per minute". At the start of the music as in the first picture above is a feature that only appears on test rolls - it states that the roll should go from the first line to the next (6 feet further up the roll) in a minute. This is to check your player is running at the correct speed for the roll. In the second picture is another unusual feature. A hand points to a pair of chained perforation notes with the words "Notes of this character are not intended to repeat." Evidently this roll dates from a time when chained perforations were just being introduced and the manufacturer felt it necessary to tell customers that the chaining was intentional. That said, in this particular roll the only other chained perforations are 3 further pairs as in the second picture. Why bother? So, who made this roll? It was made by Standard in the US in November 1913. This is easy to tell by the distinctive purple printing and serial stamps at the end and reverse side of the beginning of the roll just like Standard's Electra brand also. The left spool flange is spring loaded like a Melographic roll but even better made. The music represents a hand-played performance by a named artist and reproduces this very well.
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Full-Scale Uni-Record. This is quite an oddity. It was made in the UK
by
Aeolian and the music represents an early
hand-played performance. As such the
Metrostyle
markings were dispensed with as unnecessary. To give a good
result
of syncopation this roll runs at an unusually
fast speed of 120 (12 feet per
minute). The
perforations show a very accurate record of what was played
apart
from minimal cleaning up of wrong notes and
chaining the perforations. There
are also parts where
there is soft pedal perforation (as in this example on
the
far right of the picture)- which is odd on a roll
which is a themodist one in
all other respects. It
dates from the time just before the Duo-Art system
was
introduced. About 50 of this series were re-coded
with Duo-Art code later on
and the series in general
mirrors the otherwise identical Metro-Art
series
which has even numbered serial numbers to the
Uni-Record odd numbered sequence
(many thanks Julian Dyer).
The leader is just the standard unbranded full-scale one on grey papaer
with
black print with the geometric ribbon design at
each side. So how does it all
sound? Well, even at
120 it's quite crude...but don't blame the machinery
as
who knows, the pianist may have been crude to
start with!
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Temponome 88-note Artist Played Roll. This roll does not have a sustain pedal cut. Instead all the notes have been extended to hold the dampers off where the sustain pedal would normally have been used. Experimental. Developmental. Unusual! How does it all sound? Actually it's very suprisingly highly realistic. As unless your player piano responds well with it's sustain pneumatic from the roll Temponone rolls always damp the music precisely whatever else may happen. The only thing is that hearing notes sustained which play only isn't how a pianist normally sustains music and although the effect is very good you may just hear that there is something not quite 100 percent about it in comparison to a live pianist!
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Philag 88-note Artists Roll. Made by Phillips in Germany. These are accurate well-crafted recordings of hand-played performances. The roll ends are not black but varnished natural wood without stain or paint. The leaders have a picture of the Phillips factory on them.
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Hupfeld Animatic 88-note Roll. Made by Hupfeld in Germany. These are considered the pinnacle of all first class recordings of hand-played performances. This fact speaks well of the capabilities of the very highly regarded Triphonola reproducing produced by the same company and from which rolls these were sometimes produced. The roll paper has a watermark either with the word "Phonola" and the date watermarked also or a watermarked musical treble stave with the notes B & E shown. The B & E is really H & E (H is musical B in germanic european music notation). H & E are the initials of the company that made the roll paper. Hupfeld eventually bought them outright to make all Hupfelds paper exclusively. The rolls have "snakebite"-type expression and are cut to play at constant speed. The red central line does not show that the roll goes at a constant speed. It is marked to show the two halves of the stack so the operatot can see which half of the stack the melody is playing in. Although these rolls will play on normal players the vice versa does not necessarily apply. Why? Well, the auto-sustain holes on Hupfeld rolls and tracker bars are a fraction further to the right than normal rolls and players. The dark green leaders printed with red ink have a picture of the Hupfeld factory on them and often a line drawing of the performing artist also. The less frequent alternate leader design on beige paper with brown ink has the word "animatic" surrounded by scrollwork and the roll label only.
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Echo Dance Roll - Master Roll. This is a corrected pre-production master
roll
from the Echo factory. It was probably
one in a series wherein
successive
corrections were made until the
roll was just right. See how the
perforations
are just straight cut slots and
the sustain pedal and themeing holes are
just
single punches cut out! Apparently some
of their output consisted of playing
normal
Aeolian themodist rolls via a push-up onto their recording piano
which
then therefore became a
"performance" and not a
copyright
infringement. The artists thus
credited where apparently the
proprietors
mother-in-law, brother etc. for
want of suitable names to stick on the
roll
labels! You can see in the picture where
wrong notes were circled in pencil and
then
taped over. The factory was located in Battersea, London and the
rolls
sold for just 1/- making them very
competitive against the established
brands.
They sold quite well and turn up in
the UK quite often. Billy Mayerl
hand-played
some performances on this otherwise undistinguished
backstreet
label before his career really
took off.
(Many thanks Julian Dyer for an insight into the cheap but
entertaining antics of the Echo
Company)
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Empeco Roll. Recently described in the UK Player Piano Group Journal by John Phillips . We aren't confusing Ampico - this really is Empeco! They're German with a few different leader designs marked in spanish as well as german and have the musical B & E logo watermarked on the roll paper (see the Hupfeld Animatic Roll above). I have 2 of them - one without expression and this one with. The expression in this example appears as a single hole (one or two punch holes long only) to the left of the chained sustain pedal holes. Other examples with expression have up to 3 rows of expression each side (bass;- to the left of the sustain : treble;- to the right of the treble theme holes) and an apparent reroll slot one hole inside the treble theme holes. There are definitely several different expression functions. This examples' one "expression" hole operates soft pedal. The expression where it appears is sparse indicative of a locking and cancelling expression system. What machine did they play? The rolls are normal 9-per-inch and 88-note in all other respects. The leader on one I have is black card with the design printed in gold - quite outstanding. Can you shed light on the mystery Empeco rolls?
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Duo-Art Roll. Made by Aeolian. 80-notes of music wide plus 16 degrees of expression independently across theme and accompaniment, soft pedal, sustain, pedal, themodist, rewind and motor shut-off. The expression in blocks 4-wide each side of the central 80-note holes. No need for printed color lines with these! How and how well it all works always causes protracted debate. My view? Don't watch the holes - just close your eyes and enjoy the music.
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Artrio Angelus. The Artrio-Angelus was the reproducing system product of the Wilcox & White Company. The system entered production and marketing from 1915 onwards. Originally the pneumatic action was a pneumatic pouch operated system as were all the actions made by the company. After the company folded in the early 1920s the Hallet & Davis Co. (who made the Simplex brand) continued the Angelus and Artrio marques and the Artrio's pneumatic stack was redesigned as a conventional pneumatic stack although with reproducing system peripherals operating on the same principle as before. There are 3 expression holes in the accompaniment and 5 in the theme - potentially 8 level accompaniment against 32 level theme. The code puching resembles Ampico and Welte rather than Duo-Art but features Melodant (i.e. Themodist / snakebite) themeing to accent the melody so theoretically possesses the benefits of both Duo-Art and Ampico all in one system. Duo-Art doesn't have a separate crescendo mechanism and Ampico doesn't have snakebite-style themeing - the Artrio however has both. It has both pedals operated, rewind, repeat and all the usual stuff as well as a switch to increase the brilliance of the performance like the Ampico system. See how close to the roll edges the perforations go! Both popular and classical rolls are recorded excellently.Unlike the other systems this doesn't have just two regulators - it has three! Does it all work well? Personally, in my own opinion, I think it reproduces better. Not all Artrio rolls were just transfers from other systems. Some recordings were not ever on other systems - and that is a fact. The rolls play in the normal direction and are normal width on normal spools but are very infrequent having never been sold in great quantity. If you have a few Artrio rolls but no Artrio player please contact me as I know desperate Artrio owners - some of whom have as few as two Artrio rolls only to go with their lonely piano. I have also included a picture of one type of Artrio roll label. The same label is used on the box with the lower portion on the end of the box and the upper part stating who it's played by folded back and glued onto the top of the box in a wrap-around fashion.
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Welte Mignon (Green). Welte reproducing system introduced in 1922. Standard width rolls generally on dark green paper (hence the name), mechanism redesigned but essentially the same principles of reproducing performances as the earlier system. The rolls have no seperate leaders but like the Red-Welte system they have a long run-in of blank paper before the music starts. This was so that after starting the piano you could return to your seat and sit down comfortably before the song began. I know that sounds far-fethched but actually it's true!
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The World's Music Pianola Roll (AudioGraphic Rolls). They were made by Aeolian with the Pianola versions (as here) cut from the Duo-Art edition of the same. Every roll has a fabulous printed section at the beginning up to several feet long (= +/- 2 metres) with text and pictures all about the series, the recording artist, the composer, the music and its interpretation by the artist. The illustrations were done by young British artists of the time. There are few variants. The running comment series (plain white labels) with bar lines printed describes the development of the music and the individual themes along the roll with examples of the notation printed on the roll by way of illustration. The annotated series (yellow labels) has all the marvellous printed leader section with the music marked with bar lines to enable you to follow it easily. The analytical series (cream labels) is like the running comment series but the running commentary is of a more technical tone. The popular series (purple and gold boxes and labels) describes the music as per the running comment rolls but with a more accessible "popular" slant and larger print. This example is from the Popular series of rolls and also if you look carefully you will see locating holes from the bar line printer at the edges. The childrens playtime series (red white and blue pictorial boxes) and designed for children and have pictures with very large text and are designed for fun rather than musical education. The playtime series has no bar lines printed on the roll.
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The Triphonola is the reproducing system that was the top of the range of the Hupfeld Company in Germany after they ceased manufacturing their earlier DEA reproducing system. The Solophonola was their foot pedalled player piano, the Duophonola was an all electric reproducing piano and the Triphonola was the pedal-electric instrument. The logic behind this is that the standard width roll on a normal spool, unlike many other reproducing piano rolls, is fully marked for use on pedal operated instruments. The rolls are therefore suitable for three uses (a) pedal use (b) electrically pumped use with the operator supplying dynamics or (c) fully automatic reproducing-piano operation. There being three possible uses explains the "tri" of the "triphonola". Unlike most other reproducing systems the dynamic tracks fall outside the normal 88-note area so can be played as a pedal roll without any switching required. The expression system incorporates theme holes, via agreement with Aeolian, to accent the music in conjunction with the expression tracks. The expression tracks are chained with different densities - some have very close chaining whilst others have very spaced chaining. In practice the system appears to reproduce very well producing good results. Half it's success is down to the fact that the hand-played record of the notes themselves are recorded very well which serves as a very good footing for the expression added over that.
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The Kastonome system was developed and produced by Kastner & Co, London. It is a note themeing system to rival the themodist system. It is capable of providing accenting of any individual note along the scale without breaking the chord slightly as does the themodist system. It is achieved by having accenting ports, one for each note, laid out over two banks at each end of the tracker bar. Each hole in the array accents one note only and the Kastonome marginal accenting perforation are punched accordingly. The accenting perforations do not lie parallel to the notes they will accent as the grid is several rows high. When well regulated it is the only totally accurate method of accenting notes. The Kastonome mechanism itself is, needless to say, very complex with banks of extra operating pouches all of which must be in good regulation for total success. The purple line you follow to control the volume as in normal piano rolls. Between the central two green rows the arrows line up on Kastonome pianos with the "Etronome" guides - you follow the arrows against the glass plate as the roll plays and this varies the tempo - it is apparent that the printing accuracy was greater than Aeolian's Metrostyle system so it is fair to say that the result that "Etronome" provides would be greater. There are no auto-sustain holes on the rolls. You do that yourself when the blue "Ped." wording comes up and hold it on for as long as the blue dots thereafter continue. In this example the perforations near the pedal markings are Kastonome holes - not pedal holes. Click here to see the spoolbox more complex even than the Angelus Duplex - the unique Kastonome player, with dual-tracker bar system and Etronome tempo guide. In the picture E and D are alternate drive chucks to change to playing 65-note rolls. The only potential problem is as an accenting perforation travels down say to the fifth row from the top to coincide with a particular desired note it will naturally trigger all the other ports it passes also. If there would be a note to which this corresponded then a note could be inadvertently accented. The likelihood of this occuring however is very small and careful editing would have reduced any such inadvertent effects. Kastner also made "Solostyle" rolls where the notes holes were punched with a blue and purple inked edging (treble and bass) to highlight notes to be accented with the manual controls.
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For children a number of song rolls were made with illustrations printed on them. This example is from the first of the well-known series of 4 Nursery Rhyme Song Rolls issued by Aeolian. A rare earlier edition of the same roll was made without the pictures and had a different serial number.
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Aeolian Grand. This roll is for the Aeolian Grand and Aeolian Orchestrelle 58-note player organs. The roll is 10 1 / 8 inches wide and are perforated at 6 hole per inch like 65-note rolls. The rolls have a metal pin ends with a drive lug on the right hand side as do standard 65-note rolls. Organ rolls generally run at lower speeds compared to their piano equivalents as notes do not require sustaining. In this example you can see that the shortest individual notes are merely one perforation diameter apart. The roll motors on these instruments can run very evenly at very low speeds. The operator chooses the stops and expression as they desire and whilst this example is only marked for expression a small series of these 58-note Aeolain rolls were overprinted with suggested stop registrations.
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Aeolian Solo Orchestrelle & Aeolian Organ. The roll is 10 1 / 8 inches wide and are perforated at 12 holes per inch. The rolls have a metal pin ends with a drive lug on the right hand side as do standard 58 & 65-note rolls. The rolls play the same 58-note scale as the earlier Aeolian Grand rolls but provide for two-manual organ music by having the notes arranged chromatically but with half-width perforations. The open punched perforations play manual 2 and the chained perforations play manual one. The tracker bar consists of a double row of 58-hole slightly staggered one above the other. In the picture you can see chained perforations right next to open cut ones. These play the same note but on different manuals. The system can single out solo melody by playing it a different organ manual (and hence different tone) to the accompaniment. Thus, the system represents an improvement over its predeceasors. Rolls also are generally overprinted with suggested stop instructions. The rolls were for playing on the Solo Orchestrelle and also Aeolian Pipe Organs fitted with 116-note players.
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Dalian Piano roll. This is a very rare UK designed theming system. The system was marketed briefly around 1913 but was commercially unsuccesful. The rolls have perforations punched with different width holes. In the photo you can see the solo theme notes have full wide perforations whilst normal notes have chained perforations commencing with a standard punch hole. According to Ord-Hume's book each note in the Dalian player had it's own damping pneumatic and regulator. The rolls were made by the Perforated Music Company on their Linenized label but marked "Dalian" on the leader. The rolls play the full 88-note scale and do not have themodist type perforations.
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This is an "orchestrated" version of the standard 58-note Aeolian Grand / Orchestrelle roll. You can use the organ stop stampings as a guidline for a musical performance. There is no specific history on these although a fair number were produced. My own personal opinion is that they were for use on the 116-note models when they were first introduced. The reason I say this is that the stop designations i.e. "strings" "horns" are closer to the printings used on 116-note rolls. Possibly they were issued for 116-note owners to have access to additional repertoire until there were a large number of 116-note titles available. The music on these is orchestrated versions is exactly the same at the standard 58-note issues. The serial numbers are all the same also just with the addition of an extra "0" before the first digit.
MORE TO FOLLOW SHORTLY!
AMPICO
The Ampico reproducing system was introduced in 1914 by the AM erican PI ano CO rporation hence the name. It doesn't use themodist style holes to express the theme but instead uses conjunctions of variable note lengths and expression codes to provide the ooomph in the music! It also has a crescendo mechanism (unlike the Duo-Art) which can take it up the crescendos in either 2 or 11 seconds. Careful coding in conjunction with this crescendo speed creates dynamic and lifelike reproductions of the performances. There are 3 slightly differing systems of rolls, the early Stoddard Ampico, the main Ampico A and the late Ampico B. Not all the rolls are 100% compatible without some lost expression capability due to the inherent diffences in the internal mechanisms of the 3 systems. The picture here is of an Ampico A roll. The fundamental differences of the other systems are minor variations in the way that the expression coding is punched against the notes.
PHILLIPS DUCA
Phillips Duca Reproducing Roll. The first reproducing piano system from the major German manufaturer Phillips was introduced in 1906 just a couple of years after Welte's Mignon. The rolls are on metal spool of the same width and perforation size as their Pianella orchestrion range.
WELTE MIGNON
Welte "Mignon" Reproducing Roll. The first reproducing piano system from the major German manufaturer Welte. Introduced in 1905 and known as the "Red Welte" because of the color of paper used. The rolls are on wooden pinned spool of the same width and perforation size as some of their orchestrion range. A catologue comprising several thousand recordings were made through to the 1920s. This was always an expensive system and the rolls and pianos are uncommon.
HUPFELD CLAVITIST
Hupfeld Clavitist Roll. This roll is for an electric expression player piano system built by Hupfeld of Leipzig. The roll format is the same as their earlier 73-note Phonola scale with theme perforations crammed into the roll between note tracks and expression coding arranged marginally.
SOLOELLE
Soloelle. A roll for the very rare USA-made "Soloelle" system. A variant of the Ampico system of which very little is known. The recordings are essentially Ampico recordings re-coded for the Solo-elle system. Surviving examples show a piano action hammer rail split into 10 pneumatically asjustable sections operated from the roll to produce the expression effects.
PIANELLA
Phillips Pianella Roll. This roll is contains all the information to enable it to play any of the instruments in the Phillips Pianella "Piano Mandolin" range of orchestrions from the lowly piano + mandolin-only models right up to the gargantuan 12ft high cafe models packed full with pipes and percussion. The rolls are on metal spool of the same width and perforation size as their Duca reproducing piano system.
VOCALSYTLE
Talk about putting information onto a roll - these must be second only to the AudioGraphics! The vocalisation style of the lyrics is printed next to the words to enable the correct singing style to be employed by the singer. In addition there is a second track which shows volume depending on how far it is across the roll which is also ptinted with marks indicating sustain pedal on and off! If you can read all that and sing at the same time you're pretty good! Jokes aside many of the rolls are delightfully good hand-played arrangements.
Mel-O-Dee Song Roll
The Mel-O-Dee Song Roll is the brand of songroll made in the US by Aeolian. Quite a few of them found their way into the english Aeolian catalogues under different sub-brand labels and serial numbers.
ARTO
A novel idea indeed from the Standard Roll Company who made this brand. There are stave lines drawn up the length of the roll and the words are printed across the stave lines in positions that correspond to their musical notes! A very easy idea to sing well from once you get the knack of reading it - it's probably easier if you can read music - stave lines mean nothing to non-musicians.