Aeolian player piano rolls
Instead, they allow atmospheric air to pass through elongated tracker bar holes, operating the valves to control one of two accordion pneumatics, as Aeolian called them.Įach accordion has four separate sections, which progressively double in span, from top to bottom.
At the left-hand edge of the music roll (and also at the right-hand, which is not shown), there are four special perforation positions which do not operate notes. Part of the Dynamic Control Mechanism of the Duo-Art.Īeolian Duo-Art Reproducing Mechanism DiagramĪt the right, a perforated music roll passes over a tracker bar, which has holes in it connected via many small tubes to the individual note mechanisms of the instrument. The layout below is not necessarily representative of an actual Duo-Art installation. In the diagram below, air is evacuated from the Duo-Art playing mechanism (the pneumatic stack) through a pipe on the left, passing through various windways inside the expression box, and thence to an electric suction pump with the aid of the pipe at the top of the diagram. Proprietary dynamic control devices reduce this suction level in various sophisticated ways so that a wide variety of dynamic effects is possible. In all standard reproducing pianos, an electric suction pump powers the playing mechanism and supplies a sufficient level of suction for the maximum loudness needed by the piano. The center of such a piano would fit more closely with the Duo-Art division. The reasons for this difference were not documented at the time but may have been influenced by the phonograph/player piano project mentioned above, which adopted an 85-note keyboard as the standard, leaving the top three note tracks on a regular 88-note roll to be used for synchronization purposes. Like the Themodist Pianola, the Duo-Art divided its playing mechanism into two halves, although the border from bass to treble occurred between Eb and E above middle C, one note lower than on most other systems. ScheherazadeĪeolian Duo-Art Information about Mechanical Operation Musical Example Below: This is our very own 1925 Steinway & Sons, Duo-Art, Model OR, playing Steinway DuoArt, This example was recorded by a young Sergei Prokofiev, Playing Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Fantasia Arrangement “Suite Symphonique”. Such an instrument might more aptly have been called a Trio-Art, whereas the name Duo-Art information would have ideally suited a combined phonograph and player piano. Aeolian sought to emphasize the triple reproducing nature of its new instrument, allowing for automatic performance, personal control of standard rolls, and the direct playing of the piano by hand. First is Aeolian’s unsuccessful attempt to produce a synchronized phonograph and player piano, which occupied the Aeolian experimental department for many years, and an apparent belief that most music-lovers wanted to create their interpretations on the pianola, rather than to listen passively to the performances of the great masters. There would seem to be two reasons for this uncharacteristic tardiness on the part of Aeolian Duo-Art Information. By that time the Welte-Mignon had been selling their Reproducers for nine years, and various American manufacturers had already stepped into the market, such as the American Piano Company, with its Stoddard-Ampico system, which is reputed to have been launched in 1911. The Aeolian Company was a relatively late entrant to the world of reproducing pianos, bringing the Duo-Art before the musical public in March 1914. 1915 Duo-Art, Steinway & Sons Model “AR”, Mahogany Veneer Aeolian Duo-Art Information