PIANOLAROLL 1 OF 4
HEAD0
LANEC4
STROKES0
ROLLS3
A blank sheet on the bench. Four rolls to cut.
CAPSTAN PLATE
ROLL SHIFT
square
CAPSTAN
♩ = 108
A roll-cutting bench, four sheets deep
Pianola
The paper already knows the tune. You punch the holes, set the roll shift and the capstan, and then get out of the way while the machine plays it back.
- A note is a run of holes. The hammer falls on the first one and holds. Punch a hole in the middle of a held note and it falls twice.
- The paper ends where it ends. The last stroke of the second tune finishes exactly on the last cell of the sheet. Late by one sixteenth and the paper takes the note away.
- The shift moves the paper across the pins. A roll written square plays in the wrong key one notch over, and its top notes fall off the block.
- The capstan is a measured thing. Four rolls to cut: two to punch, one to repair, one to perform.
Arrows move the head · Space punches · Enter sets the roll in · Esc pauses · M mutes
The roll is stopped
The paper is holding where it stopped.
How the machine works
- ← →
- Move the punch head one sixteenth along the sheet. It cannot cross the lead-in or the end of the paper.
- ↑ ↓
- Choose the lane, low C to high C. Or tap a cell on the roll itself.
- Space
- Punch or unpunch the cell under the head.
- Enter
- Set the roll in. The machine reads the paper and plays it.
- C
- Audition. Set the roll in without committing, in any act but the last.
- Q / E
- In the last act, throw the shift lever and the capstan one notch.
- Esc / M
- Pause. Mute.
The capstan plate
The quadrant is cut with five stops. Each one runs the paper at a fixed distance per beat, and the mark on a roll tells you which stop it was cut for.
If the tempo mark is burnt out, measure the surviving crosses on the paper margin and match the gap to the plate. The crosses at 133.3 mm apart are one beat apart.
The concert
The room holds still
Every roll played as it was written.