This roll was made on a laser piano roll cutter that I built based on the design by Spencer Chase. The original Ampico roll was scanned by Terry Smythe in 2003 or earlier, converted to a MIDI file using Warren Trachtman's Roll SCan Converter software, and then converted to a GCODE file to operate the laser cutter using Spencer Chase's M2G program. These gentlemen all deserve a lot of credit for their work! After the end of the music there are a couple of clips of the laser cutter at work.
This is my first attempt at re-creating a roll from a scan file - there are some minor variations in the tempo in spots (which I'm sure were not in the original roll), but with a little more practice on my part using the software, this machine will make nearly-perfect copies of original rolls.
The Way You Look Tonight - music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Dorothy Fields. From the film "Swingtime." Winner of the Academy Award for best Original Song in 1936. The original Ampico roll also featured "A Fine Romance." This was an Ampico "B" roll, played by Adam Carroll and released in late 1936.
6 сен 2024