Amusic roll (French:Rouleau à musique) is a storage medium used to operate a mechanical musical instrument. They are used for theplayer piano,mechanical organ,electronic carillon and various types oforchestrion. The vast majority of music rolls are made of paper. Other materials that have been utilized include thin card (Imhof-system), thin sheet brass (Telektra-system), composite multi-layered electro-conductive aluminium and paper roll (Triste-system) and, in the modern era, thin plastic orPET film.
The music data is stored by means of perforations. The mechanism of the instrument reads these as the roll unwinds, using apneumatic, mechanical or electrical sensing device called atracker bar, and the mechanism subsequently plays the instrument.
After a roll is played, it is necessary for it to be rewound before it can be played again. This necessitates a break in a musical performance. To overcome this problem, some instruments were built with two player mechanisms (referred to as a duplex roll mechanism) allowing one roll to play while the other rewinds.
Apiano roll is a specific type of music roll, and is designed to operate an automatic piano like theplayer piano or thereproducing piano.
Mechanical musical instruments | ||
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| Pianos | ||
| Clocks | ||
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