Recording the non automatic 116 note roll data in MIDI files saves only the played notes.  The printed instructions are not recorded.   To make the preservation more complete, those instructions must somehow also be included.  One method of placing these instructions within the MIDI file, is to manually add "markers" at the appropriate locations. After evaluating the situation, it appeared as if the only way to preserve the entire roll, was to just upgrade the roll to full Duo Art status.  In that process, the stop changes and shutter positions are manually coded into the file and "markers" are used to identify "Reverse-Normal-Unison" settings.  Cut and paste operations can then be used to place the data into the proper track for play back.  There is considerable work involved in this process.

Many of the 116 note roll performances also exist as Duo Art rolls as Aeolian released the same work in both formats. These rolls are omitted from any conversion process.   Still, some 700 rolls in the collection with Opus 1280 do not have a Duo Art counterpart.  From that list, the better titles are now undergoing the recording and update process.

Using a computer program, the data appears on screen just like a roll.  The edit or upgrade process involves making changes in the visual representation of the roll on the computer screen.  The track that contains the Duo Art codes is created.  Events in that track are generated by using a MIDI keyboard

The Duo Art system turns on a stop by using a short perforation in the roll.   The selected stop stays on until another short perforation for the stop occurs.  It works like a toggle switch.  The event (short perforation) always moves the switch to the opposite position.   Consequently, when looking at a Duo Art roll, it is impossible to tell what a perforation does (off or on), unless  the position of the toggle switch before the perforation occurs is known.

To edit the data files and add the coding for Duo Art style stop management,  there needs to be some kind of tally system, as the roll progresses, to keep track of the what is "on" or "off".  A tally system developed for this project resembles a spreadsheet.  The far left column represents the sixty Duo Art codes.  The top row heading is the position within the roll that the code is applied.  Filling in the cells of the spreadsheet, which are about 1/4 inch square, with colored markers (green for on and red for off), keeps track of the stop changes printed on the roll.  A third color is used when the "Tonal" pedal is called for.  (Aeolian called the crescendo pedal, "Tonal")  One needs to think of the Tonal as superimposing stops on top of those already drawn.  The tally becomes extremely complex as stops are added or subtracted while the Tonal is on. A scheme of marking those events, which are delayed until the Tonal no longer is superimposed, is to merely put a circle around the change codes affected.

To add to the complexity of all this, errors exist with some regularity in the printed stop changes on the roll. These stop change instructions are hand stamped on the roll.  It is not uncommon to find these markings erased.  Some errors are obvious such as the instruction to turn off the "Swell flute P" where no prior instruction exists to turn it on.

Once the stops are properly coded and precisely located in the data file, the swell shutters have to be added. The shutters are six stage and follow a scheme just like the stops.  One perforation will activate a stage to "on" and the next perforation will activate that stage "off".

Keeping track of the swell shutters is easier and requires no spread sheet.  The stages are turned on in sequence. The first stage is the lowest (pitch) hole in the roll format.  Thus when the shutters go full open, the roll perforation looks like an ascending scale.  As the shutters close, it appears as a descending scale.

If the roll is pure "drafting board arranging", the meter is strict and without variation.  Markings on the roll suggest tempo changes to give a life-like interpretation.  Adding this feature to the data file requires use of the MIDI "conductor".  That tool allows tempo changes.

A roll that takes five minutes to play may require four hours of editing.

An example of a Tally sheet is here

For a partial MIDI file of this example, "Bells Of Rheims" by Lemare, click on the sample highlighted at the end of this paragraph.
The track assignments and channels are as follows.

Track one    Pedal    Ch 1
Track two    great    Ch 2
Track three   swell   Ch 4
Track four Duo Art Ch 7   stop codes, couplers, extensions, pedal octaves
Track five     info
Track six      info
Track seven  info
Track eight   info
Track nine    info/blank
Track ten      swell shutters Ch 7  in Duo Art code format
Track eleven  Great shutters Ch 7 in Duo Art code format

All info tracks have a brief "C" at the beginning to keep the program from from condensing the tracks  The velocities for non note playing have all been set to 5.  Sample of partial file through measure 120

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