Printed Roll Instructions



All Aeolian Pipe Organ Music rolls (116 note) have instructions printed throughout the roll to tell the user how to set the stops and other controls.  

At the beginning of each roll, the position of the swell (expression) pedal is shown giving the range for each level of loudness.  At that point, a black dotted line begins and continues for the entire roll.  If the line is to the extreme left edge, the swell shutters are closed.  If the line is in the center of the roll, the shutters are full open.

Also at the beginning of the roll is the “coupler setting”.  This is given by three words: “Normal, Reverse and Unison”.  The “Normal”  position indicates that the top row of holes in the tracker bar are connected to the Swell pipes, and the bottom row of holes are connected to the Great pipes.  “Reverse” position does just that, and the rows are reversed.  In “Unison” both rows are connected to both sets of pipes.  The coupler is sometimes changed several times during a single roll.

The beginning of the roll also has a “Tempo” marking which is most often a number such as “50”.  This is the speed at which the roll is to be played.  There is a speed control on the console directly below the roll spool box.  This speed may change during the roll.

Another continuous line is in the center of the roll.  It is usually red or green, and is the centering mark used in tracking the roll.  As the roll plays, the user can adjust the tracking by keeping this centering line under an index marker.  The user turns a knob below the lowest keyboard to adjust the roll tracking.  Tracking is critical as the tiny perforations cannot wonder far from center before the adjacent note plays in error.

At the beginning of the roll, the initial stops are listed.   On the left edge of the roll are the stops associated with the “Swell” keyboard.   These are in green ink.  At the right side of the roll, are the stops associated with the “Great” keyboard.  These are in red ink.   The pedal stops are in black and are on the left side.  After the roll begins, all stop changes are listed in the center.

Echo stops are also listed at the beginning.  They are generally listed a “Prepare” meaning the listed echo stops are drawn, but the echo coupler is still left off.

The last control information given on the roll is for the “Tonal” pedal.  The “Tonal” is a crescendo pedal that when depressed, brings on all the stops sequentially, from soft to loud.  The instructions tell how far the pedal is to be moved and how fast.

Some of the Duo Art rolls (176 note) have the printed instructions, too.  The practice was dropped for the rolls that were later production rolls.  Only the initial tempo making remained on these later rolls.
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The perforations can be seen as two distinct styles.   The holes that are a series of dots, are read by the upper row on the tracker bar.  The holes that are alternating slots and dots, are for the lower row.  Notice the far left perforation, which is the pedal.  The two rows of holes in the tracker bar are spaced one quarter inch apart, on center.  When notes are played simultaneously on the Swell and Great, they appear staggered on the roll by the one quarter spacing.  On this roll the opening chord of six notes all sound simultaneously even though the four treble notes on the right appear to occur later.  This is roll 1247, "Redemption", "Unfold, Ye Portals" by Gounod.


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