These 3 pictures show the Leabarjan Model #8-B (with the reading/tracing stylus attachment) in the process of scoring the Ampico expression for a brand new release, which will also be available in the 88-Note format for standard pedal players.

    The 'note arrangement' was perforated in the ARTCRAFT Studio in Wiscasset, using a 7' Steinway Duo-Art electric player ... while the basic Ampico intensities and Sustaining Pedal are added after the fact, through repeated performances of the Master Roll, using the Pianola levers on this instrument. A minimum amount of crescendo is added at this time.

    Final proofing takes place in Boothbay, Maine (USA) — i.e. the "roll storage building" — where the 10 year inventory of ARTCRAFT Rolls is kept, along with several player uprights, including the Brewster Marque Ampico. There ... the roll is played as an Ampico 'reproducing' arrangement in comparison with a responsive pedal player, when the expression system is switched off. By toggling between "Ampico" and "88-Note", it's easy for the arranger to pencil mark the Master, for Soft Pedal effects as well as additional crescendo (fast/slow), as needed.

    The perforating of these additional 'control holes' takes place in the Wiscasset Studio, once more, and the completed roll is tested, during an additional session, on the 1926 Brewster before being sent out for many production runs of duplication.

    This roll is a very close approximation of Lewis J. Fuiks ("Victor Arden") and Phil Ohman on a Victor Record of 1930, having been perforated through audio analysis for the sparkling Interpretive Arrangement. Old rolls just sloshed through the factory formulae and bore no resemblance to the duo-pianists' effervescent audio recordings. You can compare a lackluster 1933 roll version of THE CARIOCA to an ARTCRAFT arrangement for 2001, in two side-by-side photos, on this page: http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/listbot5.htm  There, you'll see our new Duo-Art roll versus a phony "Arden & Ohman" one, which was the work of Frank C. Milne, then of the Aeolian-American corporation.

    We don't pretend that this or any other Interpretive Arrangement is a "recording" or "reproduction" of the artist, since the Pianola has its own particular attributes. Many times the arranger does things differently in order to convey the effect of specific pianists. The Player-Piano is a "performance alternative" which brings exciting and often 'impossible' effects to the keyboard instrument.