Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder -- Pianocorder Forum

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Subject: Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder

Author:
Mark Fontana

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Date Posted: 23:13:45 09/20/05 Tue
In reply to: Nick Delgado 's message, "Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder" on 03:28:23 09/19/05 Mon

Hi Nick, I checked out one of the forums you mentioned and honestly had no idea there was such a following for these cheesy old animatronic systems! I didn't see any photos of the control system electronics, though. If you mail me a few photos of the boards in question, it will be easy to confirm that the system was indeed based on Pianocorder parts.

It seems that the CEI systems got underway in the 1977-1978 timeframe, right as the Pianocorder was also introduced.

The Pianocorder system sold by Superscope/Marantz actually originated at Teledyne's Lewisburg, Tennessee facility as a side project produced by a group of aerospace engineers. The PWM solenoid control system and tape format all originated at Teledyne. Several improvements were made by Superscope upon acquiring the technology, but the credit goes to Teledyne for this invention. Here are the key patents (view them online at http://www.uspto.gov):

Campbell, J. M. (1979). Method and Apparatus for Recording Digital Signals for Actuating Solenoid. Lewisburg, Tennessee: U.S. Patent No. 4,174,652. Assignee: Teledyne Industries, Inc., Los Angeles, California.

Campbell, J. M. & Minyard, L. J. (1979a). Method and Apparatus for Encoding of Expression While Recording from the Keyboard of an Electronic Player Piano. Lewisburg, Tennessee: U.S. Patent No. 4,172,403. Assignee: Teledyne Industries, Inc., Los Angeles, California.

Campbell, J. M. & Minyard, L. J. (1979b). System for Encoding of Bass and Treble Expression Eﬀects While Recording from the Keyboard of an Electronic Player Piano. Lewisburg, Tennessee: U.S. Patent No. 4,176,578. Assignee: Teledyne Industries, Inc., Los Angeles, California.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder	Nick Delgado	19:45:54 09/22/05 Thu
Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder -- Mark Fontana, 21:20:34 09/22/05 Thu Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder -- Nick Delgado, 22:57:03 09/22/05 Thu Re: Kind of Off Topic, Robotics related to Pianocorder -- Mark Fontana, 23:20:26 09/22/05 Thu