page_title: Player piano
section_title: Modern implementations
hierarchical_section_title: Player piano / Modern implementations
caption_attribution_description: English: The Synthesizer control unit of the Disklavier Mark III. This picture (looking up from the floor) shows one component of the Yamaha Disklavier player piano. The unit mounted under the left side of the piano keyboard controls the audio output of the acoustic piano and the synthesizer. From left to right are: Silence button; silencer indicator; knob for volume control; two headphone sockets; knob for reverb control. When the silence button is pressed, the hammers will not hit the acoustic piano strings. The music will then be played by the synthesizer. The audio will come out on the two speakers under the piano, or the headphones if plugged in, or via the AUX line-out port to an external stereo sound system. Most components of the system are out of sight. Other components include a row of solenoids and optical sensors mounted behind each and every piano key, the synthesizer for other non-piano MIDI voices, amplifier and two speakers mounted under the sound board.
context_page_description: A player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls, with more modern implementations using MIDI. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sales peaked in 1924, then declined as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s. The advent of electrical amplification in home music reproduction via radio in the same period helped cause their eventual decline in popularity, and the stock market crash of 1929 virtually wiped out production.
context_section_description: Later developments of the reproducing piano include the use of magnetic tape and floppy disks, rather than piano rolls, to record and play back the music; and, in the case of one instrument made by Bösendorfer, computer assisted playback.
  In 1982, Yamaha Corporation introduced the "Piano Player", which was the first mass-produced, commercially available reproducing piano that was capable of digitally capturing and reproducing a piano performance using floppy disk as a storage medium. The Piano Player was replaced in 1987 by the Yamaha Disklavier and since 1998, the Disklavier PRO models are capable of capturing and reproducing "high-resolution" piano performances of up to 1024 velocity levels and 256 increments of positional pedaling using Yamaha's proprietary XP (Extended Precision) MIDI specification.
  Almost all modern player pianos use MIDI to interface with computer equipment. Most modern player pianos come with an electronic device that can record and playback MIDI files on floppy disks and/or CD-ROMs, and a MIDI interface that enables computers to drive the piano directly for more advanced operations. The MIDI files can trigger electromagnetic devices called solenoids, which use electric current to drive small mechanical pistons mounted to the key action inside the piano.  Live performance or computer generated music can be recorded in MIDI file format for accurate reproduction later on such instruments.  MIDI files containing converted antique piano-rolls can be purchased on the Internet.
  As of 2006, several player piano conversion kits are available (PianoDisc, Pianomation, etc.), allowing the owners of normal pianos to convert them into computer controlled instruments. The conversion process usually involves cutting open the bottom of the piano to install mechanical parts under the keyboard, although one organization—Logos Foundation—has manufactured a portable, external kit. A new player piano conversion kit was introduced in 2007-08 by Wayne Stahnke, the inventor of the Bösendorfer SE reproducing system, called the "LX".
  Steinway now manufactures a player piano based on Wayne Stahnke's Live Performance LX system. Live Performance Model LX, was sold to Steinway in 2014 and re-branded as Spirio. In contrast to other piano brands, a recording option is not available in Steinway Spirio pianos.
  Edelweiss is a British upcomer on the player piano market offering totally bespoke pianos, available in luxury department store Harrods since 2017 and according to the Financial Times YouTube channel 'How to Spend it', Edelweiss is "regarded as the most upmarket of today's breed of the self-playing piano".
caption: Sequencer control unit of Yamaha Disklavier Mark III
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