Spencer and everyone,

I for one know that wireless is definitely the way to go, and when it gets simple, lots of people are going to want one. Phil Dayson wrote of a commercial wireless midi box called MidAir that's sold over the counter at Best Buy and hundreds of stores across the country for around $150. It appears that it might be infrared, just looking at those two black circles on the ends of the send/receive units. I have also spoken to a customer who wants wireless and duet capabilities. I do know however that midi is a different animal than just ordinary wireless computing because it is handled in real time, so the buffering and switching has to be much faster.

In my PC laptop, I hear occasional tempo glitches between the player sequencer and the piano interface. It's not too bad for popular music, but on Debussy, it could be annoying. Not the interface's fault, but the motherboard, I suspect. This particular laptop is about 5 years old, uses 256 Mb memory, 20G HD.  HP Omnibook Xe3. But I've noticed the same problem with the desktop PCs, too. Luckily it isn't serious.

I hope that you will get one of these hubs and test it out for us, so we have confidence to recommend them. Whether or not they will solve the "glitch" tempo thing, I don't know. It doesn't happen often, but in cakewalk, you can watch the travelling line cursor do that "pausing" thing every once in awhile. I'm pretty sure it all has to do with buffering refills. But if the hub also buffers, and the hub isn't designed for real time performance, then the problem could get more serious.

On another subject, do we yet know how much these interfaces are going to cost, and what we should send you to hold one for us?

Thank you again, from everybody here, I'm sure.

Craig Brougher
craig_br@...



At 02:37 AM 2/14/2007, you wrote:

Greetings E-Roll-Collectors,

Good news!!!!!!!!!! The parts I have been waiting for for 9 months
have arrived in Reno Nevada and should be in my hands tomorrow or the
next day. Then they go to Alabama for circuit board assembly. In 7 to
10 days from their arrival in Alabama I should have boards to build 20
systems. I will start on this right away and should be able to start
shipping new systems in March. As soon as I have working boards in
hand, I will start taking deposits and will deliver systems first to
those who have been waiting the longest. There are just a few system
still unspoken for from the current batch, so let me know ASAP if you
are interested. It may be 6 months before I can build another batch.

More good news! The wireless USB hub that Belkin has been promising
for over a year is supposed to be available in just two days. Amazon
says so??? This will allow wireless operation of an E-Roll Player
system or other MIDI device with just a USB dongle (similar in size to
the wireless receiver for a wireless USB mouse or a USB flash drive.)
plugged into the host computer. A wireless hub can be located at the
piano and a USB MIDI interface plugged into this. As many as 4 devices
may be plugged into the hub so 4 pianos in close proximity could be
operated from a single computer. Until now, the only way to do this
was with a wireless LAN setup and a remote desktop program and second
computer or using a wireless MIDI device. The problem with a wireless
MIDI device is that it requires a MIDI interface at the computer as
well as the wireless MIDI device. Adding all this hardware to a
notebook computer is not better than a wire between the computer and
piano.

Since I will be leaving for California as soon as I have boards for
the E-Roll Player system, I can not order one of these wireless USB
systems as I don't know where I will be when they are shipped. If
anyone does get one, please let the group know how it works.

-- Best regards, Spencer Chase mailto:spencer@... 67550
Bell Springs Rd. Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only. Spencer@...
http://www.spencerserolls.com
http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm (707) 984-8356