Music Page (updated 05/08/2002)
On this page I hope to provide tips about making music rolls.
My musical knowledge is very limited but
I have had some success with the methods suggested here.
Here's what I hope to cover on this page.
Scales and tuning.
Marking board.
The Punch.
Using a computer program instead of a marking board.
Midi files.
What paper ?
Tuning meter.
Scales and tuning
The pipes on the JS organ are tuned from F (lowest) to D (highest).
You should stick to this tuning as the pipes are designed to tune to these notes.
However, this tuning means you need to write music in the scales of F or Bb. (major)
Although, the notes are tuned to a certain pitch, the names of the notes can be changed..
to make writing music easier. The intervals between notes must be maintained.
On a piano the distance between any 2 notes is a semitone. Each character including asterisks..
(excluding commas) in the scales below represents a semitone.
There are 20 named notes with the missing semitones represented by asterisks.
F,*,*,*,*,Bb,*,C,*,D,Eb,E ,F,*,G,*,A,Bb,*,C,*,D,Eb,E ,F,*,G,*,A,Bb,*,C,*,D G,*,*,*,*,C ,*,D,*,E,F ,F#,G,*,A,*,B,C ,*,D,*,E,F ,F#,G,*,A,*,B,C ,*,D,*,E You will see that although I have changed the note names in the lower scale the...
intervals between notes (the asterisks) have been maintained.
What good does this do ? You may ask !
Well, you can now write your music in the keys of C and G (major).
All you have to do is mark the lower scale on your marking board and the...
transposition (changing one scale to another) is done automatically.

The marking board I am left handed and my marking board is designed that way. If you are right handed you will need the vertical bar to the left of centre... and the double thickness of the cursor at its right end. Apologies for the picture quality but you will get the idea.

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Top of Page. Using a computer instead of a marking board.
I have recently discovered a program written by Piet Paardekam from the Netherlands.
The program takes a midi file and translates it into printed boxes on a page. The printed boxes are in the correct positions for punching, thus removing the need for the marking board.
This method sounds ideal but there are a few things to bear in mind.
1)The midi file needs to contain only the notes which are available on the organ.
2)You will need to write a file specific to the JS organ describing the hole positions.
Kevin Oliver has written a file (.gam 1Kb) as above and you can download it from here.
You can use Kevin's file or write your own.
Piet has also written a program called "Miditran" which converts a midi file into text. Top of Page.

The Punch The most important part of a punch is the "registration". I have used 1/2in. aluminium angle (from B&Q). Vertical saw cuts are made at the same measurements as the tracker bar. The tops of the saw cuts are then filed to a small V shape. The punch must be constructed so that the "head" stays where you put it. It must not move too much from side to side. The solenoid is probably the hardest part to get. Mine was a 12v coin slot magnet from a pub quiz machine. I do not have a source but suggest you look for amusement machine firms in yellow pages. They are always breaking up old machines and would probably be only too willing to sell you a solenoid. The punch itself was made from 4mm silver steel. I bought a 9in. length from "Pollards" in Bletchley (Near Milton Keynes). You will need to experiment with the shape of the "business" end but look at a hole punch (the 2 hole type you get from Office World) for clues. The "die" part of the punch was made from the same metal that I used for the crankshaft (B&Q). Make sure that the moving part of the solenoid does not touch the 4mm rod when at rest. This allows the puch to build up some "umph". You may have to experiment with different spacings. I used a brass wheel collet from a model aeroplane for the return spring to act on. The chad drawer is made from 2in by 1in rectangular plastic trunking. The solenoid has a foam plastic shroud when the punch is in use (to keep the noise down).

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Top of Page. Midi Files
Using a midi sequencer is probably the best way to compose or arrange music for the organ.
Most sequencer programs are very expensive (£200 +).
There is a cheaper alternative available from evolution (about £50).
Although this has its limitations and "quirks", it is more than adequate for writing
music on a 20 note scale.
There are several ways to write music using a sequencer. I find the easiest is to use the...
piano roll editor. Using this you enter notes on a "roll" similar to the paper roll used on...
the organ. If you set the music to play using a "pan flute" setting you get a good idea of...
how it will eventually sound on the organ.
Midi files are much smaller than other types of music files. This is because they don't contain the music, only the data needed to play the music.
They are very easy to send on the internet. You can also fit many .mid files on a floppy disk.


What Paper ?
I do not have the answer to this question !
The 400 grade lining paper referred to in the instructions is very difficult to get.
800 grade is slightly easier to get but my experience is that lining paper is generally poor..
quality and there MUST be a better alternative.
I have had an e-mail from Gisli Olsen(Sweden) saying that he has used brown wrapping paper for punching music rolls. This paper is about .1mm thick and is 80 g.s.m. Thanks for the information Gisli.

Whilst renewing my car tax at a local post office, I found a roll of paper similar to that which Gisli refers to. It is brown wrapping paper has the "post office" logo on the pack it is 70gsm and comes on a roll 500mm by 6m. The cost was 89p. You can cut this into 3 widths of 140mm. More on this when I have tried punching it.

Personally, I have recenly been using fax rolls to punch my music. If you shop around you can get two 30m rolls for about £4.50. (You can get 2 rolls of 30m fax paper from "Staples" for £3.90.) Fax rolls are 6mm wider than A4. If you make a roll holder for your printer you can use the rolls for printing the holes using Piet's program

I have seen the "plastic paper" that some of the arrangers are using to punch music but I don't have a source. If anyone knows of a source for this material I would be interested to know about it.
I am always looking out for roll paper to use for the organ. If anyone has any suggestions,
I would be pleased to hear them.
Top of Page.

Tuning Meter I have included a picture of the tuning meter that I use to tune the pipes. This was obtained from a local music shop for £19.95. It appears to be very accurate and is much easier than my early attempts at tuning using a keyboard. I have also found a shareware program on the internet which does the same as the tuning meter, using the computer's microphone. I have not used this method but I have had a report that it works, so it may be worth trying. Shareware tuner site

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