Piano Roll Insights

aight peeps. listen up.

Ever wonder why the notation part of your DAW is called a "Piano Roll"?

Well, it's because it was already invented over a hundred years ago!

The piano rolls seen in our modern software, pretty much exactly mimic the parchment rolls used in the player pianos invented during the Mid 1800's. These were widely used up until the gramophone became the preferred way of listening to recorded music.

Paper was punched full of holes and the rolls would then be inserted into the player piano. The holes lined up with mechanisms that would move the hammers, in order to strike the keys of the piano.

Much later, when computers were eventually capable of recording and playing back complex music, the old tech was simply inherited by the software makers of the time, and turned sideways (Left to Right)..