Professor Peetz shared a lot of his research with me and we did share ideas.
However, it was his project from the beginning. My contribution was strictly
in acknowledgement of the technology of the day. It has been the theory of a
few that Welte was in the business of defrauding the public regarding their
instant playback, as well as their electrical system of recording. I knew
this to be wrong, as such a crime would reflect as much on their stable of
artists as it would reflect on Welte. I also know that Edwin Welte was an
honorable man and far above that kind of cheap deceit.

I'm happy that the truth may in fact emerge. It usually does. And I feel
certain that the bad "research," ie. OPINIONS of a few in regard to this
subject will be relegated to the dumpster.

Some years ago I tried to gently correct AMICA about running any article
which accused Welte of outright fraudulent business practices. They not only
ran it once, but they ran it again! They would also have nothing to do with
me after that, and told me that I had written my last article for their
publication. That letter was, however, shown to the (then) president of
Amica, so this is a pretty well-documented issue by now, I would suppose.

I am no longer interested in articles for Amica or FROM Amica, as long as
their technical editing staff remains. It was that department (alone) which
ran the fallacious article about Welte, by the way. It could not have done
itself a greater disservice, or hurt the club more-- from a technical
standpoint. It is no longer an authoritative source of technical information
because it will not print corrections from members who disagree with their
technical editor. And the reviews that you get in writing are just horrific.

Sorry to have to say that, but it happens to be so.

Craig Brougher

-----Original Message-----
From: Rollscanners@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Rollscanners@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Matthew Caulfield
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 3:25 PM
To: Mechanical Music Digest
Cc: rollscanners@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Rollscanners] Welte Secret to be Revealed

The following appeared on today's Rollscanners Digest (no. 543):

Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 03:27:30 -0000
From: "londierowleik" <Ed.Ogeva@...>
Subject: Welte Exploration in Freiburg, Germany - Experiment of Prof. Dr.
Peetz

http://www.freiburg.de/1/100/10001/pressetext.php?
news_id=18136&rubrik_id=35
http://www.museen.freiburg.de/daten/aug/sonderausstellungen/aktuell.ph
p?navi_param%5Bsonderausstellung%5D=1

Augustinermuseum: "Das Geheimnis der Aufnahmen für Welte-Mignon"

Vortrag in der Welte-Ausstellung

Am letzten Tag der Ausstellung "Automatische Musikinstrumente aus
Freiburg in die Welt - 100 Jahre Welte-Mignon" im Augustinermuseum
lüftet Professor Ludwig Peetz das Geheimnis der einzigartigen Welte-
Aufnahmetechnik: Der Vortrag findet dort am Sonntag, 8. Januar, um
10.30 Uhr statt.

Im Gegensatz zum 1904 patentierten Wiedergabeverfahren hat die Firma
M. Welte & Söhne ihr Aufnahmeverfahren streng geheimgehalten. In den
letzten Jahren sind verschiedene Theorien darüber diskutiert worden,
die in Forschungskreisen zum Teil heftig umstritten sind. Eine der am
weitesten ausgearbeiteten aber auch am meisten umstrittenen Theorien
ist die sogenannte "High-Tech-Variante" von Professor Peetz. Anhand
eines Funktionsmodells und eines Oszilloskops stellt sie der
ausgewiesene Welte-Experte hier vor.
Der Eintritt kostet 5, ermäßigt 3 Euro einschließlich
Ausstellungseintritt.

© Stadt Freiburg, Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsreferat

btw: hope you can get a transation
BR//Prof. Leik
---------------------------------------------

The body of the posting would translate thus:

Augustinermuseum: "The Secret of the Recordings for Welte-Mignon"

Lecture at the Welte Exhibition

On the final day of the exhibition "Automatic Musical Instruments from
Freiburg to the World -- 100 Years of Welte-Mignon" in the Augustinermuseum,
Professor Ludwig Peetz airs the secret of the unique Welte recording
technique. The lecture takes place there on Sunday, January 8, at 10:30
a.m.

In contrast to the transcription process that was patented in 1904, the firm
of M. Welte & Sons held their recording process in strict secrecy. In
recent years various theories about the process have been discussed,
theories which have been debated, sometimes strenuously, in research
circles. One of the most well-developed, but also most debated, theories is
the so-called "High-Tech-Version" of Professor Peetz. With the aid of a
functioning model and an oscilloscope, the acknowledged Welte expert will
present it here.

The entry fee is 5, reduced 3 Euro including exhibition entry.

(This last about the entry fee is not clear to me, but I am not going
anyway)

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, NY














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