<P> The first paper rolls were used commercially by Welte & Sons in their Orchestrions beginning in 1883 . </P> <P> A rollography is a listing of piano rolls, especially made by a single performer, analogous to a discography . </P> <P> The Buffalo Convention of December 10, 1908 established two future roll formats for the US - producers of piano rolls for self - playing pianos . The two formats had different punchings of 65 and 88 notes, but the same width (11 ⁄ inches or 286 millimetres); thus 65 - note rolls would be perforated at 6 holes to the inch, and 88 - note rolls at 9 holes to the inch, leaving margins at both ends for future developments . This made it possible to play the piano rolls on any self - playing instrument built according to the convention, albeit sometimes with a loss of special functionality . This format became a loose world standard . </P> <P> Metronomic or arranged rolls are rolls produced by positioning the music slots without real - time input . The music, when played back, is typically purely metronomical . Metronomically arranged music rolls are deliberately left metronomic so as to enable a player - pianist to create their own musical performance via the hand controls that are a feature of all player pianos . </P>

Where does the history of piano roll come from