HensTooth DIY Music Box Composer for Sankyo (Mr. Christmas, Crosley, Thomas Pacconi) 7" Disc Music Boxes


On this page, you can submit your musical composition to be checked online for compatibility with 7" Disc (Mr. Christmas/Crosley/Pacconi Music Boxes).

Near the bottom of this page, you will find the submission form.

But first, you should take note of the following items.

Requirements for Online Music Submissions:

1. Your music must be submitted as a midifile.
2. Midifiles must be of TYPE 0. This means all notes, control messages, etc. must be in ONE track.
3. If you can not provide a midifile, you can submit compositions by mail or email ( email HensTooth ).

Privacy:

1. Your music will not be permanently stored on this server.

Specific Musical Requirements:

1. The Sankyo 7" music box comb is not chromatic. There are many missing notes, especially in the bass. For this reason, compositions are generally
restricted to a few keys. And since not all combs are tuned to the same dominant pitch, it is best to assume an arbitrary key. For our purposes, we assume
the comb is tuned to the key of C. You will find that more notes are available to you if you write in the key of C, or some of these alternative keys: aminor, G major, D major, F major. If you find the your midifile has many PROBLEMS reported by the online checker, you might try transposing.

2. Most of the constraints inherent in the Sankyo design will become clear to you as you check your midifile online. However, there are a few considerations that it is best you know about straight-away.

2a. The scale of available notes (assuming C-based tuning), starting from the bass, is:

CDEFGABC*DEFGABCDEFGA

[The C* is assumed to be approx. middle C]


2b. For commercial viability, the duration of music (from first note sounding to last note sounding) should be no more than 28 seconds..

2c. Mechanical design of music boxes dictates that the same note cannot be played again until a certain amount of time has passed. Bass notes require a larger 'pause' before the same bass note can be played again.

How to Read the Online Report:

1. If your music satisfies all requirements, the online report will include the notice:
" CONGRATULATIONS: Your music can be successfully punched on an actual 7" music box disc. Please Email Me me for more information."

2. Middle C is reported as C5. The C an octave above middle C is C6, the C an octave below middle C is C4.

3. If there are PROBLEMS, they will be listed in the following format:

For example:
"PROBLEM: In Measure 1 Beat 2.55 C5 Repeats too quickly"
This is interpreted as:
In measure 1, beat 2, 55/100 through beat 2 middle C repeats too quickly.

another example:
"PROBLEM: In Measure 1 Beat 1.51 C2 Note does not exists on Music Box comb"
This is interpreted as:
In measure 1, beat 1, a bit more than half through beat 1, the C in octave 2 does not have a corresponding tooth on the music box comb.

SPECIAL NOTE: If you have two of the the same note repeating to quickly, as would be indicated by the following report:
"PROBLEM: In Measure 3 Beat 2 C6 Repeats too quickly"
"PROBLEM: In Measure 3 Beat 2.25 C6 Repeats too quickly"

then, if you edit the first C6 (change or delete), then the second C6 note may be ok.

RECOMMENDATION: FIX ONE PROBLEM AT A TIME, THEN RESUBMIT THE FILE FOR VERIFICATION.

 

HERE IS THE FORM FOR SUBMITTING YOUR MIDIFILE
You will need to scroll down to the bottom of the page after submitting your file to read the report.

MIDI file (*.mid) to upload: