I'd like to have a midi keyboard connected to solenoids that push on a regular piano keys.

I want to use this to play the piano in real time... not to play back midi files.

Wayne Stahnke once told me that this would have such a latency that the playing experience would be very poor.

Does anyone feel like a setup such as this would work and who i might contact to build this for me (for a novel invention-not a regular piano).

Thanx,
Mark

Latency would definitely be a problem. On Disklavier systems, incoming MIDI data for the XG backing parts is delayed by a buffer for up to 500ms to allow the solenoids and the action on the acoustic piano part to catch up. Unless you can insert a 500ms buffer between your ears and your fingers, I suspect it would be virtually impossible to play such a system as you describe.

The pneumatic action of the 1914 pipe organ in Sibiu, Romania has a delay of ~400ms, and different to different divisions in different parts of the church hall. It requires the special experience of the local organist to disconnect the ears from the proper fingering and build the difference in delays in finger control.