Platter based electronic musical instrument

• US 10,593,313 B1
• Filed: 02/14/2019
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peter Bacigalupo
• Original Assignee: Peter Bacigalupo
• Inventors: Bacigalupo, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Warren, David S
• Application Number:
  US16/276,341
• Time in Patent Office: 397 Days
• Field of Search: 84609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0066 using a MIDI interface
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/06 Circuits for establishing the harmonic content of tones , or other arrangements for changing the tone colour
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/20 for transposition
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/34 Switch arrangements, e.g. keyboards or mechanical switches specially adapted for electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/383 Chord detection and/or recognition, e.g. for correction, or automatic bass generation
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/395 Special musical scales, i.e. other than the 12- interval equally tempered scale; Special input devices therefor keyboards G10H2220/221
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/561 Changing the tonality within a musical piece
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/036 Chord indicators, e.g. displaying note fingering when several notes are to be played simultaneously as a chord

Abstract

A platter based electronic musical instrument is operable to shift the frequency of a sound sample as a function of a rotational position of the platter and a scale selection signal. The electronic musical instrument is further operable to render the frequency shifted sound sample. A scale of the electronic musical instrument is selected via a leash. The leash determines the selected scale of the electronic musical instrument as a function of input provided by (e.g., a chord played on) a controlling musical instrument.

Claims

1. A leash for a platter based electronic musical instrument, wherein the electronic musical instrument is responsive to a scale selection signal to shift a frequency of a sound sample as a function of a rotational position of a platter of the electronic musical instrument and the scale selection signal, said leash comprising:

an input operable to receive an input signal from a controlling musical instrument and provide a chord signal indicative of a chord played on the controlling musical instrument, wherein;

wherein the input is an analog input, the input signal is an analog electromagnetic signal representative of an audible sound, and the input is configured to digitize the analog electromagnetic signal and convert the digitized electromagnetic signal to a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument;

or

the input is a digital audio input, the input signal is a pulse code modulated (PCM) stream representative of an audible sound, and the input is configured to decode the PCM stream and provide a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument;

a translator operable to;

receive the chord signal from the input; and

select a scale corresponding to a chord represented by the chord signal; and

an output operable to provide a scale selection signal to a processor of the electronic musical instrument representative of the selected scale.

2. The leash of claim 1, wherein the translator is further operable to:

determine, based on the received chord signal, a plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument; and

select the scale corresponding to the chord by selecting the scale as a function of the determined plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument, said plurality of notes representative of the chord.

3. The leash of claim 1, wherein the input is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), the input signal is a MIDI signal, and the input is configured to provide a digital signal to the translator, said digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument.

4. The leash of claim 1, wherein the output provides the scale selection signal to the processor of the electronic musical instrument only when the scale selected by the translator changes.

5. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a platter operable to rotate about a center point, wherein the platter is operable to be rotated by a user;

a rotational position sensor operable to sense rotation of the platter and provide a position signal indicative of the sensed rotation of the platter;

a buffer operable to store a sound sample;

a processor operable to;

determine a rotational position of the platter as a function of the position signal;

retrieve the sound sample from the buffer;

shift a frequency of the sound sample as a function of the determined rotational position of the platter; and

render the frequency-shifted sound sample; and

a leash comprising;

an input operable to receive an input signal from a controlling musical instrument and provide a chord signal indicative of a chord played on the controlling musical instrument, wherein

the input is an analog input, the input signal is an analog electromagnetic signal representative of an audible sound, and the input is configured to digitize the analog electromagnetic signal and convert the digitized electromagnetic signal to a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument;

or

the input is a digital audio input, the input signal is a pulse code modulated (PCM) stream representative of an audible sound, and the input is configured to decode the PCM stream and provide a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument;

a translator operable to;

receive the chord signal from the input;

determine, based on the received chord signal, a plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument; and

select a scale corresponding to the determined plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument; and

an output operable to provide a scale selection signal to the processor of the electronic musical instrument based on the selected scale, wherein the processor is further operable to receive the scale selection signal and shift the frequency of the sound sample as a function of the selected scale and the determined rotational position of the platter.

6. The electronic musical instrument of claim 5, wherein the translator is further operable to:

determine, based on the received chord signal, a plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument; and

select the scale corresponding to the chord by selecting the scale as a function of the determined plurality of notes played on the controlling musical instrument, said plurality of notes representative of the chord.

7. The electronic musical instrument of claim 5, wherein the input is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), the input signal is a MIDI signal, and the input is configured to provide a digital signal to the translator, said digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument.

8. The electronic musical instrument of claim 5, wherein the output provides the scale selection signal to the processor of the electronic musical instrument only when the scale selected by the translator changes.

9. The electronic musical instrument of claim 5, further comprising an octave selector operable to receive octave selection input from the user selecting a number of octaves per rotation of the platter and provide an octave selection signal indicative of the selected number of octaves per rotation to the processor, wherein the processor is further operable to receive the octave selection signal and shift the frequency of the sound sample as a function of the selected number of octaves per rotation and the determined rotational position of the platter.

10. The electronic musical instrument of claim 5, further comprising an octave selector operable to receive octave selection input from the user selecting a number of octaves per rotation of the platter and provide an octave selection signal indicative of the selected number of octaves per rotation to the processor, wherein the processor is further operable to receive the octave selection signal and shift the frequency of the sound sample as a function of the selected number of octaves per rotation and the determined rotational position of the platter, wherein the octave selector comprises an array of buttons, each button of the array of buttons corresponding to a number of octaves per rotation of the platter.

11. A method of operating an electronic musical instrument, said method comprising:

receiving an input signal from a controlling musical instrument at an input of a leash, wherein;

the input signal is an analog electromagnetic signal representative of an audible sound, and the method further comprises digitizing the analog electromagnetic signal and converting the digitized electromagnetic signal to a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument;

or

the input signal is a pulse code modulated (PCM) stream representative of an audible sound, and the method further comprises decoding the PCM stream and providing a digital signal representative of at least one note played on the controlling musical instrument; and

providing a scale selection signal from an output of the leash to a processor of the electronic musical instrument, wherein;

the electronic musical instrument renders a frequency-shifted sound sample, wherein a frequency shift of the frequency-shifted sound sample is determined by the processor as a function of a rotational position of a platter of the electronic musical instrument and the scale selection signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing an octave scale selection signal from the leash to the electronic musical instrument as a function of the input signal received at the leash.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing sample selection input at a sample selector of the electronic musical instrument, wherein the sample selection input indicates a selected sound sample of a plurality of sound samples stored in a memory of the electronic musical instrument; and

rotating a platter of the electronic musical instrument about a center point of the platter to indicate a selected frequency shift in the selected sound sample, wherein a processor of the electronic musical instrument;

retrieves the selected sound sample from a buffer of the electronic musical instrument;

shifts the frequency of the retrieved sound sample as a function of the rotational position of the platter; and

renders the frequency-shifted sound sample.