ENSEMBLE SYSTEM

• US 20090145285A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Usa, Satoshi, Urai, Tomomitsu
• Granted Patent: US 7,947,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/610
• 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 2240/175 for jam sessions or musical collaboration through a network, e.g. for composition, ensemble playing or repeating; Compensation of network or internet delays therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/325 Synchronizing two or more audio tracks or files according to musical features or musical timings

Abstract

An ensemble system enabling easy, flexible assignment of performance parts to the facilitator and the performers. In “setting” field, performance terminals (facilitator and piano (1 to 5)) are displayed. A pull-down menu for selecting presence/absence of each performance terminal and radio buttons for assigning performance parts are displayed. According to the presence/absence of each student, the selection of a presence/absence menu is inputted. When song title data is selected, a controller (1) reads a part assignment table of the song data and assigns a performance part to each performance terminal for which presence is selected. A performance part can be manually assigned to each performance terminal.

Claims

1. An ensemble system comprising a plurality of performance terminals each having at least one performance operator unit used for performance operation, at least one tone generator, and a controller connected to the plurality of performance terminals and the at least one tone generator and adapted to control each of the performance terminals, wherein the controller includes:

storage means adapted to store pieces of music data for performance each including a plurality of performance parts, and an assignment list including identification information indicating which performance part should be assigned to which performance terminal;

operation means used for designating at least one performance terminal participating in an ensemble and at least one performance terminal not participating in the ensemble, and used for selecting music data for performance to be played in the ensemble;

performance part assignment means adapted to assign the performance parts to respective performance terminals in accordance with the assignment list when music data for performance is selected by the operation means, and adapted to change assignment of at least one performance part from the performance terminal not participating in the ensemble to the performance terminal participating in the ensemble; and

performance control means adapted to read out the performance part assigned to each of the performance terminals in accordance with a way in which the performance operator unit of said each of the performance terminals is operated, and output data representing the read-out performance part to the tone generator.

2. The ensemble system according to claim 1, wherein said controller includes mode changeover means adapted to change an ordinary performance mode over to a model performance mode, and selection means adapted to select, in the model performance mode, at least one performance terminal for execution of a model performance from among the plurality of performance terminals, a performance operation on the performance terminal selected by said selection means is carried out at a guiding performance terminal, and music sound is reproduced by the selected performance terminal in accordance with the performance operation at the guiding performance terminal.

3. The ensemble system according to claim 1, wherein the tone generator is built in each of the plurality of performance terminals, and

said performance control means of said controller is adapted to output data on the read-out performance part to the tone generator built in the performance terminal to which that performance part is assigned.

4. The ensemble system according to claim 1, wherein said performance part assignment means is adapted to change performance part assignment to each of the performance terminals in accordance with a performance part assignment changing instruction from said operation means.

5. The ensemble system according to claim 1, wherein said performance part assignment means is adapted, in a case where performance terminals indicated in the assignment list include a performance terminal not participating in the ensemble, to assign a guiding performance terminal the performance part having been assigned to the performance terminal not participating in the ensemble.

6. The ensemble system according to claim 1, wherein said storage means is adapted to further store a table in which interrelated performance parts are specified as one group, and

said performance part assignment means is adapted, in a case where the performance terminals indicated in the assignment list include a performance terminal not participating in the ensemble, to refer to the table and assign a performance part having been assigned to the performance terminal not participating in the ensemble to a performance terminal to which another performance part belonging to a same group has been assigned.