ELECTRONIC PLAYER SYSTEM FOR ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

• US 3,683,096 A
• Filed: 03/15/1971
• Issued: 08/08/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bruce A. Oltman, 4925 Fairview Ave., Grove, IL 60515, Il, 60464, Richard H. Peterson, 11748 Walnut Ridge Dr., Robert A. Finch, 5804 Park Ave.
• Original Assignee: Bruce A. Oltman, 4925 Fairview Ave., Grove, IL 60515, Il, 60464, Richard H. Peterson, 11748 Walnut Ridge Dr., Robert A. Finch, 5804 Park Ave.
• Inventors: Richard H. Peterson, 11748 Walnut Ridge Dr., Il, 60464, Robert A. Finch, 5804 Park Ave., Bruce A. Oltman, 4925 Fairview Ave., Grove, IL 60515
• Primary Examiner(s): Richard B. Wilkinson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lawrence R. Franklin
• Application Number:
  US05/123,979
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: 84/1.01,1.03,1.28,115,147,161,164
• US Class Current: 84/115
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/005 on magnetic tape
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/26 for automatically producing a series of tones
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/211 Wireless transmission, e.g. of music parameters or control data by radio, infrared or ultrasound

Abstract

The invention relates to a player mechanism for electrical musical instruments. Information representing the manipulation of the playing keys and controls of a musical instrument, such as an organ, is converted to electrical signals and recorded on magnetic tape using a conventional cassette recorder. On playback, the recorded signal is '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'decoded'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' and used to operate a series of semiconductor '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'switches'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' to '"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"'play'"'"''"'"''"'"''"'"' the same or a similar musical instrument.

Claims

1. A Player System for a Musical Instrument including;

in combination;

an Encoding Instrument;

said encoding instrument comprised of a first series of keyswitches;

a pair of output terminals;

pulse generating means for producing at said output terminals, recurring frames of pulses, each frame including a series of pulses including as many pulses as there are keyswitches;

a pulse modifier for causing the operation of any keyswitch to modify, in a predetermined manner, a specific pulse in each frame;

a decoding instrument having a pair of input terminals;

signal transmission means connecting the output terminals of said encoding instrument to the input terminals of said decoding instrument;

a series of decode gates;

each decode gate having an output terminal and a plurality of input terminals; and

electrical musical instrument including a series of keying terminals for respectively sounding individual musical notes of said electrical musical instrument;

connections between the output terminal of each decode gate to a specific keying terminal;

a data recovery circuit including an enable terminal adapted to be energized whenever a modified pulse is present at the input terminals of said decode instrument;

an enable line connecting said enable terminal to one input terminal of each decode gate;

a clock recovery circuit for deriving a pulse train synchronized to the signals at the input of the decode instrument;

means controlled by said pulse train for energizing the additional input terminals of each decode gate for a time coincident with the occurance of a specific single pulse of each frame of pulses appearing at the input terminals of said decode instrument.

2. A Player System according to claim 1, in which the pulse modifier modifies the pulse amplitude.

3. A Player System according to claim 1, in which the frames of pulses produced by the encode instrument are separated by a dead time interval, and in which the decode instrument includes means for sensing the dead time interval to achieve synchronization of the encode and decode instruments.

4. A Player System according to claim 1, in which the transmission means includes a recorder for making a record of signals at the output terminals of the encode instrument, and a playback device for reproducing said signals at the input terminals of said decode instrument.

5. A Player System according to claim 1, in which said encode instrument includes additional stop control switches for determining the tonal character of the tones to be produced by the electrical musical instrument;

and means for including, in each frame of pulses, additional pulses adapted to represent information relative to the condition of said additional control switches.