Electronic musical instrument

• US 3,979,996 A
• Filed: 05/27/1975
• Issued: 09/14/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Takeda, Toshio, Okumura, Takatoshi, Tomisawa, Norio, Uchiyama, Yasuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackmon, E. S.
• Application Number:
  US05/581,186
• Time in Patent Office: 476 Days
• Field of Search: 84/1.01, 84/1.03, 84/1.17, 84/1.24, 84/1.25
• US Class Current: 84/629
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/02 Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/211 Pitch vibrato, i.e. repetitive and smooth variation in pitch, e.g. as obtainable with a whammy bar or tremolo arm on a guitar
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 7/04 in which amplitudes are read at varying rates, e.g. according to pitch

Abstract

In a digital type electronic musical instrument in which basic frequency is cumulatively counted and a musical tone waveshape is read from a memory by the resultant output of the cumulative counting, a desired vibrato effect is produced by digitally frequency-modulating the basic frequency. Vibrato information for effecting the frequency-modulation is produced from a vibrato code obtained by counting a clock pulse and a vibrato depth signal and has contents which change as time elapses. The frequency-modulation is made by multiplying the basic frequency with the vibrato information. The vibrato depth may be controlled for each individual keyboard. Vibrato frequency may be changed by changing the frequency of the clock pulse for each keyboard. According to an embodiment of the invention, the vibrato depth progressively increases from the start of reproduction of the musical tone. The speed of change of the vibrato depth may also be controlled for each individual keyboard.

Claims

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

means for generating a key address code representing the note and keyboard of a depressed key;

a freqeuncy information memory for producing, upon receipt of said key address code, basic frequency information corresponding to said key address code;

a vibrato code generator for counting a clock pulse used for providing a musical tone to be reproduced with a periodic frequency variation and producing a counting output as a vibrato code;

a vibrato information generator for producing an output in the form of a function representing the ratio of the frequency variation in response to the counting output of said vibrato code generator;

a multiplier for multiplying said output in the form of a function with said basic frequency information;

a counter for receiving and counting the result of multiplication by said multiplier; and

a musical tone waveshape memory for storing a desired musical tone waveshape which is read out by the output of said counter;

a vibrato effect being produced by frequency-modulating a predetermined pitch corresponding to the depressed key in accordance with the function represented by the output of said vibrato information.

2. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 further comprising means for changing the frequency of said clock pulse in response to a keyboard code included in said key address code and representing the kind of keyboard and thereupon providing the clock pulse to said vibrato code generator, thereby producing a vibrato effect which is different for each keyboard.

3. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

an operator for adjusting said ratio of the frequency variation for each keyboard;

a vibrato depth adjusting device for producing a signal representing the vibrato depth for each keyboard in response to a signal output from said operator and a keyboard code representing the kind of keyboard; and

means for changing the value of said counting output, i.e. the vibrato code, in accordance with the value of said vibrato depth signal;

whereby a vibrato effect with a vibrato depth which is different for each keybaord is produced.

4. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said function is a triangular wave.

5. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

a vibrato depth signal generator for producing a vibrato depth signal which increases the vibrato depth to a predetermined value from the start of reproduction of the musical tone; and

means for changing the counting output, i.e., the vibrato code, in accordance with the value of the vibrato depth signal;

thereby producing a vibrato effect the vibrato depth of which increases during reproduction of the musical tone.

6. An electronic musical instrument as defined in claim 5 further comprising means for controlling the speed of change of the vibrato depth for each keyboard.