Electronic musical instrument

• US 4,111,092 A
• Filed: 02/28/1977
• Issued: 09/05/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Adachi, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Schaefer, Robert K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Feeney, William L.
• Application Number:
  US05/772,693
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• Field of Search: 84/1.01, 84/1.03, 84/1.09, 84/1.10, 84/1.13, 84/1.24, 84/1.26, 84/1.11, 84/1.12, 84/1.19, 84/1.20, 84/1.21, 84/1.22, 84/1.23
• US Class Current: 84/679
• 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 5/002 Instruments using voltage controlled oscillators and amplifiers or voltage controlled oscillators and filters, e.g. Synthesisers

Abstract

In an electronic musical instrument a key touch signal is generated in response to the operation of a key, and a plurality of control signals having different waveforms are produced from the key touch signal.

Different control signals are used for independently controlling at least two of a plurality of musical tone elements that determine the tone pitch, color and volume of the musical tone generated by the musical instrument.

Claims

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

(a) a keyboard including a plurality of keys, each key corresponding to a respective musical tone;

(b) means for detecting a characteristic of the finger touch applied to each key upon depression thereof and producing a first signal corresponding to the depressed key;

(c) waveform converting means having only a single control input in use, said waveform converting means being coupled at said single control input to said detecting means and being responsive to said first signal for producing a plurality of second signals having respectively different waveforms;

(d) level adjusting means connected to said waveform converting means for receiving said second signals and adjusting their respective amplitudes to produce respective level-adjusted second signals; and

(e) means responsive to said level-adjusted second signals for individually controlling at least two of a plurality of musical tone elements which determine the tone pitch, color and volume of a musical tone corresponding to the depressed key.

2. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, comprising a key gate which couples said detecting means to said waveform converting means, said key gate receiving said first signal and producing a third signal corresponding to said first signal, said third signal being supplied to said single control input for causing said waveform converting means to produce said plurality of second signals received by said level-adjusting means, and means for applying the level-adjusted second signals to a musical tone synthesizing circuit.

3. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, in which the level adjusting means adjusts the respective amplitudes of the second signals to the same level.

4. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, in which the waveform converting means comprises at least two circuits selected from the group consisting of a differentiating circuit, an integrating circuit, an inverting circuit and a hold circuit.

5. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2, wherein the key gate receives a plurality of the first signals to produce a plurality of the third signals in a time sharing manner in synchronism with channel control signals provided by channel control signal generating means, and wherein said instrument further comprises a channel gate and hold circuit receiving said third signals to produce fourth signals in respective channels in accordance with said channel control signals, said waveform converting means including a plurality of waveform converting circuits corresponding to the respective channels, each of which produces a plurality of the second signals in response to each of said fourth signals, and said level adjusting means including a plurality of level adjusting circuits corresponding to the respective channels, each of which receives said plurality of second signals for adjusting the amplitudes of the respective second signals individually.

6. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said level adjusting means comprises voltage-controlled type amplifiers of the same number as said second signals.

7. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2 wherein said waveform converting means comprises an integrating circuit, a first combination of a differentiating circuit with a hold circuit, and a second combination of a differentiating circuit with an inverting amplifier, said second combination being connected to receive the output of said first combination for producing a negative differentiated waveform.

8. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 7, wherein said musical tone synthesizing circuit comprises an inverting circuit connected to invert the output of said first combination, and a differentiating circuit connected to the output of said first combination for producing a positive differentiated waveform.

9. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2 wherein said musical tone synthesizing circuit comprises a voltage-controlled type oscillator responsive to a pitch voltage corresponding to the depressed key for producing a tone source signal having a fundamental frequency of the depressed key one of said level-adjusted second signals being applied to said voltage-controlled type oscillator for controling said tone source signal, a waveform converting circuit for converting the output of said voltage controlled-type oscillator into a sine wave signal and a rectangular wave signal, a selection circuit for applying one of said output of the oscillator and said rectangular wave signal to a voltage-controlled type filter, and means for synthesizing said sine wave signal and the output from said filter.