Electronic musical instrument

• US 4,437,378 A
• Filed: 03/23/1982
• Issued: 03/20/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Tomohisa, Ishida, Hideaki, Yamana, Koji, Kayahara, Takehiko
• Primary Examiner(s): WITKOWSKI, STANLEY J
• Application Number:
  US06/361,474
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• Field of Search: 84/1.01, 84/1.03, 84/1.18, 84/1.28, 84/478, 84/DIG. 12, 84/DIG. 29
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0016 Means for indicating which keys, frets or strings are to be actuated, e.g. using lights or leds
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/061 LED, i.e. using a light-emitting diode as indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/445 Bar codes or similar machine readable optical code patterns, e.g. two dimensional mesh pattern, for musical input or control purposes

Abstract

Bar code data are read out by a bar code reader from a medium on which predetermined tone data are printed in the form of bar codes and are successively stored in a RAM. When a mode selection switch is set to a position "NAVI", a LED provided in the vicinity of a performance key corresponding to the pitch of a tone next to be produced next, is turned on under the control of a control section. Performance of music can be obtained by successively operating performance keys indicated by associated LEDs turned on one after another.

Claims

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a plurality of performance keys,

a bar code reader for reading bar code data from a recording medium on which predetermined tone data including at least pitch data and duration data are printed in the form of bar codes,

memory means for digitally storing pitch data corresponding at least to the bar code data read out by said bar code reader,

selection means for specifying first and second performance modes,

first control means which operates when said first performance mode is specified by said selection means, said first control means comprising a plurality of display members each arranged to indicate a different one of the performance keys,

first read out means responsive to operation of the performance key indicated by the associated display member, for reading out from said memory means pitch information corresponding to the next pitch to be played,

display control means operative to discriminate from other display members, the display member of that performance key which corresponds to the pitch information read out by said first read out means and to activate said display member,

second control means which operates when said second performance mode is specified by said selecting means, said second control means comprising second read out means which sequentially reads out the pitch data stored in said memory means in intervals following the duration data corresponding to the pitch data, and

sound generating means which generates a sound in accordance with the pitch data and the duration data read out by said second read out means.

3. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of said plurality of display members is provided adjacent to the corresponding performance key.

4. The electronic musical instrument according to claims 1 or 2, wherein said bar code reader and said memory means are arranged to read and store tone data wherein the bar code of said pitch data is arranged in a sequential series and printed onto the recording medium in accordance with a musical progression, and the bar code of the duration data is arranged in a sequential series separate from the series of said pitch data and is also printed on said recording medium.

5. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 or 2, which further comprises a plurality of display members each provided in correspondence to each of the performance keys, and display control means for distinguishing a display member corresponding to a tone being generated from the other display members.

2. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a plurality of performance keys,

a bar code reader for reading bar code data from a recording medium on which predetermined tone data including at least pitch data and duration data are printed in the form of bar codes,

memory means for digitally storing pitch data corresponding at least to the bar code data read out by said bar code reader,

selection means for specifying first, second and third performance modes,

first control means which operates when said first performance mode is specified by said selection means, said first control means comprising a read-out key which sequentially reads out, one at a time, pitch data stored in said memory means upon operation of said read-out key, and means for controlling the generation of sounds over time periods corresponding to the operation time of said read-out key,

second control means which operates when said second performance mode is specified by said selection means, said second control means comprising a plurality of display members each arranged to indicate a different one of the performance keys,

first read out means responsive to operation of the performance key indicated by the associated display member for reading out from said memory means the pitch data corresponding to the next pitch to be played,

display control means operative to discriminate from other display members, the display member of that performance key which corresponds to the pitch data read out by said first read out means and to drive said display member, and

third control means which operates when said third performance mode is specified by said selection means, said third control means comprising second read out means which sequentially reads out the pitch data stored in said memory means in intervals following the duration data corresponding to the pitch data, and

sound generating means which generates a sound in accordance with the pitch data and the duration data read out by said second read out means.