Electronic musical instrument for reading out and performing musical tone data previously stored

• US 4,594,931 A
• Filed: 12/20/1984
• Issued: 06/17/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Ishii, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Witkowski, S. J.
• Application Number:
  US06/683,930
• Time in Patent Office: 544 Days
• Field of Search: 84/1.01, 84/1.03, 84/1.17, 84/1.24, 84/DIG. 12, 84/DIG. 22
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0041 in coded form
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/26 for automatically producing a series of tones
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/36 Accompaniment arrangements

Abstract

An electronic musical instrument for reading out and performing musical tone data previously stored in a memory is disclosed. In the musical instrument, pitch data of a musical piece or pieces are previously stored in the memory. Desired pitch data stored are read out by operating a corresponding key arranged on a keyboard. A tone generator forms a musical tone signal on the basis of the pitch data for sounding the musical tone. When the keyboard is functionally divided into two groups, the musical tone for melody and/or accompaniment of the musical piece may be read out through the operation of the functionally divided keyboard.

Claims

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a keyboard having a plurality of performance keys, each performance key being associated with a musical note;

memory means for serially storing pitch codes sequentially corresponding to a series of musical notes constituting a musical piece;

changeover switching means coupled to said keyboard for selectively switching an operation mode of said keyboard to a first normal performance mode, a second mode, or a third mode;

in said first mode the performance keys on said keyboard designating the musical notes, in said second mode the performance keys on said keyboard permitting the pitch codes to be read out of said memory means sequentially, and in said third mode the performance keys on said keyboard inputting the pitch codes of said series of musical tones into said memory means;

musical tone generating means coupled to said keyboard, to said memory means and to said changeover switching means for generating musical tones in accordance with a key operation on said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to said first mode, and for generating musical tones corresponding to the pitch codes read out from said memory means when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the second mode, and for generating musical tones corresponding to the pitch codes to be inputted into said memory means by the key operation of said keyboard when said operating mode of said keyboard is switched to said third mode; and

address incrementing means coupled to said memory means and to said changeover switching means, and being responsive to operation of any one of the performance keys on said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the second mode for incrementing an address of the memory means by an operation of said any one of the keys on said keyboard such that pitch codes stored in said memory means are read out sequentially from said memory means according to an increment of the address of said memory means and said musical tones being formed by said musical tones generating means;

said address incrementing means incrementing an address of the memory means by the inputting operation of the performance keys on said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to third mode such that pitch codes corresponding to the key operation are stored in the address of said memory means which is designated by said address incrementing means.

2. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, further comprising tone period control means for causing the pitch code of said series of musical tones stored in said memory means to be read out from said memory means under the control of said address incrementing means, and for causing said musical tone to be produced by said musical tone generating means only during a period that any one of said keys on said keyboard is operated when said musical tone is formed by said musical tone generating means.

3. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, further comprising memory control means coupled to said memory means for previously storing the pitch codes of said series of musical tones in said memory means by means of key operations on said keyboard.

4. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, further comprising memory control means coupled to said memory means for previously storing pitch codes of said series of musical tones into said memory means by external input means.

5. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2, further comprising memory control means coupled to said memory means for previously storing pitch codes of said series of musical tones into said memory means by external input means.

6. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said memory means is semiconductor memory means.

7. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2, wherein said memory means is semiconductor memory means.

8. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 3, wherein said memory means is semiconductor memory means.

9. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a single keyboard having a plurality of performance keys, each performance key being associated with a musical note;

first memory means for serially storing the pitch codes corresponding to the musical tones of the accompaniment of a musical piece;

second memory means for serially storing the pitch codes corresponding to the musical tones of the melody of a musical piece;

changeover switching means coupled to said keyboard for selectively switching an operation mode of said keyboard to a first normal performance mode, a second mode, a third mode, or a fourth mode;

in said mode of the performance keys of said keyboard designating musical notes, in said second mode the performance keys on said keyboard being functionally and fixedly divided into two different key groups, and in said second mode the keys of either of said two different key groups on said keyboard permitting readout of the pitch codes stored in said first memory means and the keys of the other of said two different key groups permitting read out of the pitch codes stored in said second memory means, and in said third mode the performance keys on said keyboard inputting the pitch codes of said series of musical tones of the accompaniment of a musical piece into said first memory means, and in said fourth mode the performance keys on said keyboard inputting the pitch codes of said series of musical tones of the melody of a musical piece into said second memory means;

musical tone generating means coupled to said keyboard, to said first and second memory means and to said changeover switching means for generating musical tones in accordance with key operation on said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the first mode and for generating musical tones corresponding to the pitch codes read out from said first and second memory means when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the second mode, and for generating musical tones corresponding to the pitch codes to be inputted into said first memory means by the key operation of said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to said third mode, and for generating musical tones corresponding to the pitch codes to be inputted into said first memory means by the key operation of said keyboard when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to said fourth mode;

first control means coupled to said first memory means and to said changeover switching means, and being responsive to operation of any one of the keys of one of said two different keys groups when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the second mode for causing the pitch codes of said musical tones stored in said first memory means to be read out and for causing said tones to be formed by said musical generating means; and

second control means coupled to said second memory means and to said changeover switching means, and being responsive to operation of any one of the keys of the other of said two different key groups when said operation mode of said keyboard is switched to the second mode for causing the pitch codes of said musical tones stored in said second memory means to be read out and for causing said musical tones to be formed by said tone generating means.

10. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, further comprising:

third control means coupled to said first control means for causing the pitch code of said musical tone stored in said first memory means to read out by said first control means, and when said musical tone is formed by said musical tone generating means, said musical tone of said tone generating means is outputted only during a period that any one of the keys of said one of said two key groups of said keyboard is operated; and

fourth control means coupled to said second control means for causing the pitch code of said musical tone stored in said second memory means to be read out by said second control means, said musical tone generated by said musical tone generating means being produced only during a period that any one of the keys of said other of said two key groups of said keyboard is operated.

11. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, wherein each of said key groups of said single keyboard includes one or more keys.

12. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 10, wherein each of said key groups of said single keyboard includes one or more keys.

13. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, further comprising:

first memory control means for previously storing the pitch codes of a musical tone of the accompaniment of a musical piece through the operation of said keyboard; and

second memory control means for previously storing the pitch code of a musical tone of the melody of the musical piece into said second memory means through the operation of said keyboard.

14. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 10, further comprising:

first memory control means for previously storing the pitch codes of a musical tone of the accompaniment of a musical piece through the operation of said keyboard; and

second memory control means for previously storing the pitch code of musical tone of the melody of the musical piece into said second memory means through the operation of said keyboard.

15. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, further comprising:

first memory control means for previously storing the pitch codes of a musical tone of the accompaniment of a musical piece by external input means; and

second memory control means for previously storing the pitch code of a musical tone of the melody of the musical piece into said second memory means by external input means.

16. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 10, further comprising:

first memory control means for previously storing the pitch codes of a musical tone of the accompaniment of a musical piece by external input means; and

second memory control means for previously storing the pitch code of a musical tone of the melody of the musical piece into said second memory means by external input means.

17. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, wherein said first and second memory means are semiconductor memory means are semiconductor memory means.

18. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 10, wherein said first and second memory means are semiconductor memory means.