Melody supplement control apparatus

• US 5,220,121 A
• Filed: 05/30/1990
• Issued: 06/15/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Kawashima, Susumu
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Helen
• Application Number:
  US07/530,626
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 84/610-614, 84/633-638, 84/666-669, 84/650-652, 84/708-717, 84/DIG. 4, 84/DIG. 22, 84/615, 84/626, 84/665, 84/631, 84/664
• US Class Current: 84/664
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/36 Accompaniment arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 84/04 Chorus; ensemble; celeste

Abstract

A melody supplement control apparatus is disclosed wherein supplementary tones for melody tones are produced according to predetermined rules, and the degree of the addition of the aforesaid supplementary tones to the aforesaid melody tones is determined based on the pitch of the said supplementary tones.

Claims

1. A melody supplement control apparatus comprising:

melody tone generation means for generating a melody tone having a selectable pitch;

supplementary tone generation means for generating a supplementary tone having a pitch which has a predetermined relationship with the pitch of the melody tone; and

supplementary tone control means responsive to the supplementary tone generation means for determining a volume level for the supplementary tone based on the pitch of the supplementary tone.

2. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the supplementary tone control means decreases the volume level of the supplementary tone as the pitch of the supplementary tone decreases.

3. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the supplementary control means decreases the volume level for the supplementary tone, as the pitch of the supplementary tone decreases.

4. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 3 including means for selecting one of a plurality of rhythm patterns and wherein the predetermined relationship between the pitch of the supplementary tone and the pitch of the melody tone is determined by the selected rhythm pattern.

5. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein the supplementary tone generation means is capable of generating a number of supplementary tones and the number of generated supplementary tones is controlled by a user-settable switch.

6. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claims 3 wherein the supplementary tone generation means generates a range of supplementary tones and the supplementary tone control means decreases the volume level of the supplementary tones in the low-pitched ranges.

7. A supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the volume level of the supplementary tone is unaffected by the pitch of the melody tone.

8. A melody supplement control apparatus comprising:

melody tone generation means for generating a melody tone having a selectable pitch;

supplemental tone generation means capable of generating a number of supplementary tones each of which has a predetermined relationship with the pitch of the melody tone; and

supplemental tone control means coupled to the supplemental tone generation means for controlling the number of supplementary tones generated by the supplemental tone generation means based on the pitch of at least one of the supplementary tones.

9. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 8 wherein the supplemental tone generation means generates a range of supplementary tones and the supplementary tone control means decreases the number of supplementary tones in the low-pitched ranges.

10. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 8, the supplemental tone control means decreasing the number of supplementary tones as the pitch of at least one of the supplementary tones decreases.

11. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 12 wherein the number of supplemental tones decreases as the pitch of the lowest-pitched supplementary tone decreases.

12. A melody supplement control apparatus in accordance with claim 10, wherein said at least one supplementary tone comprises a lowest-pitched supplementary tone.

13. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

means for generating key data representative of a melody tone;

supplementary tone generation means responsive to the key data for generating supplementary tone pitch data;

supplementary tone control means responsive to the supplementary tone pitch data for generating supplementary tone volume level data; and

tone generation means responsive to the key data for generating melody tones and responsive to the supplementary tone volume level data for generating supplementary tones which decrease in volume level with decreasing pitch.

14. A melody supplement control method comprising the steps of:

generating a melody tone having a selectable pitch;

generating a supplementary tone having a pitch which has a predetermined relationship with the pitch of the melody tone; and

controlling a volume level for the supplementary tone based on the pitch of the supplementary tone.

15. A melody supplement control method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the volume level of the supplementary tone decreases as the pitch of at least one of the supplementary tone decreases.

16. A melody supplement control method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the volume level of the supplementary tone is unaffected by the pitch of the melody tone.

17. A melody supplement control method comprising the steps of:

generating a melody tone having a selectable pitch;

generating a number of supplementary tones each of which has a predetermined relationship with the pitch of the melody tone; and

controlling the number of supplementary tones generated based on the pitch of at least one of the supplementary tones.

18. A melody supplement control method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the number of supplementary tones generated decreases as the pitch of at least one of the supplementary tone decreases.

19. A melody supplement control method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the number of supplementary tones generated is controlled based on a lowest-pitched supplementary tone.

20. A melody supplement control method in accordance with claim 19 wherein the number of supplemental tones generated is controlled so as to decrease as the pitch of the lowest-pitched supplementary tone decreases.

21. A method for controlling the generation of supplementary tones in an electronic musical instrument comprising the steps of:

generating key data representative of a melody tone;

generating supplementary tone pitch data;

generating, in response to the generation of supplementary tone pitch data, supplementary tone volume level data; and

generating, in response to the key data and the supplementary tone volume level data, supplementary tones which decrease in volume level with decreasing pitch.