Relativistic electronic musical instrument
First Claim
1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:
- an input device, responsive to the selection of keys by an operator, generating electronic signals respectively indicating the selection of keys on said input device;
an input/output control circuit, connected to the input device, for receiving the electronic signals generated by said input device respectively indicating the selection of keys on said input device;
a memory containing program instructions for converting said electronic signals generated by said input device into signals respectively indicating sounds to be reproduced;
a microprocessor-based processing circuit, connected to the input/output control circuit, for processing the electronic signals generated by said input device according to the program instructions contained in said memory so that the electronic signals generated by said input device control interval changes in pitch and generating output signals obtained as a result of said processing; and
an output circuit for converting said output signals from said microprocessor-based processing circuit into signals respectively indicating the sounds to be produced by said electronic musical instrument.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic musical instrument preferably contains a microprocessor-based MIDI controller which receives signals from a standard IBM-compatible computer keyboard as input and processes the signals to reproduce music. A simple but powerful calculation, wherein keypresses indicate diatonic interval changes in pitch value rather than absolute pitch values, converts the signals generated by the sequence of keystrokes into musical tones on an external synthesizer via the MIDI protocol. Relative key signature changes and changes of the base scale (including non-Western scales) are accomplished with the touch of a button or foot pedal. Tone rows can be created and played back, and harmonic configurations ("chords") selected while playing. The keys on the keyboard are initially assigned functions for optimal ergonomic efficiency, but provision is made for the user to custom-design his or her own keyboard layout and scale configurations.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:
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an input device, responsive to the selection of keys by an operator, generating electronic signals respectively indicating the selection of keys on said input device; an input/output control circuit, connected to the input device, for receiving the electronic signals generated by said input device respectively indicating the selection of keys on said input device; a memory containing program instructions for converting said electronic signals generated by said input device into signals respectively indicating sounds to be reproduced; a microprocessor-based processing circuit, connected to the input/output control circuit, for processing the electronic signals generated by said input device according to the program instructions contained in said memory so that the electronic signals generated by said input device control interval changes in pitch and generating output signals obtained as a result of said processing; and an output circuit for converting said output signals from said microprocessor-based processing circuit into signals respectively indicating the sounds to be produced by said electronic musical instrument. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for electronically producing music comprising the steps of:
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generating electronic signals by selecting keys on an input device; receiving the electronic signals generated by selecting keys on said input device in an input/output control circuit; providing program instructions for converting said electronic signals generated by selecting keys on said input device into signals respectively indicating sounds to be reproduced; processing the electronic signals generated by selecting keys on said input device according to the program instructions so that the electronic signals generated by said input device controls interval changes in pitch; generating output signals obtained as a result of said processing; and converting said output signals into signals respectively indicating the sounds to be produced. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A tangible medium storing instructions for implementing a process, the instructions instructing an apparatus to generate sounds in accordance with the selection of keys by a user, said tangible medium storing instructions instructing the apparatus to implement the steps of:
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receiving electronic input signals from an input device having a plurality of keys, each one of said electronic input signals indicating the selection of one of said plurality of keys on said input device and identifying the respective selected key; processing each one of said electronic input signals from said input device to obtain respectively corresponding output signals, each one of said output signals representing a musical note which is obtained by adjusting the pitch value of a musical note represented by the previous one of said output signals according to a diatonic interval change in pitch value attributed to the selected key identified by the respectively corresponding one of said electronic input signals; and outputting said output signals to a device for generating musical notes.
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Specification