Automatic performance apparatus

• US 5,723,803 A
• Filed: 09/27/1994
• Issued: 03/03/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Kurakake, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fletcher, Marlon T.
• Application Number:
  US08/312,776
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 84/477 R, 84/478, 84/609-614, 84/634-638, 84/DIG. 6, 84/DIG. 22
• US Class Current: 84/637
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/38 Chord
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/105 Composing aid, e.g. for supporting creation, edition or modification of a piece of music
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/576 Chord progression

Abstract

In an automatic performance apparatus for creating music piece data by combining automatic performance pattern data, a plurality of automatic performance patterns are stored in advance, and display elements corresponding to these automatic performance patterns are prepared. An operation for displaying these display elements on a display device and connecting them by lines is performed. The order of automatic performance patterns is determined in correspondence with the order of the elements connected by the lines. With this operation, music piece data can be easily created and modified. In an automatic accompaniment edit apparatus for creating/editing chord progress data for an automatic accompaniment operation, chords or chord progress patterns suited for each style are stored in correspondence with a plurality of styles. When a user selects a style, chords or chord progress patterns suited for the selected style are informed. With this control, the user can know chords or chord progress patterns suited for the style even if he or she does not have a sufficient knowledge about chords or chord progress patterns. In addition, the user can create chord progress data for an automatic accompaniment operation by selecting chords or chord progress patterns from the informed chords or chord progress patterns.

Claims

1. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

style selection means for selecting a style from a plurality of styles;

storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns suited for each of said plurality of styles;

display means for displaying information;

automatic performance pattern reading control means for reading out a plurality of automatic performance patterns stored in said storage means in correspondence with the selected style;

element display control means for controlling said display means to display a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns read out by said automatic performance patterns reading control means in correspondence with the selected style;

designation means for designating two display elements to be connected by a line from the plurality of display elements displayed on said display means;

line connection means for displaying a connecting line between the designated two display elements;

determination means for determining a performance order of automatic performance pattern data in correspondence with the display elements connected by the line on the basis of the display elements displayed on said display means and a line connection state; and

performance means for automatically playing automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said line connection means connects each designated display element with a line on said display means so as to form a sequence of connected display elements on said display means, said apparatus further comprising means for re-arranging the connected display elements in accordance with the determined performance order and re-displaying the re-arranged display elements.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when said designation means designates two display elements, said disignation means also designates a performance order of the automatic performance patterns corresponding to the designated two display elements.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said line connection means connects the designated two display elements by a line having an arrow point which indicates a designated display element to be performed later in the performance order.

3. An automatic accompaniment edit apparatus comprising:

style storage means for storing a plurality of styles;

style selection means for selecting a style from said plurality of styles;

chord storage means for storing chords or chord progress patterns suited for each of said plurality of styles in correspondence with said plurality of styles;

chord reading means for reading out chords or chord progress patterns from said chord storage means in accordance with the style selected through said style selection means;

chord displaying means for displaying a plurality of display elements, each of the display elements corresponding to each of said chords or chord progress patterns provided by said chord reading means in accordance with the selected style;

connection means for, in response to selection of plural display elements from said plurality of display elements displayed on said chord displaying means, connecting said selected display elements in a performance order; and

chord progress storage means for storing chord progress data representing a performance order of automatic chord accompaniment on the basis of the connection state of the display elements on said chord displaying means.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

means for outputting the chord progress data stored in said chord progress storage means.

7. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns;

display means for displaying information;

element display control means for controlling said display means to display a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns;

designation means for designating two display elements to be connected by a line from the plurality of display elements displayed on said display means;

line connection means for displaying a connecting line between the designated two display elements;

determination means for determining a performance order of automatic performance pattern data in correspondence with the display elements connected by the connecting line on the basis of the display elements displayed on said display means and a line connection state;

performance means for automatically playing automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order; and

edit means for changing the line connection state between the designated two display elements from a connected state in which the two display elements are connected by a line into an unconnected state in which the two display elements are not connected by a line.

8. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns;

display means for displaying information;

element display control means for controlling said display means to display a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns;

designation means for designating two display elements to be connected by a line from the plurality of display elements displayed on said display means;

line connection means for displaying a connecting line between the designated two display elements;

determination means for determining a performance order of automatic performance pattern data in correspondence with the display elements connected by the connecting line on the basis of the display elements displayed on said display means and a line connection state;

performance means for automatically playing automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order, wherein said line connection means connects each designated display element with a line on said display means so as to form a sequence of connected display elements on said display means, said apparatus further comprising means for re-arranging the connected display elements in accordance with the determined the performance order and re-displaying the re-arranged display elements; and

delete means for deleting a selected display element from among the plurality of connected display elements in the sequence,

wherein, when said delete means deletes the selected display element, said line connection means deletes each connecting line associated with the deleted display element in the sequence.

9. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns;

display means for displaying information;

element display control means for controlling said display means to display a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns;

designation means for designating two display elements to be connected by a line from the plurality of display elements displayed on said display means;

line connection means for displaying a connecting line between the designated two display elements;

determination means for determining a performance order of automatic performance pattern data in correspondence with the display elements connected by the connecting line on the basis of the display elements displayed on said display means and a line connection state;

performance means for automatically playing automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order, wherein said line connection means connects each designated display element with a line on said display means so as to form a sequence of connected display elements on said display means, said apparatus further comprising means for re-arranging the connected display elements in accordance with the determined the performance order and re-displaying the re-arranged display elements; and

delete means for deleting a selected display element from among the plurality of connected display elements in the sequence,

wherein, when said delete means deletes the selected display element, said line connection means forms a connecting line between remaining display elements which appear before and after the deleted display element in the sequence.

10. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

song data storage means for storing a plurality of automatic accompaniment styles;

chord storage means for storing a plurality of chord data corresponding to a plurality of chords or chord progressions in correspondence with each automatic accompaniment style;

candidate chord storage means for storing a plurality of candidate chord data corresponding to a plurality of candidates of chords or chord progressions, each automatic accompaniment style having a plurality of candidate chord data suited for the automatic accompaniment style;

style displaying means for displaying a plurality of display elements, each of the display elements corresponding to each of said automatic accompaniment styles;

style selection means for, in response to selection of plural display elements from said plurality of display elements displayed on said style displaying means, connecting said selected display elements in a performance order on said style displaying means;

song data writing means for writing a performance order of automatic accompaniment styles into said song data storage means on the basis of the connection state of the display elements on said style displaying means;

chord writing means for selecting at least one candidate chord or chord progression corresponding to said candidate chord data stored in said candidate chord storage means in correspondence with each of said automatic accompaniment styles in the song data stored in said song data storage means, and for writing the chord or chord progression data corresponding to said selected candidate chord or chord progression into said chord storage means in correspondence with the automatic accompaniment styles in the song data stored in said song data storage means; and

automatic accompaniment means for performing automatic accompaniment on the basis of the performance order of the automatic accompaniment styles stored in said song data storage means and the written chord data stored in said chord progression storage means.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising candidate chord or chord progression display means for displaying chords or chord progressions corresponding to said selected candidate chord or chord progression data stored in said candidate chord storage means in correspondence with the selected automatic accompaniment style.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, when said chord writing means selects a plurality of candidates of chords or chord progressions, said chord writing means writes the candidate chord data corresponding to the selected candidate chords or chord progressions in the performance order of the selected chords or chord progressions.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said chord writing means includes edit means for replacing the written chords with different chords.

14. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said chord writing means includes edit means for deleting the written chords.

15. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said candidates of chords or chord progressions corresponding to said candidate chord or chord progression data stored in said candidate chord storage means vary in accordance with a selected key mode.

16. A method of creating chord progress data comprising the steps of:

designating a style to be performed;

designating a keynote and key mode;

displaying a plurality of display elements on a display means, each of the displaY elements corresponding to each of candidates of suitable chords or chord progressions in accordance with the designated style and the designated keynote and key mode;

selecting several display elements from said plurality of display elements on the display means;

connecting said selected display elements in a performance order on the display means; and

storing chord progress data into a chord progress memory, said chord progress data representing the performance order of an automatic chord accompaniment on the basis of the connection state of said display elements.

17. An automatic performance apparatus comprising:

style selection means for selecting a style from a plurality of styles;

storage means for storing a plurality of automatic performance patterns suited for each of said plurality of styles;

display means for displaying information;

automatic performance pattern reading control means for reading out a plurality of automatic performance pattern stored in said storage means in correspondence with the selected style;

element display control means for controlling said display means to display a plurality of display elements respectively corresponding to the plurality of automatic performance patterns read out by said automatic performance patterns reading control means in correspondence with the selected style;

designation means for designating two display elements to be connected from the plurality of display elements displayed on said display means;

connection means for displaying a connection between the designated two display elements;

determination means for determining a performance order of automatic performance pattern data in correspondence with the connected display elements; and

performance means for automatically playing automatic performance pattern data in the determined performance order.