Musical performance guiding device and method for musical instruments

• US 6,011,210 A
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 01/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Haruyama, Kazuo, Yamaura, Atsushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nappi, Robert E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ASHTON, WESLEY S
• Application Number:
  US09/001,613
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 84/453, 84/478, 84/479, 84/479 A, 84/482, 84/485 R, 84/464 A, 84/470 R, 84/477 R
• US Class Current: 84/470.00R
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/005 of the slide type
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/04 with sound emitters
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 15/08 Practice keyboards for teaching typing G09B13/02
• 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 2220/031 Blinking or flashing indicator lights
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/061 LED, i.e. using a light-emitting diode as indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/056 MIDI or other note-oriented file format

Abstract

In performance data storing tracks, there are stored, in a mixed condition, actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and volume data of audible level designating a volume of the tone and fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a predetermined performance tone and tone volume controlling data of non-audible level and fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a predetermined performance tone and volume controlling data of non-audible level. Besides, the fake performance data for the predetermined performance tone is stored so as to be read out in advance of the actual data for the performance tone. The read-out fake performance data can be identified from the non-audible level of its volume designating data. In response to the fake performance data, a predetermined preliminary indication is made for preannouncing a key or other performance operating member to be operated. In generating automatic performance tones in response to the data from the tracks, only performance tones based on the actual performance data are actually sounded with no interference by tones based on the fake performance data, because the volume of the fake performance data is at the non-audible level. Thus, without requiring any extra control, the fake performance data can be used for the guiding purposes, causing no interference in automatic performance.

Claims

1. A musical performance guiding device for making an indication as a guide for musical performance operation on the basis of note data including tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data, said musical performance guiding device comprising

an indication mode control that performs control such that the indication is made in a first mode when the tone volume controlling data included in the note data is of a value equal to or smaller than a predetermined value but is made in a second mode when the tone volume controlling data is of a value greater than the predetermined value.

2. A musical performance guiding device as recited in claim 1 wherein said predetermined value of the tone volume controlling data is a relatively small value below an audible volume range of humans.

3. A musical performance guiding device for making an indication as a guide for musical performance operation on the basis of note data including tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data, said musical performance guiding device comprising

an indication mode control that divides values of the tone volume controlling data not greater than a predetermined value into a plurality of value groups and changes a mode of the indication depending on which of the value groups the tone volume controlling data included in the note data belongs to.

4. A musical performance guiding device as recited in claim 3 wherein said predetermined value of the tone volume controlling data is a relatively small value below an audible volume range of humans.

5. A musical performance guiding device for making an indication as a guide for musical performance operation on the basis of note data including tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data, said musical performance guiding device comprising:

an information inputting unit that receives guide mode setting information; and

an indication mode control that changes a mode of the indication in accordance with the guide mode setting information received by said information inputting unit.

6. A musical performance guiding device comprising:

a performance data supplying unit that supplies performance data including pairs of tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data;

an indicating unit that, on the basis of the performance data supplied via said performance data supplying unit, makes a performance guiding indication indicative of a tone pitch designated by the tone pitch designating data; and

an indication mode control that performs control such that the performance guiding indication is made in a first mode when the tone volume controlling data included in the supplied performance data is of a value equal to or smaller than a predetermined value but is made in a second mode when the tone volume controlling data is of a value greater than the predetermined value.

7. A musical performance guiding device as recited in claim 6 which further comprises a tone generator that generates a tone on the basis of the supplied performance data, and wherein said predetermined value of the tone volume controlling data is a relatively small value below an audible volume range of humans.

8. A musical performance guiding device comprising:

a performance data supplying unit that supplies performance data including pairs of tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data;

an indicating unit that, on the basis of the performance data supplied via said performance data supplying unit, makes a performance guiding indication indicative of a tone pitch designated by the pitch designating data; and

an indication mode control that divides values of the tone volume controlling data not greater than a predetermined value into a plurality of value groups and that, when the tone volume controlling data included in the performance data supplied via said performance data supplying unit is of a value not greater than the predetermined value, changes a mode of the performance guiding indication depending on a value group to which the tone volume controlling data included in the supplied performance data belongs.

9. A musical performance guiding device as recited in claim 8 which further comprises a tone generator that generates a tone on the basis of the supplied performance data, and wherein said predetermined value of the tone volume controlling data is a relatively small value below an audible volume range of humans.

10. A musical performance guiding device comprising:

a performance data supplying unit that supplies performance data including pairs of tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data;

an indicating unit that, on the basis of the performance data supplied via said performance data supplying unit, makes a performance guiding indication indicative of a pitch designated by the tone pitch designating data;

an information inputting unit that receives guide mode setting information for setting an optional guide mode from among a plurality of guide modes; and

an indication mode control that changes a mode of the performance guiding indication in accordance with a combination of the guide mode set by the guide mode setting information and a value of the tone volume controlling data included in the supplied performance data.

11. A musical performance guiding method comprising the steps of:

making an indication as a guide for musical performance operation on the basis of note data including tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data, and changing a mode of the indication as a guide for musical performance operation in accordance with a value of the tone volume controlling data included in the note data.

12. A musical performance guiding method comprising the steps of:

supplying actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume controlling data of audible level;

supplying fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume controlling data of non-audible level, in advance of the actual performance data; and

in response to the supplied fake performance data, making a preliminary indication as a guide for performance of the pitch designated by the pitch designating data of the fake performance data.

13. A musical performance guiding method as recited in claim 12 which further comprises the step of, in response to the supplied actual performance data, making an indication as a guide for manual performance of the pitch designated by the pitch data of the supplied fake performance data.

14. A musical performance guiding method comprising the steps of:

supplying a series of performance data that comprise actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume designating data of audible level designating a volume of the tone and fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a predetermined performance tone and tone volume controlling data of non-audible level, wherein the fake performance data for the performance tone is supplied in advance of the actual performance data for the performance tone;

detecting that the tone volume controlling data included in the performance data is of a predetermined non-audible level, to thereby identify the performance data as the fake performance data; and

in response to identification of the fake performance data, making a preliminary indication as a guide for performance of the pitch designated by the pitch data of the fake performance data.

15. A machine-readable recording medium containing a musical performance guiding program, said musical performance guiding program for causing a processor to execute the steps of:

making an indication as a guide for musical performance operation on the basis of note data including tone pitch designating data and tone volume controlling data; and

changing a mode of the indication as a guide for musical performance operation in accordance with a value of the tone volume controlling data included in the note data.

16. A machine-readable recording medium containing a musical performance guiding program, said musical performance guiding program for causing a processor to execute the steps of:

actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume controlling data of audible level, in corresponding relation to predetermined performance timing;

supplying fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume controlling data of non-audible level, in advance of the actual performance data; and

in response to the supplied fake performance data, making a preliminary indication as a guide for manual performance of the pitch designated by the pitch data of the fake performance data.

17. A machine-readable recording medium containing a musical performance guiding program, said musical performance guiding program for causing a processor to execute the steps of:

supplying a series of performance data that comprise actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and tone volume controlling data of audible level and fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a predetermined performance tone and tone volume controlling data of non-audible level, wherein the fake performance data for the performance tone is supplied in advance of the actual performance data for the performance tone;

detecting that the tone volume controlling data included in the performance data is of a predetermined non-audible level, to thereby identify the performance data as the fake performance data; and

in response to identification of the fake performance data, making a preliminary indication as a guide for performance of the pitch designated by the pitch data of the fake performance data.

18. A machine-readable recording medium containing performance data for a predetermined music piece, said performance data comprising

actual performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a tone to be performed and volume data of audible level designating a volume of the tone and fake performance data including pairs of pitch data designating a pitch of a predetermined performance tone and tone volume designating data of non-audible level, wherein the fake performance data for the predetermined tone is stored so as to be read out in advance of the actual data for the predetermined tone.

19. A machine-readable recording medium as recited in claim 18 wherein for every tone to be performed, the fake performance data is stored in corresponding relation to the actual performance data.

20. A machine-readable recording medium as recited in claim 18 wherein the fake performance data read out in advance of the actual performance data is used for a performance guiding indication, and any one of a plurality of predetermined values is allocated to the tone volume designating data of non-audible level included in the fake performance data so that the performance guiding indication is made in a specific mode differing depending on the allocated predetermined value.

21. A device for generating performance guiding data comprising

a data generating unit that, on the basis of actual note data including tone volume designating data and tone pitch designating data to be used for sounding of a designated tone of audible level, generates preliminary note data preceding the actual note data to thereby produce performance data comprising a mixture of the actual note data and preliminary note data, said preliminary note data including tone volume designating data to be used for sounding of a tone.

22. A device as recited in claim 21 wherein said generating unit generates the preliminary note data corresponding to particular said actual note data, as note data for a section from a point immediately after an end of other said actual data preceding said particular actual note data to a point immediately before said particular actual note data.

23. A device as recited in claim 21 wherein said generating unit generates a plurality of the preliminary note data corresponding to all the actual note data supplied for a predetermined section, as note data for a starting position of the predetermined section.

24. A device as recited in claim 21 wherein said generating unit generates the preliminary note data corresponding to the actual note data, as note data for a section from a predetermined point before the actual note data to a point immediately before the actual note data.

25. A machine-readable recording medium containing a program for generating performance guiding data which, on the basis of actual note data including tone volume designating data and tone pitch designating data to be used for sounding of a designated tone of audible level, generates preliminary note data preceding the actual note data to thereby produce performance data comprising a mixture of the actual note data and preliminary note data, said preliminary note data including tone volume designating data to be used for sounding of a tone.