Method for producing real-time rhythm guitar performance with keyboard
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An electronic musical instrument comprising,at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state,a data processing system, anda tone-generating device, wherein,said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device,said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys,said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave,said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type,said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key,said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on:
- (a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and(b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key,if a first root-select key is held in pressed state as a second root-select key is pressed, said selected root-select key is said second root-select key, andif either of the two pressed root-select keys are released as the other remains pressed, then said selected root-select key is the remaining pressed key.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A microprocessor-controlled data-processing system is used to process key strokes from a musical keyboard and output a series of note events (e.g., via midi) to a tone-producing device. The microprocessor runs software which splits the keyboard into at least two zones: A root-select zone which consists of at least one octave of keys, and a strum-trigger zone. Pre-determined notes lists, or chords, are stored in an array in the system'"'"'s memory. The array classifies the note lists according to (1) chord root (C, C#, D, etc.), and (2) chord type (e.g., major, minor, etc.). Different keys within the strum-trigger zone are pre-assigned to different chord types. Depression of a strum-trigger key as a root-select key is depressed causes the data-processing system to (1) select one of the note lists, and (2) output an arpeggio of the notes contained within the selected list. The note list is selected from the array based on the root note corresponding with the depressed root-select key and the chord type corresponding with the depressed strum-trigger key. Hence, each strum-trigger key performs the dual function of chord type selection and strum triggering.
-
Citations
35 Claims
-
1. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, if a first root-select key is held in pressed state as a second root-select key is pressed, said selected root-select key is said second root-select key, and if either of the two pressed root-select keys are released as the other remains pressed, then said selected root-select key is the remaining pressed key.
-
-
2. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said group of notes are transmitted in an ascending sequence, said data processing system performs a second transmission of musical event information as a result of a pressed-to-rest state change of a strum-trigger key, and said second transmission of musical event information represents a group of notes transmitted in a descending sequence. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4)
-
-
5. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 16 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two pairs of strum-trigger keys, each of said pairs corresponding with a different chord type and consisting of an ASC key and a DES key, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing an ascending group of notes as a result of a rest-to-pressed state change of an ASC key, and said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a descending group of notes as a result of a rest-to-pressed state change of a DES key. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said strum-trigger keys are included in a keyboard, said musical event information includes a loudness value, said keyboard measures a velocity with which strum-trigger keys are toggled between rest and pressed state and transmits this velocity data to said data processing system, and said loudness value is proportional to said velocity data, whereby, faster strum-trigger keystrokes trigger louder musical tones.
-
-
16. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed aid thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said data processing system; (a) transmits said group of notes in a sequence with a delay period between successive notes, (b) measures an elapsed time between successive strum-trigger key state changes, and (c) employs a predetermined algorithm which proportionally modulates said delay period according to said elapsed time, whereby, a shorter elapsed time between successive strum-trigger keystrokes will result in a shorter delay period between successive notes.
-
-
17. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said root-select keys are included in a keyboard, said musical event information includes a loudness value, said keyboard measures the pressure with which root-select keys are held in pressed state and transmits this aftertouch pressure data to said data processing system, and said loudness value is proportional to said aftertouch pressure data, whereby, strum-trigger keystrokes trigger louder musical tones when root-select keys are held and pressed with more downward force.
-
-
18. An electronic musical instrument comprising,
at least 14 keys, each of which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a pressed key state, a data processing system, and a tone-generating device, wherein, said data processing system receives key state information from said keys, processes said key state information into musical event information according to a software program and transmits said musical event information to said tone-generating device, said software program divides said keys into at least two groups, said two groups consisting of a group of at least twelve root-select keys, and a group of at least two strum-trigger keys, said twelve root-select keys each correspond with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, said two strum-trigger keys each correspond with a different chord type, said data processing system transmits musical event information representing a group of notes in response to a rest-to-pressed state change of a strum-trigger key, said group of notes comprises a musical chord based, at least in part, on: -
(a) the root note corresponding with a root-select key which has been pressed and thereby selected, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said strum-trigger keys are included in a keyboard, said keyboard measures a velocity with which strum-trigger keys are toggled between rest and pressed state and transmits this velocity data to said data processing system, said data processing system; (a) transmits said group of notes in a sequence with a delay period between successive notes, and (b) employs a predetermined algorithm which inversely modulates said delay period according said velocity, whereby, faster strum-trigger key strokes will result in a shorter delay period between successive notes.
-
-
19. A method of playing a musical chord, said musical chord comprising a group of notes, the method comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function, interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving a signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, assigning at least two additional keys to a strum-trigger function, interpreting each of said two strum-trigger keys as corresponding with a different musical chord type, receiving a first signal from one of said strum-trigger keys, said first signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, transmitting musical event information representing said group of notes in an ascending sequence to a tone-generating device in response to said first strum-trigger key signal, receiving a second signal from said strum-trigger key, said second signal indicating that the key has been released by the user, and transmitting musical event information representing said group of notes in a descending sequence in response to said second signal wherein, said musical chord is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
-
-
22. A method of playing a musical chord comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function, interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving a signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, assigning at least four additional keys to a strum-trigger function, grouping said at least four strum-trigger keys into two pairs, interpreting each of said pairs to correspond with a different chord type and to consist of an ASC key and a DES key, transmitting musical event information representing a musical chord comprising an ascending group of notes in response to a key-press signal received from an ASC key, and transmitting musical event information representing a musical chord comprising a descending group of notes in response to a key-press signal received from a DES key, wherein, each of said musical chords is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A method of playing a musical chord comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function, interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, assigning at least two additional keys to a strum-trigger function, interpreting each of said two strum-trigger keys as corresponding with a different musical chord type, receiving a signal from one of said strum-trigger keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, and transmitting musical event information representing a musical chord to a tone-generating device in response to said strum-trigger key signal, wherein, said musical chord is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, said strum-trigger key signal includes data representing a velocity with which the strum-trigger key was pressed by the user, said musical event information includes a loudness value, and said loudness value is proportional to said velocity data whereby, faster strum-trigger keystrokes trigger louder musical tones.
-
-
33. A method of playing a musical chord, said musical chord comprising a group of notes, the method comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function, interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving a signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, assigning at least two additional keys to a strum-trigger function, interpreting each of said two strum-trigger keys as corresponding with a different musical chord type, receiving a signal from one of said strum-trigger keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, and transmitting musical event information representing said group of notes in a sequence with a delay period between successive notes to a tone-generating device in response to said strum-trigger key signal, measuring an elapsed time between successive strum-trigger key state changes, and employing a predetermined algorithm which proportionally modulates said delay period according to said elapsed time, wherein, said musical chord is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, whereby, a shorter elapsed time between successive strum-trigger keystrokes will result in a shorter delay period between successive notes.
-
-
34. A method of playing a musical chord comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving a signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, receiving aftertouch pressure data from said root-select key, assigning at least two additional keys to a strum-trigger function, interpreting each of said two strum-trigger keys as corresponding with a different musical chord type, receiving a signal from one of said strum-trigger keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, transmitting musical event information representing a musical chord to a tone-generating device in response to said strum-trigger key signal, including a loudness value with said musical event information, and making said loudness value proportional to said aftertouch pressure data wherein, said musical chord is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, whereby, strum-trigger keystrokes trigger louder musical tones when root-select keys are held and pressed with more downward force.
-
-
35. A method of playing a musical chord, said musical chord comprising a group of notes, the method comprising:
-
assigning at least twelve keys to a root-select function, interpreting each of said twelve root-select keys as corresponding with a different note of the twelve standard notes contained within an octave, receiving a signal from one of said root-select keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user, assigning at least two additional keys to a strum-trigger function, interpreting each of said two strum-trigger keys as corresponding with a different musical chord type, receiving a signal from one of said strum-trigger keys, said signal indicating that the key has been pressed by a user and including data representing a velocity with which the strum-trigger key was pressed by the user, transmitting musical event information representing said group of notes in a sequence with a delay period between successive notes to a tone-generating device in response to said strum-trigger key signal, and employing a predetermined algorithm which inversely modulates said delay period according said velocity data, wherein, said musical chord is based, at least in part, on; (a) the root note corresponding with the pressed root-select key, and (b) the chord type corresponding with the pressed strum-trigger key, whereby, faster strum-trigger keystrokes will result in a shorter delay period between successive notes.
-
Specification
-
- Resources
Litigation Campaign Assessment
Thank you for your request. You will receive a custom alert email when the Litigation Campaign Assessment is available.
×
-
Current AssigneePaul B. Vandervoort
-
Original AssigneePaul B. Vandervoort
-
InventorsVandervoort, Paul B.
-
Primary Examiner(s)Fletcher; Marlon T
-
Application NumberUS11/150,695Time in Patent Office1,179 DaysField of SearchNoneUS Class Current84/613CPC Class CodesG10H 1/386 One-finger or one-key chord...G10H 2230/135 Spint guitar, i.e. guitar-l...G10H 2250/451 Plucked or struck string in...
