Performance apparatus and electronic musical instrument

• US 8,710,347 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Harada, Eiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Donels, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US13/155,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20110303076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 847/23, 847/42, 846/00, 847/37
• US Class Current: 84/723
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/14 during execution voice controlled instruments G10H5/005
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/24 for selecting plural preset register stops
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/46 Volume control
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/185 Stick input, e.g. drumsticks with position or contact sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/395 Acceleration sensing or accelerometer use, e.g. 3D movement computation by integration of accelerometer data, angle sensing with respect to the vertical, i.e. gravity sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/401 3D sensing, i.e. three-dimensional (x, y, z) position or movement sensing

Abstract

Based on acceleration-sensor values from a three-dimensional acceleration sensor 23, CPU 21 of a performance apparatus 11 determines a timing at which a musical tone is generated. Further, based on the acceleration-sensor values of the acceleration sensor 23 given at a predetermined timing, for example, at a time when a player starts swinging of the performance apparatus 11, a roll angle of the performance apparatus 11 rotating about an axis in its longitudinal direction is calculated. A timbre of musical tones to be generated is determined based on the calculated roll angle.

Claims

1. A performance apparatus to be used with a musical-tone generating device for generating musical tones, the performance apparatus comprising:

a holding member extending in a longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand;

an acceleration sensor provided in the holding member, for obtaining acceleration-sensor values along three axial directions; and

controlling means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone,

wherein the controlling means comprises;

sound-generation instructing means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone at a timing specified based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor;

angle calculating means for calculating, based on acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor at a certain timing when a value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained at the certain timing has increased to larger than a predetermined value, a roll angle of the holding member rotating about an axis in the longitudinal direction of the holding member; and

musical-tone composing element deciding means for deciding a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the roll angle calculated by the angle calculating means.

2. The performance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means decides a timbre of a musical tone to be generated, based on the roll angle calculated by the angle calculating means.

3. The performance apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

storing means for storing a timbre table, which associates ranges of roll angles with timbres of musical tones to be generated,

wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means refers to the timbre table stored in the storing means to decide a timbre of a musical tone to be generated.

4. The performance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor is a sensor-combined value which is calculated from the obtained acceleration sensor values.

5. A performance apparatus to be used with a musical-tone generating device for generating musical tones, the performance apparatus comprising:

a holding member extending in a longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand;

an acceleration sensor provided in the holding member, for obtaining acceleration-sensor values along three axial directions; and

controlling means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone,

wherein the controlling means comprises;

sound-generation instructing means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone at a timing specified based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor;

the angle calculating means for calculating, based on acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor at a certain timing when a value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained at the certain timing has decreased to less than a predetermined value after increasing once, a roll angle of the holding member rotating about an axis in the longitudinal direction of the holding member; and

musical-tone composing element deciding means for deciding a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the roll angle calculated by the angle calculating means.

6. The performance apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means decides a timbre of a musical tone to be generated, based on the roll angle calculated by the angle calculating means.

7. The performance apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

storing means for storing a timbre table, which associates ranges of roll angles with timbres of musical tones to be generated,

wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means refers to the timbre table stored in the storing means to decide a timbre of a musical tone to be generated.

8. The performance apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor is a sensor-combined value which is calculated from the obtained acceleration sensor values.

9. A performance apparatus to be used with a musical-tone generating device for generating musical tones, the performance apparatus comprising:

a holding member extending in a longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand;

an acceleration sensor provided in the holding member, for obtaining acceleration-sensor values along three axial directions; and

controlling means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone,

wherein the controlling means comprises;

sound-generation instructing means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone at a timing specified based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor;

angle calculating means for (i) calculating, based on acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor at a first timing when a value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained at the first timing has increased to larger than a predetermined value, a first roll angle of the holding member rotating about an axis in the longitudinal direction of the holding member, (ii) calculating, based on acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor at a second timing when a value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained at the second timing has decreased to less than a predetermined value after increasing once, a second roll angle of the holding member rotating about the axis in the longitudinal direction of the holding member, and (iii) calculating a difference value between the first roll angle and the second roll angle of the holding member; and

musical-tone composing element deciding means for deciding a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the difference value calculated by the angle calculating means.

10. The performance apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means decides a timbre of a musical tone to be generated, based on the difference value calculated by the angle calculating means.

11. The performance apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

storing means for storing a timbre table, which associates ranges of difference values with timbres of musical tones to be generated,

wherein the musical-tone composing element deciding means refers to the timbre table stored in the storing means to decide a timbre of a musical tone to be generated.

12. The performance apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the values obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor are sensor-combined values which are calculated from the obtained acceleration sensor values.

13. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a musical instrument unit having a musical-tone generating device for generating musical tones; and

a performance apparatus having a holding member extending in a longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand;

an acceleration sensor provided in the holding member for obtaining acceleration-sensor values along three axial directions; and

controlling means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone,

wherein the controlling means comprises;

sound-generation instructing means for giving the musical-tone generating device an instruction of generating a musical tone at a timing specified based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor;

angle calculating means for calculating, based on acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor at a certain timing when a value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained at the certain timing has increased to larger than a predetermined value, a roll angle of the holding member rotating about an axis in the longitudinal direction of the holding member; and

musical-tone composing element deciding means for deciding a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the roll angle calculated by the angle calculating means,

wherein both the musical instrument unit and the performance apparatus comprise communication means for exchanging data with each other.

14. The performance apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the value obtained based on the acceleration-sensor values obtained by the acceleration sensor is a sensor-combined value which is calculated from the obtained acceleration sensor values.