Electronic piano
First Claim
1. In an electronic musical instrument of the type having a plurality of keys, a key switch with an unactuated and an actuated position associated with each key for providing a control voltage when said key is actuated, a source of tone signals, and a plurality of tone gate circuits each tone gate circuit associated with an individual key switch for combining one or more of said tone signals under control of said control voltage to produce a pair of output signals, the improved means for emulating piano tones in combination therewith comprising first and second header amplifiers responsive to some at least of said tone gate outputs, said first header amplifier passing a first range of signal amplitudes, said second header amplifier passing only a second range of signal amplitudes greater than a predetermined non-zero threshold, and means connecting outputs from a plurality of tone gate circuits to each of said first and second header amplifiers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic musical instrument using continuous tone generators capable of simulating the sounds of a conventional acoustical piano. The instrument includes a gating circuit featuring a timed switch travel circuit having a double-time constant for improved control of the dynamic range from the keyboard, and a soft pedal controlling the keying voltage to produce more realistic emulation of the dynamic effects of an acoustical piano. The gating circuit produces a double-time-constant envelope of nearly harmonically related signals for a more realistic piano timbre. The tone spectrum is also controlled as a function of signal level by means of a resistor matrix feeding selected inputs of an active ladder filter, in order to reproduce timbre variation with dynamic level.
68 Citations
12 Claims
- 1. In an electronic musical instrument of the type having a plurality of keys, a key switch with an unactuated and an actuated position associated with each key for providing a control voltage when said key is actuated, a source of tone signals, and a plurality of tone gate circuits each tone gate circuit associated with an individual key switch for combining one or more of said tone signals under control of said control voltage to produce a pair of output signals, the improved means for emulating piano tones in combination therewith comprising first and second header amplifiers responsive to some at least of said tone gate outputs, said first header amplifier passing a first range of signal amplitudes, said second header amplifier passing only a second range of signal amplitudes greater than a predetermined non-zero threshold, and means connecting outputs from a plurality of tone gate circuits to each of said first and second header amplifiers.
Specification