values_tags
Method for operating a musical instrument2010-03-08the new staff from the old staff, and further minimizing the possibility of confusing the new staff of the present invention with the conventional staff.
FIG. 2 shows one embodiment wherein noteheads different than those conventionally used are placed on the new staff to record musical pitches. FIG. 2 shows an elongated notehead having rounded ends that are positioned to depict each of the twelve pitches within an octave group. Preferably, a plurality of different shaped noteheads are used to assist the musician to quickly identify the pitches to be played. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the noteheads used to record pitches in a space are visually distinctive and individualized relative to those noteheads used to depict pitches recorded on a line. Therefore, a musician will immediately recognize whether the pitch is one corresponding to a white key or to a black key of a standard keyboard instrument. As used herein, placement of a notehead on a line means that the notehead is placed on the line such that the line approximately bisects the notehead, with approximately equal portions lying above and below the line. As used herein, placement of a notehead in a space means that the horizontal centerline of the notehead is placed at approximately the center of the space.
In FIG. 2, the noteheads have basically the same geometric shape, but the noteheads are placed at an angle across the line to depict pitches recorded on lines, which pitches correspond to the pitches of black keys on a standard keyboard instrument. FIG. 3 shows another embodiment using rectangular shaped noteheads to depict pitches recorded in a space of the new staff, and parallelograms that slant across the line to depict pitches recorded on a line. The embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are illustrative only. Any other set of noteheads that distinguish between pitches recorded in spaces and on lines could be used to accomplish the same result.
In one preferred embodiment, each of the pitches within an octave group is assigned a notehead design that is different and distinctive relative to the notehead design of every other pitch within an octave. FIG. 4, for example, shows one possible set of twelve graphic designs that could be used as noteheads to individualize each of the twelve pitches within an octave that could be recorded on the new staff. Therefore, in addition to the musician being aided by the unique position each pitch occupies on the new staff, the shape of the notehead further assists the musician to avoid misreading the music. Also, the notehead designs, being substantially different than conventional noteheads, will diminish the possibility that the musician will confuse the new staff of the present invention with a conventional staff.
Although FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 show different shapes of noteheads to distinguish between pitches, other methods could also be used to individualize noteheads. For example, different colors could be used for noteheads representing different pitches. Or, noteheads having a different darkness or contrast could be used to distinguish pitches.
It is also possible to alter the way in which conventional note symbols represent rhythmic
values. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, however, conventional depiction of rhythmic
values is retained. Therefore, conventional rhythmic notation, such as the use of darkened and undarkened interiors of noteheads, and the use of stems and flags, is preferred.
In addition to assisting a musician to distinguish the new staff from the conventional staff and to aid the reading of visually recorded music, use of nonconventional noteheads of the present invention as previously described, can be very useful as a teaching aid. For example, a novice will benefit from the use of notehead symbols distinguishing between pitches recorded in spaces and on lines, such as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. As a musician becomes more advanced in the use of the new system of the present invention, however, that musician may be significantly assisted by the use of twelve individualized noteheads such as shown in FIG. 4.
As discussed previously, more lines than just one group of three and one group of two can be used with the staff of the present invention. However, it is preferred to use the minimum number of lines necessary to effectively represent the musical piece of interest. Use of an unnecessarily large number of lines can create complexity and confusion. For example, the staff of the present invention could have one group of three lines and a group of two lines above that group of three and a group of two lines below that group of three lines. By adding the extra group of two lines, additional pitches in the next higher octave can be recorded. The bottom staff in FIG. 5 shows such an embodiment of the new staff of the present invention. It should be recognized, however, that any combination of alternating groups of two and groups of three lines, or portions of groups of two and groups of three lines, can be used to indicate as many octaves, or parts of octaves, as desired. In one embodiment, the staff can comprise as few as two lines, so long as at least one line is highlighted in some fashion to orient the musician.
T...
Method and apparatus for automatic variable articulation and timbre assignment for an electronic musical instrument2010-03-06ranges and timbre assignments are preset and cannot be changed during performance.
Another timbre selection method is "velocity mapping", whereby a pair of timbres is assigned to a range of pitches. A mix of the two timbres is controlled by the force of the player's note-on actions, (e.g., at soft levels 100% timbre A and 0% timbre B, at medium levels 50/50 mixture of the two timbres, at loud levels 0% timbre A and 100% timbre B). This sort of timbre selection is subtle and difficult to control, since it is hard to reliably reproduce the same force on repeated key strokes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to assign an initial duration to each new note and to change the original duration of a previously sounding note upon the initiation of the next new note so as to control the articulation effect due to the overlap or space between successive notes.
It is a further object of the present invention to control the number of notes that can be sounding at the same time, automatically switching between a full polyphonic mode where many notes can sound simultaneously and a constrained melodic mode where a limited number of notes can sound at a time.
Yet another object of the present invention is to recognize and process groups of notes played simultaneously in a chord in a consolidated manner, enabling the assignment of identical musical parameters (such as duration and velocity) to each note in the chord.
A still further object of the present invention is to dynamically detect the playing style of each new note as it is played based on the time interval between successive notes, and to assign the timbre of each note depending on the playing style.
The aforesaid objects are achieved individually and in combination, and it is not intended that the present invention be construed as requiring two or more of the objects to be combined unless expressly required by the claims attached hereto.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of prior art as described above and allows greater control of articulation on any electronic musical instrument, controller, or tone generator by varying the note duration and timbre assignment in relation to the player's performing speed and a dynamically specified articulation style (degree of legato/staccato) thus producing changing amounts of overlap and detachment. According to the present invention, musical performance data, including note-on signals from a controller, is received and processed, and musical performance data, including note-on and note-off signals, is transmitted to multiple channels of a tone generator. A new note is generated for each note-on received. Each note is assigned to one of three classes: chord, polyphonic or melodic. The classification is made by measuring the time interval between successive note-on signals (called the on/on time), i.e., the time interval between the note-on time of the new note and the note-on time of the previous note. If the measured on/on time interval is less than a predetermined threshold T1, the note is classified as a chord note. If the on/on time interval is longer than a second predetermined threshold T2 (which is greater than T1), the note is classified as a polyphonic note. If the on/on time interval is between the two threshold
values, the note is classified as a melodic note and the on/on time is transmitted with the note. Each of the three note types is processed separately to generate note-on and note-off signals that are sent to the tone generator as described below.
Chord notes are treated as a group, and a single duration is calculated for all the notes in the group. Note-ons for all the chord notes are sent at one time to the tone generator, and the corresponding note-off signals are sent after a time interval equal to the calculated duration has elapsed. All chord note-ons and note-offs are sent to a designated channel on the tone generator.
Polyphonic notes are treated independently. Each polyphonic note is assigned a duration proportional to the velocity of its note-on signal. A note-on signal is sent to the tone generator and the corresponding note-off signal is transmitted after a time interval equal to the calculated duration has elapsed. All polyphonic note-ons and note-offs are sent to a designated channel on the tone generator.
Melodic notes are processed such that successive tones are connected according to a specified articulation style (legato or staccato). When staccato style is specified, melodic notes are assigned a duration equal to a fixed percentage (less than 100%) of the on/on time associated with the new note. When legato style is specified, melodic notes are assigned an initial duration proportional to the velocity of the note-on signal. A note-on signal is sent to the tone generator, and the corresponding note-off signal is sent after a time interval equal to the calculated duration has elapsed. Melodic note-ons and note-offs are sent to a designated channel on the tone generator.
The actual duration of a melodic note may be modified from the originally calculated duration, as receipt of another melodic note-on while one or more melodic notes are still sounding can reschedule note-offs. Specifically, melodic notes are subject to overlap constraints. When staccato style is specified, only one melodic note can sound at a time. If a new melodic note is performed and a previous melodic note is still sounding, the older note is immediately stopped (even if its initially calculated duration has not elapsed), and the new note-on is sent to the tone generator. With legato style, if another melodic note is still sounding and a new melodic note-on is received, the previously calculated duration of the sounding note is canceled and the note is set to continue to sustain for an overlap interval which is a fixed percent of the on/on time associated with the new note. The new note-on is sent to the tone generator. The note-off for the preceding overlapping note is sent when the overlap interval has expired.
Only two melodic notes can be sounding at the same time in legato style. If a third melodic note-on is received while two are already sounding, the oldest note is immediately stopped, the ot...
Music Processing System Including Device for Converting Guitar Sounds to Midi Commands2010-03-03signals a main microcontroller and waits for the main microcontroller to signal the small capacity microcontroller to allow the MIDI message to be transmitted to the main microcontroller. The main microcontroller collects MIDI messages from all six small capacity microcontrollers, modifies the received MIDI commands, if needed, and sends a new the MIDI message over the MIDI interface to an electronic instrument with an MIDI interface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0011]FIG. 1a shows a graph of input signal amplitude measured over time;
[0012]FIG. 1b shows a graph of the calculation of maximum input signal amplitude and minimum input signal amplitude over time;
[0013]FIG. 1c shows a graph of the change in time of the positive and negative trigger value that is concurrently calculated with maximum input signal amplitude calculation;
[0014]FIG. 1d show a graph of the change in time of the positive trigger value calculated at a point in time when the input signal value becomes less than the negative trigger value and the change in time of the negative trigger value calculated at a point in time when the input signal value becomes greater than the positive trigger value;
[0015]FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the method described in this document where positive and negative trigger
values are concurrently calculated with maximum and minimum input signal amplitude calculation;
[0016]FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of the method described in this document where positive and negative trigger variable are calculated at a point in time where the input signal becomes greater then positive trigger or becomes less then negative trigger;
[0017]FIGS. 4 to 15 show changes over time of a microcontroller's registers;
[0018]FIG. 16 shows an overall view of an exemplary embodiment of the music processing system, including a guitar with a pick-up, a controller and a computer;
[0019]FIG. 17a-17b show various detailed views of a pick-up of FIG. 16.
[0020]FIG. 18 shows an exemplary circuit schematic for the electrical output of the pick-up of FIG. 17.
[0021]The schematic diagram of FIG. 19 shows an input filter and amplifier for a guitar high E string;
[0022]The schematic diagram of FIG. 20 shows an input filter and amplifier for a guitar B string;
[0023]The schematic diagram of FIG. 21 shows an input filter and amplifier for a guitar G string;
[0024]The schematic diagram of FIG. 22 shows an input filter and amplifier for a guitar D guitar string;
[0025]The schematic diagram of FIG. 23 shows an input filter and amplifier for a guitar A string;
[0026]The schematic diagram of FIG. 24 shows an input filter and amplifier for low E guitar string;
[0027]The schematic diagram of FIG. 25 shows one of six like low-capacity microcontrollers associated with one of circuits shown in FIGS. 19-24 that is used for processing the output of one of the circuits shown in FIGS. 19-24 using the techniques shown graphically in FIGS. 1-15;
[0028]The schematic diagram of FIG. 26 shows a digital logic circuit for collecting data from 6 low-capacity microcontrollers in an exemplary embodiment.
[0029]The schematic diagram of FIG. 27 shows an exemplary main microcontroller, and an LCD display and button actuators used in the controller of FIG. 16;
[0030]FIG. 28 shows an exemplary circuit for generating a clock signal CLK used by the microcontrollers of the controller;
[0031]The schematic diagram of FIG. 29 shows an exemplary circuit for providing MIDI output on a USB connector of the controller;
[0032]The schematic diagram of FIG. 30 shows a power supply circuit of the controller;
DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS
[0033]The controller described herein is enabled to carry out the methods disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/873,970. Accordingly, each microcontroller generates an output MIDI command corresponding to the input signal. In accordance with that method, the input signal is amplified with constant amplification and value of triggers are changed as the input signal maximum and minimum changes. The method also defines fast input signal loss detection and criteria for multiple signal period detection. The method measures signal half period duration and based on two sums of half period determines multiple signal period. The method also defines minimum and maximum trigger
values and initial trigger
values which helps when input signal amplitude varies in time. The method of the present invention calculates maximum and minimum
values of a input signal and then calculates positive and negative trigger
values as a scaled-down maximum or a scaled-down minimum value of the input signal. The cross-point of the positive trigger level and the input signal curve is the point in time where positive signal half period duration measurement starts. Positive half period duration mea...
Electronic musical instrument capable of reporting operating conditions including sound level and tempo2010-02-05between the sound levels to be set and the sound levels of the click to the right and left systems. Specifically, the clicks coming out of the right and left loudspeakers 42R and 42L are equal as to the sum of the sound levels. However, when the sound level selected and set is relatively low, the click coming out of the right loudspeaker 42R has a low sound level (FIG. 8B) while the click coming out of the left loudspeaker 42L has a high sound level (FIG. 8A). As the sound level to be set sequentially rises, the sound level of the click coming out of the right loudspeaker 42R rises (FIG. 8B) while the sound level of the click coming out of the left loudspeaker 42L falls (FIG. 8A). Therefore, when the minimum sound level is selected and set, the click is produced mainly from the left loudspeaker 42L. As the sound level is sequentially raised away from the minimum level, the click being produced from the right loudspeaker 42R becomes louder little by little. When the sound level of the click coming out of the right loudspeaker 42R sequentially increases, the user will see that the sound level is being increased step by step. Conversely, when the sound level of the click coming out of the left loudspeaker 42L sequentially increases, the user will see that the sound level to be set is being decreased step by step. The user or player, therefore, can recognize the sound level being set by hearing a change in the sound levels of the clicks being produced from the loudspeakers 42R and 42L.
In the illustrative embodiment, an ordinary volume switch is used to change the sound levels of the clicks which are produced from the right and left loudspeakers 42R and 42L. Specifically, the sound level to be set will increase when the volume switch is turned clockwise or decrease when the latter is turned counterclockwise. Of curse, such a relation is not limitative and may be reversed, if desired.
With this embodiment, a tempo can be selected and set in the same manner when an automatic accompaniment is desired. Specifically, for a slow tempo, for example, the sound levels of clicks coming out of the right and left loudspeakers 42R and 42L may be decreased and increased, respectively. This is also successful in allowing the user to recognize the tempo easily and accurately.
In the embodiments shown and described, the sound level to be selected and set is limited to the sound level of the entire musical instrument. Alternatively, the sound level may be selected and set for each of individual functions or factors including melodies and rhythms. Moreover, levels or
values set by various kinds of switches other than those of the sound level selector and tempo selctor may also be reported by cl...
Method and apparatus for facilitating group musical interaction over a network2009-10-20to FIG. 3, and in brief overview, the central processing unit 304 includes a memory element 320, an event monitor 330, a timer 340, a display system 350, an input system 360, and an audio system 370. It should be understood that the individual elements of the central processing unit 304 may be provided as hardware, software, or some combination of hardware and software. For example, in some embodiments the audio system 370, input system 360 and display system 350 are dedicated hardware or mixed hardware/firmware units that are a unitary part of the central processing unit 304, while the event monitor 330, memory element 320 and timer 340 are software or, alternatively, firmware embodied on a removable device such as a game cartridge or COMPACTFLASH card.
The memory element 320 stores data related to the musical events for the musical composition in the game. In one embodiment, memory element 320 stores at least two pieces of data for each musical event: (1) the time during the musical composition at which the musical event should occur; and (2) the actual musical content of the event, such as pitch or rhythm related data. For embodiments in which the input device 308 includes several buttons and a particular button on the input device 308 must be pressed to catch a musical event, the memory element 320 also stores for each musical event and identification of which button must be pressed on the input device 308 to catch the musical event. The memory element 320 may be provided as any element such as RAM, DRAM, SDRAM, DDR-DRAM, PROM, EPROM, or EEPROM.
The musical event data from the memory 320 is provided to both the display system 350 and the event monitor 330. The display system 350 also receives input from the timer 340. The display system 350 combines the timer
values 340 and the musical event data from the memory element 320 to create the game environment, an embodiment of which is shown in FIG. 2. The display system 350 may include any visualization engine capable of creating three-dimensional environments, such as Realimation, manufactured by Realimation Ltd. of the United Kingdom or the Unreal Engine, manufactured by Epic Games.
The input system 360 receives input from the input device 308 and transmits it to the event monitor 330. The event monitor 330 receives musical event data from the memory element 320, timer
values from the timer 340, and the input related information from the input system 360. The event monitor 330 compares the musical event data with the timing of input from the user to detect whether the user has caught an event, missed an event or passed on an event. When the event monitor 330 determines that a player has caught or missed an event, it immediately sends instructions to the audio system to trigger a sound. The audio system 370 receives those instructions and causes the audio devices 306 to produce sound.
For multiplayer games in which only one hardware station is used, a second input system (shown in phantom view as 360') receives input from a second input device (shown in ...
Waveform data processing system and method 2009-10-12an ordinary key-"on"/"off" state, key number, etc., it is supplied to the tone generator 15 and output through the MIDI interface 11 (step 95).
At this time, control information CT in the control memory 14 and parameter data PR in the parameter register 48 are also supplied, and further, tone number data TN and head address data corresponding to the control information CT and parameter data PR, respectively, are supplied. The head address data corresponds to the musical tone waveform memory 16 and is read out from the tone table 50. Thus, the of sounding according to the performance information MP is effected for automatic performance. The routine of the start/end of sounding in the step 95 is also executed at the time of the normal manual performance executed by operating the keyboard 1.
Next, the event address data EAD in the event address register 46 is incremented, and then the next status data SS, parameter data PR and step time data ST are read out and written in the status register 47, parameter register 48 and step register 49 (step 96).
If bar mark data BM is detected in the step 94, tempo beat data TB corresponding to beat data contained in the bar mark data BM is written in the tempo beat register 57 (step 97). Then, as in the step 96, the next status data SS is read out. If this data is bar mark data BM (step 98), "1" is set in the 2nd bit of the mode flag register 41 (step 99).
If end mark data ED is detected in the step 94, the data in the time count latch 25 is cleared to "0" (step 100), and the 7th bit of the mode flag register 41 is cleared (step 101). In this way, the automatic performance is stopped.
13. Performance information MP send/receive routine
FIG. 13 shows the flowchart of a performance information MP send/receive routine executed in the step 12. In this routine, a check is made as to whether performance information MP is stored in the received data buffer 58 (step 111). If performance information MP is stored, it is loaded in the determined data buffer 59 (step 112).
Then, a check is made as to whether the loaded performance information MP is complete (step 113). If it is not complete, the routine in the steps 111 and 112 is repeated until the information is complete. If the information is complete, it is now supplied to the tone generator 15 (step 114). The routine in the step 114 is the same as the routine in the step 95. In this way, automatic performance is executed with respect to externally input performance information MP.
14. Interrupt Routine
FIG. 14 shows the flowchart of an interrupt routine. This routine is executed whenever the clock signal 蠁 goes to the high level. In the routine, the count of the time counter 56 is incremented by "+1" (step 121). If the value of the time count data TC in the time counter 56 becomes identical with the tempo beat data TB in the tempo beat register 57 (step 122), the time count data TC is cleared (step 123), and the 2nd bit of the mode flag register 41 is cleared (step 124). In this way, a wait for one bar is completed.
15. Musical Tone Waveform Data MW Loading Routine
FIG. 15 shows the flowchart of a musical tone waveform data MW loading routine executed in the step 04. In this routine, "1" is set in the 8th bit of the mode flag register 41, thus storing that musical tone waveform data MW is being loaded (step 131), and a check is made as to whether point data designating tone number data TN in the current tone register 51 is "0" (step 132). If the point data is "0", indicating that all the tone number data TN have been designated, the write address register 54 is cleared to "00 . . . 0" (step 133), and the current tone register 51 is incremented by "+1" (step 134).
Then, the head sector number of the musical tone waveform data MW to be loaded, i.e., the head sector number in the directory table 42 designated by the current tone register 51, is set in the read address register 53 (step 135), and the head sector number of the next musical tone waveform data MW is set in the end address register 55 (step 136).
Next, the tone number data TN of the musical tone waveform data MW to be loaded, i.e., the file name in the directory table 42 designated by the current tone register 51, is read out and written in the tone tables 50 (step 137), and the value of the data in the write address register 54 is written as the head address data in the tone tables 50 (step 138).
Next, musical tone waveform data MW for one sector is read out from the CD-ROM 8 (step 139) and written in the musical tone waveform memory 12 (step 140), then the data in the write address register 54 is incremented by "+1" (step 141), and the data in the read address register 53 is incremented by "+1" (step 142). The musical tone waveform data MW loading routine in the steps 139 through 142, is repeatedly executed until the value of the data in the read address register 53 becomes identical to the value of the data in the end address register 54 (step 143).
If the
values match, the loading of one piece of musical tone waveform data MW is completed, and the all tone color number data ATN in the tone number register 52 is incremented by "+1" (step 144). The loading routine in the steps 134 and 144 is repeated for all the musical tone waveform data MW, that is, until the value of the data in the read address register 53 reaches the end sector number in the CD-ROM 8 (step 145). When the loading routine is ended, the 8th bit of the mode flag register 41 is cleared (step 146).
In the above way, by selecting the tone number data TN of "0&quo...
Fundamental frequency variation for a musical tone generator using stored waveforms2009-09-09out data
values stored in a waveshape memory. The number of stored data points is reduced by storing the data
values in segments corresponding to one-half of the number of data points for a period of a waveshape. By using synthesized data having a symmetry about the midpoint, the second half of the waveshape is recovered by a forward and backward memory address read of each waveshape segment. After reading each segment a predet...
