Programmed music on demand from the internet2010-03-11the response packets to the users over the Internet.
3. The method of claim 1, including transmitting the response packets to the users over a cable system.
4. The method of claim 1, including transmitting the response packets to the users over a satellite based communication system.
5. The method of claim 1, in which the data units are musical works.
6. The method of claim 5, including appending the advertising message to the musical work in the form of a voice over a leading portion of the musical work.
7. The method of claim 6, including classifying the users into predetermined subscriber classes.
8. The method of claim 7, in which the criteria includes the type of music selected by the users.
9. The method of claim 5, including appending the advertising message to the musical work in the form of a voice over a trailing portion of the musical work.
10. The method of claim 5, in which the advertising message is in the form of an audio message.
11. The method of claim 5, further including creating a credit account for at least two of the advertisers and storing in each credit account an "available allocation" for that advertiser, designating an available prepaid advertising credit amount.
12. The method of claim 5, including appending to the composite response packet generic audio messages.
13. The method of claim 12, in which the generic audio message is a message which identifies the artist and/or copyright holders of the musical work.
14. The method of claim 5, including receiving from users information responsive to audio messages in the form of orders for products and/or services which are offered by the advertising messages.
15. The method of claim 5, including providing a software facility for the handling of sales of product to users.
16. The method of claim 5, including providing on the Internet a web page by which users' communications with the first data base is enabled.
17. The method of claim 1, including storing the data units in one of analog and digital formats.
18. A method of transmitting programmed information to a plurality of subscribers, comprising:
(a) creating a first database containing a large number of discrete data units each of which has a related profile, the data units being musical works;
(b) creating a second database containing a variety of discrete advertising messages each of which has a related profile;
(c) receiving requests for the data units from the plurality of subscribers, and enabling each subscriber to select a desired one of said data units;
(d) appending to the requested data units at least one of said advertising messages based upon a matching of profile criteria to create a composite response packet in the form of a sequential data flow, containing an advertising message and a data unit; and
(e) transmitting the composite response packet to the requesting subscriber;
appending the advertising message to the musical work in the form ...
Method for encoding music printing information in a MIDI message2010-03-10parameter.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein said binary code is defined as a two bit code encoded in bits representing two least significant bits of said digital message representing said note-on velocity parameter for said note.
6. The method of claim 4 wherein said binary code is defined as a two bit code encoded in bits representing two bits of said digital message representing said note-off velocity parameter for said note.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one musical parameter related to music printing is selected from the group consisting of slur information, stem direction information, enharmonic spelling, dynamic marking, crescendo and decrescendo, musical text directions, transposition by octave, and direction markings.Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method and system of encoding one or more types of parametric information in conventional MIDI information. In particular, this invention relates to a method and system of encoding and using enharmonic pitch spelling information with a MIDI system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Common Musical Notation (CMN)
The modern system for notating the music of Western Civilization, referred to here as Common Musical Notation (CMN), has a long and distinguished history. The origins of the modern system can be traced as far back as the 10th Century AD with notation of early church chant. These simple melodies were made up entirely of the notes of what we today call the diatonic scale. This is the origin of the "white" keys on the modern keyboard. Early chant was not composed in what we today call the major-minor system of keys but rather in an older system call modes. All modes used the same diatonic scale tones, but each mode started at a different degree (note) of the diatonic scale. Thus, for example, the Dorian Mode started on what we today call the diatonic pitch of D and consisted of the notes, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. This mode sounds a lot like the modern key of D minor, but includes a "raised" sixth degree (the note B instead of the B-鈾?that would be called for in modern D minor.
The system for notating pitch in chants and other early music was quite simple. A set of lines was drawn (sometimes four, sometimes five, sometimes more than five), and the degrees of the scale were represented as positions on the lines or on the spaces in between them. This is the origin of our modem five-line staff system. In the case of the Dorian mode referred to above, the notation of the scale would look as shown in FIG. 1.
Control system for a musical instrument2010-03-09upper hemisphere, wherein said square base is mounted on said surface of said musical instrument.
5. The control system of claim 4, wherein said musical instrument comprises an electric guitar and said tactile member is mounted on said neck of said electric guitar.
6. The control system of claim 1, wherein said controller, when in said program mode, can be programmed by said musician to set an initial starting volume for a volume audio characteristic of said audio signal produced by said musical instrument.
7. The control system of claim 6, wherein said controller, when in said operation mode, produces an audio signal having a volume audio characteristic which is at least said initial starting volume and wherein said controller increases said volume audio characteristic from said initial starting volume in proportion to said first signal generated by said musician exerting pressure on said tactile member.
8. The control system of claim 7, wherein said controller, when in said operation mode, sustains the volume audio characteristic of said audio signal produced by said musical instrument at a first level, which is proportionate to the greatest amount of pressure exerted on said tactile member by said musician, until said musician exerts a greater amount of pressure on said tactile member.
9. The control system of claim 1, wherein said controller, when in said program mode, can be programmed by said musician to set a plurality of initial starting frequencies and a plurality of initial starting amplitudes of a tremolo audio characteristic of said audio signal produced by said musical instrument.
10. The control system of claim 9, wherein said controller, when in said operation mode, produces an audio signal having a tremolo audio characteristic having one of said plurality of initial starting frequencies and having one of said plurality of initial starting amplitudes.
11. The control system of claim 10, wherein said controller, when in said operation mode, increases the frequency of said tremolo audio characteristic in response to said musician exerting pressure on said tactile member.
12. The control system of claim 11, wherein said controller is configured, in said operation mode, so that said musician can switch between said plurality of starting frequencies and said plurality of starting amplitudes of said tremolo audio characteristic by manipulating said plurality of user inputs.Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system for controlling the output-of a musical instrument and, in particular, concerns a system which includes a pressure sensitive control device which is mounted on a musical instrument to allow the player of the instrument to alter various characteristics of the audio output signal of the musical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric guitars are extremely popular musical instruments as they can produce a wide range of different sounds when they are used in conjunction with an amplifier. The musician can produce sound signals having a wide range of volume with an electric guitar and the musician can also produce a sound signal from the electric guitar that has a particular sound quality. For example, using the amplifier, the musician can produce a sound signal having a characteristic which varies in volume over time. This characteristic is generally referred to as tremolo. Other types of sound signals that can be produced using an electric guitar include reverberation, vibrato and the like.
The sound signals produced by the guitar are generally adjusted by the musician either changing the settings of dials on the guitar, or by changing settings of dials on an amplifier. Foot pedals are also often used to change the characteristics of the audio signals produced by an electric guitar. It can be appreciated, however, that these devices for changing the characteristics of the sound signals have several disadvantages for the musician.
Specifically, if the musician has to remove his hands from the strings of the guitar to adjust a dial, he cannot continue playing the instrument during that interval. This causes disruptions in the melody that the musician is playing. This problem is somewhat solved by foot pedals which are linked to the amplifier and effectuate changes in characteristics of the audio signal. However, the foot pedals are generally fixedly positioned in one place which requires that the musician also remain in the same place. In many musical performances, the musicians prefer to move around the stage, and their ability to do so is hampered when they have to remain in the proximity of the foot pedals to effectuate changes in the characteristics of the audio signals that they are producing.
One possible solution to this problem has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,018 to Krebs. The Krebs patent discloses an electric guitar wherein compressive rubber resistance elements are built into the neck of the guitar at specific locations. These elements can be used by the musician to change various characteristics of the sound signals, e.g., the volume, by depressing the elements while playing the guitar. However, the guitar in the Krebs patent still suffers from several difficulties.
First, Krebs discloses a guitar wherein the compressive rubber elements are embedded in the neck of the guitar. This requires that the guitar be specially made to facilitate these rubber elements or that the neck of existing guitars be drilled and hollowed to facilitate the rubber elements. Further, the rubber elements are generally small in size and made of a solid piece of rubber. While a solid piece of rubber can be depressed by an individual, the tactile feel of a solid piece of rubber is generally very poor.
In particular, a musician who is depressing one of the elements to change a characteristic of the audio signal in the Krebs guitar will generally not be able to predict ahead of time the exact change of a characteristic of the audio signal. The musician will generally have to wait until the audio signal is ...
Musical apparatus detecting maximum values and/or peak values of reflected light beams to control musical functions2010-03-081, wherein the sound function is an audio signal.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the sound function is a tone signal.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a central processing unit
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a digital signal processor.
7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sound source comprising a storage device for storing multiple tone waveform data, the multiple tone waveform data being readable for producing the sound function.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the radiation comprises magnitude of radiation.
9. A method of controlling music based on the motion of an object within a specified spate, the method comprising:
receiving radiation reflected from an object within the specified space along at least two light paths;
generating information based on a characteristic of radiation received from each of the at least two light paths;
receiving performance data from a performance signal source;
generating an audio signal based on the performance data; and
controlling a characteristic of the audio signal based on the generated information.
10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein receiving radiation reflected from an object comprises receiving light reflected from an object.
11. The method recited in claimed 9, wherein receiving performance data from a performance signal source comprises receiving performance data from a digital music signal source.
12. The method recited in claim 9, wherein receiving performance data from a performance signal source comprises receiving performance data from a Musical Instrument Digital Interface ("MIDI") signal.
13. The method recited in claim 9, wherein generating information based on a characteristic of radiation received from each of the at least two paths comprises:
generating at least two detection values, each of which is based on a characteristic of radiation received from each of the at least two paths;
detecting a maximum value of each of the at least two detection values; and
controlling a characteristic of the audio signal based on a correlation between the maximum values of the at least two detection values.
14. The method recited in claim 9, wherein the audio signal is a tone signal.
15. The method recited in claim 9, wherein generating information based on a characteristic of the radiation received from each of the at least two paths comprises generating information based on a quantity of radiation received from each of the at least two paths.
16. The method recited in claim 13, wherein generating at least two detection values, each of which is based on a characteristic of radiation received from each of the at least two paths comprises generating at least two detection values, each of which is based on a quantity of light received from each of the at least two light paths.
17. A method of controlling and outputting music based on the motion of an object within a specified space, the method comprising:
receiving radiation reflected from an object within the specified space,
controlling a characteristic of the received radiation by moving the object within the specified space;
generating a detection value based on the characteristic of the received radiation;
receiving performance data from a performance signal source;
generating an audio signal based on the performance data,<...
High density sound enhancing components for stringed musical instruments2010-03-03least one acoustic pickup, wherein said block has a specificgravity of at least two.
8. The stringed musical instrument of claim 7, further comprising an electric pickup supported by, and in acoustic contact with, said at least one block.
9. The stringed musical instrument of claim 7, further comprising at least a second high vibratic transfer block, said second block being a high acoustic transfer material having a specific gravity of at least two, and being in acoustic contactwith said soundboard
10. The stringed musical instrument of claim 9, further comprising a bridge contacting high vibratic transfer block and bridge secured to said bridge contacting high vibratic transfer block, said bridge contacting being in acoustic contact withsaid soundboard, said soundboard being a layer of a mineral having a specific gravity of at least two, and having a thickness in the range from about 1/8 to 11/16 of an inch.
11. The stringed musical instrument of claim 1, wherein said musical instrument is selected from the group comprising an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, an acoustic bass, an electric bass, a cello, a viola, and a harp.
12. The stringed musical instrument of claim 11, further comprising an electric pickup supported by a first granite block, said first granite block being in acoustic contact with said soundboard, a bridge contacting granite block and a bridgesecured to said bridge contacting granite block, said bridge contacting granite block being in acoustic contact with said soundboard, said soundboard having a thickness in the range from about two to about four sixteenths of an inch, and a granitetransfer rod, said granite transfer rod being in acoustic contact with said soundboard, and said first granite block.
13. The stringed musical instrument of claim 1, wherein said block is selected from the group comprising granite, high acoustic transmitting ceramic and high acoustic transmitting metal.
14. The stringed musical instrument of claim 2, wherein said block is selected from the group comprising granite, high acoustic transmitting ceramic and high acoustic transmitting metal.
15. The stringed musical instrument of claim 7, wherein said block is selected from the group comprising granite, high acoustic transmitting ceramic and high acoustic transmitting metal.
16. The method of producing vibratical unification of components of a musical instrument comprised of a soundboard, a plurality of strings, a bridge system, a neck and a body, comprising the steps of; acoustically interconnecting each of saidcomponents in a time-correct sound transfer loop, said sound loop comprising a soundboard, a plurality of strings, a bridge system, a neck, a body, a high sound acoustically conductive material and a pick up acoustically coupled to a high soundacoustically conductive material having a specific gravity of at least two.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said acoustically high sound conductivity material is selected from the group comprising minerals, ceramics, metals, and combinations thereof, thereby producing a balanced, compressed, and naturally equalizedsound, with extreme clarity and sustain, and with minimal distortion.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein said acoustically high sound conductivity material has a specific gravity on the order of at least 2.6.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein said acoustically high sound conductivity material has a specific gravity on the order of at least four.DescriptionGOVERNMENT INTEREST STATEMENT
NONE
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stringed musical instrument having a soundboard and/or other enhancements made of a dense material, in particular, granite, and more particularly, to a music generating device including acoustic instruments andelectrically amplified musical instruments, with further particularity, the invention relates to a high density veneer and/or other stone enhancements for a string instrument such as a guitar, bass, banjo, viola, cello. Dobro鈩?and lapsteel guitar,and the like.
2. Related Art
It is well recognized that wood, in particular aged wood, makes an ideal material for such musical instruments such as a piano, violin, guitar, or the li...
Electronic music system and stringed instrument input device therefor2010-03-02one of said discrete fret voltages, and said means utilizingsaid peak resultant voltage including means for testing said peak resultant voltage and for inhibiting the transmission of said peak resultant voltage to said voltage controlled tone generator in the event said peak resultant voltage is less than saidlowest one of said fret voltages.
9. An electronic music system as defined in claim 7 further characterized by said means utilizing said resultant peak voltage including means for comparing said new resultant peak voltage with the old resultant peak voltage obtained during thepreceding sampling cycle and for inhibiting the transmission of said new resultant peak voltage to said voltage controlled tone generator in the event said new resultant peak voltage is less than said old resultant peak voltage.
10. An electronic music system as defined in claim 7 further characterized by said means for applying a discrete fret voltage to each of said frets comprising a plurality of resistors connected in series with one another with each of saidresistors being electrically connected between a respective pair of said frets and means for providing a constant valued flow of current through said resistors.
11. An electronic music system as defined in claim 10 further characterized by said means for providing a constant valued flow of current being arranged so that said current flows in the direction from the highest tone valued one of said fretsto the lowest tone valued one of said frets whereby said highest tone valued fret has the highest discrete fret voltage applied to it.
12. A means for providing voltage signals for driving a voltage controlled tone generator in an electronic music producing system, said means comprising: a stringed musical instrument having a plurality of spaced parallel strings located over afret board having a plurality of frets extending transversely of said strings and spaced from one another along the length of said fret board with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, and means responsive to any one of saidstrings being pressed into contact with any one of said frets for producing a voltage signal having a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the musical tone assigned to the contacting string-fret pair.
13. A means for providing voltage signals for driving a voltage controlled tone generator in an electronic music producing system said means comprising: a stringed instrument having a plurality of spaced parallel electrically conductive stringslocated over a fret board having a plurality of electrically conductive frets extending transversely of said strings and spaced from one another along the length of said fret board, with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, meansfor applying an electric voltage to each of said frets with each of said frets having a voltage different from that applied to the other of said frets, an offset voltage source providing a plurality of offset voltages each assigned to a respective one ofsaid strings with each of said offset voltages being different from the other of said offset voltages, and means responsive to any one of said strings being pressed into contact with any one of said frets for adding the voltage appearing on said one fretto the offset voltage assigned to said one string to produce an output signal, said fret voltage and said offset voltage being so selected that said output signal has a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the musical tone represented bythe contacting string-fret pair.DescriptionBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electronic music producing systems having a voltage controlled tone generator or synthesizer, for sequentially producing electrical audio frequency signals, for driving a loud speaker or other electro-acousticaltransducer, having fundamental frequencies controlled in accordance with the values of input voltage signals, and deals more particularly with a device for prod...
Transducer for stringer musical instrument2010-03-01forming two different windings of thesame size wire, although brief mention is made that different wire sizes may be employed. No special effect from the use of different size wires is disclosed. However, and in any event, the patentee completely fails to understand the hum pick-upproblem which would be inherent in this arrangement involving a turns ratio of the coils other than 1:1.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention avoids the shortcomings of prior two-coil hum-bucking pickups by winding the coils such that both coils of the pair have substantially the same number of turns but are wound with wire of different diameter or gauge. It hasbeen found that by means of this construction, low frequency cancellation is emphasized, providing more effective elimination of 60 cycle hum without affecting the higher harmonics of the 60 cycle signal which may contribute to the desired tonalqualities. Moreover, because of the difference in impedance characteristics resulting from different diameter wire on the respective coils, overall frequency response can be se...
Generation of noise-like tones in an electronic musical instrument2010-02-27generator for generating timing pulses at random time intervals, said transferring means including means responsive to the timing pulses from saidrandom signal generator for modifying the values of those digital words transferred in time coincidence with the pulses from the random signal generator.DescriptionFIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to musical tone synthesizers, and more particularly, to a noise generator for a digital tone generator.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The generation of musical tones electronically, either by analog or digital circuits, is well known. In attempting to duplicate the sounds of conventional musical instruments it may be desirable to superimpose sounds which can only becharacterized as "noise" onto the musical tones. Such added noise may be introduced to simulate the air noise, hiss, or breathiness characteristic of wind-operated instruments, such as the organ pipes of a conventional organ, or other types of windinstruments. In prior art digital type organs tones have been created imitative to noisy wind-blown organ pipes, by using a frequency modulation technique. This has been accomplished by adding or subtracting a fixed constant to the frequency numberused to address the tone data. Alternatively, the noise has been added to the reference voltage of the analog output signal from the digital-to-analog converter to produce an amplitude modulated noise. Noiselike tones have been created in digital tonegenerators by the type which calculate musical waveshapes by computation with an algorithm that uses sets of harmonic coefficients. However, the resulting tonal effect is not easily controlled. If the harmonic coefficients are varied in a randomfashion, noise having a very wide spectrum is produced and has the effect of substantially obliterating the basic musical tone being generated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In copending application Ser. No. 603,776, filed Aug. 11, 1975, entitled "Polyphonic Tone Synthesizer", now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,644 there is described a digital tone generator in which a master data list is calculated and stored ina main register. The master data list consists of a s...
Electronic musical instrument with exponential keyboard and voltage controlled oscillator2010-02-26with anoperated one of said switches, said voltage divider comprising a plurality of resistance elements connected in series, each having resistance values which bear an exponential relation to the resistance values of adjacent connected resistors, such thatthe voltage at successive junctions of said resistance elements corresponds to a geometric series, a second voltage controlled oscillator, and tuning means for connecting said control voltage to said second oscillator, said tuning means being operativeto modify said control voltage whereby said second oscillator oscillates at a frequency which differs from the frequency of the first oscillator by a constant factor
10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said tuning means includes manually adjustable means for selecting a predetermined relationship between the frequencies of said first and second oscillators.DescriptionBACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic musical instruments, and more particularly to the class of such instruments known as synthesizers.
2. The Prior Art
Electronic music synthesizers generally include an oscillator with means for selectively controlling the frequency produced by the oscillator, so that the output of the oscillator may be caused to produce musical tones and sounds. One componentof a synthesizer is a tunable oscillator, and it is important that the oscillator remain in tune, without varying as a result of changes in temperature and other environmental conditions. If the oscillator does not inherently have the requiredstability, it must frequently be retuned, which is an inconvenience. In addition, rapid changes in tune (e.g., during warming up) are musically unsatisfactory.
In one class of synthesizers, a voltage divider is employed with several taps which are selected individually in accordance with the frequency of the signal which is desired to be produced by the oscillator. It is conventional to construct sucha voltage divider by connecting in series several components which all have the same resistance, so that an equal voltage difference is developed by each change in the position of a selected tap, connected to the junction of adjacent components. It isnecessary to use an oscillator arrangement which produces a frequency which is an exponential function of the control voltage, so that twelve successive taps produce the frequencies corresponding to the various notes of one octave of the musical scale.
Several designs for oscillators which have the required exponential function have been developed. In one such design, the oscillator is provided with a function generator for developing an exponential function in response to a linear inputvoltage, and a linear oscillator is controlled by the output of the function generator. This design has not been completely successful, because the function generator and the oscillator are both responsive to changes in the environmental condition, suchas temperature, power supply voltage level, etc., and so the required stability has not been attained.
It is, therefore, desirable to produce a system in which the aforementioned disadvantages are overcome.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide means for generating a variable frequency signal in response to depression of one of a plurality of keys of the keyboard, in which there is a high degree of compensation for changes inenvironmental conditions, such as changes in the ambient temperature and in the supply voltage.
This and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become manifest upon an examination of the following description and the accompanying drawings.
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an electronic musical instrument having a keyboard with a plurality of keys for selecting the pitches of musical sounds to be produced, a plurality of switches individually associatedwith the keys of said keyboard, a voltage divider having a plurality of resistance elements which are exponentially rela...
Rotary valve for a musical instrument2010-02-25valve of claim 3, wherein the first and second leading ends of the first rotor passage are aligned at an acute angle relative to one another.
5. The rotary valve of claim 1, wherein the second leading end and the trailing end of the first rotor passage are substantially coaxial with one another.
6. The rotary valve of claim 1, wherein the second passage has a generally straight shape.
7. The rotary valve of claim 1, wherein the second passage has an arcuate shape.
8. A rotary valve for a musical instrument which includes a lead pipe coupled to a mouthpiece, a main bore pipe leading to a horn bell, and an alternate slide loop having a leading end and a trailing end, the valve comprising:
a casing configured to be coupled to the musical instrument; and
a rotor configured to be mounted in the casing for rotation about a rotor axis between predetermined unswitched and switched positions, the rotor being formed to include a first generally "Y" shaped passage having first and second leading ends and a trailing end, and a second passage having a leading end and a trailing end, the first passage being configured to direct air from the lead pipe, through the first leading end of the "Y" shaped passage, out the trailing end, and through the main bore pipe leading to a horn bell when the rotor is in its unswitched position, and the first and second passages also being configured to direct air from the lead pipe, through the second leading end of the "Y" shaped passage, out the trailing end, through the alternate slide loop, through the second passage, and through the main bore pipe leading to a horn bell when the rotor is in its switched position.
9. The rotary valve of claim 8, wherein the first and second leading ends of the first rotor passage are aligned at an acute angle relative to one another.
10. The rotary valve of claim 8, wherein the first leading end and the trailing end of the first rotor passage are substantially coaxial with one another.
11. The rotary valve of claim 10, wherein the first and second leading ends of the first rotor passage are aligned at an acute angle relative to one another.
12. The rotary valve of claim 8, wherein the second leading end and the trailing end of the first rotor passage are substantially coaxial with one another.
13. The rotary valve of claim 8...
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