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Low profile keyboard device and system for recording and scoring music
2010-03-23 00:00:00
AbstractA portable modular music recording device which simply and unobtrusively attaches to a keyboard instrument for purposes of recording live musical performances; and an efficient music microcomputing system in which the captured musical data is digitized and further analyzed to determine note and note expression information when a key has been played. In the modular keyboard device, key and key expression data is captured by means of reflective couplers mounted in the keyboard device, and the information is transmitted to the processing unit. Microcomputer instructions refine the data to a format suitable for serial transmission via a computer-compatible link for ultimate scoring and recording.ClaimsI claim: 1. A portable, modular apparatus for acquiring data representative of a live musical performance on a selected keyboard instrument, said apparatus being removable positionable atop aback portion of the keyboard of the instrument, said apparatus comprising: a housing designed with slots to fit atop a predetermined span of black and white keys on the keyboard of the selected keyboard instrument, said housing being structured for disposition atop the back portion of the keyboard and to operativelycover the predetermined span of keys on the keyboard; reflective coupler means disposed within said housing, said reflective coupler means comprising light emitting means disposed to impinge light onto each key on the keyboard covered by said predetermined span means for receiving said lightreflected by each of the keys in accordance with the amount the key is depressed, and means for providing an electrical analog output signal corresponding to the amount of reflected light received from the key, and means operatively connected to said reflective coupler means for monitoring the electrical analog output signal from said electrical analog output signal providing means to acquire data representative of the live musical performance. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said electrical analog output signal monitoring means comprises means for enabling each said analog output signal providing means at preselected time intervals. 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said electrical analog output signal monitoring means comprises means for enabling said electrical analog output signal providing means in a preselected sequence. 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said monitoring means comprises means for clocking said electrical analog output signal providing means to acquire data representative of key strike and release velocity. 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said electrical analog output signal clocking means comprises means for clocking said electrical analog output signal sufficiently fast to provide data accurately representative of key strike and releasevelocities. 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said monitoring means comprises means for comparing consecutive electrical analog output signals from a key's electrical analog output signal providing means to determine if the amount of key depression haschanged and means for generating note expression data representative of key strike and release velocity for such key in response to changes in consecutive electrical analog output signals from its associated electrical analog output signal providingmeans. 7. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising means for converting said data representative of the live musical performance to a form transferable to a computer compatible link. 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said light emitting means comprises a light emitting diode for each covered key. 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said electrical analog output signal providing means comprises, for each covered key, a phototransistor. 10. The invention of claim 1 in combination with at least a second said modular apparatus and means for operatively connecting said modular apparatuses. 11. The invention of claim 10 wherein each said modular apparatus comprises an encodable module identifying means. 12. The invention of claim 10 wherein each said modular apparatus is an octave module comprising a housing operatively covering twelve keys. 13. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising means for varying the light intensity to each light emitting means to compensate for differences in reflectivity for individual keys on said keyboard. 14. A method for acquiring data representative of a performance on a keyboard instrument comprising: for each key within a selected group of keys on the keyboard instrument, (a) emitting light from a source, (b) impinging the light onto the key, (c) reflecting the light from the key onto a photodetector in accordance with the amount the key is depressed to generate an electrical analog output signal indicative of the amount of key depression, using steps (a), (b), and (c), in accordance with a clock signal, sequentially initiating the electrical analog ouput signal for each key within the group of keys sufficiently frequently to provide a series of electrical analog output signalsrepresentative of key depression as a function of time, comprising key striking and release velocities. monitoring the series of electrical analog output signals for each key to acquire data representative of the performance, and comparing the strengths of consecutive electrical analog output signals within the series from each key within the group of keys to determine if a change in the amount of depression for each key has occurred and generating note expression datarepresentative of key strike and release velocity when the signal strength comparison step indicates a change in key depression has occurred for a key. 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising adjusting the amount of light impinging on each key to compensate for differences in reflectivity for each key. 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the clock signal is sufficiently fast to provide accurate data for key strike and release velocities. 17. The method of claim 14 further comprising converting the acquired data into a form transferable to a computer compatible link.DescriptionBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a convenient, low cost modular device to be unobtrusively attached to any keyboard instrument which electronically captures musical note and note expression data; and a processing system to convert and transmit the datato computer-compatible interfaces thereby recording live musical performances. Various inventions have been devised to assist musicians in performing, arranging, recording and composing music. An historically early method of recording music which is still in use today is the player piano. Holes, corresponding toparticular notes, are punched in paper which is rotated as the player piano is played. Recording music with this technique requires an entirely different instrument than the piano or substantial adjustments to a conventional piano. U.S. Pat. No.1,194,302, entitled "MUSIC RECORDER," to Liefield, discloses an extremely bulky electrical attachment which is capable of recording musical notes on a rotating sheet of paper to be applied to a conventional keyboard instrument. The device of thisinvention which attaches to the keyboard, however, covers more than half of the keyboard and thus interferes with a musician's efforts at the keyboard. U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,221, entitled, "PLAYER PIANO RECORDING SYSTEM," to Starnes et al, teaches amore modern recording system in which player piano tapes are prepared. This system requires the elaborate and delicate installation of photosensors to the underside of the piano keys. While the invention does not interfere with the musician's use ofthe keyboard, such installation of the apparatus to the keyboard is expensive and requires the services of a skilled piano tuner or electronics technician. This invention is furthermore limited in its application because the purpose of the invention isto create player piano tapes and not a musical score for immediate viewing by the musician. Another example of a musical recording system is given in U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,719, entitled "TAPE ACTIVATED PIANO AND ORGAN PLAYER," to Maillet, which againrequires the elaborate installation of sensitive electronics to the underside of a keyboard, with the accompanying disadvantages of being costly and requiring skilled persons to render the invention useful. U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,267, entitled"ELECTRONIC PLAYER PIANO WITH RECORD AND PLAYBACK FEATURE," to Vincent, teaches an electronic data storage system including a magnetic type recorder/replayer for recording spontaneous musical presentations for replay through a similar instrument. Tocapture the musical data, the invention also requires extensive and expensive modifications to the underside of each key in the instrument. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,456, entitled "MUSIC ENCODING AND DECODING APPARATUS," to Groeschel, for yetanother example of how electronic switching to monitor keyboard action requires bulky circuitry and modification of the keyboard from within the instrument. The sequencer is a viable alternative method of recording music which has been developed in the prior art, although early in its development, the sequencer was a massive network of electronics, often covering walls in a recording studio. Musicians are able to record and immediately play back music with the use of sequencers. A sequencer, in its simplest form, consists of a series of adjustable voltage memories stepped by a clock pulse. The typical analog sequencer uses potentiometersand variable resistors, each including a manually operable dial for establishing a certain DC voltage In order to load the sequencer, the musician manually sets each potentiometer. Thereafter, the bank of potentiometers is scanned sequentially and theDC voltages are read to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) which then produces the melody or the rhythm. The sequencer thus enables the musician to repeatedly listen to the melody and make changes by varying the potentiometer dials. Sequencers areused to create the familiar insistent machine-beat that has been used in electronic organs. See Keyboard Synthesizer Library, Vol. 3, Synthesizers and Computers, p. 37 (1985). While the sequencer produces the accompaniment, a musician can play the leadline of the same or another keyboard, or even another instrument. With the advent of solid state electronics, smaller and more efficient electronics have been combined in the prior art to produce a digital sequencer. Typical digital sequencers utilize a Read/Write memory storing a plurality of words, each wordbeing coded to represent a note played on the keyboard. Once the memory has been coded, the sequencer can be used to play the keyboard instrument by reading back the data words in the memory in time sequence. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,871, entitled,"APPARATUS FOR STORING SEQUENCES OF MUSICAL TONES," to Oberheim; U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,399, entitled, "AUTOMATIC SEQUENCE GENERATOR FOR A POLYPHONIC TONE SYNTHESIZER," to Deutsch; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,101, entitled "DIGITAL SOLID STATE RECORDING OFTHE SIGNALS CHARACTERIZING THE PLAYING OF A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT," to Ellen. While providing an improved and efficient means of recording music, sequencers do not provide a written means of preserving music on musical score sheets. More importantly,however, sequencers require an electronic musical instrument and have not been adapted to conventional acoustic keyboard instruments, such as the piano. The electronic music revolution has led to the invention of the synthesizer, an electronic musical instrument. Sequencers, as described above, have been incorporated into the synthesizer, so that while the musician plays music on a synthesizerkeyboard, sequencers within the synthesizer plays back various accompaniments that the musician loaded previously into the sequencer. The use of sequencers allows the musician to compose and record various tracks of music. The electronic instrumentsgenerate musical data consisting of a series of binary digits, called bits. A number of digits representing a complete musical expression, such as which note has been played and the particular style, is called a data word. The words are then stored ina memory unit which can store only a finite number of these binary data words. The length of the recorded music, therefore, is limited by the amount of memory in the solid state chips used in digital sequencers. Microprocessor technology provides themeans for storing lengthy sequences by transferring the digitized musical data stored in memory to peripheral devices such as computer diskettes. Examples of electronic musical instruments which incorporate microprocessor technology include the EnsoniqMirage鈩? various Korg polyphonic synthesizers, and the Casio CZ 101鈩? The computer, especially the personal home computer, further revolutionized the electronic music industry with the creation of software capable of interpreting the notes played on the keyboard and printing the music in musical scored form. Themusic industry desired a communication standard to be used among the multitude of electronic music manufacturers and the multitude of available home computers. The standard decided upon was MIDI, an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Inits simplest application, MIDI permits a musician to play two or more instruments from a single keyboard, in order to layer musical tone colors. In its most comprehensive application, MIDI provides the means for realizing a multi-track recorder or acomputer-based composing system by connecting several instruments to a master controller or computer. Computer software is available, furthermore, which can transform the music from digital format to a conventional musical score, both on the computerscreen and as printed out on paper in hard copy. Commercially available software which can convert MIDI data to scored music or to a format to be viewed on a computer terminal for editing purposes include the MIDI Performance Series鈩?by Passport,and the MPS鈩?written by Kentyn Reynolds for IBM-compatible personal computers. The current limitation to the MIDI computer - musical interface is that it requires expensive and complex electronic musical instruments such as synthesizers or sequencers. MIDI was not designed to be adapted for the conventional non-electronicmusical instrument, such as the piano. MIDI Retrofit Kits鈩?are currently available from Forte Music Company to accommodate acoustic pianos; however, these retrofit kits require extensive modification on the underside of the piano keys as has beendescribed on some of the previous efforts to record keyboard music. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 861,317 discloses a keyboard device and system which is mounted on a keyboard to capture, analyze, record, and score musical information. The musical data is captured within this device by optical transmissivecouplers which sense whether a key has been depressed by a wiper and piston assembly which makes contact with the key. It would be desirable to eliminate the pistons and wipers connected to each key as so many parts can cause mechanical and maintenanceproblems. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, lightweight and unobtrusive device for the purpose of scoring and recording live music performances. It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic device which is both noninvasive, portable and convenient to attach to any keyboard instrument, and which does not require piano tuning or electronics expertise for properinstallation of the keyboard sensing electronics to record and score music. Still another object of the present invention is to provide modular keyboard devices which easily interconnect to span any size or length of any keyboard instrument for purposes of recording and scoring music. Another object of the invention is to provide a modular keyboard device with simplified electronics and a minimal number of wires for sequential capture of key and key expression data. Another object of the invention is provide a reflective coupler method to detect which key is played and the velocity with which a particular key is struck, thus allowing for further musical expressions, such as staccato, legato, pianissimo, orfortissimo to be recorded simultaneously with the performance. A further object of the present invention is to convert analog musical information into digital data compatible with a MIDI interface for ultimate recording and scoring with the use of a personal computer and appropriate software. Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent fro...

Keyboard electronic musical instrument with guitar emulation function
2010-03-20 00:00:00
which a user may alternate between a rest key state and a selected key state, comprising:

a digital data processing system which receives trigger state information from said triggering device and key state information from said note select keys, and which sends commands to a tone generating device wherein,

a first state change of said triggering device from said first trigger state to said second trigger state when at least two of said note select keys are in said selected key state causes said data processing system to command said tone generating device to initiate production of a plurality of tones corresponding to the selected note select keys in an ascending sequence; and,

a second state change of said triggering device from said second trigger state to said first trigger state following said first triggering device state change as said selected note select keys remain in said selected key state causes said data processing system to command said tone generating device to (a) terminate production of said plurality of tones and (b) re-initiate production of said plurality of tones in a descending sequence.

2. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said triggering device is a keyboard key.

3. An emulator as in claim 2 wherein,

said triggering device key is reciprocative between a rest position and a depressed position; and

said first and second trigger states are said rest and depressed key positions, respectively.

4. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said triggering device is a vertically reciprocating foot pedal.

5. An emulator as in claim 4 wherein,

said triggering device foot pedal is reciprocative between a rest position and a depressed position; and

said first and second trigger states are said rest and depressed pedal positions, respectively.

6. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said triggering device is a foot position sensing device which senses horizontal position of at least a portion of one of said user's feet.

7. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein,

each of said note select keys is reciprocative between a rest position and a depressed position; and

said rest and selected key states are said rest and depressed positions, respectively.

8. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

production of all of said tones initiated as a result of said first trigger state change is terminated as a result of said second trigger state change before the tones are re-initiated as a result of said second state change.

9. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

each of said tones initiated as a result of said first trigger state change is terminated as a result of said second trigger state change immediately prior to re-initiation; whereby,

as a result of said second state change, the highest pitched selected musical tone is muted and re-triggered, then the next lowest pitched selected musical tone is muted and re-triggered, followed by the next lowest tone.

10. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

state changes of said triggering device are affected through movement of a human appendage;

said data processing system receives information from said triggering device regarding the velocity with which said appendage effects trigger state changes;

said commands to initiate tone production include velocity data; and,

the velocity values corresponding with commands to initiate tone production for selected tones are a function of the velocity of the appendage movement which triggers the initiation of the selected tones.

11. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said key state information includes information regarding aftertouch pressure applied to selected note select keys;

said commands to initiate tone production include velocity data; and,

the velocity values for selected tones are a function of aftertouch pressure applied to note select keys near the time of corresponding trigger state change.

12. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said data processing system measures elapsed time between successive triggering device state changes; and,

elapse times between successive commands to initiate tone production for selected tones initiated as a result of a trigger state change are a function of the elapsed time between that trigger state change and the preceding trigger state change.

13. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

state changes of said triggering device are affected through movement of a human appendage;

said data processing system receives information from said triggering device regarding the velocity with which said appendage effects trigger state changes; and

elapse times between successive commands to initiate tone production for selected tones initiated as a result of a trigger state change are an inverse function of the velocity of the appendage movement which affected the corresponding trigger state change.

14. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

the center-to-center distance between two of said note select keys which correspond with two tones one octave apart is not more than 14.5 centimeters.

15. An emulator as in claim 1 wherein;

said data processing system communicates with said tone generating device according to a standardized digital protocol.

16. An emulator as in claim 15 wherein;

said protocol is selected from the group consisting of MIDI and ZIPI.

17. A method of generating ascending and descending musical chord arpeggiations comprising:

assigning at least twelve of the keys within a keyboard to a note select function;

determining which keys are included within a grou...