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Multi-feature speech/music discrimination system
2010-03-29 00:00:00
The primary objective of a multi-variate classifier, which receives multiple type of inputs, is to account for variances between classes of input that can be explained in terms of interactions between the measured features. In essence, every classifier determines a "decision boundary" in the applicable feature space. A maximum a posteriori Gaussian classifier, such as that described in the Saunders article, defines a quadric surface, such as a hyperplane, hypersphere, hyperellipsoid, hyperparaboloid, or the like, between the classes. All data points on one side of this boundary are classified as speech, and all points on the other are considered to be music. This type of classifier may work well in those situations where the data can be readily divided into two distinct clusters, which can be separated by such a simple decision boundary. However, there may be situations in which the dispersion of the data for the different classes is somewhat homogenous within the feature space. In such a case, the Gaussian decision boundary is not as reliable. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a speech/music discriminator having a classifier that permits arbitrarily complex decision boundaries to be employed, and thereby increase the accuracy of the discrimination.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a set of features is provided which can be selectively employed to distinguish speech content from music in an audio signal. In particular, eight different features of a digital audio signal can be measured to analyze the signal. In addition, higher level information is obtained by calculating the variance of some of these features within a predefined time window. More particularly, certain features differ in value between voiced and unvoiced speech. If both types of speech are captured within the time window, the variance will be relatively high. In contrast, music is likely to be constant within the time window, and therefore will have a lower variance value. The differences in the variance values can therefore be employed to distinguish speech sounds from music. By combining data from some of the base features with data from other features, such as the variance features, significant increases in the discrimination accuracy are obtained.

In another aspect of the invention, a "nearest-neighbor" type of classifier is used to distinguish speech data samples from music data samples. Unlike the Gaussian classifier, the nearest-neighbor classifier estimates local probability densities within every area of the feature space. As a result, arbitrarily complex decision boundaries can be generated. In different embodiments of the invention, different types of nearest-neighbor classifiers are employed. In the simplest approach, the nearest data point in the feature space to a sample data point is identified, and the sample is labeled as being of the same class as the identified nearest neighbor. In a second embodiment, a number of data points within the feature space that are nearest to the sample data point are determined, and the new sample point is classified by a voting technique among the nearest points in the feature space. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the number of nearest data points in the feature space that are employed for such a decision is small, but greater than unity.

In a third embodiment, a K-d tree spatial partitioning technique is employed. In this embodiment, a K-d tree is constructed by recursively partitioning the feature space, beginning with the dimension along which features vary the most. With this approach, the decision boundary between classes can become arbitrarily complex, in dependence upon the size of the set of features that are used to provide input data. Once the feature space is divided into sufficiently small regions, a voting technique is employed among the data points within the region, to assign it to a particular class. Thereafter, when a new sample data point is generated, it is labeled according to the region within which it falls in the feature space.

The foregoing principles of the invention, as well as the advantages offered thereby, are explained in greater detail hereinafter with reference to various examples illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a general block diagram of a speech/music discriminator embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an audio signal that has been divided into frames;

FIGS. 3a and 3b are histograms of the spectral centroid for speech and music signals, respectively;

FIGS. 4a and 4b are histograms of the spectral flux for speech and music signals, respectively;

FIGS. 5a and 5b are histograms of the zero-crossing rate for speech and music signals, respectively;
&l...

Musical scale indicator
2010-03-26 00:00:00
to the user the finger positions on the subject musical instrument that will produce the tones of a selected musical scale and simultaneously the finger positions on that instrument that will produce those tones.ClaimsWhat is claimed is:

1. A music scale indicator, comprising:

a base having a first flat surface, said first flat surface having a first indicia placed thereon indicating fingering patterns for playing at least three pre-selected music scales in selected tonics on a pre-selected musical instrument, said first indicia comprising fingering indicia for indicating fingering patterns for playing said pre-selected music scales on said pre-selected musical instrument and lead note indicia for indicating a lead note location of each fingering pattern of said fingering patterns for each said pre-selected music scale of said pre-selected music scales;

an overlay having a second flat surface positioned in parallel relation with said first flat surface of said base; said overlay being constructed of a material which permits seeing through said overlay so that said second flat surface of said overlay and said first flat surface of said base may be simultaneously seen, said second flat surface of said overlay having a second indicia placed thereon indicating a simulated finger board of said pre-selected musical instrument, said simulated finger board indicating fingering positions for said pre-selected musical instrument, said second indicia further indicating a chromatic scale tone letter for each fingering position of said fingering positions for said pre-selected musical instrument, the chromatic tone letters being arranged in chromatic scale sequence, said overlay being slidably moved relative to said base so as to selectively indicate fingering positions for playing a selected music scale in a selected tonic on said simulated finger board of said pre-selected musical instrument, said selected tonic for said selected music scale being selected by sliding said overlay relative to said base until a selected chromatic scale tone letter that defines said selected tonic on said overlay aligns with a selected lead note indicia that indicates the selected music scale on said base, selection of said selected tonic for the selected music scale also simultaneously selecting a particular tonic respectively for each other music scale of said pre-selected music scales, a tonic being selected wherever a chromatic scale tone letter of said chromatic tone letters on said second surface of said overlay aligns with a lead not indicia on said first surface of said base, said selected fingering indicia for the selected music scale in the selected tonic and for each other music scale in its respective particular tonic being indicated wherever a tone letter indicia overlays a fingering pattern indicia; and

attachment means connected with said base for attaching said overlay to said flat surface of said base so that said second flat surface of said overlay may be selectively slid relative to said first flat surface of said base.

2. The music scale indicator of claim 1, wherein each fingering pattern of said fingering patterns on said base is a fingering pattern for each pre-selected music scale of said pre-selected music scales arranged in sequence of playing selected scale notes from the chromatic scale on said finger board of said pre-selected musical instrument.

3. The music scale indicator of claim 2, wherein said pre-selected music scales comprise seven music scales; further wherein said fingering patterns comprise fingering patterns for Major, Minor, Locrian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian, and Dorian music scales.

4. The music scale indicator of claim 3, wherein said pre-selected musical instrument is selected from the group consisting of string instruments, brass and woodwind instruments and percussion instruments.

5. The music scale indicator of claim 4, wherein said pre-selected musical instrument is selected from the group consisting of guitar, alto-saxophone and piano.

6. A music scale indicator, comprising:

a base having a fi...

Musical apparatus using multiple light beams to control musical tone signals
2010-03-25 00:00:00
in order to reduce the size of the casing.

A ninth, separate aspect of the present invention are steps formed in an opened port in the casing of the musical apparatus which prevent diffused reflection from being received by the light detector.

A tenth, separate aspect of the present invention is a musical apparatus which controls the order in which types of parameters of musical tones are changed.

An eleventh, separate aspect of the invention is a musical apparatus which uses the sum, difference, ratio or other relationship between the detection results of two detected light beams to control a parameter of a musical tone.

A twelfth, separate aspect of the present invention is a musical apparatus which does not require a one-to-one correspondence of light emitters to light detectors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electronic musical apparatus having the musical apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation panel of the electronic musical apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a control table;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a setting table;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a buffer;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a timer interrupt routine;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for processing of a first infrared LED;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for processing of a second infrared LED;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for overall processing;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for a conversion table of sensor output value;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an embodiment of the musical apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment with respect to the light emitter and light detector;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment with respect to the light emitter and light detection;

FIG. 14. is an explanatory diagram for explaining the assignment of parameters;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the assignment of parameters;

FIGS. 16(a), (b), and (c) are explanatory diagrams each showing a casing wherein (a) is a top view, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line 16b--16b of (a), and (c) is a view taken in the direction of the arrow C in (b);

FIGS. 17(a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams each showing a casing wherein (a) is a sectional view taken along the line 17A--17A of FIG. 16(a), and (b) is a view taken in the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 16(a);

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged opened port of the casing;

FIGS. 19(a), (b), and (c) are diagrams each showing an example wherein three infrared LEDs are used as light emitters wherein (a) is an example employing three infrared LEDs and one infrared sensor, (b) is an example employing three infrared LEDs and two infrared sensors, and (c) is an example employing three infrared LEDs and two infrared sensors; and

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a conversion table.

FIG. 21 is a diagram of another example of a control table.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the musical apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a musical apparatus which detects light rays and uses results of this detection to control musical tones may comprise a plurality of light emitters, a single light detector, and a controller for controlling parameters of musical tone. The light emitter may be a light emitting element such as an infrared light-emitting diode (infrared LED), and a plurality of light emitters may use, for example, two infrared LEDs. Likewise, a light detector may use, for example, a light receiving element such as an infrared sensor. The plurality of light emitters and the single detector are mounted on the main housing of the apparatus. The single detector detects the light rays, which were radiated from the plurality of light emitters and reflected off of a material object in space, independently for every light emitter, and outputs the results detected corresponding to each of the plurality of light emitters, respectively. In response to the detected results, the controller controls or changes parameters of a musical tone.

In this embodiment, the plurality of light emitters are, for example, positioned at a prescribed distance (see FIG. 2), or they are positioned such that the direction of radiation of the light emitted from one light emitter is different than that of another light emitter (see FIG. 16), so that when the position of a material object is changed, the light reflected off the material object also changes. The plurality of light emitters emit light in a time-sharing manner, and the single detector outputs the detection result corresponding to the light emitter which emitted light rays synchronously with the timing of the light emission. The musical apparatus may output a detection result corresponding to each one of the plurality of light emitters respectively.

An alternative embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of light detectors where at least one detector outputs detection results with respect to a plurality of light emitters. For instance, an embodiment of the present invention may include an apparatus containing three light emitters and two detectors where one of the two detectors outputs detection results with respect to two or three emitters...

Thumbrest ring adapter for musical instrument
2010-03-24 00:00:00
the strap is adjusted to position the hand in the desired location and to relieve the weight on the thumb. Wrist support devices of this type have not achieved acceptance, possibly due to the constriction on the hand between the thumb and the forefinger and possibly due to the different feel of the instrument when it is supported near its bell rather than in the middle near its center of balance.

A variety of other types of instrument support devices have been used with heavier instruments such as baritones, sousaphones and S-shaped saxophones. However, these other types of support devices are virtually required because of the considerably greater weight of those instruments and would not typically be effective with the smaller woodwind instruments which require a greater degree of dexterity. Thus, in spite of the variety of different types of support devices for a wide variety of different musical instruments, musicians playing the smaller woodwind instruments such as the oboe, the clarinet, the English horn and the straight saxophone typically choose to either support the entire weight of the instrument on their thumb or use a support device connected to an attachment ring on the thumbrest. In those instances where the instrument does not include an attachment ring on the thumbrest, the musician will typically be required to hold the entire weight of the instrument rather than opt for an alternative support device. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has evolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides the capability of attaching a support device, such as a neck strap, chest support or monopod device to a woodwind instrument such as the oboe, the clarinet, the English horn or the straight saxophone when those instruments do not include a permanent eye or attachment ring on the their respective thumbrests. The ability to add such a support device allows a musician to relieve as much of the weight of the musical instrument on the musician's thumb and hand as desired without limiting the position, flexibility or maneuverability of the instrument. A further objective of the present invention is to provide an assembly that allows for the attachment of a support device, where the assembly is relatively small with respect to the size of the musical instrument and where the assembly may be quickly and simply attached to the instrument.

In accordance with the above aspects, the present invention relates to a unique ring adapter assembly which may be releasably attached to a thumbrest on the musical instrument to provide an attachment ring to those thumbrests which do not include their own permanent eye or attachment ring. One embodiment of the ring adapter assembly, which is used with fixed position thumbrests, includes a base adapted to be seated on a top surface of the thumbrest (opposite the bottom surface where the musician's thumb is positioned while playing the instrument). The base holds an attachment ring and fits within an open bottom end of a hollow tube. A cap fits within an open top end of the hollow tube and holds the ring in place within the hollow tube. Once the base is seated on the thumbrest, a spring wire attached to the cap is connected around the thumbrest to maintain the ring adapter assembly attached to the thumbrest. A screw extending through the cap and contacting the base may be rotated to move the cap up and down in relation to the stationary thumbrest. Upward movement of the cap increases tension within the spring wire and tightens the connection of the ring adapter assembly to the thumbrest. A post extending horizontally through the ring adapter assembly supports the spring wire and acts like a fulcrum to direct the force applied by the wire on the ring adapter assembly downward and away from the body of the musical instrument.

An alternative embodiment of the ring adapter assembly is used with thumbrests which are adjustable with respect to the body of the musical instrument. Such adjustable thumbrests typically comprise a horizontal projection with a vertical post fixed to a top side thereof, wherein the musician's thumb typically contacts the bottom side of the horizontal projection. A receptacle fixed to the musical instrument includes a vertical hole to receive the vertical post attached to the horizontal projection. Once the horizontal projection is positioned as desired by the musician, a set screw within the receptacle is tightened about the vertical post to temporarily fix the position of the adjustable thumbrest. The alternative ring adapter assembly includes a an L-shaped body having a horizontal surface with an opening therein to receive the vertical post of the adjustable thumbrest, and having a vertical surface attached to the horizontal surfac...

Low profile keyboard device and system for recording and scoring music
2010-03-23 00:00:00
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 from the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device and a system used to capture, convert and transmit musical data obtained from a keyboard instrument during live performances to a computer-compatible link and then to a computer which enables the performance tobe viewed on a computer screen or to be printed out in music-scored form. Musical information, comprising both key and key expression, is sequentially captured using reflective couplers within the modular music recording device of the invention. Theinformation is preferably serially transmitted to and analyzed in a microcomputer unit which converts analog data to binary logic, calculates the attack and release velocity with which a key is struck, and further converts the data to acomputer-compatible format.

The device of the invention, the keyboard module, is superior in terms of cost, convenience, portability and efficiency to prior art keyboard music recording devices. The module is lightweight, compact and minimally interferes with themusician's movements as he plays a keyboard instrument. The modular device of the invention, furthermore, is applied to, rather than installed in the keyboard instrument; the modules simply rest on top of the keys. Preferably, the modules are in octaveunits to further provide increased flexibility to the musician; the musician may use as few or as many octave modules to record music played on only one or several octaves, to record music on a smaller keyboard instrument, or to record music which spansall octaves of, for example, a standard acoustic piano. The modules simply interconnect, thereby increasing the length of the keyboard strip comprising the device of the invention. The modules, moreover, are portable and can be easily removed andattached to a different keyboard instrument.

Musical data comprising key and key expression information and key surface reflection characteristics are captured within the modular device of the invention with the use of reflective couplers. There is one reflective coupler corresponding toeach key covered by the module; therefore, in a one octave module, there are twelve reflective couplers because there are twelve keys (including black and white keys) in a typical keyboard octave. The reflective couplers are mounted within the keyboardmold of the module. Each reflective coupler has a diode emitter portion and a phototransistor sensor or photodector portion. Emitted light from the diode emitter portion is pointed towards the key. When the key is at rest or in an "up" position, theemitted light is reflected or bounced off the key in an upward direction and is sensed by the phototransistor sensor portion. When, however, a key is struck or played and in a down position, the key is at an angle and a substantial amount of the emittedlight from the diode emitter portion is deflected at an angle rather than upwards. The phototransistor is thereby "turned off" due to insufficient lighting, resulting in a change of state which is represented by analog voltage data.

For black keys, which tend to absorb rather than reflect light, a transistor driver can be included in the module to increase the drive capability to the diode emitter to provide sufficient reflected light off of the black key to thephotodetector portion of the reflective coupler. Because the resistance of the photodetector is a function of received light, the rise time of the output voltage is a function of this resistance. Depending on the characteristics of the key surfacecolor, this resistance will vary somewhat with each key, especially on a typical keyboard which has contrasting white and black keys. By allowing each key's photodetector to have a corresponding ...

Keyboard electronic musical instrument with guitar emulation function
2010-03-20 00:00:00
and

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

86. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 further comprising:

measuring the velocity with which a user's finger effects a rest-to-selected state change of one of said keys; and

instructing said tone generating device to play that key's corresponding arpeggiated chord at a volume which is a function of the measured finger velocity.

87. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 further comprising:

measuring elapsed time between successive rest-to-selected strum key state changes; and,

instructing said tone generating device to play arpeggiated chords in such a manner that elapse times between successive notes within an arpeggiated chord are a function of the elapsed time between the rest-to-selected strum key state change which triggered the chord and the preceding rest-to-selected strum key state change.

88. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 wherein;

instructions are sent to said tone generating device according to a standardized digital protocol.

89. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 88 wherein;

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

90. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 wherein,

the two keys within each of said key pairs are spaced one octave apart on said keyboard.

91. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 wherein,

said keyboard includes at least two parallel key rows which extend longitudinally from left to right; and

the two keys within each of said key pairs are laterally aligned with each other.

92. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 80 wherein,

said keyboard includes at least four parallel key rows.

93. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 92 wherein;

said keyboard comprises a first key row, a second key row, a third key row, and a fourth key row;

said rows extend longitudinally from left to right;

said second key row is laterally positioned between said first and third rows;

said third key row is laterally positioned between said second and fourth rows;

at least a plurality of keys within said first row are laterally aligned with a plurality of keys within said third row;

at least a plurality of keys within said second row are laterally aligned with a plurality of keys within said fourth row; and

at least a plurality of keys within said second row are staggered in the longitudinal dimension halfway between adjacent keys of the first row.

94. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 93 wherein,

strum keys in rows one and two are paired with laterally aligned strum keys in rows three and four, respectively.

95. A method of generating arpeggiations as in claim 94 wherein;

at least a plurality of strum keys within rows one and two are downstrum keys, and their pair partners in rows three and four are upstrum keys.Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a keyboard-controlled electronic musical instrument capable of emulating a strumming guitar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

When a guitarist plays a guitar with standard string tuning and the standard physical configuration (left hand selecting notes on the fretboard and right hand strumming the strings), a downstrum (in which the right hand strokes downward) generally produces an ascending arpeggiated chord. An upstrum generally produces a descending arpeggiated chord. Generally, a guitarist will alternate up and downstrums, producing arpeggiated chords which are alternately ascending and descending. This action is easy, smooth and natural, due to the fact that two chords may be produced with a single up-down cycle of the right hand. This two-chord-per-cycle technique enables a guitarist to easily produce strums in rapid succession. Also, this technique allows a guitarist to easily introduce a swing factor into the timing of the strums. A swing factor or "feel" is present when the elapsed time between an upstrum and a downstrum is different than the elapsed time between a downstrum and an upstrum. By consistently alternating strums with the same time difference, a guitarist can produce a desired swing feel. A guitarist may easily achieve this effect by simply displacing the center of his stroke either slightly above or slightly below the vertical center of the six strings (the vertical center of the strings is between the D and G strings). This displacement of stroke is so easy and natural that guitarists are often not even aware that they are doing it.

Various known prior art processing systems enable a keyboardist to simulate guitar strums. However, these prior art systems have been found to be lacking in the above stated advantageous qualities which a guitar possesses.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,420 (Deutsch) describes a keyboard guitar emulator in which a group of keys perform the dual function of chord selection and arpeggiated chord triggering. In text column 11, lines 44-68, an alternating strum direction feature is disclosed. A musician, or user, may trigger a first strum by depressing a chord on the keyboard. Once the chord is depressed and held, an additional strum, alternating in direction, may be triggered by lifting any key within the chord and repressing it. Since a chord is triggered only when the key moves from rest to depressed position, the two-chord-per-cycle technique described above is not possible and the above described advantages of this technique are not realized.

Other guitar emulators provide a separate trigger switch to trigger arpeggiated chords, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,520 (Drydyk), but none of the known prior art enables a user to...

Automatic performance apparatus of an electronic musical instrument
2010-03-15 00:00:00
diagram showing the data stored in a chord sequence memory CM shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the details of a reading control circuit 22 in this embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware construction of a melody on-off detecting circuit 36 shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the details of a registered data detecting circuit 42 shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware construction of the present invention. In FIG. 1, numeral 1 designates a keyboard having plural keys, each of which provides key switches thereunder to detect the OPEN or CLOSED state thereof. The keyboard 1 is divided into three key-areas, KB1 to KB3, in which the output signal of each key in the key-area KB1 is supplied to a manual performance musical tone generating circuit 2 and a chord data generating circuit 3. The output signal of each key in the key-area KB2 is supplied to manual performance musical tone generating circuit 2, and the output signal of each key in the key-area KB3 is supplied to manual performance musical tone generating circuit 2 and note length data generating circuit 4 respectively.

The manual performance musical tone generating circuit generates a musical tone signal corresponding to the depressed key on keyboard 1 and outputs this musical ton signal to an amplifier 5. The chord data generating circuit detects the depressed key in key-area KB1 to generate its chord data in accordance with the detected key data, in which chord data indicates a chord of an accompaniment tone.

In the present embodiment, many types of chords such as C major or A minor are designated by the key operation of key-area KB1. For example, depressing keys C, E, and G of key-area KB1 designates C major. The chord data generating circuit 3 receives a signal based on the key which is depressed in key-area KB1. According to this received signal, the chord data generating circuit 3 generates chord data which includes basic tone data CCD indicated by the basic tone of the chord (C, D, E, or the like) and type data TPD indicated by type of the chord (major minor, or the like). In accordance with the generated chord data, an automatic accompaniment tone is generated as described later. The note length data generating circuit 4 generates note length data FTD corresponding to the depressed key in key-area KB3. Herein, the note length data of the accompaniment chord is indicated by the key operation of key-area KB3. The note length data generating circuit 4 then outputs note length data FTD to the next circuit in accordance with the detected key data of key-area KB3.

A tone color switch 6 is used for setting the tone color of the accompaniment tone; an effect switch 7 for setting an effect of the accompaniment tone; a melody-ON switch 8 for storing a starting signal of a melody tone in the automatic performance; a melody-OFF switch 9 for storing a stopping signal of the melody tone in the automatic performance; a multi-stage tone volume switch 10 is used for controlling the volume of the accompaniment tone; and an ...

Wavetable-modification instrument and method for generating musical sound
2010-03-12 00:00:00
a function of vt and mt as follows:

In a digital sample embodiment, the nth sample of yt is given as yn. In general, the nth modification component, mn, is determined stochastically for each sample. For a particular sample n, mn may be such that nomodification is performed. In accordance with one embodiment of the type suitable for generating plucked-string sounds, the modification performed to generate yn is an average of a first delayed output yn-N and the previous delayed outputyn-(N 1).

In the plucked string embodiment, the nth value to be stored into the wavetable is given as follows: ##EQU1## where: xn =nth initial excitation sample

yn =output at nth sample

N=pitch number (approximately the desired period of the tone in samples)

yn-N =sample delayed by N

yn-(N 1) =sample delayed by N 1

rn =a random number uniformly distributed between 0 and 1 which is generated for the nth sample

M=duration of initial excitation ("pluck") in samples

d=probability of modification ("decay probability")

In the plucked string embodiment, the modification is implemented, for example, as a simple addition and binary shift (divide-by-two) of data stored in a wavetable. The location of data in the wavetable, in one digital memory embodiment, isdetermined by memory address pointers. A Read Pointer specifies the location of the delayed sample, yn-N. A "Read Pointer 1" is offset from the Read Pointer by one and specifies the location of the delayed sample yn-(N 1). The modified value,yn, is stored into the wavetable at a location specified by a Write Pointer. The Write Pointer is offset from the Read Pointer by the pitch number, N.

In a multi-voice embodiment, the pitch number, N, is typically different for each voice. A Read Pointer and a Write Pointer are determined for each voice.

The present invention can be economically implemented and additionally provides a superior result, that is, the pitch frequency need not be divided by an integer, fs /N, but is fractionally different, for example, fs /(N 1/2). Thefractional difference between the number N and for example, the number N 1/2, introduces small variations in the pitch of the note generated and materially enhances the sound generated by the present invention.

Furthermore, the present invention employs a random access memory wavetable in which the approximate pitch number N maybe different for different voices so that the pitch can be readily changed by merely changing the pointers to locations in thememory.

The present invention employs a random number generator to provide the initial input to the wavetable. The random number initially stored in the memory is unrelated, in general, to the pitch of the desired sound, that is, is unrelated to thepitch number, N.

The wavetable-modification method of the present invention achieves the objective of providing an improved digital instrument which can be implemented with low computational requirements.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEFDESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an electrical block diagram of a musical instrument incorporating the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts an expanded electrical block diagram of the FIG. 1 musical instrument.

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic electrical block diagram of the modifier unit which forms a portion of the wavetable-modification generator in the FIG. 2 musical instrument.

FIG. 4 depicts a graph of the amplitude versus frequency of the output signal during the first fifteen periods for a typical note of musical instrument of the FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 type.

FIG. 5 depicts an electrical block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention which is constructed utilizing a DIGITAR semiconductor chip.

FIG. 6 depicts a schematic electrical block diagram of the DIGITAR chip employed in the FIG. 5 musical instrument.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG....

Programmed music on demand from the internet
2010-03-11 00:00:00
identifying the artist and/or the copyright holders of each item of music content ("identity audio message").

A separate database is used to store and update the advertising content, again in either digital or analog form, later to be linked and transmitted to the ultimate consumer/subscriber. The advertisements are converted to digital form for delivery as audio messages over the Internet. The audio content of the database may include generic audio messages.

In operation, the subscriber selects the content which he or she desires to receive, and the content is placed in a queue for transmittal to the subscriber. Based on the profile of the content, a determination is made by the CPU based system as to which advertising copy--there may be many different ones--is appropriate to be delivered to the particular subscriber. The system then selects from a set containing numerous, different advertising messages those items that fit the subscriber and which also have "available allocation." From the advertising messages that can be transmitted, the next available advertising message is selected. In effect, advertisers buy the right to have their messages played a given number of times. If their available allocation of advertising play time has run out, they must replenish their account or their advertising message(s) will not be transmitted to subscribers.

Finally, the selected advertising message is affixed to the next generic message in the queue or to the applicable artist (composition) identity audio message. The system automatically links the advertising message, the generic or identity audio message and the subscriber selected content into a single data stream to be transmitted to the subscriber over the Internet. In constructing the stream, the system overlays the generic or identity audio message onto the music content so that, when delivered, the audio generic message and the audio content can both be heard by the subscriber simultaneously. The completed data stream is then delivered to the subscriber in a single, inseparable stream of data packets over the Internet.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the basic system hardware arrangement of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of major software blocks of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the software control and protocol flow suitable for implementing a portion of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In general terms, the present invention comprises a software controlled CPU, e.g. a microprocessor, based repository in which the dossiers of a plurality of subscribers are stored and updated. The information contained in the dossiers includes the type of music that th...