JPH04229900A - electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To express the manipulation of a subtle operator by means of a manifestation of emotion of a player into a playing musical sound by way of detecting an absolute position of the operator so accurately. CONSTITUTION:Magneto-resistance elements 13a-13s are installed in a laminated magnet magnetized so as to make both N and S poles different in each row appear in plural lines after being opposed at each row, absolute position information is generated in response to the absolute position of an operator through a variation in a relative position between the magneto-resistance elements 13a-13d and the laminated magnet, and on the basis of this generated absolute position information, a musical sound parameter is varied stepwise in a multifarious manner.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electronic musical instruments, and more particularly to an electronic musical instrument capable of accurately expressing subtle operations of operators based on a performer's emotional expression in musical sounds.

0002

[Prior Art] Basically, electronic musical instruments have been designed to control sound by opening and closing key switches by pressing keys, but this alone results in monotonous sound characteristics, and it is difficult to express the player's emotions like a piano. I can't play like that. Therefore, in order to make it possible to express emotions by changing the pronunciation characteristics depending on the force applied when pressing a key, various technologies have been developed to provide a so-called touch response function.

[0003] This touch response function controls the volume, pitch, timbre, etc. of the musical sound generated according to the movement of the performer's fingers during the rise when a key is pressed and when the sound continues after the key is pressed. It's about taking control. Such fine-grained touch control based on the way the player presses the keys has conventionally been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-21489.
Electronic musical instruments such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 7 have been developed that can be realized at low cost with a simple configuration that requires little increase in hardware by performing digital signal processing.

In the case of this conventional electronic musical instrument, the position of the pressed key, which is displaced in response to the movement of the player's fingers, is moved by relatively displacing the magnet and the coil when the key is pressed, to the position of the pressed key of the pressed key. Generate a large number of induced electromotive forces corresponding to the output, generate touch response data based on a large number of pulses corresponding to the output, and use this touch response data. The musical tone parameters such as the volume, pitch, and timbre of the musical tone to be generated are determined.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the conventional electronic musical instrument disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-214897 is capable of generating a large number of pulses relative to the amount of movement of the operator by operating the operator. The pulses are generated from an extremely small number of output lines, and the tone control parameters are changed in multiple stages in response to the number of generated pulses.

[0006] Therefore, the number of pulses increases or decreases depending on how the player operates the controller (operating position).
Fine-grained touch control that corresponds to changes in increase and decrease can be processed by digital signal processing, which reduces the need for additional hardware.

However, this conventional Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2-21
In the electronic musical instrument disclosed in Publication No. 4897, in order to know the absolute position indicating the amount of movement of the operator, means for storing the amount of movement of the operator are required for each operator. This has the problem of high cost.

Furthermore, in the conventional electronic musical instrument disclosed in JP-A-2-214897, a flat coil is used as a sensor that counts pulses indicating the absolute position of the movement of the operator, so the mounting area is reduced. Alternatively, there is a problem that the mounting volume cannot be reduced. there was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic musical instrument that can express delicate operator operations based on a performer's emotional expression in musical sounds by accurately detecting the absolute positions of the operators. .

0010

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention is an electronic musical instrument having an operator, in which absolute position information is generated corresponding to the absolute position of the operator. The apparatus includes an information generating means and a control means for controlling the musical tone parameters to be generated to be changed in multiple stages based on the absolute position information generated by the absolute position information generating means.

[0011] The absolute position information generating means is constituted by a laminated magnet fixed to the operator and a magnetoresistive element fixed at a position facing the laminated magnet. The term "child" includes not only the white and black keys of a keyboard in a so-called keyboard electronic musical instrument, but also push buttons, a treadle of an expression pedal device, a knee lever, a joystick operator, and the like. In addition, "musical tone parameters" include volume, timbre, pitch (
It includes all musical sound parameters such as pitch), tempo, depth and speed of vibrato and tremolo.

0012

[Operation] In the case of the present invention, there is an absolute position information generating means that generates absolute position information corresponding to the absolute position of the operator, and musical tone parameters to be generated based on the absolute position information generated by this absolute position information generating means. Since the controller is equipped with a control means that controls the performance to be changed in multiple steps, it is possible to accurately detect the absolute position of the operator and to reflect the delicate operation of the operator based on the performer's emotional expression in the musical sound played. .

[0013]

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below. 1 to 8 show an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

In the figure, a key 1 is integrally molded, for example, from synthetic resin, and has a protruding piece 1b on the lower surface near the key pressing part 1a.
1c, a protruding piece 1d is provided on the lower surface of the longitudinally intermediate portion, and an engaging protrusion 1e is provided on the base end, and the lower part of the protruding piece 1c projects rearward to form an upper limit stopper 1f for the key 1. . Although the structure is shown for the case where key 1 is a white key, the black key 1A has almost the same structure except that the key pressing part does not extend toward you but protrudes upward. and call it key 1. When the key 1 is pressed, the protruding piece 1d is activated by the photo sensor 10.
It interrupts and becomes ON state. This photosensor 10 is arranged on a printed circuit board 9.

On the other hand, a keyboard frame (hereinafter simply referred to as frame) 2, which is a key support member, is made of a magnetic material such as iron, and has through holes 2a and 2b into which the engagement protrusion 1e and upper limit stopper 1f of the key 1 fit, respectively. has. Then, the engaging protrusion 1e of the key 1 is fitted into the through hole 2a, and the clip-shaped leaf spring 3
By sandwiching the rear end rising portion 2c of the frame 2, the key 1 is irremovably pivotally attached to the frame 2, and becomes rotatable about the fulcrum C.

Further, a leaf spring 4 engaged between the key 1 and the frame 2 urges the key pressing portion 1a side of the key 1 upward, and the upper limit stopper 1f presses the felt attached to the lower surface of the frame 2. The upper limit position is set by contacting the stopper 5, etc.

A stopper 6 made of felt or the like is affixed to the low step part 2d bent on the front side of the frame 2, with which the protruding piece 1b comes into contact when the key is pressed. A rising piece 7 consisting of a raised piece 7 is made to correspond to each key 1, and is fixed by screwing or the like so as to be slightly spaced forward from each protruding piece 1c. And protrusion 1 of key 1
One magnetic pole surface 8b of a laminated magnet 8 formed by laminating plate-shaped permanent magnets is fixed to the back surface of c, and the other magnetic pole surface 8a of the laminated magnet 8 is shaped like an arc centered around the fulcrum C of the key 1. It is formed along the surface.

The magnetized state of the other magnetic pole face 8a formed in this laminated magnet 8 is configured as shown in FIG. That is, the laminated magnet 8 has four magnetized rows, and these four magnetized rows are configured to be represented by a 4-bit code. The left side of FIG. 2 shows a side view, and the right side shows a front view. 4 of the permanent magnet in this front view
Among the columns, the rightmost column represents the higher bits, and the leftmost column represents the lower bits.

In the first row from the right, the elements are stacked so that the N and S poles appear in two stages, upper and lower.

The second row from the right is stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the N pole in the upper row of the first row, and the S pole in the lower row of the first row N pole in the bandwidth of
They are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the south pole appears. That is, in the second row from the right, plate-shaped permanent magnets are stacked vertically so that N poles and S poles appear alternately in four stages.

The third column from the right is the N of the first stage of the second column.
They are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the poles, and the band width of the S pole in the second row of the second row is N.
They are stacked in two layers, top and bottom, so that the pole and south pole appear, and they are stacked in two layers, top and bottom, so that the north and south poles appear in the band width of the north pole in the third layer of the second row. Further, they are stacked in upper and lower layers so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the S pole in the fourth stage of the second row. In other words, in the third column from the right, the plate-shaped permanent magnet is vertically arranged with 8 N poles and 8 S poles alternately.
They are stacked so that they appear in stages.

The fourth column from the right (the leftmost column) is stacked in two layers, top and bottom, so that the N pole and S pole appear in the band width of the N pole of the first stage in the third column. They are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the S pole in the second stage of the third row, and the N pole appears in the band width of the N pole in the third stage of the third row. , are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the S pole appears, and the third
They are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the S pole in the fourth stage of the column. Furthermore, they are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the N pole in the fifth stage of the second row, and the band width of the S pole in the sixth stage of the second row They are stacked in two layers, top and bottom, so that the N and S poles appear, and they are stacked in two layers, top and bottom, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the N pole in the seventh tier of the second row. , and the second
They are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, so that the N and S poles appear in the band width of the S pole in the eighth stage of the column. That is, in the fourth column from the right (the column at the left end), plate-shaped permanent magnets are stacked vertically so that 16 N poles and S poles appear alternately.

A printed circuit board 9 is attached to the surface of the frame 2, and the left end of the printed circuit board 9 in FIG.
Magnetoresistive elements 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d are provided at positions facing each of the four magnetized rows of the laminated magnet 8. These magnetoresistive elements 13a, 13b, 1
The relative positional relationship between 3c, 13d and the laminated magnet 8 is as follows:
It is shown in FIG. That is, 4 of the laminated magnets 8
A magnetoresistive element 13 is provided for each magnetized column.

In this way, the laminated magnet 8 fixed to the key 1 and each magnetoresistive element 13a, 13b, 13c, 1 fixed at a position facing the laminated magnet 8
3d constitutes an absolute position information generating means.

Magnetoresistive elements 13a, 13b, 13c, 1
3d is an element that changes the resistance value in response to changes in the magnetic field; the resistance value decreases at the north pole and increases at the south pole. Therefore, the output level can be changed by the absolute position information generating circuit shown in FIG. 4 depending on whether the adjacent magnet is the north pole or the south pole. That is, the resistor R1 and the magnetoresistive element 13 are connected in series, and a constant voltage VD is applied to this series circuit.
is applied, and one end of the magnetoresistive element 13 is grounded. A signal as shown at point a taken out from the midpoint of the series circuit is shaped into a rectangular wave as shown at point b by a waveform shaping circuit 17 and output.

Magnetoresistive elements 13a, 13b, 13c, 1
Absolute positional information of the positions of the laminated magnet 8 relative to the four magnetized rows detected by the magnet 3d is shown in FIG. That is, the magnetoresistive elements 13a, 13b, 13c,
The output of 13d is converted by the CPU 8 into 4-bit absolute position data of the key 1, as described above. The absolute position data of the key 1 shown in FIG. 5 is expressed in 16 levels of absolute positions from "0000" to "1111" expressed in binary numbers when the magnetoresistive element 13a is set as the lower order and the magnetoresistive element 13d is set as the upper order. This is the corresponding absolute position data. "0000" indicates that key 1 is not pressed, and as key 1 is pressed, "0000" changes to "0001" and then "0010".
”, “0011”, etc., the absolute position data changes. Therefore, this 4-bit data "0010",
The pressed state of key 1 is detected by "0011" or the like.

In this embodiment, the absolute position data is configured as 4-bit data, but if eight rows of magnetoresistive elements 13 are used for one key, it becomes an 8-bit configuration and 256 levels of absolute position detection are possible. Detection accuracy can be dramatically improved with a much simpler configuration.

Further, in this embodiment, a laminated magnet 8 and a magnetoresistive element 13 are used to detect the absolute position of the key 1, but instead of this laminated magnet 8, a plurality of rows of magnets as shown in FIG. Similar effects can be obtained by using a reflective plate 11 having a reflective surface 11a and a non-reflective surface 11b, and using a reflective photocoupler (not shown) in place of the magnetoresistive element 13. Further, a slit may be used instead of such a reflecting plate 11, and a transmission type photocoupler may be used instead of the reflection type photocoupler.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of means for changing musical tone parameters in multiple stages based on the absolute position information generated by the absolute position information generating means. In the figure, the outputs of the magnetoresistive elements 13a to 13d are connected to the waveform shaping circuit 17.
It is connected to the CPU 18 via a to 17d. Further, the output of the photosensor 10 is also input to the CPU 18.

14 is a ROM that stores musical tones corresponding to absolute position data, and 15 is a magnetoresistive element 13a to
This is a RAM that calculates musical tone data based on the absolute position data output from 13d. Reference numeral 16 denotes a sound source that operates according to control instructions from the CPU 18 and outputs a musical tone signal that has been generated, changed in timbre, etc. Also, 19 is sound source 1
An amplifier 20 amplifies the musical tone signal outputted from the amplifier 19, and a speaker 20 emits sound by the musical tone signal amplified by the amplifier 19.

FIG. 8 shows an operational flowchart. That is, in step 100, the CPU 8 determines whether or not the protrusion 1d blocks the photosensor 10 by pressing the key 1. In this step 100, the detection operation is repeated until the protrusion 1d blocks the photosensor 10 by pressing the key 1. In this step 100, when the key 1 is pressed, the protruding piece 1d is moved to the photosensor 1.
If it is determined that 0 has been blocked, in step 110,
Sound generation processing is performed based on the key pressing operation of key 1.

Next, in step 120, the CPU 8
reads the absolute position data (4-bit data code) corresponding to each rectangular wave signal output from the magnetoresistive elements 13a to 13d, and in step 130 changes the corresponding volume, tone, etc. based on the absolute position data. It generates a musical tone change command signal for controlling the musical tone, and outputs a musical tone signal having a volume, tone, etc. based on this signal. Then, in step 140, it is determined whether or not the protruding piece 1d has blocked the photosensor 10 by pressing the key 1, and the process continues until the protruding piece 1d releases the blocking of the photosensor 10. In step 140, if it is determined that the protruding piece 1d has released the blocking of the photosensor 10, step 15
At 0, the sound output from the speaker 20 is stopped.

[0033]

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, absolute position information generating means for generating absolute position information corresponding to the absolute position of a control element, and absolute position information generated based on the absolute position information generated by this absolute position information generating means, are provided. Since it is equipped with a control means that controls the musical tone parameters to be changed in multiple steps, it can accurately detect the absolute position of subtle operation of the operator depending on the performer's emotional expression, and based on this absolute position, It is possible to control the musical tone parameters of the musical tone to be generated, and therefore, the operating state of the operator can be accurately represented in the musical tone parameters of the musical tone to be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a keyboard mechanism of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of the laminated magnet shown in FIG. 1 of the keyboard mechanism of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relative positional relationship between the laminated magnet and the magnetoresistive element shown in FIG. 1 of the keyboard mechanism of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of an absolute position information generating circuit using a magnetoresistive element shown in FIG. 1 of the keyboard mechanism of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

5 shows the relative positional relationship between the laminated magnet and the magnetoresistive element shown in FIG. 1 of the keyboard mechanism of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.
It is a diagram expressed in base numbers.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the absolute position data detection means for the keyboard mechanism of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a circuit configuration diagram for changing musical tone parameters in multiple stages based on absolute position information generated by the absolute position information generating means of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of the circuit shown in FIG. 7 of the keyboard mechanism of the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Key 2 Keyboard frame 3 Leaf spring 4 Leaf spring 5 Stopper 6 Stopper 7 Rising piece 8 Laminated magnet 9 Printed circuit board 10 Photo sensor 13 Magnetoresistive element 14 ROM 15 RAM 16 Sound source 17 Waveform shaping circuit 18 CPU 19 Amplifier 20 Speaker

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic musical instrument having a control element, comprising: absolute position information generating means for generating absolute position information corresponding to the absolute position of the control element; and based on the absolute position information generated by the absolute position information generating means. 1. An electronic musical instrument comprising: a control means for controlling a musical tone parameter to be generated to be changed in multiple stages. 2. The absolute position information generating means includes a laminated magnet fixed to the operator, and a magnetoresistive element fixed at a position facing the laminated magnet. electronic musical instruments.