JPH0715035Y2 - Electronic musical instrument keyboard - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a performance device similar to a keyboard used in an electronic musical instrument, and more particularly to a keyboard capable of easily specifying both a normal scale and an intermediate tone.

(B) Conventional Technology Many electronic musical instruments have been put into practical use at present, but most of them have a keyboard as a performance device (a device for designating a pitch, a pronunciation level, etc. according to the progress of music: a controller). There is. The keyboard is the most common type of electronic musical instrument because it can specify multiple musical tones at the same time, and can also specify an exact pitch that has been pretuned (such as equal temperament) simply by pressing a specified key. It is a traditional performance device.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned conventional keyboard, each key can specify only a pitch included in a pre-tuned scale (e.g., equal temperament or just intonation). There was a drawback that I could not express. For example, there is a drawback that it is not possible to use a performance technique (portamento) in which the pitch changes rapidly and continuously from a specific note to another specific note. Also, when tuning is performed in just intonation, the key changes. It was necessary to retune every time. In addition, when playing a song that uses a pitch that cannot be expressed in the Western scale of Japanese folk songs, there is a drawback in that it is possible to produce only a pseudo pitch and the expression power is impaired.

For this reason, a continuous-type playing device has been proposed, in which the pitch can be changed continuously (the pitch can be specified steplessly) like the fingerboard of a stringed instrument. Since it is treated as one of the musical pitches (frequency), it is difficult to play an accurate scale, and there is a drawback that it requires skill in playing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard of an electronic musical instrument which solves the above problems by giving an area to a portion for specifying a normal scale in a continuous type playing device.

(D) Means for Solving the Problem The present invention is an intermediate tone designating unit that arranges a plurality of keys for receiving designation of a scale note at intervals, and receives intermediate tones of a scale note between adjacent keys in a plurality of stages. Is provided.

(E) Action of the device In the electronic musical instrument of the device, a key for playing a tuned note (tone) and an intermediate tone designating section for producing a tone other than the tone (intermediate tone) , Are provided. Since the key has a constant width (area), it can be easily turned on with a finger. In other words, playing the scale is as easy as playing a normal keyboard. Also, by pressing between keys, it is possible to specify an intermediate tone between the scale notes specified by that key. The intermediate tones between the adjacent scale tones can be designated in a plurality of stages, but can also be designated infinitely. This makes it easy to specify portamento and pitches that are not in the traditional Western scale.

(F) Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic musical instrument in which the keyboard 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is used. Keyboard 1 is 4 ~
It is a touch keyboard having a range of about 5 octaves (see FIG. 1). The sound source 15 is provided with eight channels capable of producing sounds independently. In addition to the keyboard 1, a switch group 2 including a tone color selection switch and a sound system 4 such as a speaker are provided on the outer surface of the musical instrument. The operation of the musical instrument is controlled by the CPU 10, and the memory and each operation unit are connected to the CPU 10 via the bus 11. Bus 11 has key-on detection circuit 12, key code detection circuit 13, switch interface 14, tone generator circuit 15, pitch shift detection circuit 16, ROM
17, RAM 18 and timer 19 are connected. The key-on detection circuit 12 is a circuit that detects whether the keyboard is on or off. When there is a key-on, the key code detection circuit 13 detects the key code of the key, and the pitch shift detection circuit 16 detects a deviation from the nearest scale note (a note included in a scale such as equal temperament) based on the pressed position. calculate. The switch interface 14 detects ON / OFF of each switch of the switch group 2. The switch group 2 is provided with function switches for setting tone control parameters. The sound source circuit 15 has an independent 8-channel sound source.
Up to eight sounds can be pronounced simultaneously based on the waveform signal received from the CPU 10.

1 (A) and 1 (B) are views showing a keyboard 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention. The keyboard 1 is a touch keyboard, and the pitch corresponding to the pressed position can be specified by touching the surface with a finger. This keyboard 1 has a structure in which a key-shaped conductor 30 and a linear conductor are provided on a conductive plate 32 which is a common contact via a spacer (not shown).
31 is mounted as an independent contact. As the spacer, stretchable urethane may be interposed at intervals, or air may be blown in and used as the spacer. In any case, the upper contact (key-shaped conductor 30 and linear conductor 31) and the lower contact (conductive plate) are brought into contact and pressed by a finger.
32) It is sufficient if it is used with a distance and support strength that allows it to come into contact with. The key-shaped conductor 30 is used as a key for designating a scaled tone in equal temperament, and the linear conductor 31 installed in a contour between the key-shaped conductors 30 is used as a key for designating an intermediate tone.

The control unit (key-on detection circuit 12, key code detection circuit 13, and pitch shift detection circuit 16) constantly scans the upper contact, and detects the specified pitch or the like from the contact that contacts the lower contact. The key-on detection circuit 12 detects if there is contact / dissociation at any contact as ON / OFF of the key, and the key chord detection circuit 13 detects as the key chord the tone closest to the turned-on contact. Further, when pressing between the two key-shaped conductors 30 with a finger, a plurality of linear conductors 31 may come into contact with each other. At this time, the pitch shift detection circuit 16 designates the middle of the plurality of contacted linear conductors 31. It is determined as the played pitch.

3A to 3C are flowcharts showing the operation of the CPU 10.

The main routine is shown in FIG. When the power is turned on, first the initial operation is executed (n1) to set up the playable state. After that, the on / off state of the switch group 2 is detected to perform the corresponding operation (n2), and the on / off state of the keyboard 1 is detected to execute the corresponding operation (tone generation / mute) (n3). The operations of n2 and n3 are repeatedly executed until the power is turned off.

FIG. 6B shows a key-on event processing operation. When the key-on detection circuit 12 detects the key-on by the operation of n3, the key code detection circuit 13 detects the key code of the turned-on key (n10). Next, the pitch shift detection circuit 16 detects the pitch shift amount based on the upper contact with which it is in contact (n11). These data are F number (frequency data)
(N12) and transmitted to the tone generator circuit together with other tone control data (n13). The tone generator circuit 15 produces a sound based on this data.

FIG. 7C shows the key-off event processing operation. When the key-on detection circuit 12 detects the key-off in the operation of n3, it transmits to the tone generator circuit 15 that the corresponding key has been turned off (n1
Five). Upon receiving this signal, the sound source circuit 15 mutes the corresponding channel.

Thus, in this embodiment, the key-shaped conductor 30 and the linear conductor 31
Although the upper contact is constituted by and, the upper contact may be formed by a resistance sheet having a resistance distribution similar to that in FIG. 1 (A). Further, in addition to the touch keyboard, for example, a mechanical key (such as a membrane switch) or an optical sensor key can be used.

Furthermore, in a keyboard using such keys,
The keyboard surface has irregularities, and the scale designation part (key-shaped conductor
It is also possible to make the heights of the intermediate sound designating section (the linear conductor 31) different from each other. That is, if the scale designation section is raised, fingering of the scale notes becomes easier, and the operability is not so different from that of the conventional keyboard, while if the midtone designation section is raised, designation of the intermediate tone is possible. It is possible to configure a keyboard that can be accurately and easily. Also,
If the semitone key (black key) in the scale designation section is set higher than the full-tone key (white key), it can be closer to a normal keyboard.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, with the keyboard of the electronic musical instrument of the present invention, it is possible to specify continuous pitches, and it is also possible to easily and accurately specify a normal scale such as equal temperament. Not only normal performance but also special performance techniques such as portamento are possible. In addition, it is possible to play a pitch such as Japanese folk song, which is not in the Western scale, and it is possible to remarkably improve the expressive ability of the electronic musical instrument.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a keyboard of an electronic musical instrument which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the electronic musical instrument, and FIGS. 3A to 3C are diagrams of the electronic musical instrument. It is a flow chart which shows operation. 1 ... Keyboard, 30 ... Key conductor, 31 ... Linear conductor, 32 ... Conductive plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An electronic device characterized in that a plurality of keys for accepting designation of a scale tone are arranged at intervals, and an intermediate tone designating unit for accepting intermediate tones of a scale tone in a plurality of stages is provided between adjacent keys. Musical instrument keyboard.