JPH10312190A - Automatic arpeggio playing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To combine a plurality of arpeggio performances with a single electronic musical instrument and easily perform an arpeggio performance rich in real-time performance and contingency. SOLUTION: An arpeggio playing section 2 is provided for a plurality of channels so as to perform an arpeggio by supplying key press information to a tone signal generating circuit 9 having a plurality of tone generating channels according to a predetermined arpeggio pattern. By providing a section designating section 17 for designating any one of the sections, the performance is changed for each of a plurality of designated sections and assigned to different tone generation channels of the tone signal generation circuit 9, thereby enabling overdubbing or the like. To be able to easily combine various patterns of arpeggio performances on the spot without performing troublesome operations.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic arpeggio playing device for automatically playing an arpeggio by pressing a key.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some electronic musical instruments such as an electronic piano, an electronic keyboard, and a synthesizer are provided with an automatic arpeggio playing device (arpeggiator) for automatically playing an arpeggio by pressing a key on a keyboard. The arpeggio means a distributed chord of a type in which the constituent sounds of a chord are dispersed and arranged, and a playing style thereof. For example, when the keys are pressed simultaneously with the domeso, the arpeggiator controls the performance so that the notes are sequentially played one by one while the keys are pressed.

[0003] Normally, the arpeggiator has performance patterns such as up, down, random, etc.
Speed can be controlled.
For example, if the key is pressed at the same time as the domiso on the keyboard during the designation of the up pattern, the sound is produced in the order of domisodomiso ..., and if the key is pressed simultaneously with the domiso on the keyboard while the down pattern is designated, the sound is produced in the order of sodomisomid.

[0004]

When actually creating a musical piece using an arpeggio performance, one arpeggio performance is rarely performed by itself, and a plurality of types of arpeggio performances are often combined. In such a case, conventionally, it was created by performing overdubbing.
Overdubbing is a technique for performing multiple recording with an MTR (multi-track recorder) or the like, and refers to recording another arpeggio performance on another track while playing back an already recorded arpeggio performance.

However, in such a method using overdubbing, it has been necessary to perform a cumbersome operation of performing a plurality of arpeggio performances by recording one performance and recording by performing one performance. For this reason, the work of combining arpeggio performances was poor in real-time performance. In addition, you have to use the already recorded arpeggio performance, and you can not change the combination of arpeggio performances freely on the spot, so you can get various performance sounds by changing the combination of arpeggio performances in various ways It was also lacking in contingency.

On the other hand, in the field of electronic musical instruments, M is a data transfer standard determined to transmit performance information to each other.
There is an IDI, and it is also possible to connect a plurality of electronic musical instruments by MIDI and generate a musical tone from each. Therefore, in order to give a real-time performance to a combination operation of a plurality of arpeggio performances, a method of connecting a plurality of electronic musical instruments using the MIDI standard and transmitting arpeggio performance information to each other to perform the performance may be considered. However, such a performance method using the MIDI standard requires the use of a plurality of electronic musical instruments, resulting in a problem that the cost is extremely high.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when a plurality of arpeggio performances are combined, an arpeggio performance rich in real-time performance and accidental performance can be easily performed by one electronic musical instrument. The purpose is to be.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic arpeggio playing apparatus for automatically playing an arpeggio by pressing a key on a keyboard. A plurality of arpeggio playing means for performing an arpeggio performance by supplying to a tone signal generating circuit having a simultaneous tone generating channel according to a predetermined arpeggio pattern are provided, and any one of the plurality of arpeggio playing means is provided. Is provided.

Another feature of the present invention is that each of the plurality of arpeggio playing means includes a note name specifying buffer for storing note name information of a sound to be actually sounded by operating the keyboard. A play buffer for storing the data of the arpeggio pattern currently selected by the pattern selecting means, and reading out the data of the arpeggio pattern stored in the play buffer according to a predetermined tempo, and specifying the note name according to the arpeggio pattern Arpeggio data reading means for reading out the note name information from the buffer and supplying it to the tone signal generating circuit.

Another feature of the present invention is that the key depression state of the keyboard is reflected on the arpeggio performance only by the arpeggio performance means designated by the designation means.

According to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to perform an arpeggio performance by designating a channel to be used from a plurality of arpeggio performance means existing for a plurality of channels by using the designating means. At this time, since the tone signal generation circuit for generating the arpeggio performance sound has a plurality of simultaneous tone generation channels, if the performance is changed for each of the plurality of designated channels, each performance tone is changed to a different tone generation channel. Allocated and simultaneously sounded, it is possible to combine a plurality of arpeggio performances.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an electronic musical instrument in which an automatic arpeggio playing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented. In the automatic arpeggio playing device of the present embodiment, an arpeggio playing
This is achieved by a microcomputer system including a ROM, a RAM, and the like.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a keyboard, which comprises one or a plurality of keys including a plurality of keys and key switches provided corresponding to the respective keys. The key switch is configured to detect key depression and key release and also detect the key operation speed.

Reference numeral 2 denotes an arpeggio playing section, based on performance information obtained from the keyboard section 1 and performance pattern data prepared in advance in a ROM, a RAM, etc., which will be described later, or the like.
・ Generates arpeggio performance information such as The arpeggio playing section 2 includes a plurality of sets (n sets: n is the number of sections) of a note name designation buffer 3 and a play buffer 4 composed of a RAM and the like, and an arpeggio data reading section 5 composed of a CPU and the like. I have. Each section is assigned a unique timbre and MIDI channel.

Here, the note name designation buffer 3 is for storing the note name information of the sound actually sounded by the keyboard operation, and is used when writing the note name information to the note name designation buffer 3. Uses a key pressing order buffer 6 and a pitch order buffer 7 based on a full key map. That is, in this embodiment, when writing the note name information designated by the key depression of the keyboard unit 1 to the note name designation buffer 3, the two buffers of the key depression order buffer 6 and the pitch order buffer 7 are used. Rewriting is always performed, and either of the contents is written to the note name designation buffer 3.

For example, the automatic arpeggio playing apparatus of the present embodiment has a key order mode in which arpeggio performance is performed in the order of pressed notes. When this mode is designated, the contents of the key pressing order buffer 6 are stored. Is written into the pitch designation buffer 3. When the key order mode is not designated, the contents of the pitch order buffer 7 are written to the pitch designation buffer 3. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of the note name designation buffer 3. For example, notes Nos. 1 to 8 for storing key numbers and velocities.
It is shown that n sets of eight buffers (No. indicates priority) are provided.

The key press order buffer 6 stores the key numbers and velocities of the keys in the order in which the keys are pressed on the keyboard unit 1. For example, eight buffers are provided. The pitch order buffer 7 stores a key number and a velocity corresponding to a key pressed on the keyboard unit 1 in ascending order of pitch. For example, eight buffers are provided. When rewriting the contents of the pitch order buffer 7, first, the result of scanning all keys on the keyboard 1 is mapped. Thereafter, the key number and velocity are stored in ascending order of the pitch, determined every time the key On / Off or the key order is switched.

The play buffer 4 stores data of the currently selected arpeggio pattern. During normal reproduction, an arpeggio performance is performed in accordance with the contents of the play buffer 4. That is, the arpeggio pattern data stored in the play buffer 4 is read out by the arpeggio data reading unit 5 in accordance with the tempo controlled by the timer 8, and is supplied to the tone signal generation circuit 9.

The timer 8 generates a timing clock for controlling the tempo of the automatic arpeggio performance. For example, when an arbitrary arpeggio pattern is selected by operating the pattern selector 12 which is an operator provided on an operation panel (not shown), and a tempo corresponding to the selected pattern is set by operating a tempo operator (not shown). The selected arpeggio pattern data is repeatedly read out from the play buffer 4 at the set tempo by the arpeggio data reading section 5 and is provided to the tone signal generation circuit 9.

The tone signal generating circuit 9 has a plurality of tone generating channels and is configured to be able to generate a plurality of tone simultaneously. In the tone signal generating circuit 9, based on key number information indicating each key sent from a CPU (not shown), tone parameter information set by operation of each operator on the operation panel, etc.
Reads PCM tone waveform data from OM. Then, after processing the amplitude and the envelope, a set effect is applied to form digital tone data, and the resulting tone data is D / A converted to form an analog tone signal. The analog tone signal generated by the tone signal generating circuit 9 is amplified by an amplifier 10 and then supplied to a speaker 11 to be emitted.

An edit buffer 13 is used when editing arpeggio pattern data. The two-dot chain line arrow shown in FIG. 1 indicates the flow of data in the edit mode. That is, when the user instructs to perform data editing, the arpeggio pattern data stored in the play buffer 4 at that time is copied to the edit buffer 13. The user can edit the arpeggio pattern data on the edit buffer 13.

When editing the pattern data, the tone signal generating circuit 9 performs an arpeggio performance according to the contents of the edit buffer 13 instead of the play buffer 4. As a result, the arpeggio performance can be executed in real time while editing the arpeggio pattern data. Therefore, the editing can be performed while the contents of the editing are auditorily confirmed, and the editing operation can be performed more efficiently. Also, the edit buffer 13
The arpeggio pattern data edited above is stored as a user pattern 14 in a flash memory or the like, and can be used any time thereafter.

The arpeggio patterns that can be selected by the user using the pattern selection section 12 include various preset patterns 15 previously stored in a ROM or the like, in addition to the user pattern 14 described above, and the keyboard section 1.
There are basic monophonic arpeggio patterns such as up, down, and random generated by the pattern generator 16 in response to the keyboard operation in.

In this embodiment, the preset pattern 15 includes a sequence pattern for performing a polyphonic arpeggio performance for simultaneously producing two or more constituent tones of a chord, a trigger pattern for simultaneously producing all sounds during key depression, It has a gator pattern or the like that changes the volume of a depressed sound with time and sounds it. The details of these patterns are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-32113 filed by the present applicant.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a section designating section for designating an arbitrary section from n sets of sections provided as the arpeggio playing section 2. The section designating section 17 is composed of, for example, an operator provided on an operation panel (not shown) and a CPU. When an arbitrary section is designated by the section designation section 17, the key depression state of the keyboard section 1 and the setting state of each control on the operation panel are reflected in the arpeggio performance only in the designated section. .

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the arpeggio pattern data stored in the play buffer 4 (or the edit buffer 13). The data structure shown in FIG. 3 includes a user pattern 14 and a preset pattern 15 read from a flash memory or a ROM (not shown).
And the arpeggio pattern generated by the pattern generator 16 in response to a keyboard operation has the same data structure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the arpeggio pattern data of this embodiment has a pattern to be repeatedly reproduced in accordance with the clock from the timer 8 for a total of 32 steps. For each step, Level, Gate, Pan, Note1
It has ~ 4 information. The header information includes performance mode, total step, key order, and one-step note length.

The performance mode in the header information is information indicating a mode such as a basic mode, a sequence mode, a trigger mode, and a gator mode. The total step is information indicating the total length (total number of steps) of the arpeggio pattern, and takes a value of 1 to 32 in this example. For example, if the total step is "16", the arpeggio data reading unit 5 returns to the first step after reading the data from the first step to the 16th step.

The key order in the header information is information indicating whether or not the key order mode is designated (ie, using the contents of the key pressing order buffer 6 shown in FIG. Switching information on whether to use the contents)
It is. One-step note length is information indicating the number of clocks per one step.
It constitutes a note.

Next, of the data in each step, Le
vel represents velocity or volume information indicating a key pressing speed (loudness of sound), and is, for example, 1 to 1;
Take the value of 27. This Level data is used in all performance modes, but the values of 1 to 127 indicate volume in the gator mode, and velocity in other modes.

Gate is information indicating a gate time indicating a sound generation time, and takes a value of, for example, 1 to 250%. It should be noted here that the gate time is not stored as a specific time value, but the reference gate time (for example, the length of a quarter note) is set to 100%, and how long or short the gate time is. Is stored as a percentage.

As described above, the note length of one step is determined by the header information. Therefore, if the gate time is written as a specific time value, setting the gate time to be long will cause the gate time to become 1
In some cases, the note is longer than the step note length and overlaps with the sound of the next step. At this time, the sound of the next step is preferentially generated for the overlapped portion, so that even if the gate time is lengthened, no sound is generated for the portion overlapped with the next step. On the contrary,
If the gate time is expressed as a percentage, such inconvenience can be prevented.

Next, Pan is information indicating how to swing left and right sounds when, for example, stereo sound is output from left and right speakers, and 1 L to 63 L for the left and 1 L for the right.
Take values from R to 63R. For example, when a value for the left is set, the tone signal generating circuit 9 controls so that a sound is output from the left speaker in that step.

Notes 1 to 4 are information indicating any of the notes No. 1 to No. 8 indicating the area of the note name designation buffer 3 shown in FIG. Notes No.1 to No.
The key number and velocity for specifying the type of each sound specified by the keyboard operation are stored in the note name specification buffer 3 represented by 8.
4 represents the key number and velocity corresponding to the stored note No.

According to this, the velocity stored as Level and the velocity stored as Notes 1 to 4 overlap, but which one to use is determined by the velocity mode (when the key is pressed). A CPU (not shown) determines whether or not the key is ON (a mode that indicates whether an arpeggio is played using the strength or an arpeggio is played with a velocity set in advance in a pattern, which can be set by the user). .

For example, when performing an up-pattern arpeggio performance in the basic mode, the following operation is performed. First, the key number and velocity of a sound depressed in response to a key press on the keyboard 1 are written into the note name designation buffer 3. At this time, the pitch order buffer 6 is used. For example, when the key of the referrer is pressed, the key number and velocity of "Re" are stored in note No. 1 of note name designation buffer 3, the key number and velocity of "F" are stored in note No. 2, and "La" is stored in note No. 3. Key number and velocity are written respectively.

Next, the arpeggio data of the up pattern created by the pattern generator 16 based on the contents of the note name designation buffer 3 is stored in the play buffer 4. Here, Note1 of the first step shown in FIG.
The number information of note No. 1 is stored in the area of
The information of nc where none of the notes No. exists is stored in the areas of notes 2 to 4.

For the second step, the number information No. 2 is stored in the area of Note 1,
The information of nc is stored in the areas of .about.4. Similarly, 3step
For eyes, number information No. 3 is stored in the area of Note 1 and information of nc is stored in the area of Notes 2 to 4. Note that Level, G in each step
A fixed value is stored in the ate, Pan area.

Next, the arpeggio data reading unit 5
The arpeggio pattern data loaded on the play buffer 4 as described above is read according to the one-step note length (one-step clock) in the header information. Further, the arpeggio data reading section 5 reads the key number and velocity designated by the notes No. stored in Notes 1 to 4 in the read arpeggio pattern data from the note name designation buffer 3 and supplies them to the tone signal generation circuit 9. I do.

If the velocity mode is set to keyboard ON, the tone signal generation circuit 9
If the velocity is set to OFF, a tone is generated using the velocity stored as Level data of the read arpeggio pattern data.

At this time, the number of clocks obtained by multiplying the one-step note length stored as the arpeggio pattern data by the Gate data is set, and after counting the clocks, the note is turned off. If there is Pan data, it is set at the same time. By this, from the first step
By repeating the pattern up to the third step sequentially and repeatedly, a monophonic arpeggio performance called referrer referrer is performed.

As described above, in the automatic arpeggio playing apparatus of the present embodiment, a plurality of sets of the note name designation buffer 3, the play buffer 4, and the arpeggio data reading section 5 are provided, and each section is provided with a section No. A section designating section 17 for designating an arbitrary section from sections to which a tone and a MIDI channel are assigned is provided, and only in the designated section, the key depression state of the keyboard 1 and the setting of each operation element are set. The state is reflected in the arpeggio performance.

Thus, for example, a certain section is designated and a rhythm part-like arpeggio pattern is created using one channel of MIDI, and when a satisfactory pattern is formed, the section is turned off, so that the created rhythm part is created. The arpeggio pattern is fixed to MIDI 1ch and sounded. At this time, the tone signal generating circuit 9 outputs one of a plurality of tone generating channels provided therein.
Arpeggio performance information stored in the play buffer 4 in the specified section is assigned to
Continue performing the arpeggio performance of the rhythm part created above.

Next, the arpeggio pattern of the piano part is created on the specified different section using, for example, MIDI 2ch while the created arpeggio pattern of the rhythm part is sounded. Then, when a satisfactory pattern is formed, the section is also turned OFF, so that the created arpeggio pattern of the piano part is fixed to MIDI 2ch and sounded. Thereafter, the arpeggio performance can be performed by changing the performance of the other ON sections.

As described in detail above, according to the automatic arpeggio playing apparatus of the present embodiment, it is possible to easily combine arpeggio performances of various patterns on the spot without performing troublesome operations such as overdubbing. This makes it possible to easily perform an arpeggio performance with improved real-timeness and contingency with one electronic musical instrument.

[0046]

As described above, the present invention provides a plurality of arpeggio playing means for performing arpeggio playing by supplying key press information to a tone signal generating circuit having a plurality of tone generating channels in accordance with a predetermined arpeggio pattern. In addition to providing channels, the designating means for designating any one of a plurality of arpeggio playing means is provided. By assigning, you can easily combine various patterns of arpeggio performances on the spot without performing troublesome operations such as overdubbing, etc. Easy to do with one electronic instrument.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an electronic musical instrument in which an automatic arpeggio playing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a note name designation buffer.

FIG. 3 Play buffer (or edit buffer)
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of arpeggio pattern data stored in the.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 keyboard section 2 arpeggio playing section 3 note name designation buffer 4 play buffer 5 arpeggio data reading section 6 key pressing order buffer 7 pitch order buffer 8 timer 9 musical tone signal generation circuit 10 amplifier 11 speaker 12 pattern selection section 13 edit buffer 14 user Pattern 15 Preset pattern 16 Pattern generator 17 Section designation section

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic arpeggio playing apparatus for automatically playing an arpeggio by depressing a key on a keyboard, wherein key depression information obtained by depressing a key on the keyboard is supplied to a tone signal generation circuit having a plurality of simultaneous tone generation channels. Arpeggio playing means for performing an arpeggio performance by supplying according to an arpeggio pattern of a plurality of channels, and designating means for designating any one of the plurality of arpeggio playing means. Automatic arpeggio playing device. 2. A plurality of arpeggio playing means each of which is currently selected by a note name specifying buffer for storing note name information of a sound to be actually sounded by operating the keyboard, and a pattern selecting means. A play buffer for storing arpeggio pattern data, and reading out the arpeggio pattern data stored in the play buffer according to a predetermined tempo,
2. The automatic arpeggio playing device according to claim 1, further comprising: arpeggio data reading means for reading out note name information from the note name designation buffer according to the arpeggio pattern and supplying the read note name information to the tone signal generating circuit. 3. The automatic arpeggio playing device according to claim 1, wherein the key pressed state of the keyboard is reflected in the arpeggio playing only by the arpeggio playing means designated by the designating means.