JP2862062B2 - Karaoke equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus capable of adding a musical sound of a natural musical instrument in addition to an electronically reproduced or synthesized accompaniment sound, and more particularly to a karaoke apparatus having a function of eliminating a deviation in sounding timing in that case. The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus provided.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At present, karaoke is widely spread as a musical entertainment, but with the spread of karaoke, the configuration of karaoke apparatuses has been diversified. As one trend of diversification, there is a trend of high-grade. Examples of the mode of the high-grade include, for example, accompaniment sounds emitted from a conventional speaker, for example,
In addition to the accompaniment sound reproduced from the accompaniment recorded in PCM on the optical disk (laser disk: LD) and the accompaniment sound synthesized by the tone generator circuit, the performance data recorded in the MIDI data are automatically played along with the natural musical instrument. It has been proposed to add a musical tone to an accompaniment sound.

[0003]

However, a natural musical instrument having an automatic performance function, for example, a MIDI piano (a mechanism for electromagnetically driving a piano key) has an automatic performance function as compared with the electronic musical tone generation (reproduction / synthesis) method. (A piano having a function of turning on / off a predetermined key based on MIDI data) has a time difference of about 500 ms between when the MIDI data is input and when a musical tone is actually generated.
On the other hand, since the operating time difference of the tone generator circuit for electronically synthesizing the musical tone signal by inputting the MIDI data is substantially zero, even if the MIDI data is input at the same time, the timing at which the tone is actually generated is about 500 ms. A difference will result. This is the same when synchronizing the PCM playback sound with the MIDI piano.

There are five tones to be produced at the same time.
A deviation of 00 ms makes it very difficult for a singer to sing and for a listener to be very difficult to hear, and has the disadvantage that it cannot be used as karaoke.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic circuit part having little time difference from input of time series data such as MIDI data to sound generation and a mechanism part having a time difference from input of time series data to actual operation. By providing a time difference (offset time) in the timing of inputting the time-series data, a karaoke apparatus in which the actual operation timing is matched is provided.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a karaoke apparatus comprising an electronic circuit unit, a connection unit, a time-series data storage unit, an offset time table, and a control unit, wherein the electronic circuit unit includes a first time-series data unit. The electronic musical tone is generated electronically based on the second time-series data, and the connecting means can connect a plurality of mechanical units mechanically generating or mechanically operating the musical tone based on the second time-series data. Storing the first time-series data and a plurality of second time-series data synchronized with the first time-series data;
The offset time table stores offset times respectively corresponding to the identifiers of the plurality of mechanism units, the control unit detects the identifiers of the plurality of mechanism units connected to the connection unit,
The offset time corresponding to the detected identifier is read from the offset time table, and the readout timing of the first time-series data for the second time-series data of the mechanism corresponding to the identifier of the longest offset time is the longest offset. The first time-series data is read out electronically by delaying the first time-series data electronically by delaying the second time-series data by a difference from the offset time of the mechanism corresponding to the identifier of the longest offset time. It is characterized in that a plurality of second time-series data is sent to the connection unit to the circuit unit.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

According to the karaoke apparatus of the present invention, an accompaniment sound reproducing section (PCM) which is a functional section of a conventional karaoke apparatus.
An electronic circuit for D / A converting and playing back the recorded performance sound and an accompaniment sound synthesizing unit (an electronic circuit for synthesizing a musical tone signal by inputting performance data recorded as MIDI data to a tone generator), etc. in addition to the electronic circuit section, the mechanism portion such as the mechanical tone generator such as a mechanically MIDI piano to Noborioto
A plurality of connection means are provided. By adding a mechanical sound that is mechanically generated in addition to the conventional electrically generated accompaniment sound (from a speaker), the karaoke accompaniment can be made more sophisticated. In addition, a lighting adjustment system and a robot are provided as a mechanism to adjust the lighting correspondence (lighting color and brightness) according to the progress of the music, and to make the robot perform various operations to add a new effect to karaoke. be able to.

On the other hand, such a mechanical unit differs from the electronic circuit unit in that there is a predetermined time lag (time lag) between the input of time-series data for instructing an operation and the actual operation. In order to eliminate this time difference, the drive timing of the electronic circuit unit is set to be relatively shorter than the drive timing of the mechanical unit such as a MIDI piano by an offset time corresponding to the time difference.
It was to be delayed in manner. As a result, the actual operation timings match, and a karaoke device that is comfortable for the singer and has a high-class feeling can be configured.

Further, in this case, the above function can be realized by making the electronic circuit section wait for the offset time at the start of reading of the time series data (first time series data). Also, the second time-series data may be rewritten with a delay of the offset time before reading of the time-series data (karaoke performance) is started.

When there are a plurality of types of mechanical units connected to the karaoke apparatus, such as a MIDI piano and a lighting system, the operation time differences (offset times) of the respective units are stored in an offset time table and connected. If the above operation is performed by reading out the offset time suitable for the device, the operation synchronized with the timing can be performed no matter what mechanism is connected.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This karaoke system is a system that reads out the music data shown in FIG. 2, generates a karaoke accompaniment sound, and displays lyrics on a monitor. This karaoke system includes a sound source device 13 for synthesizing a tone signal based on MIDI data as a sound source, and a D / A conversion circuit 18 for converting voice data recorded by PCM into an analog tone signal by D / A conversion. And an external MIDI piano 27 is connected via a MIDI connector. The lyrics read from the lyrics track are displayed on the monitor 23 via the lyrics display unit 20 and the display control unit 22.

The music data storage unit 10 includes a hard disk storage (HDD) for storing hundreds to thousands of music data. Each piece of music data is identified by a file name consisting of a part of the music name. When additionally storing new music data in the music data storage unit, the host station downloads the music data via the ISDN line in response to a request from the karaoke system. This music data is A
Most of them are M except audio data recorded by DPCM.
All songs are described by event data such as IDI data and character code data. All songs are overwhelmingly smaller in data volume than PC-recorded LD karaoke songs, and each song is about 500 KB. If the HDD has a storage capacity of 1 GB, song data of up to 2000 songs can be stored.

When one piece of music is selected from the music data stored in the music data storage unit 10 by selecting means (not shown), the music data is stored in the music data storage unit 10.
From the sequencer 11. The sequencer 11 sequentially reads out the music data in accordance with the progress of the music, and outputs the data to a predetermined circuit unit. The time offset filter 12, the MIDI filter 25, and the LD player 21 are connected to the sequencer 11. The LD player 21 includes one moving image background image of about 5 minutes per scene.
About 5 LDs that record 0 scenes each are stored,
A predetermined background image is reproduced based on an instruction from the sequencer 11 and its video signal is sent to the display control unit 22. The sequencer 11 outputs the genre data written in the header of the music data to the LD player 21. The LD player 21 selects and reproduces an appropriate moving image as the background of the music based on the genre data.

A plurality of tracks (piano, rhythm, guitar, etc.) are formed in the musical tone track of the music data, and the sequence data (MI
Only DI event data) is input to the MIDI filter 25. Sequence data of other parts is input to the time offset filter 12. The lyrics display data written in the lyrics track and the DSP control data written in the DSP control track are also input to the time offset filter 12.

The MIDI filter 25 rewrites the input MIDI data of the piano track into a format that the MIDI piano 27 can read. For example, MIDI
Some pianos have a fixed receiving channel number, and the channel number and M of the piano track are fixed.
The IDI and the designated channel number may not match.
In such a case, the MIDI filter 25
The designated channel number of the DI data is rewritten according to the reception channel number of the MIDI piano. The MIDI data whose format has been rewritten by the MIDI filter 25 is the MIDI data.
The signal is input to the DI output circuit 26. MIDI output circuit 26
Performs processing operations such as parallel / serial conversion and turning on / off a voltage conforming to the MIDI standard so that MIDI data can be transmitted via a MIDI cable.

The MIDI piano 27 receives the received MIDI.
If the data is key-on event data, a piano sound is produced by playing the solenoid of the key specified by the data at the strength (velocity) specified by the data and striking the string.

On the other hand, the time offset filter 12 delays the input MIDI data for a predetermined time (500 ms when the external MIDI device is the MIDI piano 27), and then the sound source device 13 in the next stage, the D / A conversion circuit 18
And a circuit for outputting to the lyrics display unit 20. Tone track data other than the piano track and data of the DSP control track are input to the tone generator 13. The audio data specified by the audio track is stored in the D / A conversion circuit 1
8 is output. The lyrics display data of the lyrics track is input to the lyrics display unit 20.

After the MIDI data is delayed for a predetermined time (500 ms) by the time offset filter 12 and output to the next stage, the time difference between the input of the MIDI data to the MIDI piano 27 and the actual operation (500 ms) ) To this time offset filter 1
2 can be absorbed, and MIDI events at the same timing can be simultaneously performed in an actual operation.

The sound source device 13 comprises a conventional general sound source circuit such as a fundamental wave synthesized sound source and a waveform memory sound source, and a DSP circuit for providing an effect such as reverberation. The tone generator has a tone synthesis circuit of a plurality of channels, and synthesizes tone signals of the timbre (part) of the MIDI data input from the time offset filter 12. The tone signal synthesized by the sound source device 13 is emitted from the speaker 15 via the amplifier 14. Note that a microphone 17 for a singer is also connected to the amplifier 14 via an effect device 16. The effect device 16 amplifies the audio signal input from the microphone 17 and adds effects such as reverberation.

On the other hand, the lyrics display unit 20 develops the input lyrics display data into a bitmap and inputs the data to the display control unit 22. The lyrics display data is used to change the display or change the color in accordance with the progress of the music, and all data instructing these operations are also included in the lyrics display data. The lyrics display data is recorded as a MIDI format system exclusive message. The display control unit 22 superimposes the lyrics image and the background video input from the LD player 21 and outputs them to the monitor 23.

The D / A conversion circuit 18 D / A converts the audio data input from the time offset filter 12 into an analog audio signal. The input voice data is a human voice signal such as a back chorus or a harmony melody voice. These data are digitally coded by the ADPCM method.

Here, the configuration of the music data will be described with reference to FIGS. One musical piece is composed of a header, a musical tone track, a lyrics track, an audio track, a DSP control track, and an audio data section. The header is a portion where various data related to the music data is written, and data such as a music title, a genre, a release date, and a performance time (length) of the music are written. As shown in FIG. 3, the musical sound track includes various parts such as a piano track and a rhythm track. Sequence data composed of event data and duration data Δt is written in each track.

The lyrics track is data for displaying lyrics on the monitor 23 and is not tone data. However, in order to unify the implementation and facilitate the work process, the track is also a MIDI data system. It is described in the format of an exclusive message.
In the data description of the lyrics track, usually, one line of lyrics is treated as one piece of lyrics display data. The lyrics display data is composed of one line of character data of the lyrics (character code and display coordinates of the character), a display time of the lyrics (usually around 10 seconds), and wipe sequence data. The wipe sequence data is sequence data for changing the display color of the lyrics in accordance with the progress of the song. The timing of changing the display color (the time from when the lyrics are displayed) and the change position (coordinates) ) Are sequentially recorded over the length of one line.

The audio track is data for generating a human voice such as a back chorus or a harmony melody voice which is difficult to synthesize by the sound source device 13, and includes actual ADPCM data (audio data n (n = 1, 2,...) In this karaoke system, a back chorus or a harmony melody is generated in combination with the audio data part in which the)) is written. In the audio track, the timing at which the audio data is output to the D / A conversion circuit 18 and converted into an analog audio signal is designated by the duration data Δt, and the audio designation data is written at that timing. The voice designation data includes a voice data number, pitch data, and volume data. The audio data number is the identification number n of each audio data recorded in the audio data section, and the audio data of this number is output to the D / A conversion circuit 18 at this time. The D / A conversion circuit 18 sets an output level based on the volume data, and sets a D / A based on the pitch data.
The sampling clock at the time of A conversion is converted, and the pitch of the analog signal to be output is set.

In the DSP control track, control data of the DSP 14 built in the subsequent stage of the tone generator 13 is written. The DSP 14 is mainly used to add reverberation or other reverberant effects to the musical sound. Based on the effect type data and change amount data recorded in the DSP control track, the DSP 14 applies the effect during music playback. Is adjusted.

In FIG. 1, the karaoke system has been described as a device having a hardware circuit configuration. However, a portion indicated by a two-dot chain line 30 is integrally formed as a karaoke device, and a music data storage unit 10, a sequencer 11, a time The offset filter 12, the MIDI filter 25, and the lyrics display unit 20 are configured by a microcomputer unit 31 including a program ROM, a work RAM, a CPU, a hard disk, and the like.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the microcomputer 31. The CPU 40 has a memory 41, an HDD 42, a communication port 43, a sound source port 4 via a bus.
4, a piano port 48, a D / A port 49, an image port 50, a piano track counter 55, and a track counter 56 are connected. Memory 41 is ROM, R
Various programs for controlling the operation of the karaoke apparatus are stored in the ROM including the AM. During this program, the MIDI data is read out and output over time, and a sequence program corresponding to the sequencer 11 and processing such as rewriting the MIDI channel of the MIDI data are performed.
An IDI filter program and a lyrics display program for expanding the read lyrics display data into a bitmap are included. An area for temporarily storing various data generated during a karaoke performance is set in the RAM. The HDD 42 has a storage capacity of 1 GB, and stores music data of hundreds to thousands of karaoke songs.

The communication port 43 is connected to an ISDN line and receives download of new music data from a host station. Sound source port 44 and piano port 4
8 is constituted by a so-called MIDI processor board.
The signal conforming to the transmission standard of the IDI data is transmitted to the sound source device 13.
And output to the MIDI piano 27. D / A port 4
9 is a D / A conversion circuit for converting audio data at a predetermined timing.
8 is output. The image port 50 is a circuit for writing character image data created based on the lyrics display data to the VRAM 50 included in the display control unit 22.

The piano track counter 55 has duration data Δ for detecting the timing of reading MIDI data (event data) of the piano track 55.
Count t. When the karaoke performance is started, the first duration data Δt is set in this counter. When the count of Δt is completed, the MIDI data recorded next is read out and the piano port 4 is read.
8 and the next duration data Δt recorded immediately after that is set in the piano track counter 55.

On the other hand, although only one other track counter 56 is shown in the figure, a plurality of track counters 56 are provided corresponding to each track (including other parts, lyrics tracks, etc.). In addition, the track counter 56 includes an offset time register 61 and an adder 62 in addition to the counter main body 60. The offset time Δoff is set in the offset time register 61 at the time of starting reading of music data (at the time of starting karaoke). This value is added to the duration data Δt by the adder 62 and set in the counter body 60. As a result, the counter 56 counts longer by Δoff only for the first duration time. After that, the offset time register 6
Since 1 is reset immediately, the offset time is added only at the start of reading. If the start of the music is event data (MIDI data), only the offset time Δoff is counted first, and then the first event data is read.

It should be noted that the external MIDI device is the MID
If limited to I piano, set the offset time to 5
The time may be fixed to 00 ms, but when another MIDI device is connected, it is necessary to set an offset time corresponding to the operation time difference of the connected device. Therefore, an offset time table as shown in FIG. 6 is provided in the memory of the microcomputer, and the operation time difference between various external devices is stored. At the start of the karaoke performance, the microcomputer determines the type of the external device based on a signal input to an external MIDI port (piano port 48 in FIG. 4), and determines a predetermined offset time in an offset time register. Set to.

The operation of the microcomputer will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This operation shows an operation when one piece of music data is selected and the performance of the karaoke music is started. First, a search is made for a plurality of parts of a musical tone track to determine whether or not this music piece has a piano part (n1). If there is a piano part, it is determined whether or not a MIDI piano is connected to the karaoke apparatus (n2). This determination can be made based on whether or not the connection detection terminal of the piano port 45 is "L". If the song has a piano part and a MIDI piano is connected to this karaoke device,
In order to eliminate the difference in operating time of the MIDI piano, it is necessary to delay the display of other parts and lyrics by the offset time. Therefore, the offset time is set in the offset time register 61 of the counter 56 corresponding to the track other than the piano part (n3). The offset time is set by reading a value (500 ms) for the MIDI piano from the offset time table.

Thereafter, the sequence data of all the tracks is read out, and the automatic performance of karaoke is started. The automatic performance operation is an operation of reading out event data, outputting it to a predetermined port, and setting the duration data Δt stored following the event data in a counter corresponding to the track (part) (n4). . Thereafter, one of the counters ends counting and the CPU 4
It waits at n5 until it interrupts 0. When there is an interrupt, the counter that outputs the interrupt pulse is the piano part counter (piano track counter 55).
Is determined (n6). If it is a counter other than the piano part, first, the offset time register 61
Is reset (n7). Next, the event data of the track is read and sent to the corresponding port, and then the next duration data is read and set in the counter (n8). If it is a piano part, n8 directly from n6
To read the event data and send it to the piano port 48, and then read the next duration data Δt and set it in the piano track counter 55. The operation of n4 or less is repeatedly executed until the end of the music is detected. In this operation, the offset time register 61 is reset by executing n7 every time the event data is read. However, the offset time is only set at the beginning (n3) of the music and is reset by the operation of n7 immediately after that. Therefore, n7 may be skipped thereafter.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the microcomputer 31 is provided with the other track counter 56 having the offset time register 61, and the offset time is set in the offset time register 61 to eliminate the time difference. However, if the data of the other tracks is rewritten to include the offset time before starting the karaoke performance (see FIG. 8), the other track counter 56 has a simple configuration similar to the piano track counter 55. Can be.

The operation in that case is shown in FIG. First, a search is made for a plurality of parts of the musical tone track to determine whether or not this song has a piano part (n11). If there is a piano part, it is determined whether or not a MIDI piano is connected to this karaoke device (n12). This song has a piano part and this karaoke device has MIDI
When a piano is connected, an offset time (OFSTtim) is added to the beginning of a track other than the piano track.
Rewrite by adding duration data of e) (n13). Thereafter, the operation proceeds to the operation of n4 or less in FIG.
On the other hand, if the song does not have a piano
If the IDI piano is not connected, the operation proceeds to the operation of n4 or less without rewriting the track data.

By the above processing, the music data is rewritten as shown in FIG. 8, and by reading it out as usual, the operating time difference of the MIDI piano can be eliminated. A counter with a simple configuration is not required. The reset operation of the offset time registers n6 and n7 is not required in the operation of FIG.

In this embodiment, only a MIDI piano is connected as an external MIDI device, but other various MIDI devices can be connected to perform additional accompaniment. In addition to the accompaniment equipment, a lighting system or the like can be connected to add a decorative color to the karaoke. When a plurality of external devices having different operation time differences are connected, an offset time corresponding to the device having the longest operation time difference is set, and for the device having the shortest operation time difference, the longest offset time and its own offset are set. The time may be offset by the difference.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the operation time difference between the electronic circuit section and the mechanism section and to perform a synchronized operation. For example, when an electronic sound source and a MIDI piano are simultaneously operated as a sound source of a karaoke device, it is possible to perform accompaniment with the same timing. Thereby, the sense of quality of karaoke can be provided.

When various external devices (mechanical units) are connected, the offset time corresponding to the device is stored, so that even if any device is connected,
It becomes possible to synchronize the timing by reading out the corresponding offset time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of music data used in the karaoke system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of the music data.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a microcomputer unit of the karaoke system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the microcomputer unit;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an offset time table used in the karaoke system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation when music data is rewritten in advance in the karaoke system.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing rewritten music data;

[Explanation of symbols]

 27-MIDI Piano 12-Time Offset Filter

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G10K 15/04 302 G10H 1/00 102

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus comprising: an electronic circuit unit, a connection unit, a time-series data storage unit, an offset time table, and a control unit, wherein the electronic circuit unit is configured to electronically execute the first time-series data. Generating a musical tone, and connecting means for mechanically generating a musical tone or connecting a plurality of mechanically operating mechanical units based on the second time-series data; One time series data and a plurality of second time series data synchronized with the time series data are stored. The offset time table stores offset times respectively corresponding to the identifiers of the plurality of mechanism units. The control unit connects to the connection unit. Identifiers of the plurality of mechanical units that have been detected are read out, and the offset times corresponding to the detected identifiers are read from the offset time table, and the number of the mechanical unit corresponding to the identifier of the longest offset time is determined.
The readout timing of the first time-series data is relatively delayed by the longest offset time, and the readout timing of the other second time-series data is
A karaoke system which delays the first time-series data to the electronic circuit unit and sends a plurality of second time-series data to the connection unit by relatively delaying by a difference from the offset time of the mechanism unit corresponding to the identifier of the longest offset time. apparatus.