CN219180187U - Electronic musical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

The present utility model provides an electronic musical instrument including a body, a neck, and strings and connectable to a playback apparatus, the electronic musical instrument further including a string signal collector and a control processor. The string signal collector is used for collecting string vibration signals representing whether strings are plucked from each string and converting the collected string vibration signals into electric signals. The control processor comprises a first storage module and a control module. In the chord mode, the control module determines the chords corresponding to the chord bars to be played next based on the read score, wherein the corresponding different electrical signals generated in the string signal collector by plucking the different strings can be processed independently of each other in the control module.

Description

Electronic musical instrument

Technical Field

The present utility model relates to musical instruments, and more particularly to electronic musical instruments.

Background

Prior art electronic musical instruments, such as guitar or you cri, need to memorize various fingering during playing, which takes a long time to practice. The existing electronic musical instrument is difficult for a beginner who wants to play a complete song as soon as possible.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to reduce the playing difficulty of beginners, the utility model provides an electronic musical instrument, which realizes that appointed tracks can still be played under the condition of releasing the left hand of a user by arranging a string signal collector, a control processor and a chord switching controller on the basis of the existing electronic musical instrument, thereby greatly reducing the using difficulty.

The present utility model provides an electronic musical instrument including a body, a neck and strings, and connected or operatively connected to a playing device, the electronic musical instrument further including a string signal collector, a control processor and a chord switching controller. The string signal collector is designed to collect from each string a string vibration signal indicative of whether the string is plucked or not and to convert the collected string vibration signal into an electrical signal. The control processor includes a first storage module designed to store note data composed of sounds made when different strings are plucked down by different chords, and a control module designed to be able to receive an electric signal from the string signal collector, and also designed to be able to be communicatively connected with an external mobile communication device to read a score stored in the external mobile communication device, the score being composed of a plurality of bars each being a chord bar played in a chord or an accompaniment bar arranged in a prescribed order by the plurality of note data, the electronic musical instrument being in a chord mode when the chord bar is plucked, and in an accompaniment mode when the accompaniment bar is plucked. The chord switching controller is in communication connection with the control module to send a chord switching instruction to the control module after triggering. In the chord mode, the control module is designed to determine the chord corresponding to the chord bar to be played next based on the read score and whether or not a chord switching instruction is received, and further to retrieve the corresponding note from the first storage module based on the electrical signal received from the string signal collector, wherein the corresponding different electrical signals generated by plucking the different strings can be handled independently of each other in the control module. The control module is further designed to be communicatively connectable with the playback device to send instructions to the playback device to play the corresponding notes, and the different notes retrieved can be played in the playback device without affecting each other.

Preferably, the control processor further comprises a second storage module designed to be communicably connected with the external mobile communication device to receive and sequentially store all note data of an accompaniment bar from the external mobile communication device, and in the accompaniment mode, the control module is further designed to sequentially retrieve one note data of a corresponding accompaniment bar from the second storage module after receiving one electric signal from the string signal collector until all note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar stored are sequentially retrieved, wherein in case that a time interval between a subsequent electric signal received by the control module from the string signal collector and a previous electric signal is less than 100 milliseconds (ms), the control module is designed not to retrieve note data from the second storage module in response to the subsequent electric signal.

Preferably, the control module is further designed to switch the electronic musical instrument from the chord mode to the accompaniment mode upon receiving a switch instruction issued by the chord switching controller when a chord bar currently played is read from the score.

Preferably, the control module is further designed to automatically enter the electronic musical instrument into the chord mode after sequentially retrieving all of the stored note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar from the second storage module when the accompaniment bar currently played is read from the score.

Preferably, the string signal collector is designed to be able to collect and convert also the amplitude value of the vibration of the plucked string into an electrical signal, and the control module is further designed to determine the command on the volume level issued to the playing device from the received electrical signal characterizing the amplitude value of the vibration of the corresponding string.

Preferably, the control module is designed to set a set vibration amplitude value corresponding to a specified volume level for the string, and when the actual vibration amplitude value of the string is smaller than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module sends an instruction to play the specified volume level to the playing device; when the actual vibration amplitude value of the string is larger than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module first determines a multiple of the vibration amplitude value of the string compared to the set vibration amplitude value and then sends an instruction to the playback device to play a volume level that is a corresponding multiple of the specified volume level.

Preferably, the control processor further comprises a third storage module designed to store different tone color data and to be communicatively connected to the external mobile communication device, the control module being designed to be able to retrieve tone color data from the third storage module and combine the retrieved tone color data with note data retrieved from the first storage module or the second storage module to obtain a target music collection when an instruction to play an electronic musical instrument in a specified tone color is received from the external mobile communication device.

Preferably, a sound hole pickup is further provided on the body, the sound hole pickup is directly connected to the playing device, and the sound hole pickup and the string signal pickup are alternatively used.

Preferably, the playing device is a loudspeaker or an earphone, the external mobile communication device is a smart phone or a computer, and the external mobile communication device is in communication connection with the control module and the second storage module by means of bluetooth and/or a wireless network.

Invention of the utility model

Drawings

Embodiments of the apparatus and method of the present utility model are described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic musical instrument according to the present utility model.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a method of using the electronic musical instrument according to the present utility model.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of an electronic musical instrument according to the present utility model.

List of reference numerals

1. A string signal collector; 2. a control processor; 21. a control module; 22. a first storage module; 23. a second storage module; 24. a third storage module; 3. a chord switching controller; 4. an external mobile communication device; 5. a sound hole pickup; 6. and a playing device.

Detailed Description

Referring now to the drawings, illustrative versions of the disclosed architecture are described in detail. Although the drawings are provided to present some embodiments of the utility model, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated, removed, or partially sectioned to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure.

The description herein takes an electric guitar as an example, and the musical score uses guitar spectra when using an electric guitar. Although not shown herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that electronic musical instruments may also include electronic lute, electronic willow, electronic zither, electronic harp, and the like. An electric guitar of the prior art generally comprises a body, a neck and strings (generally comprising 6 strings, described below by way of example as 6 strings), wherein the neck is held by the left palm of the user, the left finger switches between different compartments to press the strings, and the right hand toggles the strings located above the body to vibrate the corresponding strings. The sound hole pickup can collect vibration signals corresponding to strings and convert the vibration signals into electric signals to be transmitted to the playing device.

The guitar spectrum is composed of a plurality of bars, and when a song is played, the guitar spectrum is played according to the front-back arrangement sequence of the bars. In playing a guitar score, the player will typically sing with the melody under some bars, and in order to achieve a perfect fit of notes and singing voice, the player should be able to freely control the notes and rhythms played while playing these pieces of music in the score, which are herein referred to as chord bars in the score, when the chord bars are played, the electric guitar is in chord mode. The chord bars sound the guitar with the right hand plucked string at chords like the normal guitar.

Some pieces of music in the score play only an accompaniment role, such as a front, an interlude and a tail, which need not cooperate with singing sounds, and are referred to herein as accompaniment measures in the score, when the accompaniment measures are played, the electric guitar is in accompaniment mode. The plurality of note data in the accompaniment bars are arranged in a specified order.

It should be noted that the guitar spectra employed by the electric guitar herein are guitar spectra specifically treated for the electric guitar herein. The individual bars making up the guitar spectrum may be chord bars or accompaniment bars. More specifically, all bars in the guitar spectrum may be accompaniment bars, or all bars may be chord bars, or part of bars may be accompaniment bars and part of bars may be chord bars. The guitar spectrum is not part of the electric guitar herein, which is stored in an external mobile communication device, which may be identified using dedicated software and for example identified as chord bars or accompaniment bars for convenient reading by a control module described below. An electric guitar having the following configuration can play both accompaniment bars and chord bars while being freely switchable between two playing modes. The electric guitar correspondingly plays the accompaniment bars or the chord bars according to the composition of the guitar spectrum read by the electric guitar.

In order to further reduce the difficulty of playing an electric guitar, the working principles of the string mode and the accompaniment mode are different in this document. These two modes of operation will be described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 3, the electric guitar of the present utility model further comprises a string signal collector 1, a control processor 2 and a chord switching controller 3 on the basis of the electric guitar of the prior art. Wherein the chord switching controller 3 is preferably provided on the neck for left hand triggering, and the string signal collector 1 and the control processor 2 are preferably provided on the body. The chord switching controller 3 may be a physical key or a virtual key, for example, an electronic screen is provided on the neck, and the virtual key is provided on the display screen, and the current playing mode, the next playing mode, and the chord name may be displayed on the electronic screen.

Specifically, the string signal collector 1 is associated with each of the 6 strings. When a user dials one of the strings, the string will vibrate, and the string signal collector 1 may collect a string vibration signal indicative of whether the string has been plucked by the user and convert the string vibration signal into an electrical signal. If more than two strings are plucked at the same time, the string signal collectors will collect the corresponding more than two vibration signals simultaneously and convert them into corresponding electrical signals simultaneously, respectively.

It is known that when a user dials a string to a large extent, the volume of the corresponding note given by the electric guitar of the prior art will also be increased, so that the value of the amplitude of the vibration of the string determines the volume to be played by the playing device 6. The string signal collector 1 is also capable of collecting the amplitude value of vibration of the string and converting it into an electric signal while recognizing whether the string is vibrating.

With further reference to fig. 1, the control processor 2 is designed to comprise a control module 21, a first memory module 22, a second memory module 23 and a third memory module 24. Wherein the control module 21 acts as the "brain" of the whole electric guitar, which is able to retrieve data from the first memory module 22, the second memory module 23 and the third memory module 24, respectively. The control module 21 is also capable of being communicatively connected to the string signal collector 1, the external mobile communication device 4, the playback apparatus 6, and the chord switching controller 3, which will be described in detail below.

Specifically, the control module 21 can be communicatively connected with the external mobile communication device 4 (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, etc.) to read the score stored therein and identify the measure currently required to be played as an accompaniment measure or a chord measure, and the external mobile communication device 4 can also send an instruction to the control module 21. The control module 21 is also capable of receiving the electrical signal emitted by the string signal collector 1 and retrieving the corresponding note data from the corresponding memory module in accordance with the electrical signal and the current playing pattern. The control module 21 may transmit the note data retrieved from the corresponding storage module to the playback device 6 for playback to the viewer. The playback device 6 may for example employ a loudspeaker or headphones or the like.

The first memory module 22 is enabled in the chord mode. As is known in the existing guitar, the sounds made by the electric guitar when plucking the same string under different chords (e.g. C, E, dm, etc.), are different, the first memory module being designed to store note data composed of sounds made when plucking different strings under different chords, which note data have been previously acquired and stored in advance in the first memory module 22.

The second memory module is started in accompaniment mode. The plurality of notes in the accompaniment bars are arranged in a designated order, and the second storage module sequentially stores all of the note data of the corresponding accompaniment bars. The second storage module may be connected to the external mobile communication device 4 so as to receive and sequentially store all of the note data of the accompaniment bars.

The third memory module 24 is designed to store tone color data, such as different tones emitted by guitar made of spruce, korean pine, rose wood, acacia wood or combinations thereof. The third storage module 24 is also capable of being communicatively coupled to the external mobile communication device 4 to receive tone color data from the external mobile communication device 4 and to update the tone color data.

The chord switching controller 3 is in communication with the control module 21 and is capable of sending chord switching instructions to the control module 21 if triggered. When the control module 21 receives the chord switching instruction, it will be able to retrieve note data under the switched chord from the first storage module 22.

The operation principle of the chord mode and the accompaniment mode will be described in detail with reference to fig. 2.

In the chord mode, the control module 21 first determines the chord corresponding to the chord bar to be played next based on the score it reads from the external mobile communication device 4 and whether or not the chord switching instruction issued by the chord switching controller 3 is received. After receiving an electrical signal sent from the string-signal collector 1, i.e. after the control module 21 has received an instruction that a string is plucked by the user, the control module 21 retrieves in the first memory module 22 the note data that should be sent when plucking the string under the current chord, and then transmits the note data to the playback device 6.

For example, assuming that the note do will be given when the C chord is down-shifted by the 2 nd chord, the note so will be given when the C chord is down-shifted by the 4 th chord, the note la will be given when the F chord is down-shifted by the 3 rd chord, this data has been stored in the first memory module 22, with the first measure of the score being the chord measure and being the C chord and the second measure also being the chord measure and being the F chord. When the control module 21 finds the first bar, i.e. chord bar, by reading the score, it determines the chord of this chord bar as C chord by the score, and then after receiving the electrical signal indicative of the plucking of the 2 nd string sent by the string signal collector 1, the control module 21 will retrieve the note do data from the first storage module 22 and send this data to the playback device 6. Next, when the control module 21 receives an electrical signal from the string signal collector 1 indicating that the 4 th string is plucked, it again retrieves the note so data from the first memory module 22 and sends this data to the playing device 6. When the user presses the chord switching controller 3, the chord switching controller 3 sends an instruction to switch to the next chord to the control module 21, and the control module 21 determines that the second bar to be played next is the F chord by reading the score. After the control module 21 receives the electrical signal sent by the string signal collector 1, which characterizes the plucking of the 3 rd string, it will retrieve the note la from the first memory module 22 and transmit this data to the playing device 6. Note in particular that, after receiving the chord instruction issued by the chord switching controller 3, the electric guitar switches from the C chord of the first bar to the F chord of the second bar specified on the score, irrespective of whether the number of notes actually played and the number of notes included in the first bar agree. In case the electric guitar does not recognize the accompaniment bar from the first bar to the last bar on the guitar spectrum, it will always play in chord mode.

If the control module receives more than two corresponding electric signals sent by the string signal collector at the same time, the electric signals are respectively and independently processed in the control module. The different notes retrieved by the electrical signal will also play in the playback device without affecting each other. If the user toggles the 2 nd and 4 th strings simultaneously, for example, under the C chord, the control module will process the two vibrations simultaneously and issue an instruction to the playback device to play notes do and so simultaneously, the playback device will sound do and so simultaneously, and the user will hear the effect of the two notes overlapping each other. It can be seen that the sounds emitted by the vibrations of the different strings of the guitar of the present application do not affect each other, which allows to play multiple strings or sweep strings simultaneously as a conventional guitar.

In this way, in the chord mode, the user does not need to memorize the chord lattice to be pressed by the left hand, and does not need to quickly switch among a plurality of lattices, and only needs to memorize the sequence of the string plucking by the right hand, so that the left hand of the user is liberated, and the playing difficulty is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the user can practice hands in the chord mode, namely, the right hand is independently practiced. In addition, the user can play different chords and realize different playing effects flexibly through the change of the string plucking by the right hand according to the playing experience of the guitar.

In the accompaniment mode, after the control module 21 receives the first command for plucking the strings from the string signal collector 1, it will sequentially retrieve the first note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar from the second storage module, and after the second command for plucking the strings is received from the string signal collector 1, it will sequentially retrieve the second note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar from the second storage module, and so on until all the stored note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar are retrieved in sequence. It should be noted here that as soon as a string is plucked, the control module 21 will retrieve a note from the second memory module in sequence, independently of whether the plucked string is correct or not, and only whether a string is plucked or not. The accompaniment measures can be played by only stirring a sufficient number of strings according to the rhythm. If the strings are not plucked a sufficient number of times, the electric guitar will always be in accompaniment mode. Wherein in case the time interval between the latter and former electrical signals received by the control module from the string signal collector is less than 100ms, the control module is designed not to retrieve data from the second storage module in dependence of the latter electrical signal, which design can prevent an operator from inadvertently touching other strings while plucking one string, resulting in retrieving the next note at wrong moment, disturbing the overall playing rhythm. Thus, the player only needs to know the number of notes contained in the accompaniment bar and stir any strings according to the rhythm to finish the playing of the bar. Even the player does not need to remember the right-hand fingering while playing the accompaniment bars, which further simplifies the use of the electric guitar in the present application.

In case the electric guitar does not recognize a chord bar from the first bar to the last bar on the guitar spectrum, it will always be played in accompaniment mode. In this case, after all the note data of all the accompaniment measures are called, the electric guitar is plucked out and no sound is made.

When the accompaniment bar is followed by the chord bar, the control module 21 causes the electric guitar to directly and automatically enter the chord mode after the whole note data in the accompaniment bar is called. For example, assuming that the accompaniment bar includes 5 notes, when the control module 21 receives 5 electric signals from the string signal collector 1, it causes the electric guitar to automatically enter the chord mode and recognize the chord of the next chord bar, and when the control module 21 receives the 6 th electric signal, it will retrieve the correct note from the first storage module 22 according to the chord of the bar read from the score and which chord was plucked. If the current accompaniment measure is the tail measure (i.e. the last measure of the score), when the number of plucking times of the strings exceeds the number of notes included in the corresponding accompaniment measure, the plucking exceeding the number of notes will not make the electric guitar make any sound, since no extra notes are already available in the second memory module for the control module to pick up.

When the chord section is followed by the accompaniment section, the control module 21 needs to receive a switch instruction from the chord switching controller 3 to cause the electric guitar to enter the accompaniment mode from the chord mode. When the user triggers the chord switching controller 3, the control module 21 confirms the type of the measure after the chord measure from the score, repeats the above-described operation mode of the chord mode if the measure is still the chord measure, and executes the above-described operation mode of the accompaniment mode if the measure is the accompaniment measure.

The operation method of the electronic musical instrument according to the present utility model is further summarized below.

When the score includes only chord sections, the method mainly includes the following steps:

(1) The control module determines the chord corresponding to the chord bar to be played next based on the read music score and whether the chord switching instruction sent by the chord switching controller is received;

(2) The control module invokes corresponding notes from the first storage module based on the electrical signals received from the string signal collectors;

(3) The control module sends the note data to the playing device;

(4) The control module decides whether to enter the next chord based on whether the next chord switch instruction is received.

Further, when the score further includes an accompaniment measure and the accompaniment measure is located before the chord measure, the steps of:

(1) The control module determines a current accompaniment measure based on the read score;

(2) The control module sequentially retrieves one note data of the corresponding accompaniment measures from the second storage module after receiving one electric signal from the string signal collector;

(3) The control module sends the note data to the playing device;

(4) After sequentially retrieving all of the stored note data of the corresponding accompaniment measures from the second storage module, the electronic musical instrument automatically enters a chord mode.

Further, when the chord section is located before the accompaniment section, the electronic musical instrument switches from the chord mode to the accompaniment mode after receiving the switch instruction issued by the chord switching controller.

The control module 21 sets a set vibration amplitude value corresponding to the specified volume for the strings, and when the actual vibration amplitude value of the strings is smaller than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module 21 sends an instruction to play the specified volume to the playing device 6, that is, corrects the smaller volume to ensure the best appreciation effect.

When the actual vibration amplitude value of the string is larger than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module 21 first determines the multiple of the vibration amplitude value of the string compared to the set vibration amplitude value and then sends an instruction to the playback device 6 to play back the volume level that is the corresponding multiple of the specified volume level.

When it is desired to play a note of a specified timbre, for example, when a user makes a setting on a mobile phone, the control module 21 will retrieve timbre data from the third storage module 24 and combine this data with the note data retrieved from the first storage module 22 or the second storage module 23 to obtain a targeted music collection. This expands the application range of the electric guitar and realizes various hearing effects.

Furthermore, the electric guitar of the present utility model also comprises a hole pickup 5 of the prior art, which hole pickup 5 is also connected to a playback device 6. When only the tone hole microphone 5 is connected to the playback device 6, the electric guitar can still be used as an electric guitar in the prior art for professionals, i.e. neither the control processor 2 nor the chord switching controller 3 is in operation at this time. When the string signal collector 1 is adopted, the electric guitar can be used by beginners, and the sound hole pickup 5 does not operate. The hole pickup 5 and the string signal collector 1 are alternatively used so that the electric guitar can be played by persons having different playing experiences. A switching key may be provided on the body for the tone hole pickup 5 and the string signal collector 1.

The communication connection described above may be connected by bluetooth or wireless network.

Claims (10)

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising a body, a neck and strings, and being connected or operatively connected to a playing device (6), characterized in that the electronic musical instrument further comprises:

a string signal collector (1) designed to collect from each string a string vibration signal indicative of whether or not the string is plucked and to convert the collected string vibration signal into an electrical signal;

a control processor (2) comprising:

a first memory module (22) designed to store note data composed of sounds made when different strings are plucked under different chords,

a control module (21) designed to be able to receive an electric signal from the string signal collector (1), and further designed to be able to be communicatively connected with an external mobile communication device (4) to read a score stored in the external mobile communication device (4), the score being made up of a plurality of bars, each bar being a chord bar played in a chord or a accompaniment bar arranged in a specified order by a plurality of note data, the electronic musical instrument being in a chord mode when the chord bar is played and in an accompaniment mode when the accompaniment bar is played;

a chord switching controller (3) communicatively connected to the control module (21) to send a chord switching instruction to the control module (21) after triggering;

in the chord mode, the control module (21) is designed to determine the chord corresponding to the chord bar to be played next based on the read score and whether a chord switching instruction is received, and to retrieve the corresponding note from the first storage module (22) further based on the electrical signal received from the string signal collector (1), wherein the corresponding different electrical signals generated in the string signal collector (1) by plucking the different strings can be processed independently of each other in the control module,

the control module (21) is further designed to be communicatively connectable with the playback device (6) for sending instructions to the playback device (6) to play corresponding notes, and the different notes retrieved can be played in the playback device without affecting each other.

2. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the control processor further comprises a second memory module designed to be communicatively connected to the external mobile communication device to receive and sequentially store all note data of an accompaniment measure from the external mobile communication device, and in accompaniment mode, the control module is further designed to sequentially retrieve one note data of a corresponding accompaniment measure from the second memory module after receiving one electric signal from the string signal collector until all note data of the stored corresponding accompaniment measure are sequentially retrieved, wherein in case that a time interval between a subsequent electric signal received by the control module from the string signal collector and a previous electric signal is less than 100 milliseconds, the control module is designed not to retrieve note data from the second memory module in response to the subsequent electric signal.

3. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 2, wherein the control module is further designed to switch the electronic musical instrument from the chord mode to the accompaniment mode upon receiving a switch instruction issued by the chord switching controller when a chord bar currently played is read from the score.

4. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the control module is further designed to, when a chord bar follows the reading of the currently played accompaniment bar from the score, automatically enter the electronic musical instrument into a chord mode after sequentially retrieving all of the stored note data of the corresponding accompaniment bar from the second storage module.

5. The electronic musical instrument of claim 4 wherein the string signal collector is further configured to collect and convert the magnitude of the vibration of the plucked string into an electrical signal, and wherein the control module is further configured to determine the command for volume to the playback device based on the received electrical signal indicative of the magnitude of the vibration of the corresponding string.

6. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein the control module is designed to set a set vibration amplitude value corresponding to a specified volume level for the string, and when an actual vibration amplitude value of the string is smaller than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module sends an instruction to play the specified volume level to the playback device; when the actual vibration amplitude value of the string is larger than the set vibration amplitude value, the control module first determines a multiple of the vibration amplitude value of the string compared to the set vibration amplitude value and then sends an instruction to the playback device to play a volume level that is a corresponding multiple of the specified volume level.

7. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 2 or 6, wherein the control processor further comprises a third memory module designed to store different tone color data and in communication connection with the external mobile communication device, the control module being designed to be able to retrieve tone color data from the third memory module and combine the retrieved tone color data with note data retrieved from the first memory module or the second memory module to obtain a target music collection when an instruction to play the electronic musical instrument in a specified tone color is received from the external mobile communication device.

8. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 2, characterized in that the playing device is a loudspeaker or an earphone, the external mobile communication device is a smart phone or a computer, and the external mobile communication device is in communication connection with the control module and the second storage module by means of bluetooth and/or a wireless network.

9. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein a hole pickup is further provided on the body, the hole pickup being directly connected to the playing device, the hole pickup and the string signal pickup being alternatively used.

10. The electronic musical instrument of claim 1 wherein the electronic musical instrument is an electric guitar.

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