EP3734592B1

EP3734592B1 - Musical sound effect adding device and musical sound effect adding program

Info

Publication number: EP3734592B1
Application number: EP17936929.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Shinya Koizumi; Ichiro Sugai; Yohei Habu; Nao Takagi
Original assignee: AlphaTheta Corp
Current assignee: AlphaTheta Corp
Priority date: 2017-12-29
Filing date: 2017-12-29
Publication date: 2023-05-10
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-29
Also published as: EP3734592A1; EP3734592A4; WO2019130593A1; JP7028896B2; JPWO2019130593A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a musical sound effect adding device and a musical sound effect adding program.

BACKGROUND ART

A flanger using delay time modulation, a phaser using phase amount modulation, and the like have been known as devices that add an acoustic musical sound effect to a musical sound signal.
For instance, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology related to a musical sound effect adding device, where a musical sound signal with a pitch based on inputted music piece data is subjected to signal delay uncorrelated with the pitch of the musical sound signal and a phase of the musical sound signal is allowed to be shifted.
Non-patent literature documents: "Korg Microsampler Sampling Keyboard Owner's Manual", 1 January 2009 (2009-01-01) and Irmgard Bauer et al: "Traktor 2 Application Reference English", 19 April 2011 (2011-04-19), pages 1-310, disclose musical sound effect adding devices, wherein each musical sound signal on the at least two channels is inputted to exactly one of the loop circuits.

CITATION LIST

PATENT LITERATURE(S)

Patent Literature 1: JP 2000-205565 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEM(S) TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

However, the technology described in Patent Literature 1, in which the signal delay is performed not in correlation with the musical sound signal and the phase of the musical sound signal is shifted, has a difficulty in adding a musical sound effect in synchronization with a currently reproduced music piece.
Thus, addition of a musical sound effect with a delay deviation or a phase deviation from a tempo of the music piece during reproduction of a music piece is likely to make a listener feel strange, and particularly is not suitable for DJ performance emphasizing a tempo.
An object of the invention is to provide a musical sound effect adding device and a musical sound effect adding program configured to add a musical sound effect synchronized with a tempo of music piece data without making a listener feel strange.

MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEM(S)

A musical sound effect adding device according to an aspect of the invention includes the features of claims 1 - 4.
A musical sound effect adding program according to another aspect of the invention is configured to enable a computer to function as the above-described musical sound effect adding device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S)

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a music piece data reproduction control system according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a switch group for operating a musical sound effect adding device according to the exemplary embodiment.
Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a structure of the musical sound effect adding device according to the exemplary embodiment.
Fig. 4 is a graph showing volume adjustment of an original sound, an effect sound, and a feedback sound by a level adjuster according to the exemplary embodiment.
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining workings according to the exemplary embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

[1] Overall Configuration

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a music piece reproduction control system 1 according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention. The music piece data reproduction control system 1 includes a computer 2 and a DJ controller 4 connected to the computer 2 through a USB cable 3.
The computer 2, which includes a CPU and a storage such as a hard disk, is configured to reproduce music piece data such as MP3 stored in the storage. The music piece data is reproduced by software run on the CPU and the reproduced music piece data is outputted to the DJ controller 4 through the USB cable 3. Further, a reproduction control signal generated by operating a mixer 41 and decks 42L and 42R of the DJ controller 4 is outputted to the USB cable 3 to be inputted to the computer 2. In the computer 2, a variety of sound effects are added to the currently reproduced music piece data on the basis of the reproduction control signal outputted from the DJ controller 4.
The DJ controller 4, which is an example of sound equipment, includes the mixer 41 located at a center thereof and the decks 42L and 42R located at right and left of the mixer 41. It is to be noted that the sound equipment according to the invention is a concept including not only a sound reproduction controller as in the exemplary embodiment but also a sound reproducer configured to reproduce music piece data.
The mixer 41, which is a section configured to switch audio data outputted from the computer 2, adjust volumes of channels, and add a sound effect, includes first channel adjuster 411 to fourth channel adjuster 414 and a microphone adjuster 415.
An effector 41E is provided at a lower right of the mixer 41. To add a musical sound effect to a music piece to be reproduced, the effector 41E includes an effect selection switch 416, a channel selection switch 417, an effect-amount adjusting switch 418, an effect adding switch 419, and a beat changing switch 420 as described later in detail.
The decks 42L and 42R, which are sections configured to be operated by an operator to add a variety of effects to music piece data outputted from the computer 2, each include a jog dial 421, a tempo slider 422, a performance pad 423, a CUE button 424, a play/pause button 425, a loop button 426, a deck selection button 427, and a load button 428.
The jog dial 421, which is an example of a rotary operation unit, is rotatably provided to a device body of each of the decks 42L and 42R, is configured to fast-forward and reverse music piece data to be reproduced when the operator rotates the jog dial 421.
A display 43, which includes a liquid crystal display, is provided at a center of the jog dial 421. A BPM (Beats Per Minute) value, an elapsed time, a state of progress, and a beat position of the currently reproduced music piece data, and a state of rotation of an LP record at 33 RPM with the progress of the currently reproduced music piece data are displayed on the display 43, allowing the operator to see the progress of the reproduction of the music piece data.
The tempo slider 422 is a switch for adjusting a tempo of music piece data to be reproduced. The performance pad 423, which is a button for switching an effect for the currently reproduced music piece data, is configured to add effects, such as loop, cue, key shift, and sampler, to the currently reproduced music piece data instantaneously when the performance pad 423 is pressed by the operator.
The CUE button 424 is a button for cuing music piece to be reproduced.
The play/pause button 425 is a button for starting reproduction of music piece data and pausing the currently reproduced music piece data. The loop button 426 is a button for performing loop reproduction of the currently reproduced music piece data.
The deck selection button 427 is a button for selecting one of the first channel adjuster 411 to the fourth channel adjuster 414 of the mixer 41 that is to be used for operating the currently reproduced music piece data. In the exemplary embodiment, the left deck 42L is configured to switch between the first channel adjuster 411 and the third channel adjuster 413 and the right deck 42R is configured to switch between the second channel adjuster 412 and the fourth channel adjuster 414.
The load button 428 is a button for loading music piece data from the computer 2. By pressing the load button 428 after music piece data to be reproduced is selected on the computer 2, the music piece data is loaded to a channel of one of the first channel adjuster 411 to the fourth channel adjuster 414.

[2] Detailed Configuration of Effector 41E

The DJ controller 4 is configured to add an effect to a musical sound signal that constitutes the music piece data. Specifically, an effect can be added to the musical sound signal of the music piece data by operating the effector 41E located at the lower right of the mixer 41 as shown in Fig. 2.
The effect selection switch 416 is a switch for selecting an effect to be added to the musical sound signal. Examples of the effect include echo, delay, reverb, flanger, phaser, pitch, and noise, which can be selected also in a later-described musical sound effect adding device 5 by operating the effect selection switch 416.
The channel selection switch 417, which is a switch for selecting a channel where an effect is to be added, allows for adding an effect to the first channel adjuster 411 to the fourth channel adjuster 414 and the microphone adjuster 415 of the effector 41E.
The effect-amount adjusting switch 418, which is a switch for adjusting a of a musical sound effect to be added to an original tune of the music piece data, allows for setting the magnitude of the effect through volume adjustment.
The effect adding switch 419, which is a switch for adding an effect synchronized with a beat position or BPM of the musical sound signal, is configured to apply the effect selected with the effect selection switch 416 to the channel selected with the channel selection switch.
The beat changing switch 420, which is a switch for adding an effect synchronized with the beat position or BPM of the musical sound signal, includes a right direction arrow button that is to be operated to increase beat magnification and a left direction arrow button that is to be operated to reduce the beat magnification.

[3] Configuration of Musical Sound Effect Adding Device 5

Fig. 3 shows the musical sound effect adding device 5 according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention. The musical sound effect adding device 5 is an effector configured to obtain a flange effect by changing a short delay time to be mixed with an original sound. The musical sound effect adding device 5 includes a filtering section 51, an LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) 52, four loop circuits LP1 to LP4, adders 55, 56, 57, and 59, and a level adjuster 58, which constitute a musical sound effect adding program to be run on the CPU of the controller 4.
The filtering section 51 is configured to divide music piece data SD inputted at a dividing frequency of 70 Hz into a high-frequency component and a low-frequency component. The high-frequency component of the music piece data SD is inputted to each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4 and subjected to a delay process in each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4. The low-frequency component of the music piece data SD is directly outputted to the adder 56 without being subjected to the delay process.
The LFO 52 is configured to output a periodic signal composed of a low-frequency wave to each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4. Specifically, the LFO 52 is configured to read beat position information from the music piece data SD and output a periodic signal synchronized with an n-beat or 1/n-beat (n: integer) cycle of the musical sound signal to each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4. That is, the LFO 52 functions as a periodic signal generator according to the invention.
Further, the LFO 52 is configured to shift, for the loop circuits LP1 to LP4, a phase of the musical sound signal to be circulated through each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4 to a phase different between the loop circuits LP1 to LP4. In the exemplary embodiment, a periodic signal with a phase difference of 0 degrees is outputted to the loop circuit LP1, a periodic signal with a phase difference of 180 degrees is outputted to the loop circuit LP2, a periodic signal with a phase difference of 90 degrees is outputted to the loop circuit LP3, and a periodic signal with a phase difference of 270 degrees is outputted to the loop circuit LP4. That is, the LFO 52 also functions as a shift phase section according to the invention.
The loop circuits LP1 to LP4, which are similar in circuit configuration, each include a delay 53, a feedback circuit 53A, and a fader 54, and an output from the delay 53 is fed back to an input to the delay 53 through the feedback circuit 53A.
The delay 53 that is a delay unit is an effector configured to delay the musical sound signal of the music piece data SD, and a delay time provided by the delay 53 according to the exemplary embodiment is in a range from 0.1 ms to 2 ms.
The fader 54, which is an effector configured to fade in and fade out the signal outputted from the delay 53, is configured to perform a fade-in process and a fade-out process on an effect sound at near 10% of each of minimum and maximum of the delay time in the exemplary embodiment.
The delays 53 each perform, responsive to the input of a periodic signal from the LFO 52, the delay process on the musical sound signal of the music piece data SD in such a manner to be synchronized with the periodic signal. Further, the faders 54 each perform the fade-in process at an initial portion of the delay-processed signal and the fade-out process at an end portion thereof in such a manner to be synchronized with the periodic signal.
The signal subjected to the HPF (High Pass Filter) process by the filtering section 51 is divided into two systems: an L channel and an R channel. The musical sound signal on the L-channel side is inputted to the loop circuit LP1 and the loop circuit LP2 and is subjected to the delay process. The musical sound signal on the R-channel side is inputted to the loop circuit LP3 and the loop circuit LP4 and is subjected to the delay process.
Outputs from the loop circuit LP1 and the loop circuit LP2 on the L-channel side are added by the adder 55. Likewise, outputs from the loop circuit LP3 and the loop circuit LP4 on the R-channel side are added by the adder 55. Signals from the adder 55 and the adder 56 are inputted to the adder 57 through the two systems (stereo). In this regard, a signal subjected to an LPF (Low Pass Filter) process by the filtering section is inputted to the adder 57 and added with an output from the adder 57. The output from the adder 57 is inputted to the level adjuster 58.
The level adjuster 58 is configured to perform volume adjustment of an original sound, an effect sound, and a feedback sound in accordance with an operation position of the above-described effect-amount adjusting switch 418. In the exemplary embodiment, the adjustment of the effect amount is performed so that the volumes of the original sound and the effect sound become the same at a 50% position of the effect-amount adjusting switch 418 and the volume of the feedback sound is increased thereafter as shown in Fig. 4.
The original sound and the effect sound adjusted by the level adjuster 58 are added by the adder 59 and outputted from the mixer 41.

[4] Workings and Effects of Exemplary Embodiment

In a case where the LFO 52 is configured to provide one cycle of a periodic signal per beat in the above-described musical sound effect adding device 5, the LFO 52 outputs a periodic signal with a phase difference of 0 degrees to the loop circuit LP1, outputs a periodic signal with a phase difference of 180 degrees to the loop circuit LP2, outputs a periodic signal with a phase difference of 90 degrees to the loop circuit LP3, and outputs a periodic signal with a phase difference of 270 degrees to the loop circuit LP4. In a case where the musical sound signal of the original tune has a sawtooth waveform in one cycle per beat, the respective delays 53 of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4 output effect sounds with the delay time offset every 1/4 beat as shown in Fig. 5.
In the exemplary embodiment, in a case where the inputted musical sound signal has the sawtooth waveform shown in Fig. 5, an effect sound with a continuously rising pitch is outputted in synchronization with a tempo of the music piece data SD. Therefore, the effect sound can be added to the currently reproduced music piece data without making a listener feel strange.
The signal of the L-side channel in the music piece data SD is processed by the loop circuit LP1 and the loop circuit LP2 and the signal of the R-side channel is processed by the loop circuit LP3 and the loop circuit LP4. The LFO 52 gives a phase difference between the loop circuits LP1 to LP4, thereby making it possible to hear an effect sound from the musical sound effect adding device 5 alternately through the right and left channels and, consequently, allowing the effect to spread.
The LFO 52 changes the phase by one quarter of one cycle of the musical sound signal to be circulated through each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4, making it possible to add a musical sound effect with the loop circuits LP1 to LP4 synchronized with each other.
Since the filtering section 51 performs the HPF process on the musical sound signal to be circulated through each of the loop circuits LP1 to LP4, the occurrence of noise in the musical sound signal to be circulated is prevented and, further, a low-frequency signal can be prevented from gradually increasing to output a stable effect sound.

[5] Modifications of Exemplary Embodiment

It is to be noted that the invention is not limited to the above exemplary embodiment and modifications as described below fall within the scope of the invention.
In the above-described exemplary embodiment, the musical sound effect adding device 5 includes the four loop circuits LP1 to LP4; however, the invention is not limited thereto. The musical sound effect adding device only has to include a plurality of loop circuits and may include more than four loop circuits. In this case, a shift amount of the phase difference to be given to the loop circuits is set to an integral submultiple of the number (integer) (i.e., 1/the number (integer)) of the loop circuits, thereby making it possible to achieve synchronization between the loop circuits.
In addition, regarding a specific structure, shape, etc. for implementation of the invention, any other structure, etc. may be employed as long as an object of the invention is achievable.

EXPLANATION OF CODE(S)

1...music piece data reproduction control system, 2...computer, 3...USB cable, 4...DJ controller, 5...musical sound effect adding device, 41...mixer, 41E...effector, 42L...deck, 42R...deck, 43...display, 51...filtering section, 52...LFO, 53...delay, 53A...feedback circuit, 54...fader, 55...adder, 56...adder, 57...adder, 58...level adjuster, 59...adder, 411...first channel adjuster, 412...second channel adjuster, 413...third channel adjuster, 414...fourth channel adjuster, 415...microphone adjuster, 416...effect selection switch, 417...channel selection switch, 418...effect-amount adjusting switch, 419...effect adding switch, 420...beat changing switch, 421...jog dial, 422...tempo slider, 423...performance pad, 424...CUE button, 425...play/pause button, 426...loop button, 427...deck selection button, 428...load button, LP1...loop circuit, LP2...loop circuit, LP3...loop circuit, LP4...loop circuit, SD...music piece data

Claims

A musical sound effect adding device comprising:
a periodic signal generator configured to generate a periodic signal synchronized with an n-beat or 1/n-beat (n: integer) cycle of a musical sound signal of music piece data;

a plurality of loop circuits each comprising a delay unit configured to delay the musical sound signal of the music piece data, which delay is synchronized with the periodic signal generated by the periodic signal generator; and

a shift phase section configured to shift a phase of the musical sound signal to be circulated through each of the loop circuits to a phase different between the loop circuits, for the delay unit of each of the loop circuits,

wherein the musical sound signal of the music piece data comprises signals in at least two channels,

characterized in that

each musical sound signal on the at least two channels is separately inputted to at least two different loop circuits of the plurality of loop circuits.
The musical sound effect adding device according to claim 1, wherein
the shift phase section is configured to change the phase by an integral submultiple of one cycle of the periodic signal.
The musical sound effect adding device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:
a filtering section configured to perform an HPF (High Pass Filter) process on the musical sound signal to be circulated through each of the loop circuits.
A musical sound effect adding program configured to enable a computer to function as the musical sound effect adding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.