GB2221557A

GB2221557A - Electronic musical instrument

Info

Publication number: GB2221557A
Application number: GB8818731A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Chau King Sze
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-08-06
Filing date: 1988-08-06
Publication date: 1990-02-07
Also published as: GB8818731D0

Abstract

An electronic musical instrument in the form of a pair of gloves comprises a plurality of tone selecting switch means 20 each being disposed at a finger tip portion of the finger members of the gloves, and a musical tone generation system 30 electrically connected to the switch means by cables 32, whereby actuation of a tone selecting switch means renders transmission of an electrical signal to the musical tone generation system which in turn outputs an electrical signal to a speaker or piezo buzzer 18 which generates a musical tone corresponding to the actuated switch means. Each switch means may comprise first and second plastics tongue members 22, 26 mounted within a compartment of a glove finger and which carry respective electrically conductive contact plates which come into contact with each other when the finger is pressed against a hard surface. <IMAGE>

Description

ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT The present invention relates to electronic musical instruments.

It is a disadvantage of many musical instruments, including electronic musical instruments that they require a high degree of skill to play. Many potential players do not find them sufficiently easy to operate, or fun to play.

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic musical instrument comprising a pair of glove means for receiving the hands of a player and means incorporated in said pair of gloves means for generating musical tones. The musical tone generating means comprises a plurality of tone selecting switch means each being disposed at a finger tip portion of the finger members of the glove means on the underside thereof adapted to be actuable by a finger tip of the player, and a microprocessor electrically connected to the switch means by cable means, whereby actuation of each switch means causes transmission of an electrical signal input to the microprocessor which in turn outputs an electrical signal to a speaker or piezo buzzer which generates a musical tone corresponding to the switch means which has been actuated.

Preferably each finger tip portion of said pair of gloves means comprises a compartment within which tone selecting means is accomodated. An inner skin may be attached to the inner surface of the finger tip portion to define the components.

Preferably each switch means comprises first and second tongue members in spaced relationship with each other at a portion thereof, and first and second contact plates attached respectively to said first and second tongue members such that actuation of the tone selection switch means causes first and second contact plates to come into contact with each pother.

Preferably at least a portion of the cable means are mounted to and extend along the material of the finger members of glove means. At least a portion of the cable means may be mounted to and extend along the material of the glove means.

The speaker or piezo buzzer may be provided on the back portion of said glove means and adapted to be supported by the back of the hand of a player when the hand is received in the glove means.

In another aspect, the invention provides an electronic musical instrument comprising glove means for receiving the hand of the player, a plurality of finger actuable switches incorporated in the glove means, and electrical connection means for connecting the switches to sound generating means, whereby a user may select a sound to be generated by actuating a corresponding switch to provide an electrical signal to the sound generating means.

Embodiments of a musical instrument according to the invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an electronic musical instrument in accordance with the present invention, in the forms of a pair of gloves; Figure 2 is an explantory diagram showing the construction and operation of the electronic musical instrument in accordance with the present invention; Figure 3a is a fragmentary sectional view of a finger tip portion of the pair of gloves showing an actuating means of the musical instrument; Figure 3b is a similar view to Figure 3a showing actuation of the actuating means by a finger of a player against a hard surface;; Figure 4a is a circuit diagram for the left glove of an electronic musical instrument embodying the present invention, and figure 4b is a circuit diagram for the corresponding right glove; and Figure 5a is an alternative circuit diagram for the left glove of an electronic musical instrument embodying the present invention, and figure 5b is a circuit diagram for the corresponding right glove.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings in which like reference numerals rep resent like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 shows an electronic musical instrument designated generally by reference numeral 10. The electronic musical instrument 10 takes the form of a pair of gloves 12L, 12K having separate finger members 14 for receiving left 15L and right 15R hands of a player respectively. A plurality of actuating means or tone selecting switch means 20 are provided at the finger tip portion of the gloves 12L, 12R, details of which will be described later.

A speaker or piezo buzzer 18 is provided on each of the gloves 12L, 12R on one style thereo opposite to the palm.

Although the musical instrument 10 has been described as a pair of gloves with separate fingers as is conventional, it is appreciated that the glove may be of other constructions without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the electronic musical instrument may be in the form of a pair of mittens or in other glove-shaped forms.

Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram explaining the features and operation of the musical instrument.

According to the present preferred embodiment, eight tone selecting switch means 20 are provided respectively at the finger tip portions of the gloves 12L, 12R, each switch means corresponds to a finger of a player and to one of the notes C5, DS, E5, F5, G5, A5, B5 or C6 in a musical scale. The eight fingers assigned to actuate the switch means 20 are, according to the present embodiment, the index, middle, third and little fingers of each hand of the player.

Additional switch means (not shown) may be provided at the top portion of one or both of the thumb members 14', 14' of the gloves 12L, 12R. These additional switch means may be used to activate additional sound generation system to produce additional musical sound or they may serve as mode selecting switch means for selecting predetermined modes of the sound generation system.

Actuation of the switch means 20 sends an ON signal to a sound generation system 30 of the musical instrument through internal cables 32 represented by dotted lines in Figure 2. Each sound generation system 30 consists of a battery (not shown), circuitry and a speaker/piezo buzzer 18.

Each sound generation system 30 is accommodated within a container 19 preferably of flat rectangular configuration as depicted in Figure 2. The speakers 18, 18 of the respective sound generation systems 30, 30 are disposed respectively on the upper surface of the containers 19, 19. In accordance with the present embodiment, the sound systems 30, 30 are generally positioned on the back section of the gloves 12L, 12R respectively opposite to the palm section and are adapted to be supported on the back of the hands of a player when the hands are received into the gloves 12L, 12R at play. The cables 32 are attached to and extending generally along the finger members 14 by suitable means. The tone selecting switch means 20 are mounted on and oriented within respective compartments 42.

Figure 3a is a fragmentary sectional view of a finger tip portion of the gloves 12L, 12R. An inner skin 40 is preferably stitched to the inner surface of the finger tip portion at a line of stitches 41 thereby defining a compartment 42 for receiving therein a switch means 20.

The switch means 20 is positioned at the finger tip portion at a lower side thereof such that when a finger is inserted into the finger tip portion of the gloves 12L, 12R, the switch means 20 is disposed directly underneath the finger tip of the player, as shown in Figure 3a.

The switch means 20 comprises a first tongue member 22 having a first contact plate 24 attached thereto and a second tungue nember 26 having a second contact plate 28 attached thereto. The first 22 and second 26 tongue members are, according to the present embodiment, molded in one piece of plastic material. The first 24 and second 28 contact plates are made of electrically conductive materials such as copper. Although it has been shown in Figures 3a and 3b that an inner skin 40 is attached to the inner surface of the finger tip portion to define a compartment within which a tone selecting switch means is positioned, it is contemplated that the compartment may be constructed in other ways.For example, an outer skin may be provided on an outer surface of the finger tip portion on the underside thereof thereby defining a compartment for receiving a switch means.

When a finger presses against a hard surface SO in a direction indicated by an arrow in Figure 3b, it actuates the switch means 20 rendering the first 24 and second 28 contact plates to come into contact with each other as illustrated in Figure 3b. An ON signal created is then transmitted to the sound system 30 through the internal cables 32 provided within the pair of gloves 12L, 12R.

Figures 4a and b and 5a and b are circuit diagrams of electronic musical instrumentX embodying the present invention.

The circuit diagrams shown in Figs 4a and 4b are both based around an integrated circuit 50 which is the circuit EMO1SH, manufactured by Elcap Electronics Ltd.

This has terminals 16, 17 to which a power supply is connected. One side of the power supply is also connected respectively to either terminals 1, 3, 5, 6, or 8, 10, 12, 13 through respective switches 20 in the fingers of the gloves. A resistor Rosc connected between terminals 19, 20 sets the basic operating frequency of the circuit 50 and therefore determines the range of frequencies which can be produced by operation of the switches 20.

The sound generating output of the circuit 50 is the terminals 21, 22 across which a piezo buzzer is connected.

When the player closes one of the switches 20, the circuit 50 uses the basic operating frequency to synthesize a frequency which depends on the switch which has been closed, and this synthesized frequency is supplied to the buzzer 18 to cause a sound of corresponding pitch to be produced.

The circuit shown in Figs 5a and 5b are similar to those shown in Figs 4a and 4b in that they are basedon an integrated circuit 52. In Figs 5a and 5b, the circuit is the HT-22 circuit manufactured by Holtek Semiconductor Inc.

A power supply and an amplifying circuit including a speaker 18 is connected to the terminals VSS, ENV, and BZ1 of the circuit 52. One side of the power supply is also connected through the switches 20 respectively to either terminals K6, K9, K10, K11, or K13, K15, K17 and K18.

The basic operating frequency of the circuit 52 is governed by a capacitor C1 connected between the terminals CP1, CP2.

In operation, the user closes one of the switches 20 to provide an input to the circuit 52, which uses the basic operating frequency to synthesize a frequency signal which is output at EZ1 to the amplifying circuit, and amplified to the audible through the speaker 18. The pitch of the synthesized sound is determined by which switch 20 has been closed.

The musical instruments described above are adapted to be wearable and removably receivable on the hands of a player and are expected to be found to be easy to operate and fun to play.

It will be understood from the above that many variations and modifications may be made to the apparatus described without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In particular, many different forms of switch and many other sound generating circuits could be used.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importnnce it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising a pair of glove means for receiving the hands of a player; means incorporated in said pair of gloves means for generating musical tones; said musical tone generating means comprising a plurality of tone selecting switch means each being disposed at a finger tip portion of the finger members of said glove means on the underside thereof and adapted to be actuable by a finger tip of the player; and a microprocessor electrically connected to said swtich means by cable means; whereby actuation of a tone selecting switch means causes transmission of an electrical signal input to said microprocessor which in turn outputs and electrical signal to a speaker or piezo buzzer which generates a musical tone corresponding to the switch mean which has been actuated.

2. An electronic musical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein each finger tip portion of said pair of gloves means comprises a compartment within which a tone selecting switch means is accommodated.

3. An electronic musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, wherein an inner skin is attached to the inner surface of the finger tip portion defining said compartment.

4. An electronic musical instrument according to any preceding claim, wherein each switch means comprises a first and second tongue members in spaced relationship with each other at a portion thereof, and first and second contact plates are attached respectively to said first and second tongue members such that actuation of the tone selecting switch means causes said first and second contact plates to come into contact with each other.

5. An electronic musical instrument according to any preceding claim, wherein at least a portion of said cable means are mounted to and extend along the skins of the finger members of the gloves means.

6. An electronic musical instrument according to any preceding claim, wherein at least a portion of said cable means are mounted to and extending along the fourchettes of the gloves means.

7. An electronic musical instrument according to any preceding claim, wherein said speaker or piezo buzzer is provided on the back portion of said glove means and is adapted to be supported by the back of the hand of a player when the hand is received in said glove means.

8. An electronic musical instrument comprising glove means for receiving the hand of a player, a plurality of finger actuable switches incorporated in the glove means, and electrical connection means for connecting the switches to sound generating means, whereby a user may select a sound to be generated by actuating a corresponding switch to provide an electrical signal to the sound generating means.

9. An electronic musical instrument substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3a and 3b of the accompanying drawings.

1 0. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed in the foregoing specification or claims and/or shown in the drawings, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.