JP2002032083A - Electronic musical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive electronic musical instrument which can be played music with staccatos. SOLUTION: This electronic musical instrument is equipped with a measuring means which measures the time from key depression to key release, a staccato playing detecting means which detects staccato playing when the measured time is shorter than a specific value, and a muting means which mutes a sound being generated in a specific time in response to the key release when the staccato playing detecting means does not detect staccato laying and mutes the sound being generated in a time shorter than the specific time in response to the key release when the staccato playing is detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument, and more particularly to a technique for enabling staccato performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an electronic musical instrument that generates a sound in response to a key operation. This electronic musical instrument is configured to generate a sound in response to a key press and to cancel a sound being generated in response to a key release. In recent years, in order to generate a sound closer to a natural musical instrument, the intensity (speed) of key presses is detected by an initial touch detection circuit, and the timbre can be changed according to the detected key press intensity. Is being done.

However, in such a conventional electronic musical instrument, the time from when the key is released until the sound is actually muted is constant. Therefore, even if a key is operated by the staccato playing method, a lingering sound remains after the key is released, and there is a problem that the staccato performance is not performed because the crispness is poor.

In order to solve such a problem, an electronic musical instrument capable of performing staccato performance has been developed in recent years. For example, an electronic musical instrument disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-34473 detects a key release operation speed, and controls a release time of a tone signal in accordance with the detection result to enable staccato performance. I have.

In the electronic musical instrument disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2580795, when the key information generating means outputs musical information including touch information at the time of key release, the musical signal generated according to the musical information is filtered. Filtering is performed by filter means whose characteristics are controlled based on the envelope. At this time, the envelope control means controls the temporal change speed of the filter envelope to be faster as the touch information at the time of key release is larger. Thus, as the key release speed increases, the time until silencing becomes shorter, so that staccato performance becomes possible.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned conventional electronic musical instrument has a release touch detection circuit for detecting a key release speed, and silences according to the key release speed detected by the release touch detection circuit. The staccato performance is made possible by changing the time. Therefore,
Since it is necessary to provide a release touch detection circuit for each key, there is a problem that the electronic musical instrument becomes expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide an inexpensive electronic musical instrument capable of performing staccato performances.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention has a measuring means for measuring a time from a key depression to a key release, and a predetermined time measured by the measuring means. A staccato performance detection means for detecting staccato performance if the value is equal to or less than a predetermined value; Mute means for silencing in time and, when it is detected that a staccato performance is detected, muting a sound being generated in response to a key release in a time shorter than the predetermined time.

In this electronic musical instrument, the measuring means includes a key depression detecting means for detecting a key depression, and a key release detection means for detecting a key release, and the key depression detection means detects the key depression. The time measurement may be started at a certain time, and the time measurement may be stopped when the key release detecting means detects a key release.

The electronic musical instrument may further include storage means for sequentially storing the time measured by the measurement means, and the staccato performance detection means may determine that an average value of the plurality of times stored in the storage means is a predetermined value. If the value is equal to or less than the value, the staccato performance can be detected.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention. The electronic musical instrument includes a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a “CPU”) 10, a program memory 13, a work memory 14, a keyboard scan circuit 15, and a sound source 17 which are interconnected by a system bus 30. The system bus 30 includes, for example, an address bus, a data bus, a control signal bus, and the like, and is used to transfer data between the above-described components.

An operation panel 11 and an external interface (I / F) 12 are connected to the CPU 10. Also,
A keyboard device 16 is connected to the keyboard scanning circuit 15. Further, the sound source 17 includes a waveform memory 18 and an amplifier 19.
Are connected, and a speaker 20 is connected to the amplifier 19.

The CPU 10 controls the entire electronic musical instrument according to a control program stored in the program memory 13. This CPU 10 includes a timer 10a. The timer 10a generates an interrupt signal at a constant cycle in response to a timer start command, and stops generating an interrupt signal in response to a timer stop command. This timer 10a
Corresponds to the measuring means of the present invention, and is used to measure the time from key depression to key release in keyboard processing described later. Details of the processing performed by the CPU 10 will be described later in detail with reference to flowcharts.

The operation panel 1 connected to the CPU 10
Although not shown, 1 is a switch such as a tone selection switch, a rhythm selection switch, a tempo setting switch, a volume control switch, a sound effect selection switch, an LED indicating an ON or OFF state of each switch, and a message. And the like.

An external interface (I / F) 12 connected to the CPU 10 is composed of, for example, a MIDI interface, and transmits musical tone data generated inside the electronic musical instrument to the outside, and is transmitted from the outside. Used to receive incoming music data.

The program memory 13 comprises a read only memory (ROM). The program memory 13 stores tone color parameters, automatic performance data, and the like, in addition to the above-described control programs.

The tone color parameters are prepared for each of a plurality of tone colors and tone ranges, and are used to generate musical tones of various tone colors. Each tone color parameter includes a waveform address, frequency data, a filter coefficient, envelope data, and the like. The waveform address is an address of the waveform memory 18 in which waveform data for generating the tone of the tone selected by the tone selection switch is stored. The frequency data is used to specify the pitch of a pressed key, and defines the speed at which waveform data is read from the waveform memory 18. The filter coefficient is used to determine characteristics of a filter built in the sound source 17.

The envelope data defines the shape of the envelope added to the waveform data read from the waveform memory 18. This envelope data is composed of four phase data such as attack, decay, sustain and release, as shown in FIG.
Each phase data includes a target level and a time (or speed) required to reach the target level. For example, in the phase data β of the normal release, the target level is zero and the arrival time is T1. In contrast, the staccato release phase data α has a target level of zero and an arrival time of T2 (T2 <T1).

The work memory 14 is composed of a random access memory (RAM), and temporarily stores various data used by the CPU 10 for various processes. Registers, counters, flags, and the like for controlling the electronic musical instrument are defined in the work memory 14. The time counter (to be described later) used in this embodiment is provided in the work memory 14.

The keyboard device 16 has a plurality of keys for instructing sound generation and mute. This keyboard device 16 includes:
For example, a two-contact method is adopted, and key data representing a key turned on / off and initial touch data representing the strength (speed) of keying are detected. That is, each key of the keyboard device 16 includes a first key switch that is turned on at a first pressing depth and a second key switch that is turned on at a second pressing depth deeper than the first pressing depth. (Neither is shown). The keyboard device 16 is connected to the keyboard scanning circuit 15.

The keyboard scan circuit 15 corresponds to the key press detection means and the key release detection means of the present invention, and the keyboard device 16 and the CP
Controls transmission and reception of data to and from U10. The keyboard scan circuit 15 sends a scan signal to the keyboard device 16 and receives data indicating the on / off state of the first and second key switches returned from the keyboard device 16 in response to the scan signal. And from the received data,
Generate key data and initial touch data. The key data is composed of a bit string corresponding to each key.

Specifically, the generation of key data is performed as follows. That is, when the second key switch is turned on, it is detected that the key provided with the second key switch is pressed, and the bit corresponding to the key is set to "1". When the first key switch is turned off, it is detected that the key provided with the first key switch has been released, and the bit corresponding to the key is cleared to "0".

The generation of the initial touch data is performed as follows. That is, the time from when the first key switch is turned on to when the second key switch is turned on is measured. Then, the value obtained by this measurement is used as initial touch data. The key data and the initial touch data thus generated are sent to the CPU 10 via the system bus 30.

The sound source 17 has a plurality of oscillators. The sound source 17 is connected to a waveform memory 18 composed of, for example, a ROM. The waveform memory 18 stores a plurality of pulse code modulated (PCM) waveform data corresponding to a plurality of key ranges of a plurality of timbres.

The sound source 17 reads out the waveform data stored in the waveform memory 18 based on the timbre parameters received from the CPU 10, and adds an envelope thereto to generate a tone signal. Further, based on the release phase data received from the CPU 10, the amplitude of the tone signal gradually approaches zero, and when the tone signal reaches zero, generation of the tone signal is stopped. The tone signal generated by the sound source 17 is supplied to the amplifier 1
9

The amplifier 19 amplifies and outputs the input tone signal. The tone signal from the amplifier 19 is sent to a speaker 20. The speaker 20 converts a tone signal as an electric signal into an acoustic signal. The speaker 20 is used to depress a key of the keyboard device 16 or the program memory 13.
A tone is generated according to the automatic performance data read from the CPU.

Next, the operation of the electronic musical instrument according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to flowcharts.

(1) Main Processing FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the main processing of the electronic musical instrument, which is started when the power is turned on. When the power is turned on, first, an initialization process is performed (step S10). In this initialization process, the internal state of the CPU 10 is set to the initial state. Also, the work memory 14
Initial values are set in the registers, counters, flags, and the like defined in.

When the initialization process is completed, a panel process is performed (step S11). In this panel processing,
In response to the operation of the switch on the operation panel 11, the function assigned to the operated switch is realized.
For example, in this panel processing, a timbre selection process according to an operation of a timbre selection switch, a rhythm selection process according to an operation of a rhythm selection switch, a tempo setting process according to an operation of a tempo setting switch, and an operation of a volume control switch Volume control processing, sound effect selection processing in response to operation of the sound effect selection switch, and the like.

Next, keyboard processing is performed (step S).
12). In this keyboard processing, sound generation processing according to key depression and mute processing according to key release are performed. The details of this keyboard processing will be described later in detail.

Next, automatic performance processing is performed (step S13). In this automatic performance processing, processing for generating an automatic performance sound based on the automatic performance data stored in the program memory 13 is performed.

Next, other processing is performed (step S14). The “other processing” includes MIDI data transmission / reception processing and the like. Then, step S11
And the same processing is repeated thereafter. In the process of repeatedly executing steps S11 to S14, the operation panel 1
When an event based on the operation of the keyboard 1 or the keyboard device 16 occurs, various functions as an electronic musical instrument are exhibited by performing processing corresponding to the event.

(2) Interrupt processing FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the interrupt processing. This interrupt processing is started in response to an interrupt signal generated from the timer 10a at a constant cycle. In this interrupt processing, the content of the time counter is incremented (step S2).
0). Thereafter, the sequence returns to the interrupted position.

(3) Keyboard Processing FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the keyboard processing.
It is called from step S12 of the main processing routine.

In this keyboard processing, first, the presence or absence of a keyboard event is checked (step S30). This is performed as follows. That is, by scanning the keyboard device 16 with the keyboard scanning circuit 15, key data indicating the pressed state of each key (hereinafter, referred to as "new key data") is captured.

Next, the key data (hereinafter referred to as "old key data") which has been read last time and already stored in the work memory 14 is compared with the new key data. Created. The presence or absence of a keyboard event is determined by referring to this key event map. That is, if there is at least one bit that is on in the key event map, it is determined that a keyboard event has occurred.

If it is determined in step S20 that a keyboard event has occurred, it is determined whether the keyboard event is a key press event (step S31). When it is determined that the event is a key pressing event, a sound generation process (steps S32 to S35) is performed.

In the sound generation process, first, the content of the time counter is cleared to zero (step S32). Then
The timer 10a is started (Step S33). That is,
The CPU 10 sends a timer start command to the timer 10a. As a result, the timer 10a starts operating. Thereafter, since an interrupt is generated from the timer 10a at a constant cycle, the content of the time counter is incremented at a constant cycle in the above-described interrupt processing routine.

Next, tone generation is performed (step S).
34). That is, 1 included in the sound source 17 by the assigner
Tones are assigned to several oscillators. And
The tone color parameters corresponding to the key having the key press event are read from the program memory 13 and sent to the sound source 17 (step S35). The timbre parameter sent to the sound source 17 is determined based on the key number of the key having the key press event, the initial touch data, the timbre number selected at that time, and the like. As a result, a tone signal based on the tone color parameter is generated by the oscillator to which the sound source 17 is assigned, and is generated via the amplifier 19 and the speaker 20 in sequence.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S31 that the event is not a key press event, it is recognized that the event is a key release event, and a mute process (steps S36 to S39) is performed.

In this silencing process, first, the timer 10a is stopped (step S36). That is, the CPU 10 sends a timer stop command to the timer 10a. This allows
The timer 10a stops operating. Thereafter, the timer 10a
The interruption from is suppressed. Next, it is checked whether the timer value stored in the time counter is larger than a predetermined value (step S37). When it is determined that the timer value is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the release phase data is changed (step S38). That is, the normal release phase data β included in the timbre parameter is the staccato release phase data α
Is changed to

Then, the changed release phase data α is sent to the sound source (step S39). As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the release envelope reaches zero earlier than at the time of normal key release, so that the sound is muted earlier than at the time of normal key release. As a result, the crisp staccato performance can be performed by shortening the keying time. Thereafter, the sequence returns to the main processing routine.

If it is determined in step S37 that the timer value is larger than the predetermined value, steps S38 and S38 are executed.
Step 39 is skipped. Therefore, in this case, the sound is muted at the same speed as the conventional one.

As described above, according to the electronic musical instrument of this embodiment, if the time during which the key is depressed is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the sound is muted in a shorter time than the time required for normal muting. The staccato performance can be performed without detecting the key release speed. As a result, since a release touch detection circuit for detecting a key release speed is not required, an electronic musical instrument having a staccato performance function can be configured at low cost.

In the above-described embodiment, the time from one key press to the key release is measured, and the release time is changed based on the timer value obtained by the measurement. The timer values are sequentially stored in the work memory 14, an average value of the plurality of timer values stored in the work memory 14 is calculated, and the release time is changed based on the calculated timer value. You can also.

In this case, a stack is formed in the work memory 14, and a step of storing the timer value obtained by the measurement in the stack is added between steps S36 and S37 shown in FIG. It can be configured to compare an average value of a plurality of timer values stored in the stack with a predetermined value. According to this configuration, it is possible to estimate whether or not the player intends to perform a staccato performance, so that it is possible to generate a sound that matches the intention of the player.

In the above-described embodiment, when the timer value of the time counter is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the sound is muted at a constant speed higher than the normal muffling speed. It can also be configured to mute the sound.

[0049]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
An inexpensive electronic musical instrument capable of performing staccato performance can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining envelope data used in the electronic musical instrument according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing main processing of the electronic musical instrument according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process of the electronic musical instrument according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing keyboard processing of the electronic musical instrument according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 CPU 11 Operation panel 12 External interface (I / F) 13 Program memory 14 Work memory 15 Keyboard scan circuit 16 Keyboard device 17 Sound source 18 Amplifier 19 Speaker 20 System bus

Claims (3)

[Claims] A measuring means for measuring a time from a key depression to a key release; a staccato performance detecting means for detecting a staccato performance if the time measured by the measuring means is a predetermined value or less; If the staccato performance detection means does not detect staccato performance, the sound being generated is erased in response to the key release for a predetermined period of time, and if the staccato performance is detected, the response to the key release is performed. And a silencer for silencing the sound being generated in a time shorter than the predetermined time. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit includes a key-press detection unit that detects a key-depression, and a key-release detection unit that detects a key-release. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein measurement is started, and the measurement of the time is stopped when a key release is detected by the key release detection unit. 3. A storage means for sequentially storing the time measured by said measuring means, wherein said staccato performance detecting means is provided when an average value of a plurality of times stored in said storing means is equal to or less than a predetermined value. 3. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the electronic musical instrument detects a staccato performance.