JP2002278554A - Keyboard of electronic keyboard instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide keyboards of an electronic keyboard instrument, which is capable of realizing sense of vibration transmission during key touch with simple constitution and is capable of realizing a touch feel approximate to that of an acoustic piano. SOLUTION: The keyboards 1a and 1b of the electronic keyboard have freely turnable keyboard bodies 2 and vibration mechanisms 3, which are disposed at these keyboard bodies 2 and forcibly vibrate the keyboard bodies 2 as the keyboard bodies 2, are touched. The vibration mechanisms 3 have springs 5a and 5b, which have prescribed spring constants and are attached at one end to the keyboard bodies 2 and vibration weights 6a and 6b, which have prescribed weights and are attached to the other ends of the springs 5a and 5b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a keyboard for an electronic keyboard instrument such as an electronic piano.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 5 and 6 show an example of a conventional keyboard device of an electronic piano in a key released state and a key pressed state, respectively. In particular, the keyboard device 51 is designed to obtain a let-off effect unique to an acoustic piano (an effect in which the touch weight of the keyboard is suddenly reduced by the jack coming out immediately before the hammer hits a string). The keyboard device 51 includes a number of keyboards 52 (only one white key and one black key are shown), and a first hammer 55, a jack 56, and a second hammer 5 for each keyboard 52.
7 and a stopper 58 are provided as a pseudo action.

The keyboard 52 is formed in a hollow shape by a plastic molded product, and has a rear end (the right end in FIG. 1).
Are rotatably supported by a keyboard fulcrum 54 provided on a chassis 53. The first hammer 55 is supported by the chassis 53 so as to be rotatable about a support shaft 55a, and extends rearward and long. The actuator portion 52a of the keyboard 52 contacts the actuator contact portion 55b on the front side of the support shaft 55a of the first hammer 55 from above. Jack 56
Is formed in an inverted L-shape, and is attached to a portion of the first hammer 55 projecting rearward from the chassis 53 so as to be rotatable around a support shaft 56a.

A second hammer 57 is provided with a jack 56
, And is rotatably supported on the support shaft 57a by the chassis 53. In the key release state, the jack 56 is in contact with the jack from below. The stopper 58 is
It is provided on the chassis 53 so as to face the upper side of the hammer 57. Further, a jack stopper 59 is provided on the chassis 53. In a key release state, the jack 56 faces the lower side of the jack stopper 59, and the second hammer 57 is placed on the jack stopper 59. ing.

With the above arrangement, when the keyboard 52 is depressed from the key release state shown in FIG.
The first hammer 55 is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing by being pressed through the actuator portion 52a and the actuator contact portion 55b of the first hammer 55. Thereby, the weight of the pseudo action mainly including the first hammer 55 is added to the keyboard 52, and a touch weight similar to that of an acoustic piano is obtained. With the rotation of the first hammer 55, the jack 56 rotates together with the first hammer 55, pushing up the second hammer 57 and rotating it upward. Thereafter, when the rotation of the first hammer 55 advances, the jack 56 rotates counterclockwise about the support shaft 56a by contacting the jack stopper 59. As a result, the jack 56 comes out of the second hammer 57 and enters the recess 57b (see FIG. 6). With such a “fall out” of the jack 56, a let-off effect similar to that of an acoustic piano can be obtained. Thereafter, the second hammer 57 continues to rotate and collides with the stopper 58, so that the hammer of the acoustic piano achieves a string-hitting effect.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional keyboard device 51, in order to realize a touch feeling as close as possible to that of an acoustic piano, the first hammer 55 and the like are required when the keyboard 52 is pressed. , The effect of adding the touch weight, the let-off effect of the jack 56, and the striking effect of the second hammer 57 are faithfully reproduced.

However, the actual touch feeling of an acoustic piano is obtained not only by the touch weight and the transition thereof at the time of key depression reproduced by the keyboard device 51, but also by a combination of other factors. It is. That is,
In an acoustic piano, when a key is pressed, the vibration of the strings caused by the hammer striking is transmitted to the soundboard, and the piano body, including the frame and the shelf, resonates accordingly, and the vibration of the shelf is played via the keyboard. To the finger of the person. Also, in the case of an acoustic piano, the strings resonate with the vibrations of other strings and vibrate.
It is transmitted to the performer's finger via the soundboard, shelf and keyboard. The player senses the vibration transmitted to the keyboard as described above at the fingertips together with the touch weight of the keyboard, and thereby feels a solid touch with a unique feel of an acoustic piano.

On the other hand, the conventional keyboard device 51 merely reproduces the touch weight and the transition thereof when the key is pressed, so that the above-described vibration of the string in the acoustic piano is transmitted to the fingertip. A sensation (hereinafter referred to as “vibration transmission feeling”) cannot be obtained, and as a result, the touch tends to be a touchless and frivolous touch, leaving a sense of incongruity.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and can reproduce a feeling of transmitting vibration when a key is pressed with a simple configuration, thereby realizing a touch feeling closer to that of an acoustic piano. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a keyboard of an electronic keyboard musical instrument that can be used.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, a keyboard for an electronic keyboard instrument according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a rotatable keyboard body, and provided on the keyboard body, wherein the keyboard body is depressed. And a vibrating mechanism for forcibly vibrating the keyboard main body.

According to the keyboard of this electronic keyboard instrument, the keyboard body is forcibly vibrated by the vibration mechanism as the key body is depressed. By transmitting the vibration of the keyboard body to the fingertip of the player, the player can feel the vibration as a feeling similar to the vibration transmission feeling of an acoustic piano.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the keyboard of the electronic keyboard instrument according to the first aspect, the keyboard body is formed in a hollow shape, and the vibration mechanism is built in the keyboard body.

According to this configuration, since the vibration mechanism is built in the hollow keyboard main body, the vibration mechanism is provided without requiring a special installation space and without hindering the performance. be able to. Further, a keyboard having a keyboard body formed in a hollow shape generally exists as one type of this type of keyboard, as in the case of the above-described conventional keyboard. Therefore, the present invention relates to such an existing keyboard. It is also possible to realize this by retrofitting a vibration mechanism to the motor.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the keyboard of the electronic keyboard instrument according to the second aspect, the vibrating mechanism has a predetermined spring constant, and one end has a predetermined weight with a spring attached to the keyboard main body. And a vibrating weight attached to the other end of the spring.

According to this configuration, the vibration mechanism including the spring having one end attached to the keyboard main body and the vibrating weight attached to the other end vibrates with the key depression of the keyboard, and the vibration is transmitted to the keyboard main body. This causes the keyboard to vibrate. As described above, the simple configuration of the spring and the vibrating weight can realize the feeling of transmitting vibration at low cost. Further, for the same reason, the vibration mechanism can be easily and compactly built into the keyboard body.

Further, the vibrating mechanism composed of the spring and the vibrating weight having the above-described structure vibrates more as the keyboard is strongly struck, so that the keyboard vibrates more accordingly, thereby providing a greater feeling of vibration transmission. On the other hand, an acoustic piano has the characteristic that the natural frequency of a keyboard and the frequency of a string generated by depressing a key on the keyboard are the same, so that a stronger struck keyboard transmits a larger vibration. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily realize a vibration transmission feeling that matches such characteristics of an acoustic piano.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the keyboard of the electronic keyboard instrument according to the third aspect, the springs are arranged along a length direction of the keyboard main body, and an upper end portion is provided on a top wall of the keyboard main body. The vibration weight is constituted by a plurality of fixed and hanging coil springs, and the vibration weight is constituted by one vibration weight commonly attached to lower ends of the plurality of coil springs.

According to this configuration, since a common vibrating weight is attached to the plurality of hanging coil springs arranged in the length direction of the keyboard main body, the vibrating weight swings in the width direction of the keyboard main body. By vibrating easily, the vibration mechanism can be easily vibrated.

Alternatively, claim 5 of the present invention is claim 3
Is characterized in that the keyboard is composed of a plurality of keys, and a predetermined spring constant of a spring of the plurality of keys is set in accordance with a tone range.

In an acoustic piano, in general, the frequency of the strings and the damping rate differ depending on the tone range, and all of them are smaller on the lower tone side. On the other hand, the natural frequency and the damping rate of the vibration mechanism including the spring and the vibrating weight change according to the spring constant of the spring, and decrease as the spring constant decreases. Therefore, according to the present invention, the natural frequency and damping rate of the keyboard are set in accordance with the range of the acoustic piano, for example, by setting the spring constant in accordance with the tone range, for example, as the bass side becomes smaller. Therefore, a vibration transmission feeling and a touch feeling more similar to an acoustic piano can be realized.

Alternatively, claim 6 of the present invention is claim 3
Is characterized in that the keyboard is composed of a plurality of keys, and a predetermined weight of the vibrating weight is set according to the range of the musical instrument.

The natural frequency and the damping rate of the vibration mechanism having the above-described structure also change according to the weight of the vibrating weight, and become smaller as the weight becomes larger. Therefore, according to the present invention, by setting the weight of the vibrating weight in accordance with the tone range, for example, to be larger on the lower tone side, the natural frequency and the damping rate of the keyboard can be reduced as in the case of claim 5. By matching the vibration characteristics of the strings, a feeling of vibration transmission and a feeling of touch more similar to an acoustic piano can be realized. The change setting of the weight of the vibrating weight according to the present invention may be performed instead of, or may be performed together with, the change setting of the spring constant of the spring according to the fifth aspect. In general, in an acoustic piano, the touch weight is different depending on the range, and the lower the tone, the larger the weight of the vibrating weight is set according to the range so that such a touch weight distribution can be obtained. The vibrating weight can also be used as a weight for adjusting the touch weight.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 schematically show a keyboard of an electronic piano according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a keyboard 1 for a low frequency range.
FIG. 1B shows a keyboard 1b for a high frequency range. Although not shown, in this electronic piano, both keys 1a,
A large number of keys including the key 1b are arranged in parallel, and the pressed state of these keys is detected by a keyboard switch, so that a piano sound corresponding to the detection result is output from a speaker (not shown). The two keyboards 1a and 1b have the same basic configuration, and include a keyboard main body 2 and a vibration mechanism 3 provided on the keyboard main body 2.

The keyboard body 2 is made of, for example, a plastic molded product, is formed in a hollow shape having a rectangular cross section with an open bottom surface, and extends in the front-rear direction. The keyboard body 2 is rotatably supported at its rear end by a keyboard fulcrum 4, and pivots downward about the keyboard fulcrum 4 when its front portion is pressed.

The vibration mechanism 3 is built in the keyboard body 2, and in the case of the keyboard 1a for the low frequency range, the front and rear coil springs 5a and 5a attached to the keyboard body 2 and the vibration attached to the lower ends thereof. It is composed of a weight 6a. Coil spring 5
Reference numerals a and 5a are made of, for example, steel wire windings, have the same predetermined spring constant, and are arranged at a predetermined interval on the front portion of the top wall 2a of the keyboard main body 2. Each coil spring 5a has an upper end fixed to the top wall 2a and hangs down from the top wall 2a.

The vibrating weight 6a is made of, for example, a thick iron plate, has a predetermined weight, and
a, 5a, and are arranged in the keyboard main body 2 so as to extend in the length direction thereof.

The structure of the vibration mechanism 3 of the high frequency keyboard 1b is as follows.
This is basically the same as the above-described vibration mechanism 3 of the low range keyboard 1a. However, the spring constant of the coil spring 5b is set to a larger predetermined value by making the winding thicker than the coil spring 5a, and the weight of the vibrating weight 6b is shorter than that of the vibrating weight 6a. It is set to a small predetermined value.

Next, the operation at the time of depressing the keys of the keyboards 1a and 1b having the above configuration will be described. Since the basic operations of the two keys 1a and 1b are the same, the following description will be focused on the former 1a. When the player presses the front part of the keyboard 1a with a finger, the vibration mechanism 3 including the coil spring 5a and the vibrating weight 6a vibrates accordingly. In the present embodiment, one common oscillating weight 6a is attached to the two coil springs 5a, 5a arranged in front and back, and the oscillating weight 6a swings in the width direction of the keyboard main body 2 (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2). Since it is easy to vibrate, the vibration mechanism 3 can be easily vibrated. The vibration of the vibration mechanism 3 is transmitted to the keyboard main body 2a via the coil spring 5a, whereby the keyboard main body 2 is forcibly vibrated. Then, by transmitting the vibration of the keyboard body 2 to the fingertip of the player, the player can feel the vibration as a feeling similar to the vibration transmission feeling of an acoustic piano.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the feeling of transmitting vibration of an acoustic piano can be realized at low cost with a simple configuration of the coil spring 5a and the vibrating weight 6a. For the same reason, the vibration mechanism 3 can be easily and compactly built into the keyboard main body 2 without requiring a special installation space and without hindering the performance.

Further, since the vibration mechanism 3 vibrates more as the keyboard 1a is strongly struck, the keyboard body 2 also vibrates accordingly, so that a greater vibration transmission feeling can be obtained. Therefore, it is possible to easily realize a vibration transmission feeling that matches the characteristic of the acoustic piano described above, in which the greater the strength of the keyboard, the greater the vibration transmitted. Further, the vibration mechanism 3 also vibrates due to resonance with vibration of other keyboards or vibration of sound emitted from a speaker, and this phenomenon is similar to a resonance phenomenon of a string with another string in an acoustic piano. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a thicker vibration transmission feeling and, consequently, a touch feeling similar to an acoustic piano.

When comparing the vibration mechanisms 3 of the low and high range keyboards 1a and 1b, as described above, the coil spring 5a has a smaller spring constant than the coil spring 5b, and the vibration weight 6a has a vibration weight 6a. Since the weight is set to be heavier than 6b, the natural frequency and the damping rate of the vibration mechanism 3 are all smaller for the low-tone keyboard 1a. On the other hand, as described above, in an acoustic piano, in general, the frequency and attenuation rate of a string differ according to the sound range, and all of them are smaller on the lower tone side. Therefore, by setting the spring constants of the coil springs 5a and 5b of the vibration mechanism 3 and the weights of the vibrating weights 6a and 6b as described above, the natural frequencies and damping rates of the keyboards 1a and 1b can be adjusted to the strings of the acoustic piano. Can be matched to the vibration characteristics. As a result, it is possible to realize a vibration transmission feeling and a touch feeling more similar to those of an acoustic piano.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a keyboard of an electronic piano according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
(B) shows the low frequency keyboard 1a and the high frequency keyboard 1b, respectively. That is, the keyboards 1a and 1b of this embodiment
Differs from the first embodiment in that leaf springs 15a and 15b are used instead of the coil springs 5a and 5b of the first embodiment. The leaf springs 15a and 15b are each formed of an elongated strip-shaped steel plate or the like. Is attached. Also, as in the first embodiment, the spring constant of the leaf spring 15a of the low-tone keyboard 1a is set to a smaller predetermined value by making it thinner than the leaf spring 15b of the high-tone keyboard 1b. Weight of the vibrating weight 1
It is set to a predetermined value larger than 6b.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, for example, when the player presses the front part of the keyboard 1a with his / her finger, the vibration mechanism 13 comprising the leaf spring 15a and the vibrating weight 16a is accompanied.
Vibrates mainly in the vertical direction (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4), whereby the feeling of vibration transmission in the acoustic piano can be reproduced. In addition, low and high range keyboard 1
a, 1b, the spring constants of the leaf springs 15a, 15b and the vibrating weight 1
By setting the weights of 6a and 16b as described above, the natural frequencies and damping rates of the keyboards 1a and 1b can be made to match the vibration characteristics of the strings of the acoustic piano. Can be obtained similarly.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but can be implemented in various modes.
For example, in the two embodiments described above, both the spring constant of the spring and the weight of the vibrating weight are changed in order to obtain different natural frequencies and damping rates between the low and high range keys 1a and 1b. However, only one of them may be changed. Further, the sound range may be further finely divided, and the spring constant and / or the weight of the vibrating weight may be changed for each divided sound range. Further, the vibrating weight may also be used as a weight for adjusting the touch weight, in which case the weight of the vibrating weight is
The setting is made so that the touch weight distribution of the acoustic piano can be obtained according to the range.

The configuration of the vibration mechanism of the embodiment is merely an example, and any other configuration may be employed as long as the keyboard body can be forcibly vibrated in response to key depression. it can. Further, the embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an electronic piano. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be similarly applied to other types of electronic keyboard instruments if appropriate. In addition, the configuration of the details can be appropriately changed within the scope of the present invention.

[0036]

As described above, the keyboard of the electronic keyboard instrument of the present invention can reproduce the feeling of transmitting vibration when a key is pressed with a simple configuration, thereby realizing a touch feeling closer to that of an acoustic piano. It has the effect of being able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing (a) a low-range keyboard and (b) a high-range keyboard of an electronic piano according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the bass keyboard of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing (a) a low-range keyboard and (b) a high-range keyboard of an electronic piano according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the bass keyboard of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of a conventional keyboard device for an electronic piano in a key released state.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the keyboard device of FIG. 5 in a key pressed state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a Keyboard (for low frequency range) 1b Keyboard (for high frequency range) 2 Keyboard body 3 Vibration mechanism 5a Coil spring (for low frequency range) 5b Coil spring (for high frequency range) 6a Vibration weight (for low frequency range) 6b Vibration weight (high frequency range) 15a Leaf spring (for low frequency range) 15b Leaf spring (for high frequency range) 16a Vibration weight (for low frequency range) 16b Vibration weight (for high frequency range)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard body that is rotatable, and a vibration mechanism that is provided on the keyboard body and that forcibly vibrates the keyboard body as the key body is depressed. Characteristic keyboard of electronic keyboard instrument. 2. The keyboard for an electronic keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein said keyboard main body is formed in a hollow shape, and said vibration mechanism is built in said keyboard main body. 3. The vibration mechanism has a predetermined spring constant, one end of which is attached to the keyboard body, and a vibration weight which has a predetermined weight and is attached to the other end of the spring. The keyboard of an electronic keyboard instrument according to claim 2, comprising: 4. The vibrating weight, wherein the spring is arranged along a length direction of the keyboard main body, and has a plurality of coil springs whose upper end is fixed to a top wall of the keyboard main body and hangs down. The keyboard of an electronic keyboard instrument according to claim 3, characterized in that the keyboard is constituted by one vibrating weight commonly attached to lower ends of the plurality of coil springs. 5. The keyboard according to claim 3, wherein the keyboard is composed of a plurality of keys, and the predetermined spring constant of the spring of the plurality of keys is set according to a sound range. Keyboard of the described electronic keyboard instrument. 6. The electronic keyboard according to claim 3, wherein said keyboard comprises a plurality of keyboards, and said predetermined weight of said vibrating weight is set according to a sound range. Keyboard of musical instrument.