JP2008197281A - Keyboard instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a keyboard instrument for guiding a keyboard to depress for playing to a player with a constitution capable of being simply and inexpensively manufactured. <P>SOLUTION: A keyboard instrument 100 is provided with a light emitting part 104 capable of outputting a light with a plurality of colors and a plurality of keyboard switches 105 colored in accordance with the colors of light of the light emitting part 104. Thus, it is made possible to provide a fun with lighting in various colors and guide a keyboard to depress for playing in accordance with the color of light to a player with a typical constitution capable of being simply and inexpensively manufactured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a keyboard instrument that guides a user to a keyboard that is pressed for performance.

  Music does not need to be explained, it gives joy regardless of nationality or age, and playing musical instruments is also fun. There are many instruments that require training and skill, but among them, keyboard instruments such as piano and electone are instruments that are easy to attach from the viewpoint of ease of sound when they are pressed and the degree of diffusion. It can be said. However, even with such keyboard instruments, especially for beginners and toddlers, the association between the keyboard and sound is insufficient, so that it is possible to grasp which key should be pressed for the next sound to be output. A certain amount of habituation is still necessary before becoming.

Therefore, a configuration for guiding a keyboard to be pressed by light has been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-119772), a light guide is provided in each keyboard, a light emitter (LED) is provided in the back of the keyboard, and a keyboard to be pressed next is lit based on music data. The configuration is described. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-260688, the above configuration guides the fingering sequence to the performer, thereby enhancing the performance practice effect.
JP 11-1119772 A

  However, the configuration described in Patent Document 1 guides the keyboard by simply shining the keyboard. It is thought that interest can be further improved by adding the pleasure of shining in various colors to this light. Such joy is an important factor that can attract people who are unfamiliar with musical instruments, such as beginners and infants, and can become familiar with musical instruments.

  Further, if a light source or a light guide is provided for each keyboard as in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to add a large number of components together with a relay circuit for switching the light source. Then, there is a problem that the cost of components increases, the manufacturing cost increases because the mechanism is complicated, and further, the software is expensive because the control is complicated.

  On the other hand, as a demand for keyboard instruments, there is a demand not only for high-priced products that are premised on enhancement of functions but also for low-priced items such as toys for infants. For this reason, there is a request to propose a mechanism for guiding performance by a simple mechanism.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard instrument that guides a user to a keyboard that is pressed for performance with a configuration that can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

  In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of a keyboard instrument according to the present invention includes a light emitting unit capable of outputting light of a plurality of colors, and a plurality of keyboards of colors corresponding to the light colors of the light emitting units. It is characterized by having. That is, the light emitting unit and the plurality of keys correspond one-to-many through colors.

  According to the above-described configuration, for example, a key to be pressed next can be guided by one light source, and it is not necessary to provide a light emitting unit on each key. Therefore, it is possible to guide the performance with an extremely simple configuration, reduce the component cost and the manufacturing cost, and obtain the maximum effect at a low cost.

  The plurality of keys can be colored corresponding to the color of light that can be output by the light emitting unit. In other words, if the color of the light emitting unit is output according to the color of the keyboard, the type and characteristics of the light source are limited, or sometimes it is difficult to control the light source. However, by making the color of the keyboard correspond to the color of the light source, coloring is highly flexible and can be easily manufactured.

  The light emitting section can output 7 to 13 kinds of colors, and it is preferable that the same number of keyboards as the colors that can be output are associated. Theoretically, if the light source has three primary colors, it can theoretically produce tens of thousands of colors, but in order to make the colors different enough to be identified by the user, it is necessary to use a combination of colors with distinct differences. There is. On the other hand, in order to perform to some extent, at least one octave must have a key. For this reason, it is preferable that the light emission part can output 7-13 types of colors.

  Furthermore, when one light emitting unit and a plurality of keyboards corresponding thereto are made one set, a plurality of sets may be provided. Typically, one light emitting unit is arranged for each octave, and a keyboard instrument having a plurality of octave ranges can be obtained. The number of light emitting units is required for the number of sets, but the number of parts can be drastically reduced as compared with the case where they are provided on each keyboard.

  The light emitting unit includes an opening provided in the housing of the apparatus main body, a white translucent canopy member covering the opening, and a light source provided in the opening, and the light source has no canopy member. It is preferable to arrange at a position where it cannot be directly viewed from the opening. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the light source from being directly viewed through the canopy member, and to color the canopy member as a whole. At this time, it is preferable to provide a reflecting member that guides light from the light source to the canopy member.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a keyboard instrument that provides a pleasure to shine in various colors with a configuration that can be manufactured easily and inexpensively, and guides a keyboard to be pressed for performance by a user according to the color of the light. Can be provided.

  An embodiment of a keyboard instrument according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a keyboard instrument according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an exploded rear view illustrating the internal configuration of the keyboard instrument, FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration inside the light emitting unit, and FIG. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of. Note that dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the following examples are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the keyboard instrument 100 includes a power switch 101 as an interface, a mode switch 102 for switching operation modes, a music selection switch 103 for switching built-in music data, a light emitting unit 104, and a plurality of keyboard switches 105. It has.

  The light emitting unit 104 emits light in a color assigned to the scale as will be described later. The keyboard switch 105 includes a color cap 105a colored in a color assigned to the scale. In this embodiment, eight keyboard switches 105 are provided, and a scale corresponding to one octave + 1 white key (whole sound) is assigned.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, inside the apparatus, the battery case 106 connected to the power switch 101, the light source 104b of the light emitting unit 104, the reflector 104c, the speaker 107 that outputs music, and the operation of the apparatus are controlled. A control unit 108 is provided. The CPU 108a provided in the control unit 108 controls each unit and includes a ROM storing several pieces of music data.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the light emitting unit 104, the outer surface of the opening 100b provided in the housing 100a is covered with a white translucent canopy member 104a. The light source 104b provided in the opening 100b is disposed behind the housing 100a, and is disposed at a position where it cannot be directly viewed from the opening 100b without the canopy member 104a. A reflector 104c is disposed behind the light source 104b and guides light from the light source 104b to the canopy member.

  If the light source 104b can be viewed directly through the canopy member 104a, the primary color will be visible, but the light emitting unit 104 is configured as described above to prevent the light source from being viewed directly, and the canopy member 104a is entirely colored. Can be made.

  As the light source 104b, an LED with low power consumption can be preferably used. In order to output an arbitrary color, it is necessary to provide three primary colors including red, green, and blue. However, each color LED may be provided, or one three-color LED may be provided. Depending on the situation, a plurality (or a plurality of sets) of LEDs may be provided for each color in order to obtain a light amount.

  The canopy member 104a is irradiated by the light source 104b and the reflection plate 104c, and a plurality of colors can be output from the canopy member 104a (that is, the light emitting unit 104). Since the color of the output light corresponds to the color of the color cap 105a of the keyboard switch 105, it is possible to recognize which key has been pressed by illuminating the color of the pressed key. If you shine, you can guide the keyboard to be pressed by its color.

  Next, the operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

  When the power switch 101 is turned on, the control unit is energized and the apparatus starts operation. In this embodiment, the automatic performance mode, the free performance mode, and the practice mode can be switched by pressing the mode switch.

  In the automatic performance mode, music is automatically played according to the music data stored in the ROM. The music to be played can be selected cyclically by pressing the music selection switch 103. At this time, in addition to outputting sound from the speaker 107, light of a color corresponding to the scale of the sound output from the light emitting unit 104 is output. As a result, it is possible to improve the interest as compared to the performance of only the sound, and to make the user recognize the correspondence between the scale and the color.

  In the free performance mode, a scale corresponding to the keyboard switch 105 pressed by the user is output from the speaker 107 and light of the corresponding scale is output from the light emitting unit 104. That is, the user can use the keyboard instrument 100 purely as a musical instrument. At this time, by simultaneously producing sound and light, it is possible to improve interest and make the user recognize the correspondence between the scale and light.

  In the practice mode, the light emitting unit 104 outputs a color corresponding to the scale to be pressed based on the music data stored in the ROM. Then, it waits for the user to press the keyboard switch 105 of the corresponding color, and when the correct keyboard switch 105 is pressed, the sound is output from the speaker 107, and the light of the color corresponding to the sound to be pressed next is output. . Here, even if the keyboard switch 105 of a different color (scale) is pressed, the input is ignored, no sound is produced, and no progress is made to the next sound. As a result, the performance can be guided to the user, and the user can easily follow the correct melody line.

  As a modification of the practice mode, the color corresponding to the scale to be pressed is output one after another from the light emitting unit 104 at a tempo according to the music data, and when the user presses the keyboard switch 105, the corresponding scale is output. You may do it. As a result, it is possible to guide to the melody line of the song, and memorize the melody by pressing the keyboard switch according to the color of light.

  That is, according to the present invention, a light source that can output light of a plurality of colors and a plurality of keyboards of colors corresponding to the light colors of the light emitters are provided, so that one light source should be pressed next. You can guide the keyboard. Therefore, it is possible to give pleasure to shine in various colors and guide the performance to the user by the color of the light. Further, since it is not necessary to provide a light emitting portion on each keyboard, it is possible to guide the performance with an extremely simple configuration, reduce the component cost and the manufacturing cost, and obtain the maximum effect at a low cost.

  Here, the color of the color cap 105 a of the keyboard switch 105 can be colored corresponding to the color of light that can be output by the light emitting unit 104. In other words, the color of the keyboard is not matched with the color of the keyboard, but the color of the keyboard is matched with the color of light. Even if red, green, and blue are used as the light source, the three primary colors are not necessarily output in the first place, and there are many cases where freedom does not work if a low-cost light source is used. However, it is more flexible to color the keyboard than to find a light source of the correct color in the current state of the art, and it can be easily matched with colors, and it can be manufactured with accurate color correspondence at a low price It is.

  However, since the light emitting unit 104 is for coloring the white canopy member 104a with light, it is difficult to increase the color definition. For this reason, it is necessary to employ a combination of colors with distinct differences in order to make the colors different enough to be identified by the user. On the other hand, since it is necessary to provide keys for at least one octave in order to perform to some extent, if only white keys (whole sounds) are used, the light emitting unit can output a minimum of seven colors. It is necessary. If the white key and black key (semitone) are combined, there are 12 sounds in one octave, so it is considered that it is sufficient if a maximum of 13 colors of 1 octave + 1 can be output.

  In the above embodiment, only one light emitting unit 104 and eight keyboard switches (about one octave and one note) are provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a wider sound range is provided. Can respond. In other words, a single light emitting unit and a plurality of keyboards corresponding to the light emitting unit are combined into one set, and a plurality of sets are provided, so that a wider sound range can be handled. Typically, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a keyboard instrument having a plurality of octave ranges can be obtained by arranging one light emitting unit for each octave keyboard switch. At this time, the corresponding pitches in each octave (for example, “do” and “do” of each octave, “re” and “re”, etc.) are assigned the same color. However, if the light emitting unit is arranged for each octave of the keyboard, the user can There is no mistake in the pitch. Note that the number of light emitting units is required for the number of sets, but the number of parts can be drastically reduced as compared with the case where light emitting units are provided in all the keyboards, and the manufacturing can be performed at low cost.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a keyboard instrument that guides a keyboard pressed for performance to a user.

It is a perspective view showing the whole keyboard musical instrument composition concerning an embodiment. It is a disassembled rear view explaining the internal structure of a keyboard instrument. It is a figure explaining the structure in a light emission part. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of a keyboard musical instrument. It is a figure explaining the example of other composition of a keyboard musical instrument.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Keyboard instrument, 100a ... Case, 100b ... Opening part, 101 ... Power switch, 102 ... Mode switch, 103 ... Selection switch, 104 ... Light emission part, 104a ... Canopy member, 104b ... Light source, 104c ... Reflector plate, 105 ... Keyboard switch, 105a ... Color cap, 106 ... Battery case, 107 ... Speaker, 108 ... Control unit, 108a ... CPU

Claims (5)

A light emitting unit capable of outputting light of multiple colors;
A keyboard instrument comprising: a plurality of keyboards having colors corresponding to light colors of the light emitting units.   The keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of keys are colored corresponding to the color of light that can be output by the light emitting unit.   2. The keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit can output 7 to 13 kinds of colors, and the same number of keyboards as the colors that can be output are associated. The light emitting unit
An opening provided in the housing of the apparatus body;
A white translucent canopy member covering the opening;
A light source provided in the opening,
The keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein the light source is disposed at a position where the light source cannot be directly viewed from the opening in a state where the canopy member is not provided.   The keyboard instrument according to claim 4, further comprising a reflection member that guides light from the light source to the canopy member.

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