JP2008224752A - Performance assist device and musical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To impart a feeling of blowing as if blowing an actual wind instrument to a player. <P>SOLUTION: In a mouthpiece 21 of a brass instrument 2, an actuator for sound generation 11 for generating a sound wave is provided. A player blows the instrument by placing his/her lips 5 on a second mouthpiece 22 provided separately from the mouthpiece 21 mounted on the actual brass instrument 2 and blowing expired air into it. A sensor 226 for detecting sound pressure is provided on a position between a throat part 222 and a shank part 223 of the second mouthpiece 22. The sound wave is generated in the mouthpiece 21 by the actuator for sound generation 11 driven based on the detection result of the sensor 226, and this makes playing sound be emitted from the brass instrument 2. Also, an actuator for back pressure 228 is driven based on the detection result of the sensor 226, and this makes it possible for the player to feel the back pressure on his/her lips 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for giving a blow feeling to a blower.

Techniques for automatically playing musical instruments by machines are widely known. For example, automatic organs and automatic pianos that automatically perform musical instruments have been produced for a long time. In recent years, machines that automatically play not only keyboard instruments but also wind instruments have been developed. Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose robots that automatically play brass instruments.
JP 2004-258443 A JP 2004-177828 A JP 2004-314187 A

  By the way, in the conventional automatic organ, automatic piano, or the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, all performances are automatically performed by the machine, and the user only listens to the performance. On the other hand, there are many people who want to play music, and there are many requests that they want to enjoy playing musical instruments with their own performance even if their performance skills are not yet mature. In order to meet such a demand, a performance assist device that generates a performance sound corresponding to a performance operation of a performer instead of an actual performance sound has been proposed. According to such a performance assisting device, even if the performance technique is immature, the performer can play the instrument well by his performance operation.

By the way, performers who play actual musical instruments perform while feeling a sense of performance in various ways. For example, in a brass instrument such as a trumpet, a wind performer plays a back pressure called a “back pressure” generated by resonance of the wind of the wind instrument with his / her lips. However, when a performance is performed using the performance assisting device described above, a good performance sound can be played, but the performer cannot feel a sense of performance during the performance and feels uncomfortable. There is.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for giving a blower feeling as if an actual wind instrument is being played.

  A performance assisting device that is a preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided at a position between a throat portion and a shank portion of a second mouthpiece provided separately from a mouthpiece mounted on a wind instrument, Based on the sound pressure detecting means for detecting the sound pressure generated when the exhalation of the blower is blown into the mouthpiece of the mouthpiece and the sound pressure detected by the sound pressure detecting means, Based on the sound generating actuator that generates sound waves and the sound pressure detected by the sound pressure detecting means, when the sound pressure is generated in the mouthpiece attached to the wind instrument, Back pressure calculating means for calculating a back pressure applied, and a back pressure actuator for applying the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculating means to the second mouthpiece.

In the above aspect, the back pressure generating means may add the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculating means to the second mouthpiece by delaying the back pressure by a predetermined time.
Further, in the above-mentioned aspect, the operation detection means for detecting the content of the operation by the blower is provided, and the back pressure means is operated by the operation detection means with the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculation means. A delay corresponding to the operation content may be delayed and added to the second mouthpiece.
In the above-described aspect, the back pressure calculating means may calculate the sound pressure appearing in the closed tube when the sound pressure is generated in the closed tube.
Moreover, the musical instrument which is a suitable aspect of this invention is provided with the above-mentioned performance assistance apparatus, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the present invention, a wind player can obtain a wind feeling as if he / she is playing an actual wind instrument.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a performance assisting apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The performance assisting device 1 is used by being mounted on a brass instrument 2 such as a trumpet, and assists the brass player 2 in playing the brass instrument 2. In the figure, the sounding actuator 11 is a device that generates sound waves in the duct of a mouthpiece 21 attached to the brass instrument 2, and is used by being attached to the mouthpiece 21 of the brass instrument 2. A second mouthpiece 22 is mounted on the mouthpiece 21 by the mounting member 3. The wind performer performs the wind performance by putting the lips 5 on the second mouthpiece 22 provided separately from the mouthpiece 21 attached to the actual brass instrument 2 and blowing in the breath.

  Next, the configuration of the second mouthpiece 22 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the second mouthpiece 22. The second mouthpiece 22 includes a cup part 221, a throat part 222, a shank part 223, and a blowing pipe 224. In the drawing, the sensor 226 is provided at a position between the throat portion 222 and the shank portion 223 of the second mouthpiece 22 so as to penetrate the upper side in the drawing, and is exposed to the hollow portion at the top of the second mouthpiece 22. ing. The sensor 226 is a sensor that detects a sound pressure generated when the exhalation of the blower is blown from the blowing port 225 of the second mouthpiece 22. An exhaust mechanism 227 is provided at the right end of the blowing tube 224 of the second mouthpiece 22 in the drawing. The exhalation of the blower is blown in from the blow-in opening 225 and discharged from the exhaust mechanism 227 to the outside of the second mouthpiece 22.

  In FIG. 2, an actuator 228 for back pressure is an actuator that applies back pressure to the lips of the player. The back pressure refers to an effect (pressure action) that is transmitted through the wind instrument from the oscillation (sound generation) unit, reflected by the tip of the tube, and returned to the original oscillation unit. When the amplitude phase of the returned sound wave is synchronized with the amplitude phase of the oscillating unit, the oscillation of the oscillating unit is stabilized and amplified. On the contrary, in the case of anti-synchronization, there is a function of disturbing the stability of vibration of the oscillating unit and suppressing the amplitude.

  The back pressure actuator 228 includes a speaker 2281. The speaker 2281 is an electromagnetic speaker and includes a diaphragm 2282, a voice coil, a magnet (not shown), and the like, and vibrates the diaphragm 2282 according to a signal supplied from the control unit 19. The diaphragm 2282 generates a back pressure (back pressure) at the blowing port 225 of the second mouthpiece 22 by vibrating.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the sensor 226 is provided at a position slightly advanced from the throat portion 222 toward the back pressure actuator 228. By providing the sensor 226 at the position shown in FIG. 2, the loop of the back pressure detected by the sensor 226 is the same as the loop between the throat portion 222 and the morning glory portion 25 of the brass instrument 2. Composed.

Here, the relationship between the position of the sensor 226 and the back pressure in the second mouthpiece 22 will be described in comparison with a mouthpiece having another configuration shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the mouthpiece 22B. The mouthpiece 22B shown in FIG. 3 is different from the mouthpiece 22 according to this embodiment shown in FIG. 2 in that the position where the sensor 226 is provided is different. The other components shown in FIG. 6 are the same as those shown in FIG. 2, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.
In the second mouthpiece 22 shown in FIG. 2, the sensor 226 is provided at a position slightly advanced from the throat portion 222, whereas in the second mouthpiece 22 </ b> B shown in FIG. 3, the sensor 226 is provided in the cup portion 221. It has been.

  The resonance of the brass instrument consists of a mouthpiece cup part to a throat part (shown by an arrow A in FIG. 1) and a mouthpiece throat part to a morning glory tip part of a pipe body (shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1). It consists of the coupling of the two parts with the part). In the following description, for convenience of description related to the back pressure, a portion between the mouth part and the throat part indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 1 is referred to as a “mouth piece resonance part A”. To do. For convenience of explanation, a portion between the mouthpiece throat portion and the morning glory portion 25 of the wind instrument main body indicated by an arrow B in FIG. 1 is referred to as a “pipe resonance portion B”.

The frequency that resonates in the mouthpiece resonance part A (the phase is synchronized) and the frequency that resonates in the tube resonance part B with the throat part as the reflection point (the phase is synchronized) do not coincide with each other, but are in an inverse relationship. .
Here, the relationship between the resonance characteristics of the mouthpiece resonance part A and the tube resonance part B will be described below with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4 is a resonance measurement diagram of the trumpet. In the figure, a chain line L1 indicates a wind frequency (pitch). The valleys and valleys indicated by the solid line L2 indicate the resonance characteristics in the tube resonance part B. On the other hand, the mountain valley indicated by the solid line L3 indicates the resonance characteristics in the mouthpiece resonance part A. As shown by the solid line L2 and the solid line L3, the characteristic of the tube resonance part B (solid line L2) and the characteristic of the mouthpiece resonance part A (solid line L3) are in a relation like a seesaw that is mutually contradictory. . In addition, the solid line L4 is an auxiliary line for clearly indicating that the resonance irregularities of the mouthpiece resonance part A and the tube resonance part B are opposite to each other.

  In FIG. 4, the frequency f1 is the lowest sound (pitch) that can be basically played by a brass tube. On the other hand, the frequency f12 is generally the highest sound that can be played or higher. This highest note depends on the player. As shown by the solid line L3 in FIG. 4, the resonance characteristics are relatively flat around the frequency f11 and the frequency f12, the player has difficulty in taking the pitch, and is a high pitch range of the performance pitch region, which is extremely difficult to play. Can be seen.

Here, the resonance characteristics of the mouthpiece resonance portion A of a real brass instrument and the resonance characteristics of the mouthpiece resonance portion A when the mouthpiece 22B shown in FIG. 3 is used will be described with reference to FIGS. This will be described below.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing resonance characteristics of the mouthpiece resonance portion A when a natural musical instrument is played. On the other hand, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the resonance characteristics of the mouthpiece resonance portion A when played using the mouthpiece 22B shown in FIG.

Comparing FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, when the mouthpiece 22B shown in FIG. 3 was used, a feeling similar to a back pressure obtained with a real brass instrument was obtained to some extent. It wasn't close to that, and only some players were able to perform satisfactorily.
The reason is that a real wind instrument resonates in a sound that cannot be played, and does not have a resonance effect at a playable frequency (pitch), and serves as a simple acoustic transmission tube, whereas the mouthpiece 22B shown in FIG. In the case of using, a feedback loop of the reverse (resonates at a playable frequency sound (pitch)) was configured.
Therefore, the width of the “sound hit” (pitch that can be played properly) was narrow, and conversely, the frequency at which the sound could not be played was ambiguous. Therefore, the individual feeling of each sound at the time of musical scale play is weak (connection of slur sounds), and the pitch width that can be played is narrow, so pitch bend is very difficult.

  Focusing on this point of view, in this embodiment, the sensor 226 is provided in the throat portion 222 instead of the cup portion 221. With this configuration, the structure in which the back pressure is generated is very close to that of a real brass instrument, and it is possible to give an impression as if the brass player is playing a real brass instrument.

  Returning to the description of FIG. A signal output from the sensor 226 is output to the operation amplifier 12 of the control unit 19. The operation amplifier 12 amplifies the signal output from the sensor 226. The noise reduction circuit 13 reduces the noise by setting the signal below a predetermined level of the signal output from the operation amplifier 12 to 0, and outputs it to the power amplifier 14 and the delay control circuit 15. The power amplifier 14 amplifies the signal output from the noise reduction circuit 13 and outputs the amplified signal to the sounding actuator 11. The sounding actuator 11 vibrates the diaphragm 2282 according to the electric signal supplied from the power amplifier 14.

  The switches 161, 162, and 163 are provided on the first piston valve 231, the second piston valve 232, and the third piston valve 233 of the brass instrument 2, respectively. , An operation on the third piston valve 233 is detected, and a signal indicating the detection result is output to the delay control circuit 15. The delay control circuit 15 delays the signal supplied from the noise reduction circuit 13 based on the signals supplied from the switches 161, 162, and 163 and outputs the delayed signal to the graphic equalizer 17.

Here, the contents of the delay processing performed by the delay control circuit 15 will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a sound pressure resonance state of a straight and closed tube, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a sound pressure resonance state of a straight pipe opening and closing tube such as a clarinet.
The brass of a real brass instrument is a taper tube. The behavior of sound waves reciprocating in a taper tube is complex, and it is difficult to electrically simulate this. Therefore, it becomes easy to simulate the behavior of sound waves in a straight pipe. However, if an open / closed tube such as that used in actual wind instruments (eg clarinet) is used here, the resonance frequency mode sequence is an odd multiple of the fundamental frequency, an odd multiple, as realized between the tapers, Both even and multiple frequencies cannot be obtained. However, both closed and closed pipes at both ends can obtain both odd and even frequency as in the tapered pipe. Therefore, paying attention to this point of view, in this embodiment, the delay control circuit 15 performs a delay process that simulates the behavior of a sound wave in a closed and closed pipe.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the contents of the delay control process performed by the delay control circuit 15.
The BBD delay control circuit 151 of the delay control circuit 15 performs delay control on the signal output from the sensor 226. In the BBD element 152 of the delay control circuit 15, a delay time Δt corresponding to the length of the tube of the brass instrument 2 is set in advance, and delay times Δt1, Δt2, and Δt3 corresponding to the switches 161, 162, and 163 are provided. Each is preset. The delay control circuit 15 delays the signal from the sensor 226 in accordance with the signals from the switches 161, 162, and 163, and outputs the delayed signal to the back pressure actuator 228 (see FIG. 10). Specifically, for example, when only the first piston valve 231 is pressed, the delay control circuit 15 delays and outputs a signal by (Δt + Δt1), and for example, the second piston valve 232 When the third piston valve 233 is pressed by the player, the delay control circuit 15 outputs the signal from the sensor 226 by delaying the signal by (Δt + Δt2 + Δt3).
In FIG. 9, the operational amplifier 12, the noise reduction circuit 13, the power amplifier 14, the graphic equalizer 17, and the power amplifier 18 are omitted for simplicity of explanation.

  Returning to the description of FIG. The graphic equalizer 17 adjusts the level of a specific frequency component of the signal supplied from the delay control circuit 15 and outputs it to the power amplifier 18. The power amplifier 18 amplifies the signal from the graphic equalizer 17 and supplies the amplified signal to the back pressure actuator 228. The back pressure actuator 228 generates air vibration of pressure based on the signal supplied from the power amplifier 18.

<Operation>
The operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration is as follows. First, when a blower puts the lips 5 on the second mouthpiece 22 and breathes in, the sensor 226 attached to the second mouthpiece 22 detects the sound pressure at this time. The operation amplifier 12 amplifies the signal output from the sensor 226 and outputs the amplified signal to the noise reduction circuit 13. The noise reduction circuit 13 reduces the noise by setting the signal below a certain level to 0 from the signal output from the operation amplifier 12, and outputs it to the power amplifier 14 and the delay control circuit 15. The power amplifier 14 amplifies the signal output from the noise reduction circuit 13 and outputs the amplified signal to the sounding actuator 11. The sounding actuator 11 generates pressure air vibration based on the electric signal supplied from the power amplifier 14.

  As a result, a sound wave corresponding to the sound pressure generated in the second mouthpiece 22 due to the brass player's playing is generated in the tube of the brass instrument 2. The generated sound wave is emitted from the morning glory part 25 of the brass instrument 2 through the inside of the brass instrument 2. As a result, the brass instrument 2 emits a sound according to the wind performance of the wind performer. At this time, the noise reduction circuit 13 removes the noise component and the power amplifier 14 amplifies the sound wave, so that a good performance sound can be obtained even if the wind technique of the performer is immature. Can be played.

  On the other hand, the delay control circuit 15 delays the signal supplied from the noise reduction circuit 13 based on the signals supplied from the switches 161, 162, and 163, and outputs the delayed signal to the graphic equalizer 17. The graphic equalizer 17 performs level adjustment processing of a specific frequency component of the signal supplied from the delay control circuit 15 and outputs the result to the power amplifier 18. The power amplifier 18 amplifies the signal from the graphic equalizer 17 and supplies the amplified signal to the back pressure actuator 228. The back pressure actuator 228 vibrates the diaphragm 2282 in accordance with the signal supplied from the power amplifier 18.

  As a result, a pressure generated from the back pressure actuator 228 is generated in the tube of the second mouthpiece 22. Thereby, the brass player can feel the back pressure as if playing a real brass instrument on the lips 5.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the mouthpiece 21 to be mounted on the brass tube body is mounted with the sounding actuator 11 made of an electromagnetic speaker or the like, and the player uses the second mouthpiece 22 added next (side). Play. At the tip of the second mouthpiece 22 directly infused by the performer, a back pressure actuator 228 made of an electromagnetic speaker or the like is provided instead of a real brass instrument, and from the throat portion 222 of the second mouthpiece 22 on the player side. The sound generated by the sensor 226 is slightly enlarged from the front end, and is input to the back pressure actuator 228 as a signal, and the back pressure actuator 228 generates sound corresponding to the back pressure obtained with a real gold tube. Simulate the signal and output it. By doing so, the wind performer receives back pressure due to the acoustic signal generated from the back pressure actuator 228, so that the wind player directly plays the real brass instrument to the wind performer. It is possible to provide an environment (a feeling of resistance) similar to that of a wind instrument, and a wind player can obtain a wind feeling that can be obtained as if playing a real brass instrument.

  Further, in this embodiment, the sensor 226 for picking up the sound is provided not in the cup part 221 of the second mouthpiece 22 but in a position slightly advanced from the throat part 222. The structure where pressure is generated is very close, so there is no sense of incongruity as if you were playing a real brass instrument.

  In this embodiment, since the peak of resonance is ambiguous, it can be played in a frequency range having a certain width before and after the basic pitch, and played by a technique called pitch bend called “blue note”. Is possible.

  Further, according to this embodiment, the width of the inoperable frequency range is narrow, the sound does not become slur when raising or lowering the pitch, the point at which the sound is cut is clear, and the sound has an individual feeling. In other words, it resembles the sound of a real wind instrument.

  Further, the feedback loop does not include the lip portion that is the oscillation source, and is non-resonant (corresponding to an opposite phase) at the time of playing, so that howling hardly occurs.

<Modification>
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various other forms. An example is shown below.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a brass instrument such as a trumpet has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to a brass instrument but can be applied to other wind instruments such as a woodwind instrument. . For example, even in the case of a woodwind instrument, a sensor for detecting sound pressure may be provided near the throat portion of the mouthpiece, as in the above-described embodiment.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the delay process is performed using an analog circuit. However, the delay circuit is not limited to this, and for example, a signal is converted into a digital signal using an A / D converter, and the digital signal is converted. The delay processing may be performed at, and the analog signal may be returned by the D / A converter.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the performance assisting device used by being mounted on the brass instrument 2 has been described. This performance assisting device may be configured separately from the mouthpiece as a device that can be attached to the mouthpiece, or may be configured integrally with the mouthpiece. In addition, the performance assisting device may be configured separately from the wind instrument as a device that can be attached to the wind instrument, or the wind instrument and the performance assisting device may be configured integrally.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of a performance assistance apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of a mouthpiece. It is a figure which shows an example of the other structure of a mouthpiece. It is a resonance measurement figure of a trumpet. It is a figure which shows the resonance characteristic of a mouthpiece resonance part. It is a figure which shows the resonance characteristic of a mouthpiece resonance part. It is a figure which shows the sound pressure resonance state of a closed pipe of a straight pipe. It is a figure which shows the sound pressure resonance state of the open / close pipe of a straight pipe. It is a figure for demonstrating the delay process which a delay control circuit performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the delay process which a delay control circuit performs.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Performance auxiliary device, 2 ... Brass instrument, 3 ... Mounting member, 5 ... Lip, 11 ... Sound generating actuator, 12 ... Operation amplifier, 13 ... Noise reduction circuit, 14 ... Power amplifier, 15 ... Delay control circuit, 17 ... Graphic equalizer 18 ... Power amplifier 21 ... Mouthpiece 22 ... Second mouthpiece 161,162,163 ... Switch 221 ... Cup part 222 ... Throat part 223 ... Shank part 224 ... Blow-in pipe 225 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Blowing inlet, 226 ... Sensor, 227 ... Exhaust mechanism, 228 ... Back pressure actuator, 231 ... 1st piston valve, 232 ... 2nd piston valve, 233 ... 3rd piston valve, 2281 ... Speaker, 2282 ... Diaphragm.

Claims (5)

The mouthpiece mounted on the wind instrument is provided at a position between the throat portion and the shank portion of the second mouthpiece provided separately from the mouthpiece, and the exhalation of the blower blows into the blowing mouth of the second mouthpiece. Sound pressure detecting means for detecting sound pressure generated by being performed,
Based on the sound pressure detected by the sound pressure detecting means, a sounding actuator for generating a sound wave in the tube of the wind instrument,
Based on the sound pressure detected by the sound pressure detecting means, a back pressure calculation for calculating the back pressure applied to the mouthpiece of the mouthpiece when the sound pressure is generated in the mouthpiece attached to the wind instrument. Means,
A performance assisting device, comprising: a back pressure actuator that applies the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculating means to the second mouthpiece. The performance assisting device according to claim 1,
The performance assisting device, wherein the back pressure generating means applies the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculating means to the second mouthpiece with a predetermined time delay. In the performance auxiliary device according to claim 1 or 2,
Comprising an operation detecting means for detecting the content of the operation by the player,
The back pressure means adds the back pressure calculated by the back pressure calculation means to the second mouthpiece by delaying the back pressure by a time corresponding to the operation content operated by the operation detection means. A performance assist device. In the performance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The performance assisting device, wherein the back pressure calculating means calculates a sound pressure appearing in the closed tube when the sound pressure is generated in the closed tube. A musical instrument comprising the performance assisting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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