JP2009020539A - Automatic performance apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic performance apparatus etc. in which an ensemble performance with sense of uniformity and rich expression is achieved. <P>SOLUTION: When the CPU (central processing unit) of a personal computer constituting the automatic performance apparatus receives operation information from respective operation elements, the CPU decides whether the operation information is transmitted from a master operation element or is transmitted from a slave operation element on the basis of identification information etc. included in the operation information. The CPU of the personal computer checks the next performance position (the position of the sound production event to be processed next) of the master operation element (the operation element to be the master) at all times and performs control so that the present performance position (the position of the sound production event) of the slave operation element (the operation element to be the slave) does not exceed the next performance position of the master operation element. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic performance apparatus and a program that can easily perform an ensemble performance.

In recent years, in the field of electronic musical instruments, various performance devices have been developed so that even novice musical instrument players who have never played musical instruments can easily enjoy ensemble performances. As such a performance device, each musical instrument part of automatic performance using automatic performance data is assigned to each operation element, and the operation state of each operation element (for example, “swing”, “hit”, “tilt”, etc.) is detected. Thus, there has been proposed one that can independently change the volume, tone color, performance tempo, etc. of the part sound corresponding to each instrument (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
An operator who operates each operator can control the performance of the part assigned to the operator by a simple operation such as “swing” the operator. You can enjoy a sense of fulfillment.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-350474

  However, in the above performance device, each part performance is independently controlled by the operation of each operator. For example, when each operator changes the performance tempo (progress) of the part assigned to the operator according to his / her own musical idea. Of course, the difference in performance progress between the parts becomes large. As a result, there was a problem that the performances of each part were scattered and it was not possible to perform an expressive ensemble performance with a sense of unity.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic performance apparatus and program capable of performing a unified and expressive ensemble performance.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the automatic performance device according to the present invention sequentially reads out the sounding events of each channel from performance data in which sounding events indicating the sounding content of the musical sound are arranged in a plurality of channels, In an automatic performance device that performs an ensemble performance by processing an event, when operated by each operator, a plurality of operators that output an operation signal corresponding to an operation situation and identification information for identifying the operator Storage means for storing operation-related information indicating the correspondence between each operator and each channel and the master-slave relationship of each operator; and the operation signal and the identification information are output from each operator. And the operation related information is read out, and the sound generation event of the musical sound to be sounded next is read out for the channel corresponding to the identification information. Sound generation processing means, an output time at which an operation signal is output from the main operator, a time interval calculating means for calculating a time interval from the previous output time, and a musical sound of each channel If the time interval calculated by the tempo storage means for controlling the pronunciation length and the time interval calculation means is less than a predetermined time, it corresponds to the time interval and the main operator. The tempo is calculated based on the note length of the sound generation event that has been previously processed for the channel, and the tempo stored in the tempo storage means is updated. Tempo update means for not updating the tempo stored in the tempo storage means, and the pronunciation length of the pronunciation event processed by the pronunciation processing means are stored in the tempo storage means A sound generation length control means for controlling the sound length to a length corresponding to the specified tempo, and the sound generation processing means, when an operation signal from the slave operation element is not output for a predetermined time or more, For a channel corresponding to, until a next operation signal is output from the operation element, a sound generation event is read out according to the operation signal from the main operation element, and sound generation processing is performed.

Here, in the above configuration, the position of the sounding event corresponding to the subordinate operating element exceeds the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main operating element processed next by the sounding processing means. There may be further provided sound generation processing control means for controlling sound generation processing by the sound generation processing means.
In addition, when the operation signal is output from the slave operation element, the sound generation process control means is configured to process next the position of the sound generation event corresponding to the slave operation element at the time point by the sound generation processing means. Whether or not the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main operation element is reached immediately before, if not, the position of the sounding event corresponding to the subordinate operation element is The sound generation processing by the sound generation processing means may be advanced in accordance with the operation signal within a range not exceeding the position of the sound generation event corresponding to the main operator to be processed next by the sound generation processing means.

  Further, when the position of the sounding event corresponding to the subordinate manipulator is delayed by a predetermined amount or more than the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main manipulator to be processed next by the sounding processing means, Sound generation position control means for skipping the position of the sounding event corresponding to the slave operation element to the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main operation element may be further provided.

  According to the present invention, an ensemble performance with a sense of unity and rich expression can be achieved.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below. Such an embodiment shows one aspect of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

A. Embodiment <Configuration of Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, the operating elements 1-1, 1-2,..., 1-n (n is an integer) have a rod-like shape that can be freely moved by the operator A as shown in FIG. is doing. Note that when the operators 1-1 to 1-n are collectively referred to, they are simply referred to as the operator 1.
The operation element 1 has a built-in sensor for detecting its movement. In the present embodiment, a speed sensor for detecting that the operating element 1 is swung is incorporated. The operating element 1 outputs a peak signal SP (that is, an operating signal corresponding to the operating state of the operating element 1) corresponding to the change in the output signal of the speed sensor at the moment when it is swung down. In the present embodiment, it is only necessary to detect the swing-down of the operation element 1, and therefore another sensor (such as an acceleration sensor) may be used as the sensor. Further, each of the operators 1 outputs identification information SID for identifying itself. In addition, the identification information of each operation element 1-1 to 1-n is written as SID (1-1) to SID (1-n).
The operating element 1 wirelessly transmits sensor information SI including the peak signal SP and the identification information SID to the receiving device 2, and the receiving device 2 supplies the sensor signal SI to the personal computer 3. In the present embodiment, a wireless transmission method based on Bluetooth (registered trademark) is adopted, but this transmission method is arbitrary.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the personal computer 3, and the receiving device 2 is connected to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface (I / F) 309. Then, the sensor information SI is supplied to the CPU 301 via the USB interface 309.
In the figure, a CPU 301 uses the storage area of a RAM 303 as a work area, and controls each part of the apparatus by executing various programs stored in a ROM 302.
A plurality of performance data is stored in a hard disk device (hereinafter referred to as HDD) 304, and a plurality of performance data is also recorded on a CD-ROM inserted into the external storage device 310. The performance data used in this embodiment is based on the MIDI standard, but the performance data is a set of musical sound parameters for designating musical sounds.
When the automatic performance is instructed, the designated performance data is called from the HDD 304 or the CD-ROM and stored in the performance data storage area of the RAM 303. Each musical tone parameter of the performance data stored in the performance data storage area is sequentially read out by the CPU 301 as the performance progresses.

The display unit 305 displays various information under the control of the CPU 301. The keyboard 306 and the pointing device 307 input various instructions and information according to the operation of the operator. The MIDI interface 308 is an interface for transmitting and receiving musical tone parameters of the MIDI standard between the personal computer 3 and the tone generator 4.
Next, the tone generator device 4 shown in FIG. 1 receives the MIDI standard musical tone parameter output from the personal computer 3, and generates a musical tone signal based on the received musical tone parameter. In the generation of the tone signal, the tone signal is formed according to the pitch, volume, reverberation, brightness, sound image, etc. indicated by the tone parameter data. This musical sound signal is supplied to the amplifier 5, and after the musical sound signal is amplified in the amplifier 5, the sound is emitted from the speaker 6.
The automatic performance device 100 is constituted by the receiving device 2, the personal computer 3, the sound source device 4, the amplifier 5, and the speaker 6 described above.

(Contents of performance data)
Here, the structure of performance data stored in the HDD 304 or the CD-ROM will be described.
In the present embodiment, as described above, automatic performance is performed using performance data according to the MIDI standard. The musical sound parameters that make up the performance data indicate the pitch, length, velocity, etc. of each note, and affect the entire song (total volume, tempo, reverberation, sound image localization, etc.) Or, there are things that affect the whole of a specific part (such as reverberation and sound localization for each part).
In the present embodiment, the musical sound parameters are sequentially read according to the progress of the performance and the automatic performance processing is performed. However, the progress of the music is controlled according to the operation of the operation element 1.

In the following, the performance data used in this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Since FIG. 4 is a matrix of rows and columns, the columns will be described first.
The delta time in the first column indicates the time interval between events, and is represented by the number of tempo clocks. When the delta time is “0”, it is executed simultaneously with the immediately preceding event.
In the second column, the contents of messages of each event of the performance data are described. This message includes, for example, a note-on message (NoteOn) indicating a sound generation event and a note-off message (NoteOff) indicating a mute event, as well as a control change message (ControlChange) instructing the volume and panpot (sound image localization). It is.

The third column describes channel numbers. Each channel corresponds to a different performance part, and an ensemble performance is performed by simultaneously performing a plurality of channels. It should be noted that event data that does not depend on the channel, such as meta events and system exclusive events, does not have a value in this third column.
In the fourth column, a note number (NoteNum), a program number (ProgNum), or a control number (CtrlNum) is described. Which is described depends on the content of the message. For example, in the case of a note-on message or note-off message, a note number indicating a musical scale is described here, and in the case of a control change message, a control number indicating the type (volume, panpot, etc.) is described.
The fifth column describes specific values (data) of the MIDI message. For example, in the case of a note-on message or a note-off message, a velocity value representing the sound intensity is described here, and in the case of a control change message, a parameter value corresponding to a control number is described.

Next, each row shown in FIG. 4 will be described. First, the header (Header) in the first row indicates a time unit. “Time unit” indicates resolution and is expressed by the number of tempo clocks per quarter note. In FIG. 4, a value of “480” is set, which means that it is instructed that one quarter note corresponds to the length of 480 tempo clocks.
The tempo command value (SetTempo) on the second line specifies the speed of performance and represents the length of a quarter note in microseconds. For example, in the case of a quarter note = 120 tempo, since a quarter note is 120 beats per minute, the value of 60 (seconds) / 120 (beats) × 1000000 = 500000 (microseconds) is the tempo command value. Set as a value. The automatic performance is performed at a speed based on the tempo clock, and the cycle of the tempo clock is controlled according to the tempo command value and the value in time unit. Therefore, when the tempo command value (SetTempo) is “500000” and the time unit is “480”, the cycle of the tempo clock is “1/960”.
Lines 3 to 6 describe system exclusive messages, and lines 7 to 11 describe program change messages and control change messages. These are musical sound parameters that affect the entire music composition, but are not related to the operation of the present embodiment, so the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the music parameters for the notes of each channel are shown in the twelfth and subsequent lines. These are composed of a note-on event (NoteOn) indicating sound and a note-off event (NoteOff) indicating mute. Each event has a note number (NoteNum) indicating a pitch and a velocity (note). (Velocity) is added.
Here, how the musical note sequence shown in FIG. 4 is played will be described. First, “C4” in channel “1”, “E4” in channel “2”, “G4” in channel “3”, channel “B4” is sounded simultaneously with “4”, and “C3” is sounded simultaneously with channel “5”. Then, after the delta time “240”, the channels “2” to “5” are muted all at once. At this time, since no note-off event is described in channel “1”, the sound of “C4” is continuously generated in channel “1”. In channels “2” to “5”, the next sound is produced simultaneously with the mute. Specifically, “F4” is sounded on channels “2”, “4”, and “5”, and “A4” is sounded on channel “3”.
The sounding and muting of each channel is repeated in the above procedure, and the performance proceeds.
That is, in a general automatic performance process using MIDI data, the process of waiting for the time indicated by the delta time and executing events one after another is repeated until the performance ends. However, in the present embodiment, the music progression control according to the operation of the operator 1 is prioritized over the music progression control based on the delta time. Details thereof will be described later.

(Contents of table set in RAM 303)
Next, a table set in the RAM 303 will be described. Based on the program stored in the ROM 302 that is activated when the personal computer 3 is turned on, the CPU 301 performs initial settings. At this time, tables as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are created in the storage area of the RAM 303, respectively.
TB1 shown in FIG. 5 is a channel setting table, in which the correspondence between operators and channels is set. Note that this correspondence can be freely changed by operating the keyboard 306 or the pointing device 307.
TB2 shown in FIG. 6 is a current tempo table, and stores a tempo value Tempo · R corresponding to the operation of the operator 1 (the swing-down interval). This tempo value Tempo · R is updated every time the operator 1 is swung down. In the initial state, the value of the tempo command value (SetTempo) included in the performance data is written.

<Operation of Embodiment>
The operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be described.
First, the automatic performance device 100 is provided with various performance modes, and mode selection and combination are set by the operator performing a mode selection operation using the keyboard 306 or the like.
Each mode will be briefly described. First, there are a single performance mode in which an operator performs independently and a multiple performance mode in which a plurality of operators perform different parts simultaneously. Further, in each of the single performance mode and the multiple performance mode, a manual mode in which the tempo is controlled based on an interval (so-called beat timing of the music) at which the operation element 1 is lowered, and every time the operation element 1 is lowered. There is a note mode in which a note-on event (NoteOn) of a corresponding channel is read and sounded. Hereinafter, the operation of each mode will be described.

a: Single operator operation mode This mode is a mode in which one operator operates a single operator to control the performance of one or more parts. In the single operator performance mode, a note mode and a manual mode can be selected. Further, note modes for controlling the performance of a plurality of parts in the single operator performance mode include two modes, an automatic note mode and a note accompaniment mode.
(1) Note mode In this mode, every time the operation element 1 is swung down, a note-on event (NoteOn) of a channel corresponding to the operation element, such as a melody part, is read and pronounced. In this mode, a note-on event (NoteOn) of the corresponding channel is automatically read out and pronounced according to the swing-down timing of the operation element 1 so that an ensemble performance is automatically performed.

(Performance of a single performance part)
First, take the case of playing a single part as an example. FIG. 7 is a musical score showing an example of a single part, and FIG. 8 is a part of performance data corresponding thereto. In the performance data shown in FIG. 8, the “time unit” is set to “480” (see FIG. 4), and the delta time corresponding to the quarter note is “480”.
First, an operation when a general automatic performance is performed using the performance data shown in FIG. 8 will be described. When the start of performance is instructed, the CPU 301 shown in FIG. 2 stores the performance data shown in FIG. 8 in the performance data storage area of the RAM 303, and sequentially reads and processes the data from the head data. As for the note event, first, a note-on event (NoteOn) of the E3 sound is read and transferred to the sound source device 4 via the MIDI interface 308. The tone generator 4 generates an E3 tone signal, and the tone signal is amplified by the amplifier 5 and then emitted from the speaker 6.

  Then, after the delta time “480”, that is, after the tempo clock is counted 480, the note-off event (NoteOff) of the E3 sound is read and the E3 sound is muted. As a result, the E3 sound is pronounced for the length of the quarter note. In addition, an F3 note-on event (NoteOn), which is a delta time “0” event, is simultaneously read out and sounded with respect to an E3 note-off event (NoteOff). Then, after the delta time “240”, a note-off event (NoteOff) of the F3 sound is read, and the F3 sound is muted. As a result, the F3 sound is sounded for the length of an eighth note. Thereafter, the sound generation process and the mute process are performed in the same manner, and the music performance shown in FIG. 7 is automatically performed. Note that the C4 sound with a delta time of “0” is pronounced at the same time as the A3 sound, and the B3 sound and the D4 sound are also pronounced at the same time. In this way, the chord is automatically played. The tempo of automatic performance is determined by the tempo clock cycle, and the tempo clock cycle is determined by the tempo command value (SetTempo) as described above (see FIG. 4).

The time when each note is pronounced by the above automatic performance is defined as time t1 to t6 as shown in FIG. These times t1 to t6 are the pronunciation times of each note when a performance is performed at a constant tempo based on the tempo command value (SetTempo).
Next, a performance using the operation element 1 in this embodiment will be described. First, the operator swings down the operating element 1 to instruct the automatic performance device 100 to start performance (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as an operation before). When the operator performs an operation earlier, the operator 1 outputs a peak signal SP indicating a speed change when swinging down from top to bottom. The peak signal SP is supplied to the CPU 301 via the receiving device 2. When the CPU 301 receives the first peak signal SP from the operator 1, the CPU 301 determines that the operation has been performed by the operator before, and sets the value of the current tempo Tempo · R in the current tempo table TB2 shown in FIG. ) Value. Then, the period of the tempo clock is determined according to the value of the current tempo Tempo. It should be noted that the automatic performance is not started at the stage where the operation was performed before, and the tempo clock is determined according to the tempo command value (SetTempo) in the performance data at this stage.

Next, when the operator swings down the operating element 1, a peak signal (operation signal) SP is output at the timing when the operator 1 is swung down. The peak signal SP is supplied to the CPU 301 via the receiving device 2. When receiving the peak signal SP, the CPU (sound generation processing means) 301 reads the note-on event (NoteOn) of the E3 sound shown in FIG. 8, and performs the same sound generation process as described above. As described above, in the present embodiment, the automatic performance is started only after the operation element 1 is swung down after the previous operation.
And the sounded E3 sound continues to be sounded while the delta time “480” is counted. However, when the operator swings down the operation element 1 again at a timing earlier than the time t2, the swinging down is performed. At the timing when the peak signal SP is output, the note-off event (NoteOff) of the E3 sound and the note-on event (NoteOn) of the F3 sound are read out, and the mute process and the sound generation process are performed, respectively. For example, if there is a second swing at time t11 (except for the previous swing down operation; the same applies hereinafter), the E3 sound is muted and the F3 sound is generated at this time.

  On the other hand, if the second swing of the controller 1 is not performed even at time t2, the CPU 301 reads the note-off event (NoteOff) of the E3 sound at the timing when the delta time “480” is counted. , Mute the E3 sound. Then, the CPU 301 does not read out the note-on event (NoteOn) of the F3 sound, stores the address of the storage area of the RAM 303 in which this event is stored in the pointer, and temporarily stops the automatic performance. That is, if the next peak signal SP does not come even when the note-off event (NoteOff) of the currently sounding sound is read, the CPU 301 does not shift to the sound generation process of the next sound and temporarily performs automatic performance. Cancel. Also, when the F3 sound to be sounded next has a delta time other than “0” with respect to the E3 sound (when it is positioned with a rest on the score), the note of the F3 sound to be sounded next The address of the storage area where the on event (NoteOn) is stored is stored in the pointer, and the automatic performance is temporarily stopped.

In some cases, a plurality of sounds having different mute times may be simultaneously generated. In this case, the peak signal SP is read before the note-off event (NoteOff) of the last mute sound is read out. If is not detected, the automatic performance is temporarily stopped without reading the next note-on event (NoteOn).
When the operator swings down the operator 1 after the automatic performance is stopped, the peak signal SP is output at this timing. When this peak signal SP is detected by the CPU 301, the CPU 301 reads from the pointer the address where the event of the sound to be sounded next is stored, and executes the note-on event (NoteOn) at that address. In the example shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the peak signal SP is detected at time t21, the note-on event (NoteOn) of the F3 sound is read at this time, and sound generation processing is performed.

Further, in the above processing, when the CPU (interval calculation means) 301 detects the peak signal SP, it obtains the difference between that time and the time when the peak signal SP was detected immediately before. That is, in the above case, (t11-t1) or (t21-t1) is obtained. Then, the CPU (tempo update means) 301 updates the tempo based on this time difference, and stores the updated tempo as a tempo value Tempo · R in the current tempo table TB2.
The new tempo is determined from the interval at which the peak signal SP is output and the length of the note that was sounding at that time. In the case of the E3 sound shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, it is a quarter note and the delta time is “480”, so the tempo is obtained from the output interval of the peak signal SP with respect to this delta time.

For example, when the peak signal SP is output at time t11, since the count of the delta time “480” has not ended, the CPU 301 searches for a note-off event (NoteOff) of the E3 sound, A new tempo is determined from the delta time from NoteOn) to the note-off event (NoteOff) and the time difference (t11-t1).
In the case of the above example, since the “time unit” is “480” and the tempo command value SetTempo (initial value) is “500000”, the sounding time of the E3 sound that is a quarter note is “500000” microseconds. The tempo clock cycle is “1/960”. If the time difference (t11−t1) of the peak signal SP is “400000” microseconds, the tempo value Tempo · R is rewritten to “400000”. Then, the period of the tempo clock is changed according to the updated tempo value Tempo · R. As a result, the tempo becomes faster and the sound generation time of the next F4 sound is shorter than in the case of the initial tempo. On the other hand, if the time difference (t21−t1) of the peak signal SP is “600000” microseconds, the tempo value Tempo · R is rewritten to “600000”. Then, the period of the tempo clock is changed according to the updated tempo value Tempo · R. As a result, the tempo is slowed down, and the sound generation time of the next F4 sound is longer than that at the initial tempo. That is, the CPU (sound generation length control means) 301 controls the sound generation length of the next sound F3 sound to a length corresponding to the tempo updated as described above.
If the E3 note is an eighth note, the time difference (t11-t1) or (t21-t1) indicates the length of the eighth note at the new tempo, which is converted into a quarter note. The tempo value Tempo · R is updated.

In the above processing, the tempo value Tempo · R is updated using the time difference as it is, but in order to prevent the tempo from changing significantly, the tempo is changed using the change in the time difference or the upper limit of the tempo change. A value may be provided so as not to allow further changes.
In addition, if a plurality of delta times exist before the note-off event (NoteOff) of the E3 sound is detected, a new one is obtained from the sum of those delta times and the time difference between the peak signals. Find the tempo.
In the above processing, when the peak signal SP is not detected before the note-off event (NoteOff) of the sound being sounded is read out, the automatic performance is temporarily stopped. If the above continues, the tempo clock period may be determined based on the previous tempo value Temp · R stored in the tempo table TB without updating the tempo. This is because when a tune is interrupted for a long time, if the tempo is set based on the interruption time, the tempo becomes unnaturally slow, which is not suitable for the performance of the music. In this case, a tempo command value SetTempo that is an initial tempo may be used.

(Simultaneous performance of multiple performance parts)
(1-1) Automatic note mode Next, a case where a single operator operates a single operator to play a plurality of parts will be described. To simplify the description, a song composed of two parts is described. Take the example of playing. Here, FIG. 9 is a musical score showing a music composed of two parts. In FIG. 9, the upper part is the melody and the lower part is the accompaniment part, which is assigned to channel 1 (specific channel) and channel 2 (other channels), respectively. The upper melody is the same as the score shown in FIG. FIG. 10 shows performance data corresponding to the score shown in FIG.
First, the relationship between the operation of the operation element 1 and the performance of the melody part is the same as that in the case of playing the single part described above. As for the accompaniment part, a note-on event (NoteOn) corresponding to the sound being sounded in the melody part is read out and subjected to sound generation processing in synchronization. In other words, in the simultaneous performance of multiple performance parts, if there are multiple events that should be pronounced simultaneously (not only if there is an event that should be pronounced simultaneously only in the melody part, it should be pronounced simultaneously in the melody part and accompaniment part (In some cases, there are events), in which case they are all read out and processed for sound generation.

  A specific example will be described. For example, when the note-on event (NoteOn) of the E3 sound of the melody part (channel 1) is read out at time t1, the note-on event (NoteOn) of the C3 sound of the accompaniment part (channel 2) is read out and each sound is generated. Processing is performed. After that, when the peak signal SP is output from the operator 1 at time t2 to t6, the note-on event (NoteOn) of the accompaniment part sound corresponding to the sound of the melody part is read and pronounced. In this case, at times t5 and t6, a plurality of accompaniment part sounds correspond to the melody part sounds, so the processing contents are as follows.

  At time t5, note-on event (NoteOn) of B3 sound and D4 sound (quarter note) of melody part and note-on event (NoteOn) of G3 sound and B3 sound (eighth note) of accompaniment part are read out. The pronunciation is processed. Next, on the condition that the peak signal SP is not detected, the CPU 301 continues to count the delta time “240”, and when the count is finished, the G3 sound of the accompaniment part (channel 2), B3 A note-off event (NoteOff) of the sound is read out and the sound is silenced, and a note-on event (NoteOn) of the G3 sound and B3 sound at the delta time 0 is immediately read out and the sound generation process is performed. Then, the delta time “240” is counted. The cycle of the tempo clock in this count is determined by the tempo value Tempo · R of the current tempo table TB2 (see FIG. 6). That is, it is determined by the output interval of the immediately preceding peak signal SP.

  When the count of the delta time “240” is completed, the note-off event (NoteOff) of the B3 sound, D4 sound of the melody part, the G3 sound of the accompaniment part, and the B3 sound is read, and the sound is silenced. In other words, the CPU (another channel sounding control means) 301 performs the processing of the B3 sound and D4 sound (quarter note) of the melody part processed at t5 on condition that the peak signal SP is not detected. The note-on event (NoteOn) of the accompaniment part that exists in the section from the note-on event (NoteOn) to the note-on event (NoteOn) of the C4 note (half note) of the next melody part, according to the updated tempo While reading sequentially at a speed, the sound generation length of each note-on event of these accompaniment parts is controlled to a length corresponding to the tempo. With the above operation, two eighth notes of the accompaniment part are automatically performed for one quarter note of the melody part. At time t6, the accompaniment part G3, A3, B3, and C4 (eighth notes) correspond to the melody part C4 (half note). It is the same.

Next, accompaniment sound generation processing when the operator changes the tempo will be described. Now, assume that the operator swings down the operating element 1 at time t4 and then swings down the operating element 1 again at time t41 before time t5. As a result, since the peak signal SP is detected at time t41, the CPU 301 immediately silences the sound (A3 sound, C4 sound) that is being generated by the melody part and simultaneously silences the E3 sound of the accompaniment part. Then, the note-on event (NoteOn) of the B3 sound and D4 sound, which are the next sounds of the melody part, is read, and the note-on event of the G3 sound and B3 sound of the accompaniment part whose delta time is “0”. (NoteOn) is also read out, and sound generation processing is performed for these sounds.
Contrary to the above, when the operating element 1 is not lowered at time t4 and is lowered at time t41, the G3 sound of the melody part that is pronounced at time t3 is After sounding for a length corresponding to the tempo, the sound is silenced, and the corresponding E3 and G3 sounds of the accompaniment part are silenced together with the G3 sound of the melody part. Thereafter, detection of the peak signal SP is awaited, and when the peak signal SP is detected at time t41, the B3 sound and D4 sound of the melody part and the G3 sound and B3 sound of the accompaniment part are generated.

As described above, the melody sound corresponding to the operation of the operator is generated and silenced, and the accompaniment sound is pronounced and silenced in synchronization with this.
At time t6, the C4 sound of the melody part is sounded, and the G3 sound of the accompaniment part is sounded and muted, and then the A3 sound is sounded and muted, and then the peak detection signal SP at time t61. Is detected, the CPU 301 reads the note-on event of the E3 sound, which is the next sound of the melody part, and performs sound generation processing, and also skips the processing of the B3 sound and C4 sound (eighth note) of the accompaniment part, Do not do.
As described above, the performance of the melody part is given priority, and the sound generation and mute processing of the accompaniment part is controlled to follow the melody part.

(1-2) Note Accompaniment Mode Next, the note accompaniment mode will be described. In this mode, the accompaniment part is a so-called normal automatic performance process in which automatic performance is performed based on the tempo specified by the performance data. The melody part is the same as the operation of the single performance part described above. In this mode, the accompaniment part and melody part are not synchronized. Note that the operator can arbitrarily set which channel is the accompaniment part or the melody part.
This mode is a mode used when the operator freely instructs the melody generation timing while listening to the automatic performance of the accompaniment part.

(2) Manual mode This mode performs the same operation as normal automatic performance for all channels, but the tempo changes according to the operation of the operator.
That is, when the operator swings down the operation element 1 at the timing of 1 beat (or 2 beats), the peak signal interval corresponding to the swing-down interval is detected by the CPU 301, and in the same manner as described above, The tempo is updated sequentially from the signal interval. The updated tempo is stored as a tempo value Tempo · R in the current tempo table TB2, and the tempo clock period is determined by the tempo value Tempo · R. Therefore, the tempo of the automatic performance changes according to the interval at which the operation element 1 is swung down. This operation is the same regardless of whether the part to be played is single or plural.

<Modification>
In the above-described operation example, the case where the performance is advanced by one note each time the operation element 1 is detected to swing down (that is, every time one peak is detected) has been described. A plurality of notes may be advanced each time. In such a case, with respect to the notes following the detected peak, the performance may be advanced by using the already determined tempo value Tempo · R. Even if the note following the detected peak is a rest (quarter rest, etc.), the performance may be advanced using the tempo value Tempo · R.

b: Multi-operator performance mode This mode controls the performance of music composed of a plurality of parts by controlling the performance of the parts assigned to each operator by operating a plurality of operators. is there. In this multiple performance mode, for example, it is possible to perform selection such that performance control is performed in the note mode for the melody part while performance control is performed in the manual mode for the accompaniment part.
An operator who attempts to perform in the multi-operator performance mode first operates the keyboard 306 or the like of the automatic performance device 100 to select music and assign parts to each operator. For example, when performing by two operators (first operator and second operator), the operator assigns a melody part to the operator 1-1 (for the first operator), and the operator A selection is made such that an accompaniment part is assigned to 1-2 (for the second operator). In the following description, the operation element 1-1 to which the melody part is assigned is called a master operation element 1-1, and the operation element 1-2 to which the accompaniment part is assigned is called a slave operation element 1-2.
When such an operation is performed, the operator further operates the keyboard 306 and the like to select the note mode or the manual mode for each of the melody part and the accompaniment part. As a result, in a predetermined area of the RAM (storage means) 303, a channel number, identification information for identifying each operation element, performance part assignment to each operation part, performance control mode assignment (attribute information) for each performance part ) And the like are stored (see FIG. 11). In other words, in a predetermined area of the RAM 303, the correspondence between each operator and each channel and the master-slave relationship of each operator (which operator becomes a master operator and which operator becomes a slave operator) A plurality of performance mode management tables (operation-related information) TA1 in which etc. are described are stored.
The operation when both the master operator 1-1 and the slave operator 1-2 are set to the note mode will be described below.

  When the CPU 301 of the automatic performance device 100 receives a selection necessary for performance control, the performance data corresponding to the music selected by the operator is read from the HDD 304 and transferred to the performance data storage area of the RAM 303. On the other hand, each operator (or one of the operators) performs the above-described operation in order to instruct the automatic performance device 100 to start performance. When such an operation is performed, the peak signal SP is output from the operation element 1 and supplied to the CPU 301. When the CPU 301 receives the first peak signal SP from the operator 1, the CPU 301 determines that the operation has been performed by the operator before, and sets the value of the current tempo Tempo · R in the current tempo table TB2 shown in FIG. 6 as the tempo command value (SetTempo). ) Value.

Thereafter, when a performance progression operation (that is, swinging down the operation element 1) is started by each operator, a peak signal SP is generated in each operation element 1. Each operation element 1 transmits the generated peak signal (operation signal) SP and identification information SID for identifying the operation element 1 to the reception device 2 as operation information. When the CPU (sound generation processing means) 301 receives the operation information via the receiving device 2, it refers to the multiple performance mode management table (operation related information) TA 1, and the part corresponding to the identification information SID included in the received operation information. Read the note-on event, etc., and perform sound processing etc., and proceed with the performance.
This performance will be described with reference to FIG. 12. With respect to the performance of the melody part, the CPU 301 detects the detection timing every time the operation of the master operator 1-1 is detected (that is, every time operation information is received). And the corresponding musical sound is generated and the performance is advanced one note at a time (see t1 to t7 in the figure). At this time, as described above, the tempo is sequentially calculated based on the time from the detection of the operation (peak) of the master operator 1-1 to the detection of the next operation (peak) and the length of the note. It is.

  On the other hand, for the performance of the accompaniment part, the CPU 301 performs one of the following four processes depending on the timing of detecting the operation of the slave operator 1-2 (see cases 1 to 4 shown in FIGS. 13 to 16). Execute. Note that the CPU 301 refers to the identification information SID included in the received operation information to determine whether the operation information is from the master operator 1-1 or the operation information from the slave operator 1-2. to decide. Here, the master performance shown in the above drawings means the performance of the melody part whose performance is controlled by the master operator 1-1, and the slave performance is the accompaniment part whose performance is controlled by the slave operator 1-2. Means playing. The black circles and white circles shown in each figure represent the performance positions of the master performance or slave performance, the black circles are the performance positions (the positions where performance has already been performed), and the white circles are the positions where performance has not yet been performed (the positions where performance has not yet been performed). ).

(Case 1)
The CPU (sound generation processing control means) 301 always confirms the next performance position (position of the sound generation event to be processed next) of the master operator (main operation element) 1-1 and the slave operator (secondary). Control is performed so that the current performance position (sound generation event position) of the operation element 1-2 does not exceed the next performance position of the master operation element 1-1. For example, as shown in FIG. 13A, when the CPU 301 receives operation information from the master controller 1-2, the performance position of the master performance (current performance position) has advanced to “2”, and the slave performance When the operation of the slave operation terminal 1-2 is detected in a state where the performance position has advanced to the position immediately before the unperformed position (next performance position) “3” of the master performance, the slave performance is performed before the master performance. Based on the principle not to advance, do not advance slave performance. In such a case, as shown in FIG. 13B, the slave performance is advanced when the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is detected after the master performance has advanced to the performance position “3”. However, in this case, the slave performance can be advanced only before the master performance unplayed position “4”. In other words, in the above case, the slave performance can be advanced within the range not exceeding the unplayed position “4” of the master performance.

(Case 2)
Further, as shown in FIG. 14A, when the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is detected in a part where the performance of the melody part is interrupted and only the performance of the accompaniment part is performed, such as an interlude part in the middle of the music, The CPU 301 advances the slave performance at the timing of detecting the operation of the slave operator 1-2. However, the slave performance can be advanced only to the portion where only the performance of the accompaniment part is performed. In other words, the slave performance can be advanced only before the unplayed position “1” where the master performance is resumed as shown in FIG. 14B. Whether or not the performance position of the slave performance is the performance position of the interlude part may be determined by comparing the musical sound parameter of the melody part and the musical sound parameter of the accompaniment part in the music data.

(Case 3)
The CPU 301 detects the operation of the slave operator 1-2 at the same time as the operation of the master operator 1-1 or detects the operation of the master operator 1-1 for a predetermined time ( 300 (ms) or the like), the slave performance is advanced at the timing when the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is detected. For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, when the performance position of the slave performance has advanced to just before the unplayed position “3” of the master performance, the slave operator 1 is detected simultaneously with the operation of the master operator 1-1. When the operation of -2 is detected, the CPU 301 advances the master performance to the performance position “3” and advances the slave performance to the position corresponding to the performance position “3” of the master performance, as shown in FIG. Make it. If the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is further detected within the predetermined time, the slave performance can be advanced. However, it is possible to advance only the unplayed position “4” of the master performance. Is limited to immediately before.

(Case 4)
Further, the CPU (sound generation position control means) 301 is a slave operator 1 when the slave performance is delayed by a predetermined amount or more from the master performance (for example, one or more quarter notes due to the slave performance being stopped, etc.). When the operation of -2 is detected, the performance position of the slave performance is skipped to the performance position of the master performance and advanced. For example, as shown in FIG. 16A, when the performance position of the master performance is “3” and the performance position of the slave performance exists at a position corresponding to the performance position “2” of the master performance, When detecting the operation of the child 1-1 and simultaneously detecting the operation of the slave operator 1-2, the CPU 301 advances the master performance to the performance position “4” and performs the slave performance as shown in FIG. Skip to the position corresponding to the performance position “4” of the master performance. As a result, the note sequence skipped and skipped (see M shown in FIG. 16) is not played and the note corresponding to the performance position after skipping is generated.

  As described above, when both the master operator 1-1 and the slave operator 1-2 are set to the note mode, even if the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is the operation of the master operator 1-1. Even if performed earlier, the slave performance never advances beyond the master performance. However, if the slave performance that proceeds in accordance with the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is delayed from the master performance that proceeds in accordance with the operation of the master operator 1-1, the slave performance and the master performance are synchronized. Therefore, the performance position of the slave performance is skipped to the performance position of the master performance. As a result, even if the second operator stops the operation of the slave operator 1-2 during the performance, it simply restarts the operation of the slave operator 1-2 (that is, between the slave performance and the master performance). The slave performance and the master performance can be synchronized without a complicated operation for synchronization.

  In the above example, the case where both the master operator 1-1 and the slave operator 1-2 are set to the note mode has been described. On the other hand, in the example shown below, the case where the master operator 1-1 is set to the note mode and the slave operator 1-2 is set to the manual mode will be described. However, the operation when the manual mode is set can be omitted since it can be described in substantially the same manner as the cases 1 to 3 except for the case 4 '(corresponding to the case 4) described below.

(Case 4 ')
As in the case 4, the CPU (sound generation position control means) 301 is a slave operator when the slave performance is delayed by a predetermined amount or more from the master performance (for example, one beat or more due to the slave performance being stopped, etc.). When the operation of 1-2 is detected, the performance position of the slave performance is skipped to the beat position corresponding to the performance position of the master performance. More specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 17A, the performance position of the master performance is “5”, and the performance position of the slave performance exists at a position corresponding to the performance position “2” of the master performance. In this case, when detecting the operation of the master operator 1-1 and simultaneously detecting the operation of the slave operator 1-2, the CPU 301 advances the master performance to the performance position “6” as shown in FIG. Then, the slave performance is skipped to the beat position corresponding to the performance position of the master performance (the position of the head of the third beat in FIG. 17). As described above, when the slave controller 1-2 is set to the manual mode, the performance position of the slave performance is not skipped to the same position as the performance position of the master performance, but corresponds to the performance position of the master performance. Skip to the beat position. As a result, the note sequence skipped and skipped (see M shown in FIG. 17) is not played, and the note corresponding to the skipped performance position is generated. Thus, even when the slave operator 1-2 is set to the manual mode, the slave performance and the master performance can be synchronized.

<Modification>
In the operation example described above, the case where the master operator 1-1 is set to the note mode and the slave operator 1-2 is set to the note mode or the manual mode has been described. For example, the master operator 1-1 is manually set. Of course, the slave controller 1-2 may be set to the note mode or the manual mode. In the above operation example, the operation element 1-1 to which the melody part is assigned is the master operation element 1-1, and the operation element 1-2 to which the accompaniment part is assigned is the slave operation element 1-2. On the other hand, the controller assigned to the accompaniment part is the master controller and the controller assigned the melody part is the slave controller. It can be changed as appropriate. Further, in this operation example, the case where two operators perform synchronous performance using two operating elements 1 has been described, but three or more operators perform synchronous performance using three or more operating elements 1. Of course, you can.

  In the above operation example, the slave performance (that is, the performance of the accompaniment part) is stopped until the operation is resumed after the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is stopped. Even when the operation of the operation element 1-2 is stopped, in order to continue the slave performance, the slave performance is automatically continued in synchronization with the operation timing of the master operation element 1-1. When the operation is resumed, the slave performance may be performed by reflecting the operation (that is, at the operation timing). Whether or not the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is stopped is determined whether the next operation is detected within a predetermined time (for example, within 500 (ms)) after the operation of the slave operator 1-2 is detected. It may be determined based on whether or not.

In the above operation example, the case where the tempo is calculated sequentially based on the time from the detection of the operation (peak) of each operator to the detection of the next operation (peak) and the length of the note has been described. For example, the magnitude of the operation (peak) of each operator may be detected and the magnitude of this peak may be reflected in the volume. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a volume management table TA2 stored in the RAM 303.
In the volume management table TA2, the value psp of the peak signal SP and the volume value v are registered in association with each other. As shown in FIG. 18, the volume value v is set to increase substantially in proportion to the value psp of the peak signal SP. When the CPU 301 receives operation information from each operation element 1, the CPU 301 refers to the value of the peak signal SP indicated in the operation information and the volume management table TA2, and determines the volume value v. As a result, for example, when the operator swings down the operation element 1 from the top to the bottom, the performance sound of the part to be controlled (for example, the melody part) is reduced. The performance sound of the part increases. In this way, the operation of the operation element 1 may be reflected on the volume of the performance sound. Note that the point of reflecting the size of the peak in the volume is also applicable to the single performance mode.

  The various functions of the CPU 301 according to the present embodiment described above are realized by a program such as the ROM 302. Therefore, the program is recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and distributed, or a communication network such as the Internet is used. It may be distributed through. Of course, it is also possible to configure as a dedicated device incorporating the CPU 301, the ROM 302, etc. for realizing the above functions.

It is a figure which shows the structure of this embodiment. It is a block diagram showing a configuration of a personal computer according to the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the operation mode of the operation element concerning the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the structure of the performance data concerning the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the channel setting table which concerns on the same embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the present tempo table concerning the embodiment. It is a musical score which shows an example of one part which concerns on the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the performance data corresponding to the score shown in FIG. It is a musical score which shows an example of two parts which concern on the embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the performance data corresponding to the score shown in FIG. It is the figure which illustrated the multiple performance mode management table concerning the embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state in the multiple performance mode which concerns on the embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state of case 1 in the performance mode. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state of case 2 in the performance mode. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state of case 3 in the performance mode. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state of case 4 in the performance mode. It is a figure for demonstrating the performance state of case 4 'in the performance mode. It is the figure which illustrated the volume management table concerning the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operating element, 2 ... Receiving device, 3 ... Personal computer, 4 ... Sound source device, 5 ... Amplifier, 6 ... Speaker, 301 ... CPU, 302 ... ROM, 303 ... RAM, 304 ... HDD, 305 ... display unit, 306 ... keyboard, 307 ... pointing device, TB1 ... channel setting table, TB2 ... current tempo table, TA1 ... multiple performance mode management table, TA2 ... volume management table.

Claims (5)

In an automatic performance device for performing an ensemble performance by sequentially reading out the sounding events of each channel from performance data in which sounding events indicating the sound content of the musical sound are arranged on a plurality of channels, and processing the read sounding events,
When operated by each operator, a plurality of operators that output an operation signal according to an operation situation and identification information for identifying the operator,
Storage means for storing operation-related information representing the correspondence between each operator and each channel and the master-slave relationship of each operator;
When the operation signal and the identification information are output from each of the operators, the sound generation event of the musical sound to be sounded next is read out for the channel corresponding to the identification information, and the sound generation process is performed. Pronunciation processing means;
A time interval calculating means for detecting an output time at which an operation signal is output from the main operator and calculating a time interval from the previous output time;
Tempo storage means for storing a tempo for controlling the tone generation length of the musical sound of each channel;
When the time interval calculated by the time interval calculation means is less than a predetermined time, based on the time interval and the length of the note of the sounding event previously sounded for the channel corresponding to the main operator. A tempo update unit that calculates a tempo and updates the tempo stored in the tempo storage unit, while not updating the tempo stored in the tempo storage unit when the time interval is equal to or greater than the predetermined time;
A pronunciation length control means for controlling the pronunciation length of the pronunciation event processed by the pronunciation processing means to a length corresponding to the tempo stored in the tempo storage means,
When the operation signal from the subordinate operation element is not output for a predetermined time or longer, the sound generation processing means, for the channel corresponding to the operation element, until the operation signal is output from the operation element next time The automatic performance device is characterized in that a sounding event is read out and sounded according to an operation signal from the main operator. The sound generation processing by the sound generation processing means so that the position of the sound generation event corresponding to the subordinate operation element does not exceed the position of the sound generation event corresponding to the main operation element processed next by the sound generation processing means. The automatic performance device according to claim 1, further comprising sound generation processing control means for controlling the sound. When the operation signal is output from the subordinate manipulator, the sound generation processing control unit performs the next processing of the sound generation event corresponding to the subordinate manipulator at the time point by the sound generation processing unit. It is confirmed whether or not the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main operation element has been reached immediately before. If not, the position of the sounding event corresponding to the subordinate operation element is determined as the sound generation process. The sound generation processing by the sound generation processing means is advanced according to the operation signal within a range not exceeding the position of the sound generation event corresponding to the main operation element to be processed next by the means. Automatic performance device. If the position of the sounding event corresponding to the subordinate manipulator is delayed by a predetermined amount or more than the position of the sounding event corresponding to the main manipulator to be processed next by the sounding processing means, 2. The automatic performance device according to claim 1, further comprising sounding position control means for skipping a position of a sounding event corresponding to an operation element to become a position of a sounding event corresponding to the main operation element. . Computer
Correspondence between a plurality of operators and a plurality of channels that output an operation signal corresponding to an operation situation and identification information for identifying the operator when operated by each operator, and a master-slave relationship of each operator Storage means for storing operation-related information representing
When the operation signal and the identification information are output from each of the operators, the sound generation event of the musical sound to be sounded next is read out for the channel corresponding to the identification information, and the sound generation process is performed. Pronunciation processing means;
A time interval calculating means for detecting an output time at which an operation signal is output from the main operator and calculating a time interval from the previous output time;
Tempo storage means for storing a tempo for controlling the tone generation length of the musical sound of each channel;
When the time interval calculated by the time interval calculation means is less than a predetermined time, based on the time interval and the length of the note of the sounding event previously sounded for the channel corresponding to the main operator. A tempo update unit that calculates a tempo and updates the tempo stored in the tempo storage unit, while not updating the tempo stored in the tempo storage unit when the time interval is equal to or greater than the predetermined time;
A pronunciation length control means for controlling the pronunciation length of the pronunciation event processed by the pronunciation processing means to a length corresponding to the tempo stored in the tempo storage means;
When the operation signal from the subordinate operation element is not output for a predetermined time or longer, the sound generation processing means, for the channel corresponding to the operation element, until the operation signal is output from the operation element next time Is a program that reads out a sound generation event in accordance with an operation signal from the main operation element and performs sound generation processing.

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