JP2624121B2 - Electronic musical instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument, and more particularly to an electronic musical instrument in which a musical tone is controlled in accordance with a player's pressing force on a keyboard.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, electronic musical instruments are provided with musical tone control operators for changing the volume, pitch, tone and the like of musical tones. By doing so, it is possible to give a musical tone an expression according to the intention of the performance, and to perform a performance operation similar to a performance method of a natural musical instrument.

On the other hand, in order to reduce the burden of the operation of the controls on the player, a sensor is provided for each key of the electronic musical instrument to detect the pressing force on the keyboard surface by the player. Electronic musical instruments in which a musical tone is controlled by a key pressing force in a substantially vertical direction or a substantially horizontal direction are already known.

[0004]

However, such an electronic musical instrument which controls the musical tone by the pressing force of the key depresses the keyboard in a substantially horizontal direction (front-back or left-right direction) with respect to the keyboard surface while pressing the keyboard downward. The musical tone is controlled according to the size. Therefore, when the keyboard is pressed down with a small keystroke, the downward keypressing force is small, so that the frictional force between the finger and the keyboard is small, and a large force is applied substantially horizontally on the keyboard surface. It is difficult. Conversely,
When the downward key-pressing force is large, the frictional force between the finger and the keyboard is large, so that the player can urge the keyboard in a substantially horizontal direction with a considerable force, and a correspondingly large musical sound effect is obtained. Can be granted.

As described above, in a conventional electronic musical instrument which gives a predetermined effect to a musical tone by a key pressing force in a substantially horizontal direction,
There is a problem in that the maximum value of the substantially horizontal key pressing force differs depending on the magnitude of the downward (substantially vertical) key pressing force, and the musical tone cannot be controlled as intended by the player.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument for controlling a musical tone by applying a substantially horizontal key pressing force to a keyboard surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic musical instrument which eliminates the difference in the dynamic range of musical tone control by the electronic musical instrument.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention detects a keyboard and a first key-pressing force applied in a direction substantially perpendicular to a keyboard surface of the keyboard. First detecting means, second detecting means for detecting a second key pressing force applied in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the keyboard surface, and first detected key pressing force as the first key pressing force. There is provided a correcting means for correcting the tone according to the force, and a control means for controlling a musical tone in accordance with the corrected second key pressing force.

[0008]

The correcting means corrects the second key pressing force applied substantially in the horizontal direction with respect to the keyboard surface by the first key pressing force applied substantially in the vertical direction. Can be normalized to a value independent of the magnitude of the key pressing force, and the same dynamic range as when the key pressing force in the substantially horizontal direction is large can be obtained even if the key pressing force in the substantially horizontal direction is small.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention, in which 1 indicates an electronic musical instrument. The electronic musical instrument 1 includes a keyboard unit 2 including a predetermined number of black keys and white keys.
A sound source unit 3 that generates and generates an electronic sound signal;
An amplifier 4 for amplifying the created electronic sound signal and a speaker 5 for emitting an electronic sound are provided.

The sound source unit 3 is driven by a sound source control signal generated from a control circuit 6 based on key information from the keyboard 2. The control circuit 6 includes an interface (I / F) 6a for inputting various signals such as key information, a read only memory (ROM) 6b, a random access memory (RAM) 6c, and a central processing unit for executing a program described later. (CPU) 6d, timer 6e,
Based on the result calculated by the CPU 6d, a MIDI (MUSICAL) signal is sent to the sound source unit 3 or the like as a sound source control signal.
INSTRUMENT DIGITAL INTER
FACE) signal, and a MIDI interface (MIDI I / F) 6f for outputting these signals, and these components are interconnected by a bus 6g. The I / F 6a receives not only key information from the keyboard unit 2 but also various kinds of operator information from the panel operation unit 7 of the electronic musical instrument 1, and is used for various controls such as tone selection.

The key information from the keyboard section 2 includes information on the key depression force of each player in addition to the original pitch information of the keyboard. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of each keyboard provided with distortion sensors at several points on each keyboard in order to detect a key pressing force of each keyboard described later. In this figure, reference numeral 8 denotes one of a number of keys (keys) constituting the keyboard unit 2 (FIG. 1), and reference numeral 8a denotes the keyboard surface.

The key 8 is pressed against the base 9 by pressing a key.
It is swingable in the vertical direction indicated by an arrow z, and is fixed so as to be slightly displaceable in the front-rear direction indicated by an arrow y and the keyboard left-right direction perpendicular to the drawing. Hereinafter, the configuration of each strain sensor provided on all keys as a representative of the key 8 will be described.

In order to detect a key pressing force Fz which is substantially perpendicular (in particular, downward) to the keyboard surface 8a, different positions (a) in the longitudinal direction of the key 8 (corresponding to the arrow y direction),
(B) is provided with a first distortion sensor 11 and a second distortion sensor 12 for detecting the amount of keyboard distortion at that portion. Further, in order to detect the key pressing force Fx in the left-right direction of the keyboard, a third strain sensor 13 for detecting a keyboard displacement in the left-right direction is provided on both side surfaces of the portion where the second strain sensor 12 is attached. In addition, the second strain sensor 12 detects the key pressing force Fy in the direction of the arrow y.
A fourth strain sensor 14 is provided at a position (c) close to the base 9 at the same position as the mounting portion in the y direction. In addition,
As shown in the figure, the reason why the strain gauges are attached to both sides of the strain detection unit is to detect both strains as stretching strains and shrinking strains on the other side and detect the output of both gauges through a bridge circuit, thereby improving detection accuracy.

With respect to the arithmetic expression for obtaining the downward key pressing force Fz based on the respective outputs from the first strain sensor 11 and the second strain sensor 12, the key 8 is assumed to be a cantilever as shown in FIG. Here, the supporting portion of the cantilever is (d), the key pressing position is (e), and the downward key pressing force at the position (e) is Fz.
Then, each moment M at the installation locations (a) and (b) of the first strain sensor 11 and the second strain sensor 12, respectively,
b and Mc are as follows: Mb = Fz · (L−x) = k0 · C (1) Mc = Fz · (L−A−x) = k1 · B (2) where L: (e) · ( D) Distance between A: distance between (a) and (b) x: distance between (b) and (d) B: output of first strain sensor 11 C: output of second strain sensor 12 k0, k1: coefficient and Become.

Here, the arithmetic expression (1) is modified. x = L− (k0 / Fz) · C (3) Then, when this equation (3) is substituted into equation (2) and transformed, Fz = (k0 / A) · (C−k1B / k0) ... (4) is obtained. Here, k0 / A is k2 and k1 / k
Assuming that 0 is k4, the above equation (4) becomes as follows: Fz = k2 (C−k4B) (5), and the key pressing force Fz can be calculated from the output from each of the strain sensors 11 and 12. The output obtained from this equation does not depend on the key depression position.

Similarly, in this case, the key pressing force Fx in the left-right direction is determined by the output E of the third distortion sensor 13 provided at the position (b) serving as the swing fulcrum: Fx = k3 · E (6) However, E: output of the third strain sensor 13 k3: coefficient can be obtained by an arithmetic expression, and the key pressing force Fy in the front-rear direction is calculated from the cantilever moment in the same manner as the key pressing force Fz. = K5 (C−k4 · D) (7) where D: output of the fourth strain sensor 14 and k5: coefficient.

In this embodiment, the above equation (6) is used.
The key pressing forces Fx, Fy in the left-right direction and the front-rear direction, which can be obtained by (7), are determined according to the magnitude of the downward key pressing force Fz obtained by the equation (5), for example, by the following equations (8), (8). 9) and the like, and the corrected key pressing force Fxo, Fyo
The degree of effect on the musical tone is controlled by the value of. Fxo = Fx · (1.0−K · Fz) (8) Fyo = Fy · (1.0−K · Fz) (9) where Fxo: corrected right and left key pressing force Fyo: before and after corrected In the above equations (8) and (9), the greater the downward key pressing force Fz, the greater the calculated horizontal key pressing force Fx, F
Correction is made so as to reduce y.

Hereinafter, the first strain sensors 11 to 11 will be described with reference to FIG.
A description will be given of a musical sound effect giving routine using the third distortion sensor 13 with the downward key pressing force Fz and the corrected key pressing force Fxo in the left-right direction. The description of the process related to the corrected key pressing force Fyo in the front-rear direction using the fourth distortion sensor is omitted, but the process can be executed by the same process as the process related to the corrected key pressing force Fxo in the left-right direction. This program is stored in the ROM 6a of the control circuit 6.
And is stored in advance in a predetermined area, and at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 1 msec) using the timer 6e by the CPU 6d.
Next, an interrupt process is performed for the main routine. Although the main routine includes the execution of a scan processing program corresponding to each panel operator as in the related art, the description thereof is omitted here because it has no direct relation to the present invention.

In this flowchart, first, in step S1, a strain sensor 1 provided for each key 8 is provided.
Outputs from 1, 12, and 13 are read, and distortions B, C, and E in each key 8 are detected. Next, in step S2, the key pressing force Fz applied to the key 8 and the corrected left and right key pressing force Fxo are calculated from the distortion data detected in this manner by the arithmetic expressions (5), (6) and (8).

When the key pressing forces Fz and Fxo are obtained in this manner, the routine next proceeds to step S3, where it is determined whether or not there is an on event of the key 8 based on the calculated key pressing force Fz. judge. That is, here, it is determined whether or not the key pressing force Fz is less than the predetermined value a at the time of the previous processing and has changed to the predetermined value a or more in the current processing.

In step S3, Yes is determined, and key 8
Is determined to have been newly keyed on, the routine proceeds to step S4, and outputs a key-on signal and a key code corresponding to the pressed key 8 to the sound source unit 3 via the MIDII / F6f. In the subsequent step S5, a signal corresponding to the calculated key pressing force is output to the sound source unit 3. The tone generator unit 3 generates a tone in accordance with the received key-on signal and key code, and controls the volume and tone based on the key pressing force Fz.
Further, based on the corrected keypressing force Fxo in the left-right direction, a preset tone mode, for example, a pitch, is controlled, and this routine ends.

On the other hand, if No is determined in the step S3, the process proceeds to a step S6 to determine whether or not the current downward key pressing force Fz is equal to or more than a predetermined value a, that is, whether or not the key is being pressed. to decide. If the result is Yes, step S5
Then, each key pressing force signal is output to the sound source unit 3. As a result, control of the tone color, volume, pitch, and the like during key depression is performed as intended by the player. If No is determined in step S6, the process proceeds to step S7 to determine whether or not a key-off event has occurred, that is, the key pressing force Fz is equal to or more than a predetermined value a in the previous process and less than the predetermined value a in the current process. Is determined. If the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to step S8, where a key-off signal and a key code are output to the sound source unit 3. As a result, in the tone generator unit 3, the tone of the key code which has been sounded up to now is muted. On the other hand, if No is determined in step S7, it means that the non-sounding state in which the key pressing force Fz in the downward direction of the keyboard is less than the predetermined value a continues, and this routine is immediately ended.

As described above, in this embodiment, the key pressing force Fx applied to the key 8 in the left-right direction is corrected by the downward key pressing force Fz. It can be normalized to a value that does not depend on the key strength Fz, and can be used for musical sound effects (for example, pitch, vibrato or P
AN, etc., even in a situation in which the key pressing force Fx in the left-right direction cannot be increased due to a small frictional force, the dynamic range having the same width as the key pressing in the left-right direction while fully pressing the key 8 is set. Obtainable.

The correction of the key pressing force Fx is performed in addition to the correction by the above-described arithmetic expressions (8) and (9).
As shown in the figure, the relationship between the downward key pressing force Fz and the left-right maximum key pressing force Fxmax is obtained in advance by experiments or the like.
From this, a table of the key pressing force Fz and the correction coefficient k as shown in FIG. 6 may be derived, and the correction coefficient k may be selected from the table according to the calculated value of the downward key pressing force Fz. .

Although the embodiment according to the present invention has been described above, the means for detecting the key pressing force is not limited to the strain sensor shown in the drawings, but may be, for example, a side wall of a guide for guiding the vertical movement of the key. A pressure sensor or the like may be provided to detect the pressure by swinging the key in the left-right direction, and a special effect such as vibrato may be applied according to the pressure value.

Although the key 8 of the above-described embodiment is a cantilever swing type keyboard, a pivot is projected from the rear end of the key, and the pivot is received on the base side. The present invention can also be applied to a rotary fulcrum type keyboard that has a recess and rotatably supports a key with respect to a substrate. In such a keyboard, for example, a key is further pressed downward (after touch) at a key pressing stroke lower limit position, and the key pressing force is detected by a pressure sensor to obtain a downward after touch key pressing force Fz. , The key pressing force before and after the key, the left and right keys, and the various key sounds may be controlled by the corrected key pressing force.

Further, in the embodiment, the horizontal key pressing force Fx, Fy such as left / right or front / back is corrected in accordance with the key pressing force Fz in the downward direction (perpendicular to the keyboard surface). As an alternative, a key depression position by the player may be adopted. That is, in the illustrated embodiment, since the output from the third distortion sensor 13 differs depending on the key-depression position even with the same key depression force Fx in the left-right direction, for example, a position sensor is provided on the keyboard, The key press position is detected by calculation from the outputs B and C of the keys 11 and 12, [key press position L = AC / (CKB)], and the key press force Fx in the left and right direction is corrected. It may be one that reflects the intention of the player.

Incidentally, also in these embodiments described above,
The correction target is not limited to the key pressing force Fx in the left-right direction, but may be the key pressing force Fy in the front-rear direction. Further, the volume control is performed by the downward key pressing force Fz, and the pitch control is performed by the left-right key pressing force Fx. Alternatively, a plurality of musical sound effects may be provided, such as tone color control using the key pressing force Fy in the front-rear direction.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an electronic musical instrument that controls a tone by a substantially horizontal key pressing force, the substantially horizontal key pressing force is substantially vertically pressed in order to correct the substantially horizontal key pressing force according to the substantially vertical key pressing force. It can be normalized to a value that is not affected by the key force, and even under conditions where the key pressing force in the horizontal direction is small, a dynamic range of the same width as when it is large can be obtained, and optimal tone control can always be performed. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic musical instrument as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a keyboard structure of the electronic musical instrument of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram modeling a key depression state.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a tone effect control operation by the control circuit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between a downward key pressing force Fz and a maximum key pressing force Fxmax in the left-right direction possible with the key pressing force Fz.

FIG. 6 shows a key pressing force Fz and a correction coefficient k obtained from FIG.
FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: electronic musical instrument, 2: keyboard part, 3: sound source unit,
6; control circuit; 8; key; 11; first strain sensor; 12; second strain sensor; 13; third strain sensor;
14; fourth strain sensor.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A keyboard, first detecting means for detecting a first key-pressing force applied substantially perpendicularly to a keyboard surface of the keyboard, and a first detecting means applied substantially horizontally to the keyboard surface. Detecting means for detecting the detected second key pressing force, correcting means for correcting the detected second key pressing force in accordance with the first key pressing force, and corrected second key pressing force An electronic musical instrument having control means for controlling musical sounds according to force.