JP2827257B2 - Keyboard for electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument that controls touch characteristics of keys according to a tone color, a playing style, or a player's preference.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, on a keyboard of an electronic keyboard instrument, for example,
As shown in FIG. 1A, a key 2 is rotatably supported about a fulcrum 4. A weight 6 is attached to the back of the key 2 on the touch side, and the opposite side is pulled by a spring 8. Accordingly, the key 2 is held in an equilibrium state by the weight 6 and the spring 8. In such a keyboard, the spring 8 expands in accordance with the depth of key depression and keying (hereinafter simply referred to as keying), but the restoring force of the spring 8 acts on the key 2 as a reaction force, so that a touch feeling is obtained. Can be

Also, as shown in FIG. 6 (B), by installing a weight 6 on the upper surface of the non-touch side of the key 2, the key 2 is held in an equilibrium state by the weight 6 and the key 2.
At the time of keying, the mass of the weight 6 acts as a reaction force, and a touch feeling can be obtained.

As described above, in the keyboard of the conventional electronic keyboard musical instrument, a touch is given to the player by applying a reaction force due to mass using an action mechanism like a piano.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in such a keyboard, since the reaction force is obtained by the mass, each key 2 is accompanied by the mass, the whole weight of the key 2 becomes heavy, and the key 2 is set by the constant mass and the restoring force of the spring 8. It is difficult to change the reaction force, and therefore, it has been impossible to control the touch feeling according to the tone color, the playing style, the player's preference, and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument that realizes a lighter key and provides an arbitrary touch feeling.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument that can provide a touch feeling according to a keystroke mode.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument in which an arbitrary touch feeling can be selected.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve a first object, a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention is provided above and below an operation element, and a driving means for applying a driving force to the operation element from above and below, and It is provided with a position sensor for detecting a position, and a control means (touch control unit 24) for generating a driving force on the driving means in accordance with the position of the operating element detected by the position sensor.

In the keyboard for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention, in order to achieve a second object, the control means calculates a speed or an acceleration of the operating element from a position of the operating element detected by the position sensor. The driving force to be applied to the operator is calculated by referring to the position, speed or acceleration of the operator.

Further, in order to achieve the third object, the keyboard for an electronic musical instrument of the present invention is provided with storage means for storing arbitrary touch data corresponding to an operation mode.
The driving force is calculated by referring to the touch data read from the storage means in accordance with a playing condition.

[Action]

In the keyboard for an electronic musical instrument of the present invention, the position sensor detects the position of the manipulator by the operation, and the control means obtains a control output representing the driving force to be applied to the manipulator according to the position. The driving force is applied to the operation element by the control output. For example, when the operation is performed strongly, the driving force on the operator is increased accordingly, and when the operation is weakly performed, the driving force on the operator is correspondingly reduced, so that a touch feeling according to the operation mode is obtained.

Then, since an arbitrary driving force can be calculated and set according to the change in the position of the operation element, the relationship between the operation and the driving force applied to the operation element can be arbitrarily changed, and the relation between the tone, the playing style or the player's preference can be adjusted. Touch feeling can be changed.

Further, if the speed or acceleration of the operating element is calculated from the position of the operating element detected by the position sensor, and the driving force to be applied to the operating element is calculated by referring to the position, speed or acceleration of the operating element, The operation state of the position, speed, or acceleration of the operating element can be grasped, and a touch feeling according to the tone color, the playing style, the player's preference, the player's operation mode, and the like can be obtained.

Then, if the driving force is calculated by referring to the touch data read according to the operation mode from the storage unit that stores the touch data corresponding to the operation mode, the touch data is selected according to the tone color, the playing style, or the player's preference. By doing so, a touch feeling according to the timbre, the playing style, the player's preference, the player's operation mode, and the like can be obtained with reference to the touch data.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a keyboard for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

The keyboard is provided with a plurality of keys 2 which are operators, and each key 2
Is supported so as to rotate in response to a keystroke about the fulcrum 4. At the non-touch side end of the key 2, for example, a magnet 10 having an N pole on the upper surface and an S pole on the lower surface is provided. Installed.

A magnetic force is applied to the magnet 10 of the key 2 to keep the key 2 horizontal, and a driving unit 12 is provided which applies a reaction force required at the time of keying to give a player a touch feeling. That is, the driving unit 12 constitutes a driving unit that applies a driving force to the key 2 that is an operation element. The drive unit 12 is provided with one or more sets of electromagnets 14 that form a C shape with a certain gap between the poles of the magnet 10 and one or more sets of electromagnets 14. A set of coils 16 is wound, the coils 16 being composed of a conductor or a superconductor. In this embodiment, the coil 16
A driving current is supplied from the driving circuit 18 to the magnetic pole N to generate a magnetic pole N on the magnetic pole N side and a magnetic pole S on the magnetic pole S side of the magnet 10,
A repulsive force acts between the magnet 10 and the electromagnet 14.

Then, a position sensor 22 for detecting the position of the key 2 representing the depth of the keystroke is installed in the musical instrument main body 20. The position sensor 22 electrically detects the position of the key 2 in a non-contact manner with the key 2, for example. a position sensor 22, the position data X _i of the key 2 representing the keying of the depth of the key depression state is obtained.

The position data X _i is applied as a control input to the touch control unit 24 which is installed as a control means for generating a control output by calculating a reaction force to achieve the desired touch feeling.
This is the touch controller 24 is installed differentiating circuits 26 and 28, the differentiating circuit 26, the velocity data V _i of the key 2 is the change amount of the position per unit time by differentiating the position data X _i is determined, Further, the differentiating circuit 28 differentiates the velocity data V _i, the acceleration data alpha _i of the key 2 is the change amount per unit time of the velocity data V _i is calculated.

These position data X _i, the velocity data V _i and the acceleration data alpha _i is applied as an operation input data representing the installed keying mode to the arithmetic circuit 30 for calculating a reaction force to be applied to the key 2. Therefore, in the arithmetic circuit 30, the position data X _i ,
A part or all of the key input data consisting of velocity data V _i or acceleration data alpha _i, the data on the touch curve of the touch curve memory 32 installed as a storage means for storing the arbitrary touch data corresponding to the keying mode see, together with the reaction force data F _O to give in response to the initial touch of the key 2 in the key 2, calculates the touch data T _D.

In addition, the touch curve memory 32 stores a plurality of touch curves corresponding to performance conditions such as timbres, and allows a player to select a desired one according to a selection input of a timbre _Pr or the like specified by a manual. 2 and 3 show an example of a general touch curve stored in the touch curve memory 32. FIG. The touch curve shown in FIG. 2 is a keying position (depth) using the keying speed as a parameter.
Represents a reaction force F felt the finger in accordance with the X, also the reaction force touch curve shown in Figure 3 is that after pressing the key 2 to the position X _o, feel when typing accelerating from its position X _o Represents F. In this case, the keying speed of the parameter is the lowest at the touch curve a, and is higher in the order of the touch curves a, b, c, and d.

Then, the drive circuit 18, reaction force data F _o obtained by the arithmetic circuit 30 is applied as a drive input generates a driving current corresponding to the reaction force data F _o, the drive current is supplied to the coil 16 You.

With this configuration, when the electromagnet 14 is driven, a repulsive force acts between the magnetic poles of the magnet 10 and the electromagnet 14,
The key 2 is held horizontally.

When the player is keying as indicated by a chain line a key 2 with a finger, the depth of the key 2 by keying i.e., change in position is detected by the position sensor 22, the position data X _i is obtained.

Velocity data V _i from the differentiating circuit 26 is determined on the basis of the position data X _i, also, the acceleration data alpha _i is determined from the differential circuit 28 on the basis of the velocity data V _i.

However, this in the touch curve touch curve in the memory 32 are stored, touch curve corresponding to the designated tone color P _r from the outside is selected, for example, a touch curve shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 is selected If, touch curve a~d is selected according to the speed data V _i, the reaction force F on the selected touch curve a~d is read in accordance with the position data X _i.

Then, in the arithmetic circuit 30, the position data X _i , the speed data
Reaction force data to be given to key 2 from V _i and acceleration data α _i and reaction force F read from touch curve memory 32
_Fo is calculated.

When a calculation output representing this reaction force data _Fo is applied to the drive circuit 18, a drive current corresponding to the reaction force data _Fo is supplied from the drive circuit 18 to the coil 16, and the electromagnet 14 is driven according to the key stroke. You. In this case, a repulsive force acts between the magnetic poles of the magnet 10 and the electromagnet 14 by generating the N and S poles on the magnetic pole surface in opposition to the N and S poles of the magnet 10, and the magnet is pressed by a keystroke.
Since the 10 N poles approach the N pole on the electromagnet 14 side, the repulsive force is further increased. For example, if key 2 is strongly and quickly struck, strong reaction force data F _o is obtained, and if key 2 is weakly and gently operated, weak reaction force data F _o is obtained. , A touch feeling based on the reaction force F read from the touch curve memory 32 is obtained.

And if the electromagnet 14 is constituted by a superconducting magnet,
The size of the electromagnet 14 can be reduced, a strong magnetic force can be generated, and the necessary touch feeling as well as the position control of the key 2 can be realized.

By the way, the touch feeling is not definitive, but also depends on the speed of keying, acceleration, and the position of acceleration,
It depends on the playing style or the player's preference, and also on the keyboard structure of the musical instrument simulated by the electronic musical instrument. Thus, the touch control unit 24 stores the data in the touch curve memory 32 or another storage table, reads it out according to playing conditions, and performs interpolation calculation as necessary to obtain the most suitable reaction force data _Fo. What should I do?

In the above-described embodiment, the electromagnet 14 composed of a single yoke is shown in the drive unit 12, but as shown in FIG. 4, an E-shaped electromagnet 14a, 14b having two L-shaped yokes is used. An electromagnet is used, and a driving current is applied to each of the coils 16a and 16b individually so that the electromagnet 14a causes the N pole to act on the upper surface side of the N pole of the magnet 10 and the S pole to act on the end face side of the magnet 10, An S-pole may be applied to the upper surface of the S-pole of the magnet 10 and an N-pole may be applied to the end surface thereof. By doing so, the key 2 can be held horizontally by applying a repulsive force and an attractive force between the magnet 10 and the electromagnets 14a and 14b, and the mutual movement of the electromagnets 14a and 14b can be made according to the keying state. With such a function, a subtle touch feeling can be realized.

In this way, the drive unit 12 may be provided with one or more sets of electromagnets so that the position of the key 2 can be controlled by applying a necessary repulsive force or attractive force to the magnet 10. The number and installation position may be any. For example,
As shown in FIG. 5, five sets of electromagnets 14A, 14B, 14C, 14
In D and 14E, the position of the magnet 10 of the key 2 may be controlled by applying an attractive force and a repulsive force to the magnet 10 by the electromagnets 14A and 14E. Alternatively, a configuration in which both are used together by using the electromagnets 14A to 14E may be adopted.

Further, in the embodiment, the magnet 10 to be attached to the key 2 is installed with the magnetic pole faces up and down, but the magnetic pole face may be installed in the axial direction of the key 2.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(A) Since the driving force is applied from both the upper and lower sides of the control, the position of the control can be controlled horizontally, and the weight of the control can be reduced. From a delicate touch to a touch with a stronger repulsion according to the operation, An arbitrary touch feeling can be obtained by controlling the operating element by a driving force corresponding to the position detection of the operating element, and a touch feeling corresponding to a tone, a playing style, a player's preference, a keyboard structure, and the like can be realized. A subtle touch expression by playing technique can be realized.

(B) The operating state of the position, speed or acceleration of the operating element can be grasped, and a touch feeling according to the player's operation mode or the like can be realized.

(C) Touch data can be selected according to a tone color, a playing style, a player's preference, or the like, and an arbitrary touch feeling can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument keyboard according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show touch curves stored in a touch curve memory of the electronic musical instrument keyboard shown in FIG. FIGS. 4 and 5 are views showing a modification of the drive unit in the electronic musical instrument keyboard shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a view showing a conventional electronic musical instrument keyboard. 2 ... key 10 ... magnet 12 ... drive unit 14, 14a, 14b, 14A to 14E ... electromagnet 22 ... position sensor 24 ... touch control unit (control means) 32 ... touch curve memory (storage means)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A driving means provided above and below an operation element for applying a driving force to the operation element from both upper and lower sides; a position sensor for detecting a position of the operation element in accordance with an operation; And a control means for generating a driving force to the driving means in accordance with the position of the operating element. 2. The control means calculates a speed or an acceleration of the operating element from a position of the operating element detected by the position sensor, and refers to the position, speed or acceleration of the operating element to perform the operation. 2. The keyboard for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the driving force to be applied to the child is calculated. 3. A storage means for storing arbitrary touch data corresponding to an operation mode, wherein the control means refers to the touch data read out from the storage means in accordance with a playing condition to determine the driving force. 2. The keyboard for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the keyboard is operated.