JP2860049B2 - Display for electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display for an electronic musical instrument for displaying a setting state of the electronic musical instrument.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic musical instrument, various setting states, such as a volume level and an accompaniment rhythm type, which are changed by a switch are displayed by numerical values using a 7-segment LED or the like so that the setting values can be understood at a glance. It is.

[0003]

However, in the conventional electronic musical instrument, since some kind of display is always made by the above-mentioned LED, regardless of whether the player needs such display or not. Constant power was always consumed. Especially for small portable electronic musical instruments,
In many cases, a dry battery is used as a power source, and there is a problem that the lighting of the LED shortens the life of the battery and shortens the time for continuous playing.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a display device of an electronic musical instrument which displays information only when it is necessary for an operation and suppresses power consumption.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an electronic device for displaying the set state by turning on a light emitting means when a switch is operated to set the state of the electronic musical instrument. A display for a musical instrument, a switch operation detecting means for detecting the operation of the switch, an elapsed time measuring means for measuring a time elapsed after the switch operation is detected by the switch operation detecting means, and an elapsed time measuring means. Power saving means for suppressing power consumption of the light emitting means when the time measured by the means becomes equal to or longer than a predetermined value.

Here, as described in claim 2, the power saving means is preferably a light-off means for turning off the light-emitting means. Alternatively, as described in claim 3, the power saving means may be blinking means for blinking the light emitting means. When the switch is an up-down switch as described in claim 4, it is particularly convenient to apply the electronic musical instrument display device according to claim 3.

[0007]

According to the electronic musical instrument display device of the present invention having the above-described structure, the power consumption of the light emitting means is suppressed when a predetermined time or more has elapsed after the switch is no longer operated. Therefore, while the switch is being operated to adjust the setting state of the electronic musical instrument, the display is displayed in a normal lighting state. For example, when the switch for adjusting the setting state is no longer operated, for example, when a performance is started, the display is omitted. The power is displayed.

[0008] In particular, according to the apparatus of claim 2, since the light emitting means is turned off, power consumption by the light emitting means is completely eliminated. Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the light emitting means blinks, power consumption for the light-off period is eliminated. In addition, the setting state can be checked during the lighting period. In particular, if the flickering pitch is made extremely fast, the player will see the light emitting means in a state where the light continues to be dimly lit.

[0009] In addition, the up-down switch wants to select whether to perform the up-operation or the down-operation after confirming the set value or the like before the up-down operation. Since the value is blinking, it can be easily confirmed.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. An electric guitar 1 as an embodiment is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, a pickup 7 that detects vibration of the iron string 3 as analog information is provided on a main body 5 having the iron string 3,
A card slot 11 in which a ROM card 9 in which an accompaniment pattern is recorded as digital information is inserted; an electronic tone generator circuit 13 centered on a CPU; a mixing unit 15 for mixing output signals from the electronic tone generator circuit 13 and the pickup 7
And an amplifier circuit 17 for amplifying the signal mixed by the mixing unit 15, a speaker 19 for emitting a sound based on the signal amplified by the amplifier circuit 17, and a headphone 21 for connecting the speaker 19. Headphone terminal 23 used by switching between
Operation panel 2 for specifying various conditions for 3
5, a MIDI terminal 27, and a dry battery 29 for power supply.

The pickups 7 are provided for each pair of the steel strings 3 to detect a magnetic field change caused by the vibration of the steel strings 3 and output the analog signals. The electronic tone generator circuit 13 includes a CPU 30, a program memory 31, a tone waveform memory 32, a RAM 33, an automatic performance data memory 34, a tone generator circuit 35, a card interface circuit 36, a panel interface circuit 37, M
IDI interface circuit 38 and D / A conversion circuit 3
9 is provided. Also, a voltage adjustment circuit 41 that takes in a part of the signal from the pickup 7 and adjusts the voltage so that the voltage is in the range of 0 to 5 V, and an A / D that converts an analog signal from the voltage adjustment circuit 41 into a digital signal. Converter 4
3 is also provided.

The program memory 31 stores a control processing program for performing accompaniment and the like. The musical tone waveform memory 32 stores information on musical tone waveforms of various musical instruments such as drums and basses necessary for accompaniment. RA
M33 is for temporarily storing data and the like when performing various arithmetic processing. The automatic performance data memory 34 is a ROM in which some rhythm patterns and the like are stored in advance. The tone generator 35 has a plurality of parallel sounding channels, and outputs a digital tone signal from tone waveform data read from the tone waveform memory 32 and accompaniment data read from the automatic performance data memory 34 and the card interface circuit 36. Circuit. The card interface circuit 36 is connected to the card slot 11 and is a circuit for reading stored contents of the ROM card 9. The panel interface circuit 37
This circuit is connected to the operation panel 25 and reads an instruction from the operation panel 25. The MIDI interface circuit 38 is connected to the MIDI terminal 27 and outputs the performance data read from the automatic performance data memory 34 or the ROM card 9 to an external MIDI-compatible device, or conversely, the performance data from the external MIDI-compatible device. Or enter Performance data input from an external MIDI-compatible device can be processed for accompaniment in the same manner as data read from the automatic performance data memory 34 or the ROM card 9. The D / A conversion circuit 39 is for converting a digital signal output from the sound source circuit 35 into an analog signal.

The mixing section 15 is provided with a variable resistor type guitar volume adjusting circuit 15a for adjusting the strength of the analog signal detected by the pickup 7. An operational amplifier 16 for adjusting the impedance of the circuit is provided between the volume adjusting circuit 15a and the pickup 7. The operational amplifier 16 also has a role of adjusting the volume with the accompaniment sound. Further, a branch point 15b for branching a signal to the above-described voltage adjustment circuit 41 is provided at a position downstream of the guitar volume adjustment circuit 15a. A mixing point 15c for mixing the signal from the D / A conversion circuit 39 is provided at a position downstream of the branch point 15b.

The operation panel 25 includes a rhythm volume switch 51 for adjusting the volume of the accompaniment pattern generated by the electronic tone generator 13, a tempo switch 52 for adjusting the tempo of the pattern, and a transformer for modulating the pattern. A pause switch 53, a select switch 54 for selecting a pattern, a part mute switch 55 for silencing a predetermined part, and selecting which of the automatic performance data memory 34 and the ROM card 9 is to be selected as accompaniment data. Changeover switch 56 for switching
, A guitar volume switch 57 for adjusting the guitar volume and other switches 58, and a display unit 59. The rhythm volume switch 51, the tempo switch 52, the transpose switch 53, and the select switch 54 are all composed of a pair of button switches, and are configured to increase / decrease the volume, change the tempo, and the like according to an up / down instruction. . The part mute switch 55 and the changeover switch 56 are each composed of one button switch, and are configured to sequentially change the selection contents. The display unit 59 is a two-digit numerical display window including two sets of 7-segment LEDs. The display unit 59 displays the setting contents according to the operation of each of the switches 51 to 56.

Next, processing contents in the CPU 30 will be described. FIG. 3 shows the main routine. CPU 30
When the power is turned on, first, an initialization process is executed (S10). In this process, the contents stored in the RAM 33 are cleared, and the initial state of the sound source state (rhythm volume, tempo, transpose, rhythm pattern selection, part mute setting, etc.) is performed. In this initial setting, it is assumed that the volume of the guitar is a reference value, and the rhythm volume is initially set in consideration of the balance with the reference value.

Next, switch event processing is executed (S20). Details of the processing in S20 are as shown in FIG. In this process, the operation state of each of the switches 51 to 58 of the operation panel 25 is scanned (S2
1) If any switch has been operated (S
22: YES), processing corresponding to each switch, such as rhythm pattern selection, is executed (S23). Since the switch has been operated, the LED blinking flag is turned off (S24), and the LED blinking counter is cleared (S2).
5). The LED blinking flag and the LED blinking counter are both stored in the RAM 33, and in a process described later,
It is used to determine whether to switch the display unit 59 to the power saving display. When S24 and S25 are executed, the power saving display on the display unit 59 is canceled and the display is performed in a normal lighting state. Next, an LED process is executed, and the setting contents of the operated switch are displayed on the display unit 5.
9 is displayed as a two-digit number (S26). The player can set an arbitrary rhythm pattern, a rhythm volume, and the like by turning up and down the number while checking the number displayed on the display section 59. If the switch is not operated (S22: N
O), S23 to S25 are not executed.

When the sound source setting by the player is completed in this way, the processing shifts to the automatic performance processing shown in FIG. 3 (S3).
0). The automatic performance processing is exactly the same as that performed with a normal rhythm box or electronic musical instrument. Briefly, the following processing is performed. The data of the accompaniment pattern is read from either the automatic performance data memory 34 or the ROM card 9 in accordance with the setting of the rhythm pattern select, the tone waveform is read from the tone waveform memory 32 in accordance with the note-on data, and further set by switch event processing In consideration of the set rhythm volume, tempo, transpose, part mute, etc., and the volume level determined by the note-on data itself, tone data including an envelope is set in an empty channel of the sound source circuit 35 one by one. On the other hand, when the note-off data is read, the volume level of the channel for which the note-off is instructed by this data is set to “0”. Sound source circuit 35
Outputs a digital signal that makes a change specific to the drum based on the musical tone data set in accordance with the note-on data in this way, and stops the output according to the note-off instruction. The digital signal thus output is
The signal is converted into an analog signal by the D / A conversion circuit 39, amplified by the amplifier circuit 17, and emitted from the speaker 19.
Thus, it functions as a rhythm box.

After the above processing is completed, other processing is executed as necessary (S40). As other processing,
In the present embodiment, in particular, processing is performed to determine whether the condition for switching the display unit 59 to the power saving display is satisfied. In this process, first, as shown in FIG.
The value of the blink counter is checked (S41). Here, if the LED blinking counter has not reached the predetermined value (S4
1: NO), the LED blinking counter is counted up (S42), and the process returns to S20 in FIG. 3 after finishing this process. Therefore, the count value increases in S42 until the LED blink counter reaches the predetermined value,
When the switch is operated, the process of clearing the counter in S25 is repeated. As a result of repeating such processing, if the LED blinking counter reaches a predetermined value (S41: YES), the LED blinking flag is turned on (S43), and the LED lighting ON / OFF counter is set to the predetermined value ( S44). That is, S4
Steps S44 and S44 are performed when no switch operation is performed for a predetermined time. Note that S4
The blinking cycle of the display unit 59 is set by the value set in the LED lighting ON / OFF counter in 4.

The CPU 30 executes a timer interrupt process at a predetermined timing separately from the main routine. During this process, it is determined whether to keep the display unit 59 lit or blink. First, as shown in FIG.
It is checked whether the LED blinking flag is off (S51). If the LED blinking flag is off (S5
1: YES), the display unit 59 is kept lit (S52). On the other hand, when the LED blinking flag is on,
It is checked whether the LED lighting flag is off (S53). The LED lighting flag is a flag used for switching between turning on and off the display unit 59 so as to blink the display unit 59. When the LED lighting flag is off, the display unit 59 is turned off (S
54), when it is on, the display section 59 is turned on (S5).
5). Then, the LED lighting ON / OFF counter previously set in S44 is decremented (S56). Next, the LED lighting ON / OFF counter is checked (S57), and if the counter value is zero (S5).
7: NO), the LED lighting flag is inverted (S58),
The LED lighting ON / OFF counter is reset (S59).

As described above, the processing of S51 to S59 allows LE
If the D blinking flag is off, the display unit 59 is kept lit, and if the LED blinking flag is on,
The display 59 flashes at time intervals corresponding to the value set in the LED lighting ON / OFF counter. Here, the value set in the LED lighting ON / OFF counter may be different in length between ON and OFF, so that the period of lighting and the time of turning off may be different. If the light-off period is longer than the light-on period, the effect of suppressing power consumption is high. Also, if the counter value is made extremely small, the performer will see the brightness of the display unit 59 simply as having decreased rather than blinking.
Therefore, the point at which the display contents can always be confirmed is the same as the case where the lighting is continued, and the power consumption is suppressed as compared with the case where the lighting is continued.

Although the processing by the CPU 30 has been described above, the function as an electric guitar is executed irrespective of the flow of this processing. That is, the vibration of the iron string 3 detected by the pickup 7 is provided to the mixing unit 15 as an analog signal, and is mixed with the accompaniment pattern converted into the analog signal. At this time, the volume of the electric guitar is adjusted to the volume intended by the player by passing through the guitar volume adjustment circuit 15a before mixing. If no accompaniment pattern is selected, it can be used as a simple electric guitar.

As described above, according to the electric guitar of the present embodiment, after a while after the switch adjustment is completed,
The display unit 59 is turned on and off, and power consumption for the light-off period is eliminated. Therefore, the battery lasts longer and the time for continuous performance is longer. When changing the accompaniment rhythm or volume, the current set value must be increased or decreased. Even if the display unit 59 is in the power saving display state, the current set value is displayed in a blinking manner. Therefore, the player can easily change the setting while checking the number blinking displayed on the display unit 59.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modes can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment, the method of blinking the display unit 59 for power saving has been described. However, if the display unit 59 is simply turned off, power consumption is further suppressed. However, since the setting state can be checked only after the switch is operated again, it is more convenient to blink as in the embodiment when the setting value is changed with one touch by an up / down switch or the like.

Further, as a power-saving display method of the display section 59, switching between off and blinking may be made possible.
In this case, the display is turned on and off when it is necessary, and is turned off when the display is not necessary, so that the effect of suppressing power consumption can be enhanced. Furthermore, the display may be switched so as not to display the power saving display. In this manner, the power saving display is usually set, and the power saving display can be prohibited only when the display becomes difficult to see due to the decrease in brightness due to blinking, for example, when playing in a bright place.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the switch is not operated, the power consumption of the light emitting means is suppressed,
Power is not wasted. In particular, the display device according to claim 2 has a high effect of suppressing power consumption, and the display device according to claim 3 has an effect of suppressing power consumption.
Easy to use because you can check the display. Accordingly, the up-down switch can be easily operated while confirming the display even with the configuration as described in claim 4.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating an appearance of an electric guitar according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal circuit configuration of the electric guitar of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a main routine in the electric guitar of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a switch event process in the electric guitar of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a performance operation check and power-off process in the electric guitar of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a power saving display process in the electric guitar of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... electric guitar, 3 ... iron string, 5 ... body,
7: pickup, 9: ROM card, 11
..Card slots, 13... Electronic tone generator circuits, 15.
..Mixing section, 15a... Guitar volume adjustment circuit,
15b: branching point, 15c: mixing point, 17: amplifier circuit, 19: speaker, 2
1 ... headphone, 23 ... headphone terminal, 25
... Operation panel, 27 ... MIDI terminal, 29 ...
・ Dry battery, 30 ・ ・ ・ CPU, 31 ・ ・ ・ Program memory, 32 ・ ・ ・ Tone sound waveform memory, 33 ・ ・ ・ RAM,
34 ... automatic performance data memory, 35 ... tone generator circuit, 36 ... card interface circuit, 37 ...
Panel interface circuit, 38 ... MIDI interface circuit, 39 ... D / A conversion circuit, 41 ...
Voltage adjustment circuit, 43 A / D converter, 51 Rhythm volume switch, 52 Tempo switch,
53: transpose switch, 54: select switch, 55: part mute switch, 56
... changeover switch, 57 ... guitar volume switch, 58 ... other switches, 59 ... display unit.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display device for an electronic musical instrument, wherein when a switch is operated to set a state of the electronic musical instrument, the setting state is displayed by lighting of a light emitting means. An elapsed time measuring means for measuring a time elapsed since the operation of the switch is detected by the switch operation detecting means; and the light emitting means when the time measured by the elapsed time measuring means is equal to or longer than a predetermined value. And a power saving means for suppressing power consumption of the electronic musical instrument. 2. The display device for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said power saving means is a light-off means for turning off said light-emitting means. 3. The display for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said power saving means is a blinking means for blinking said light emitting means. 4. The display device for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 3, wherein said switch is an up / down switch.