JP3136695B2 - Electronic string 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 stringed musical instrument capable of generating musical tones in different performance styles for each of two tones.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic guitar has a plurality of tone switches. By operating the tone selection switch to select a desired tone, not only a guitar tone but also another instrument tone is generated. Anything that can be done has been put to practical use. According to such an electronic guitar , by switching the tone color selection switch during a performance or the like,
By changing the timbre of the generated musical tone, various performance expressions can be realized. Furthermore, electronic guitars capable of simultaneously generating two tones have emerged today. According to this electronic guitar, two different musical tones are generated in accordance with picking, so that even when played by one person, the same playing feeling as when two people play different instruments is obtained. be able to.

[0003]

However, in an electronic guitar capable of simultaneously generating the two tones described above, when a string is picked, a tone having the same pitch is changed to a different tone at the timing of picking. It just causes it to occur. Therefore, when the accompaniment is performed by the electronic guitar, musical tones composed of the first timbre and the second timbre are generated at the same sounding timing with the same accompaniment pattern, for example, as in a combination of arpeggio and down picking. A thick accompaniment sound composed of a combination of different performance styles cannot be obtained. Therefore, in order to obtain a thick accompaniment sound, for example, when a style of playing a chord by an arpeggio and a style of playing a chord by down-picking are required, a first player who performs an arpeggio performance and In this case, two players who perform down-picking are indispensable.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and is achieved only by the performance of one player.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic stringed musical instrument capable of generating musical tones of different timbres in different playing styles.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a pressing state detecting means for detecting a pressing state of a plurality of strings stretched over a musical instrument body, and String vibration detecting means for detecting vibration, a first timbre and a second
A tone color designating means for designating any one of a plurality of tone patterns, a tone pattern designating means for designating any one of a plurality of tone patterns, and a tone generated by the first tone color based on the string vibration detected by the string vibration detecting means. Manual tone generating means for generating, and a musical tone having a pitch corresponding to the pressing state of each string detected by the pressing state detecting means, in the second tone color according to the sounding pattern specified by the sounding pattern specifying means. Automatic sounding means for causing the sound to be generated. Further, the automatic sounding means is synchronized with the tone generation of the manual sounding means,
It is preferable to start generating a musical tone according to the pronunciation pattern.

[0006]

In the above construction, the first tone color and the second tone color are designated in advance by the tone color designating means and the sounding pattern is designated by the sounding pattern designating means before performing. In this state, when the was down picking musician presses a plurality of strings with presser state capable of pronunciation code Am, from the manual sound generating means tones of Am corresponding to down picking at the first tone Occurs. on the other hand,
The pressing state of the chord Am performed by the player is detected by the pressing state detecting means. At this time, if the sounding pattern designating means designates, for example, an arpeggio sounding pattern, the automatic sounding means changes the sounding pattern of the arpeggio. Thus, a musical tone of Am is generated in the second timbre . Therefore, if a player performs in a desired style, a musical tone of a performance style according to a pre-designated sounding pattern is generated in a different tone color from a performance style performed by the player.

In addition, the manual sounding means causes the automatic sounding means to generate a tone by the second timbre in accordance with a sounding pattern in synchronism with the start of string vibration for generating a tone in the first timbre. By starting, musical tones of two different timbres and performance styles are generated in a repetitive performance form.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. That is, FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the present embodiment. A program and the like stored in a ROM 2 and data temporarily stored in a work RAM 3 are given to a CPU 1 via a bus 4. Executes all processes and the like necessary for the electronic guitar according to the present embodiment based on these programs and data. The ROM 2 stores a plurality of timbre data of the first timbre and the second timbre together with the program. Further, the CPU 1 receives the string vibration of each string detected by the pickup 5 and the operation information from the switch group 6, and various switches constituting the switch group 6 and the pickup 5 are shown in FIG. Are arranged on the guitar body 7 shown in FIG.

The guitar body 7 includes a body 8 and the body 8.
And a head 9 provided at the other end of the neck 9. One end of six strings 11 from a first string to a sixth string is locked to the head 10, and the other end of the string 11 is locked to a tremolo unit 12 mounted on the body 2. I have. The body 8 is provided with the pickup 5, and as the switch group 6, switches A <b> 1 to A <b> 1 for first tone color and switches B <b> 1 to B <b> 1 for second tone color.
B5, a tempo volume 13, and performance style selection switches C1 to C4 are provided. The first and second
The tone color changeover switches A1 to A5 and B1 to B5
It is provided with a number corresponding to the type of tone color data stored in OM2. The performance style selection switches C1 to C4 are provided corresponding to the types of arpeggio patterns, and are switches that are turned on only momentarily when pressed. Further, as the switch group 6, a string press detection switch 14-
Nos. 1 to 14-6 are provided for each string for each fret. The string holding detection switches 14-1 to 14-6
Is a switch which is normally open and turned on when pressed together with the strings.
By turning on / off 4-1 to 14-6, it is possible to detect each scale of the currently held 6th string.

On the other hand, the tone generator LSI 15 generates a tone signal in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 1, and the tone signal is analog-converted by a D / A converter 16, amplified by an amplifier 17, and emitted from a speaker 18. The work area of the RAM 3 includes, as shown in the memory map of FIG.
Is pressed, the memory area M2 stores six scales from the first string to the sixth string which can be detected by scanning the string holding detection switches 14-1 to 14-6 provided for each fret. And a memory area M2 for storing a value of a sound generation counter that indicates which note of the arpeggio is to be generated when automatically generating an arpeggio pattern, and a value of a sound generation timer that indicates a time from one sound of the arpeggio to the next sound. And a memory area M4 for storing a current timer value indicating the time from the last sounding to the present. Further, the value of the sounding timer and the current timer value are detected based on the time information output from the timer 19.

Next, the operation of this embodiment according to the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. That is, the series of flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are subroutines that are executed by interrupting the main routine by a call from a main routine (not shown). Is done. That is, the outline of the processing executed in the main routine (not shown) is as follows. When the first tone color changeover switches A1 to A5 are operated prior to the performance, the tone color corresponding to the operated switch is changed to the sound source L.
This is set as the first tone color in SI15. Therefore, when picking is performed in this state, the vibration of the string 11 becomes
Each tone is detected by the pickup 5 and a tone of the first tone set in the sound source LSI 15 is generated for each picking in accordance with the vibration of each string.

Then, the subroutine shown in FIG. 5 is interrupted and executed at regular intervals with respect to the main routine in which the manual tone generation process is performed for each picking, and first, whether or not the value of the tempo volume 13 has changed. Is determined (step 101). This tempo volume 13
This is a volume for variably setting the tempo of an arpeggio that is automatically sounded by setting the time from one note of the arpeggio to the next note. If the value changes, the newly set arpeggio The value corresponding to the tempo volume is stored in the sounding timer (step 102).

Next, second tone color changeover switches B1 to B1
It is determined whether or not B5 has been pressed (step 103). If the determination is YES, the tone color data corresponding to the pressed switch is read from the ROM 2, and the tone generator LSI
15 is set as the second tone (step 10
4). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the performance style changeover switch C1 has been pressed. If the switch has been pressed, the six scales currently pressed on the strings 11 are stored in the memory area M1 of the RAM 3 (step 106). That is, as shown in FIG. 7, if none of the first to sixth strings is pressed and is in an open state, the six scales “mi, la,
レ, 、, シ, ミ ”, and if the chord Am is pressed, the six-tone ミ”, ラ, 、, 、, 、, 」”
Store.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is string vibration, that is, whether or not picking has been performed (step 107). When the determination is YES and picking has been performed, the process proceeds to the next step 108. Needless to say, if the determination in step 107 is YES and picking is performed, the pitch is determined by the manual tone generation processing in the main routine (not shown) as described above, and the pitch is determined by the string vibration and the second timbre. A tone of the determined timbre is generated corresponding to the picking.

In step 108, the fifth
The musical scale of the string is emitted with the second timbre (step 108). Therefore, by the processing of step 108, the tone of the first timbre generated by the picking and the second timbre generated according to the selected arpeggio pattern are generated. And the fifth string musical tone is emitted from the speaker 17 at the same time. In step 109 following step 108,
Set the number of sounds counter to “1” (step 10
9) Then return.

When the discriminating process is started again from step 101, the performance style changeover switch C1, which is turned on only momentarily when pressed as described above, is already off. Therefore, the determination in step 105 is NO, and the process proceeds from step 105 to step 111 to determine whether or not the current timer value has reached the value of the sounding timer. That is, the timer interrupt shown in FIG. 6 is interrupted and executed at regular time intervals with respect to the subroutine shown in FIGS. In this timer interrupt, it is determined whether or not the number-of-sounds counter is "0" (step 201). If this determination is NO, that is, "1" is set in the number-of-sounds counter in step 109 of FIG. After that, the time generated by this timer interrupt is added to the current timer value. Therefore, the current timer value shown in FIG.
Each time the timer interrupt is executed at a fixed time interval, a time corresponding to one executed cycle is added.

Therefore, if the determination in step 111 is NO, the process returns because it is not the time to generate the next scale of the arpeggio pattern, while Y
In the case of ES, since the next scale is to be pronounced, the current timer value indicating the time from the previous pronunciation to the present is cleared, and the number of tones of the arpeggio to be pronounced is cleared. The counter is incremented (step 112). Therefore, by the processing in step 112, the number-of-sounds counter becomes 1, as shown in FIG.
2, 3, 4,...

Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the number-of-sounds counter is 5 or more (step 113).
If the value of the number-of-sounds counter is 4 or less, the (6- [number-of-sounds counter]) string is sounded with the second tone (step 114). That is, assuming that the value of the number-of-sounds counter is now “2”, since 6- [number-of-sounds counter] = 6−2 = 4, the pitch of the fourth string is set to the second
Produce a tone. Assuming that the value of the number-of-sounds counter is "3", 6- [number-of-sounds counter] =
Since 6-3 = 3, the pitch of the third string is emitted in the second tone. In addition, the value of the pronunciation counter is "4"
6- [pronunciation counter] = 6-4
= 2, the pitch of the second string is emitted in the second tone color. Therefore, until the number-of-sounds counter becomes 1 to 4, the musical tone corresponding to the scale of each string is generated in the second tone in the order of the fifth string → the fourth string → the third string → the second string. .

If the determination in step 113 is NO and the value of the number-of-sounds counter is 5 or more, the ((number-of-sounds counter) -4) string is sounded in the second tone (step 115). That is, assuming that the value of the number-of-sounds counter is now “5”, [number-of-sounds counter] −4 =
Since 5-4 = 1, the pitch of the first string is emitted in the second tone. Assuming that the value of the number-of-sounds counter is “6”, [number-of-sounds counter] −4 = 6−4 =
Since it is 2, the pitch of the second string is emitted in the second tone color. Further, assuming that the value of the number-of-sounds counter is “7”, since [number-of-sounds counter] −4 = 7−4 = 3, the pitch of the third string is generated in the second tone, and the sound is generated. Assuming that the value of the number counter is “8”, since [number of sound counter] −4 = 8−4 = 4, the third
The pitch of the string is pronounced in the second tone.

Therefore, until the number-of-sounds counter reaches 5 to 8, the tone corresponding to the pitch of each string in the order of the first string → the second string → the third string → the fourth string is the second timbre. Occurs at Moreover, as described above, until the tone number counter becomes 1 to 4, the tone corresponding to the pitch of each string in the order of the fifth string → the fourth string → the third string → the second string is the second tone. Since the tone is generated by the tone, the string No. is shown in FIG. As shown as, 5th → 4 → 3 → 2 → 1 →
A musical tone of each string is emitted in the second tone in the order of 2 → 3 → 4 strings. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, when the chord Am is pressed, the arpeggio pattern of Am is automatically generated in the order of la → mi → la → do → mi → do → la → mi.

When the strings 11 are picked as described above, a tone is generated in the first tone color for each picking by the processing in the main routine. Therefore, for example, when a chord being played is pressed with the left hand and the arpeggio pattern selection switch C1 is pressed with the little finger of the right hand, and at the same time, the six strings 11 are played with a down stroke by picking with the thumb and forefinger, the current left hand The tone of the Am chord being depressed by the string is switched to the second tone changeover switch B.
The tones specified by the operations 1 to B5 are sounded in the order according to the arpeggio pattern corresponding to the al performance style changeover switch C1, and at the same time, the first
Of the tone color specified by the operation of the tone color changeover switches A1 to A5 are generated in the order in which the strings 11 are picked.

Therefore, in this electronic guitar, (1) one of the first tone color changeover switches A1 to A5 is pressed. (2) Press one of the second tone color changeover switches B1 to B5. (3) Press an arbitrary code such as Am with the left hand. (4) Start playing. At the same time as pressing any of the performance style changeover switches C1 to C4, the string 11 is picked.

(4) After the performance is started, every time the operation is performed, the automatic sounding of the arpeggio and the manual sounding by down picking can be generated in different timbres. Therefore, it is not necessary to have two players, a first player performing an arpeggio performance and a second player performing down-picking.
The arpeggio and down-picking, which are different performance styles, can be generated with different timbres only by the name player playing one electronic guitar, and the accompaniment thickness can be obtained.

In step 116 following steps 114 and 115, it is determined whether or not the value of the number-of-sounds counter has reached "8". If this determination is YES, since the automatic generation of all the sounds of the arpeggio pattern composed of eight sounds has been completed, the number-of-sounds counter and the current timer value are reset to 0 (step 117).
It returns.

In this embodiment, the chord held by the player is automatically sounded by an arpeggio. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to automatically sound down picking or up picking. In this case, for example, among the performance style changeover switches C1 to C4, the switch C4 is used for switching down picking or up picking, and it is determined whether or not the C4 switch is pressed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 301). Then, when the C4 switch is pressed, the C4 switch is pressed based on the scanning results of the string holding switches 14-1 to 14-6 provided for each fret.
The scale indicated by the strings is detected, and all the scales indicated by the six strings are converted to the second scale.
(Step 302). This allows
The musical scale of the six strings indicated by the player pressing the strings is automatically generated at the same time, and the musical tone of the same performance style as when down-picking or up-picking is performed can be automatically generated. Therefore, in this case, if the player himself plays the arpeggio, it is possible to generate musical tones of two different performance styles with different tone colors.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the musical scale of the sixth string is simultaneously generated.
The pronunciation counter used in the flowcharts of FIGS.
The sounding timer and the current timer value control the sounding order of the six scales, and down-picking is performed if the sound is generated with a minute time difference in the order of the sixth string → the fifth string → the fourth string → the third string → the second string → the first string. Can be automatically pronounced. Therefore, in this case, by performing the arpeggio performance or up-picking by the player himself, it is possible to generate musical tones of two different performance styles with different tone colors. Furthermore, controlling the sound order of the six scales, the first string → the second string → the third string → the fourth string → the fifth string → the sixth string, if the sound is generated with a small time difference, the up-picking automatic sound is possible. From
In this case, by performing the arpeggio performance or down picking by the player himself, it is possible to generate musical tones of two different performance styles with different tone colors.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a tone is generated in the first tone based on the vibration of a string, and a tone having a pitch corresponding to the pressed state of the string is specified in advance. The second tone is produced according to the performance style. Therefore, it is only necessary for one player to play one electronic stringed instrument without the need for two players, a first player and a second player performing in different performance styles. Thereby, musical tones of different performance styles can be generated with different timbres, and the accompaniment thickness can be obtained.

Further, since the tone of the first timbre based on the vibration of the string and the tone of the second timbre in accordance with the tone generation pattern are simultaneously generated, the tone of the two performance styles can be generated. It can be generated in a multiplex.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged plan view showing the appearance of the musical instrument main body of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a memory map showing a storage area provided in a work area of a RAM of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part of a subroutine executed by a call from a main flow of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart following Step 112 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a timer interrupt routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a musical tone that is automatically generated when a chord Am is pressed in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a sound order of six musical scales that are automatically sounded when a chord Am is pressed in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a subroutine executed by a call from a main flow according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 5 Pickup 6 Switch group 7 Guitar body 14-4 to 14-6 Holder switches A1 to A5 First tone switch B1 to B5 Second tone switch C1 to C4 Performance style switch

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-137295 (JP, A) JP-A-2-85486 (JP, U) JP-A-2-89489 (JP, U) JP-A 64-64 55987 (JP, U) JP-A-1-160498 (JP, U) JP-A-2-47695 (JP, U) Patent 2699171 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) ) G10H 1/00-7/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pressing state detecting means for detecting a pressing state of a plurality of strings stretched on a musical instrument main body; a string vibration detecting means for detecting vibrations of the plurality of strings; a first timbre and a second timbre; Tone color designating means for designating a tone color; sounding pattern designating means for designating any of a plurality of sounding patterns; and generating a musical tone in the first tone color based on string vibration detected by the string vibration detecting means. A manual tone generating means for generating a tone having a pitch corresponding to a pressing state of each string detected by the pressing state detecting means in the second tone in accordance with a sounding pattern specified by the sounding pattern specifying means. An electronic stringed instrument comprising: automatic sounding means; 2. The electronic stringed musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said automatic sounding means starts generating musical sounds in accordance with said sounding pattern in synchronization with musical sound generation of said manual sounding means.