JP3486938B2 - Electronic instruments that can play legato - 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 capable of playing legato.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electronic musical instruments capable of playing legato have been known. For example, in a keyboard type electronic musical instrument,
If a key depression of one sound is detected before a key depression of another key is completed, it is regarded as a legato performance. The legato sound is generated by adding a portamento effect that smoothly connects the pitch change from the front sound to the rear sound.

Further, there is also proposed an electronic musical instrument which, when a legato performance is detected, controls a volume envelope and a pitch change according to touch information to realize a legato sound closer to a natural musical instrument.

[0004]

When a legato playing method is performed with a natural musical instrument, not only the pitch but also the volume and sound quality change. Simply adding a portamento effect to a musical tone does not change the volume or tone quality, and it is not possible to faithfully realize the musical tone change when performing a legato style with a natural musical instrument.

When playing legato, it is possible to change the volume by detecting touch information and controlling a musical tone. However, some electronic musical instruments do not have a touch detection mechanism. Most keyboard electronic musical instruments have a touch detection mechanism, but inexpensive keyboard electronic musical instruments and wind instrument type controllers usually do not have a touch detection mechanism.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic musical instrument capable of changing a musical tone similar to a natural musical instrument during a legato playing method. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic musical instrument that can realize a natural legato sound without a touch detection mechanism.

Particularly, the legato in the performance of a monophonic instrument such as a wind instrument is closely related to the speed of the performance. Since the playing speed can be represented by the length of the preceding note, it is desirable to control the legato by the length of the preceding note.

[0008]

An electronic musical instrument capable of playing legato according to the present invention detects legato playing means for detecting a legato playing between a front note and a back note from performance information, and detects a playing speed. Means, a parameter memory for storing a time-varying parameter sequence for generating musical tones, and a playing speed detected by the means for detecting the playing speed when a legato playing is detected by the legato detecting means. And a read position changing means for changing the read position of the parameter sequence of the rear sound.

Further, the electronic musical instrument capable of playing legato according to the present invention performs a tone length measuring means for measuring the tone length of each performance sound from the performance information and a legato performance between the front note and the back note from the performance information. A legato detecting means for detecting, a parameter memory for storing a parameter string indicating a musical tone change, and a legato performance when the legato detecting means detects a legato performance. Read position changing means for changing the read position of the sound parameter string, read means for reading the parameter string from the parameter memory according to the designated read position, and a musical tone for controlling the tone signal according to the read parameter string. It has a control means and an envelope generation means for controlling the envelope of the musical tone signal according to the note length of the preceding sound when a legato performance is detected.

[0010]

When the legato performance is detected in the electronic musical instrument in which how the musical tone signal changes with the passage of time from the time of generation is preset as the parameter string, the back tone ( A more natural legato sound can be generated by changing the way in which the musical tone signal (legato sound) changes.

When a legato performance is detected, the speed of the performance can be estimated by using the note length of the preceding sound as a reference. When a legato performance is detected in an electronic musical instrument in which the time change of a musical sound is stored in advance as a parameter string, the read position of the parameter string of the back sound (legato sound) is changed according to the note length of the preceding sound. Can change the sound quality.

Further, when the legato performance is detected, the volume can be changed by controlling the envelope of the musical sound signal according to the sound length of the preceding sound. A more natural legato sound can be generated by changing the volume and sound quality based on the detection of the legato performance.

[0013]

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention. The performance information supply unit 1 is composed of, for example, a keyboard and a window controller. In the case of a keyboard, at least a key code, a key-on signal, and a key-off signal are generated based on the playing device. A velocity signal corresponding to the playing speed may be supplied.

In the case of a window controller, the breath pressure signal,
A note (pitch) signal, a note-on signal, a note-off signal, etc. are supplied. Note that the window controller generally does not have a touch detection mechanism. The performance information supply unit 1 may supply the performance information reproduced from the storage unit that stores the performance information.

The performance information supply unit 1 supplies the performance information as described above to the legato detection unit 3, the tone length measurement unit 5, and the control unit 7. The legato detection unit 3 analyzes the performance information and detects a legato performance. For example, when the performance information supplied from the performance information supply unit 1 is based on the performance on the keyboard, if the key-on of the rear sound occurs before the key-off of the front sound, it is determined to be legato. In the case of the wind controller, when the breath pressure signal of a certain value or more continues and the note (pitch) signal changes, the legato playing style is determined. The legato detection method is not limited to these methods.

The tone length measuring section 5 always measures the tone length of a musical tone from note-on to note-off. In the case of a legato performance, the note length of the front note may be from the note-on of the front note to the note-on of the rear note.

Hereinafter, the electronic musical instrument will be described as a sine wave synthesis type. The control unit 7 is composed of, for example, a CPU,
Control of a tone signal based on normal performance information and control of generation of a legato sound when detecting a legato performance are performed.

The storage unit 9 stores a program for musical tone signal generation, parameters necessary for legato processing, and the like. The parameter memory 13 stores a frame sequence, which is a parameter sequence indicating a time change of a musical sound, and reads parameters according to a frame number FN given from the frame progress control unit 11. The frame progress controller 11 controls the frame number to be read out under the control of the controller 7.

The interpolator 15 performs a temporal interpolation operation on the parameters read from the parameter memory 13. For example, a new parameter is read from the parameter memory 13 every 64 sample times, and interpolation is performed from the current parameter value to the newly given parameter value.

The synthesizing unit 17 controls each sine wave generator according to the parameter given from the interpolating unit 15, generates a plurality of sine wave signals and adds them to supply a musical tone signal. The envelope giving section 19 gives the musical tone signal given from the synthesizing section 17 an envelope according to the envelope control signal given from the control section 7.

The musical tone signal with the envelope supplied from the envelope imparting section 19 is given to the effector 21,
It is given a certain effect such as chorus and reverb. The output signal of the effector 21 is divided into left and right channels, converted into analog signals by digital-analog converters (DAC) 23a, 23b, and sound systems 25a, 25b.
Generate a musical sound from.

When the performance information supplying section 1 performs a performance operation, the parameters are sequentially read from the parameter memory 13 and the synthesizing section 17 synthesizes a basic musical tone signal. An envelope is added to the musical tone signal by the envelope imparting unit 19, and musical tones are generated from the sound systems 25a and 25b.

When the performance information supply unit 1 performs a legato performance, the legato detection unit 3 detects the legato performance. At this time, the speed of the legato performance is estimated from the sound length of the preceding sound measured by the sound length measuring unit 5.

That is, when a fast legato performance is performed, the note length of the preceding note is generally short, and when a slow legato performance is performed, the note length of the preceding note is long.

The storage unit 9 has a legato time control table LTCT as shown in FIG. The legato time control table LTCT stores a set of times t1, t2, t3, t4 and level 1 corresponding to a change in the note length t0 of the preceding sound.

FIG. 2B shows times t1, t2, t3, t.
The meanings of 4 and level 1 are shown. When a legato performance is detected, the envelope of the musical tone is at the level (1.
It gradually decreases from 0) to level 1 and then shifts to the rear sound and gradually raises the level to 1.0.

Here, the falling period of the preceding sound is time t1.
And the rising period of the rear sound is the time t2. The switching from the front sound to the rear sound is performed during the time t4 crossing the boundary between the times t1 and t2. That is, the parameter interpolation time is time t4. Time t3 indicates the time from the moment of legato detection to the start of parameter interpolation.

The legato time control table LTCT stores a large number of sets of these times t1 to t4 and level 1 as a function of the note length t0 of the preceding note. 2C, 2D, and 2E show how these parameters change with the change in the tone length t0 of the preceding sound.

FIG. 2C is a graph showing how the fall time t1 of the preceding sound changes according to the sound length t0 of the preceding sound. FIG. 2D is a graph showing how the rising period t2 of the rear sound changes with respect to the change of the sound length t0 of the front sound. FIG. 2E shows the sound length t0 of the preceding sound.
On the other hand, it is a graph showing how the level 1 at the time of switching changes.

Although the relationship between the times t3 and t4 with respect to the note length of the preceding sound is not shown here, the relationship can be set similarly to the times t1 and t2. The time t4 may be constant. The illustrated relationship is merely an example, and various other settings can be made. Further, although the case where the legato time is stored in the table is shown, the legato time may be calculated from a function or a conditional expression.

The envelope change as shown in FIG. 2B is finally realized by the envelope giving section 19. FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the combining unit 17. The synthesizing unit 17 has a plurality of sine wave generators WG1, WG2, ... In parallel.
Each sine wave generator WG has a frequency signal F and an amplitude signal M.
Is generated, and a tone signal having a plurality of frequencies is generated. These plural signals are added in the adder AD. The added tone signal is supplied to the envelope imparting unit 19.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the parameter memory 13. Corresponding to the sine wave synthesizing unit 17, a parameter memory stores a set of parameters for musical tones of each pitch.

In the case of the pitch C3, frames FN0, FN1, ... Are stored from the left side to the right side, and information of the frequency F and the amplitude M given to the sine wave generator is stored in each frame. For example, when the tone of C3 is generated, the frames are read from the frame FN0 to the right in order and the sine wave generator is controlled. When the F3 tone is generated, the frames are sequentially read from the F3 frame F0 toward the right side.

The storage unit 9 also stores a jump frame number table JFNT as shown in FIG. In the figure, FN is a frame number and indicates the frame of the start of the subsequent tone when a legato performance is detected.

The frame number FN corresponds to each pitch,
A plurality of them are stored as a function of the note length t0 of the preceding sound. For example, when the transition from the front note C3 to the back note F3 is a legato performance, the back note F3 at a position corresponding to the note length t0 of the front note.
By reading the frame number FN of, the starting frame number of the next sound can be known.

When the legato performance is detected and the jump frame number table shown in FIG. 5 (A) is referred to, the read start frame number is supplied. This frame number is the frame number of the aftertone start.

FIG. 5B shows an example of the envelope of a musical sound. The attack part has a relatively large change, and eventually settles in a steady state. The steady state has a loop part, and long musical sounds circulate in the loop part.

It is assumed that the legato performance is detected when the frame of the parameter memory is sequentially read for the preceding tone and the preceding tone is generated. At this time, the jump frame number table shown in FIG. 5A is referred to according to the tone length t0 of the preceding sound, and the read start frame number of the succeeding sound is supplied.

The start of the rear sound is started at various positions as shown in the figure by the jump frame number which changes according to the sound length t0 of the front sound. If the rear sound starts from the attack portion, the sound quality changes between the front sound and the rear sound are large, and if the rear sound starts from the steady portion, the sound quality changes little.

The interpolator 15 inputs a new parameter every 64 sampling times during normal performance and performs interpolation. When the legato performance is detected, the control unit 7 outputs time t4.
Is input, and the interpolation unit 15 performs parameter interpolation from the front sound to the rear sound within the time t4. When the interpolation is completed, the completion signal is sent from the interpolation unit 15 to the frame progress control unit 11
And the new frame number is output.

In this way, when the legato performance is detected, the tone signal synthesis of the synthesizer 17 is performed by the parameter sequence in which the read start frame is changed. The tone quality of the musical sound changes due to the change in the read start frame.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the envelope giving section. The envelope assigning unit 19 includes a read control unit 31,
It includes the serial connection of the envelope memory 32, the processing unit 33, and the multiplier 34. The read control unit 31 is supplied with the time signals t1 and t2 from the control unit 7 and is supplied to the envelope memory 32.
The read speed from is controlled. The envelope memory 32 stores a function that decreases from 1.0 to 0, as shown on the right side of the drawing.

During the time t1, the function value of the envelope memory is read from the left side to the right side, and during the time t2, the content of the envelope memory is read from the right side to the left side.

The processing unit 33 inputs the input signal IN read from the envelope memory 32 and the parameter l given from the control unit 7, and calculates (1−l) * IN + l. By performing this calculation, an envelope curve as shown in FIG. 2 (B) is formed.

This envelope signal is sent from the processing section 33 to the multiplier 34 and is multiplied with the musical tone signal sent from the synthesizing section 17 to generate an enveloped musical tone signal.

7 (A) and 7 (B) are flow charts when the legato processing is performed by the electronic musical instrument shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7A, legato detection is performed in step S1.

When legato detection is performed by the legato detector 3 shown in FIG. 1, the process proceeds to step S2, and the control unit 7 controls the time t by the length t0 of the preceding sound measured by the tone length measurement unit 5.
Get 1, t2, level 1, etc. These parameters t
1, t2, and 1 are sent from the control unit 7 to the envelope assigning unit 19 in step S3.

The control unit 7 also sets the time t3 in the timer counter CNT, as shown in step S4. This time t3 is the time until the start of the legato parameter interpolation. When the time t3 is set in the timer counter CNT, the timer interrupt is permitted in step S5. The value of the timer counter CNT is decremented for each timer interrupt.

FIG. 7B shows a flowchart of interrupt processing. When the interrupt process starts, step S1
At 1, the timer counter CNT decrements.
In the next step S12, it is determined whether or not the timer counter CNT has become 0.

When it becomes 0, the process proceeds to step S13, and the jump frame number is sent to the frame advance control unit. Further, in step S14, the time t4
To send.

In this way, after preparing for parameter interpolation, interrupt is prohibited in step S15.
When the timer counter CNT is not 0 in step S12, steps S13 to S15 are bypassed.

When the timer counter CNT reaches 0 in step S6 of FIG. 7A, parameter interpolation is started as shown in FIG. 2B. That is, the jump frame number table shown in FIG. 3 is referred to, the read start frame number of the rear sound is read, and the start frame number of the rear sound in the parameter memory 13 is determined. In this way, the jump from the front sound to the rear sound as shown in FIG. 3B is executed.

In the flow chart shown in FIG. 7A, in step S3, parameters t1, t2, and 1 which change according to the length of the preceding note are sent to the envelope generator, so that the envelope corresponding to the speed of the legato performance is changed. Control is performed.

Further, since the jump frame is determined in step S6 and the frame number of the subsequent sound read from the parameter memory 13 is controlled by the length of the previous sound, the legato sound whose sound quality changes according to the length of the previous sound. Is obtained.

For example, in the legato part which is slow in the performance of the saxophone, the front sound considerably falls and then the rear sound rises. At this time, the sound quality of the rising portion has a noise feeling similar to the attack of togging. Also,
In legato during fast passage, there is not much change in sound quality.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, when the length of the front sound is long, the read start frame number of the rear sound is set to a position close to the attack so as to give such a sound quality change at the start of the rear sound. You can Further, when the sound length of the front sound is short, by setting the read start frame number of the rear sound to the stationary part, it is possible to generate the rear sound with little change in sound quality.

Depending on the relationship between the foreground sound and the rear sound, there are sounds that are easy to move and sounds that are difficult to move. Further improvements can be made in order to express the ease of sound transition during legato.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a memory configuration for changing the ease of transfer of legato depending on the relationship between the front sound and the rear sound. In the figure, the pitch of the front sound is arranged in the vertical direction, and the pitch of the rear sound is arranged in the horizontal direction. A matrix is formed by the combination of the front sound and the rear sound, and the coefficient CF is stored at the intersection of each matrix.

That is, when moving from a certain front note to a certain back note, the coefficient at the intersection is read out, the parameters t1, t2 for executing the legato performance are multiplied by this parameter, and the result is the parameter in the above-mentioned embodiment. t1,
Used as t2 and the like. Such a coefficient memory may be stored in the storage unit 9 and read by the control unit 7 according to the pitch of the front note and the pitch of the back note given from the performance information supplying section 1. The coefficient may be calculated based on the pitch difference between the front sound and the rear sound.

In the embodiment described above, the speed of the performance is estimated by the tone length t0 of the previous tone. However, when the performance information supply unit 1 has a touch detection mechanism, the touch information of the previous tone is obtained. It is also possible to change the parameter according to. For example, when the velocity is fast, the reading of the parameters of the back tone is started from the attack part, and when the velocity is slow, the reading is started from the steady part.

Further, the case of the sine wave synthesizing type electronic musical instrument in which the musical tone synthesizing section has a plurality of sine wave generators has been described. can do.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments.
The present invention is not limited to these. For example,
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, improvements, combinations and the like can be made.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention,
During the legato performance, the tone signal can be changed according to the speed of the legato performance, and a more natural legato sound can be generated.

By measuring the sound length of the preceding sound, it is possible to generate a legato sound that changes according to the speed of the performance even in an electronic musical instrument having no touch detection mechanism. With a simple configuration, it is possible to generate legato sounds that are more like natural musical instruments.

Particularly, the legato in the performance of a monophonic instrument such as a wind instrument is closely related to the speed of the performance, and the speed of the performance can be represented by the note length of the preceding sound. Controlling the legato by the length of the front note has the effect of controlling the legato by the speed of performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a legato time control table in a storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a combining unit.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a memory content of a parameter memory in a storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a jump frame number table in a storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an envelope giving unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of legato processing.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing a coefficient memory according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 performance information supply section, 3 legato detection section, 5
Sound length measurement unit, 7 control unit, 9 storage unit, 1
1 frame progress control unit, 13 parameter memory, 15 interpolation unit, 17 combining unit, 19
Envelope giving part, 21 effector, 23
DAC, 25 sound system, 31 read control unit, 32 envelope memory, 33 processing unit, 34 multiplier, t time parameter, l
Level parameter, WG sine wave generator

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A legato detecting means for detecting a legato performance between a front note and a back note from performance information, a means for detecting a playing speed, and a parameter sequence for generating a time-varying musical sound. And a read position for changing the read position of the parameter sequence of the rear sound according to the speed of the performance detected by the means for detecting the speed of the performance when the legato performance is detected by the legato detection means. An electronic musical instrument having a changing means and capable of playing legato. 2. When the detected legato performance is slow, the read position changing means changes the read position of the parameter sequence of the rear sound to a non-steady part of the rear sound, and the detected legato is detected. 2. An electronic musical instrument capable of playing legato according to claim 1, wherein when the playing speed is fast, the read-out position of the parameter sequence of the aftertone is changed to the stationary portion of the aftertone. 3. A sound length measuring means for measuring a sound length of each performance sound from the performance information, a legato detection means for detecting a legato performance between a front sound and a back sound from the performance information, and a musical tone change. A parameter memory for storing a parameter string, and a read operation for changing the read position of the parameter string of the back tone according to the note length of the preceding note measured by the note length measuring section when the legato performance is detected by the legato detecting section. Position changing means, reading means for reading out a parameter string from the parameter memory according to a designated reading position, tone control means for controlling a tone signal according to the read parameter row, and when a legato performance is detected , A legato-playable electronic musical instrument having envelope generating means for controlling the envelope of a musical tone signal according to the tone length of the preceding tone. 4. The read position changing means changes the read position of the parameter sequence of the rear sound to a non-steady portion of the rear sound when the detected front sound of the legato performance is long, and the detection is performed. 4. When the front note of the played legato performance is short, the read position of the parameter sequence of the rear note is changed to the stationary part of the rear note.
An electronic musical instrument that can play the described legato.