JP4930019B2 - Electronic musical instruments and programs applied to electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument that simultaneously generates a plurality of musical tone signals and a program applied to the electronic musical instrument.

Conventionally, an electronic musical instrument having an expression pedal as a volume control operator for controlling the volume of a musical tone signal is well known. In Patent Document 1 below, the operation amount of the expression pedal is controlled by converting the operation amount of the expression pedal into a volume control value with different conversion characteristics for each tone, and controlling the volume of the musical tone signal by the converted volume control value. There is shown an electronic musical instrument in which the volume control characteristic of a musical tone signal corresponding to each tone is different for each tone color.
JP-A-60-262194

  In addition, it is also known that an electronic musical instrument generates a plurality of musical tone signals simultaneously. For example, an electronic organ generally has an upper keyboard, a lower keyboard, and a foot keyboard, and each tone signal generated by the performance of each keyboard forms an independent sequence. In this case, a plurality of sequences may be prepared for one keyboard. Furthermore, there are electronic musical instruments in which a large number of tone color selection buttons are divided into a plurality of groups each including a plurality of tone color selection buttons, and the plurality of groups are respectively associated with a plurality of series. In this case, the tone signal of the tone color selected by the selection operation of the tone color selection button is generated as a sequence tone signal corresponding to the group to which the selected tone color belongs.

  In an electronic musical instrument that generates a plurality of conventional musical tone signals simultaneously, when the expression pedal as the conventional volume control operator is operated, the multiple musical tone signals always change with the same volume characteristics, The volume balance between music signals could not be changed easily. Therefore, even if a plurality of musical tone signals are generated at the same time, it is impossible to realize a performance with high expressive power according to the operation of the expression pedal.

  The present invention has been made to cope with the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic musical instrument that simultaneously generates a plurality of series of tone signals, and a volume between the plurality of series of tone signals according to an operation of a volume control operator. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic musical instrument that can realize a performance with high expressive power by changing the balance.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that a musical tone signal generating means for generating a plurality of musical tone signals generated independently for each keyboard or key range, and a musical tone operated by a performer. A volume control operator for controlling the volume of the signal; and storage means for storing a plurality of different conversion data representing conversion characteristics of a volume control value with respect to an operation amount of the volume control operator, the plurality of different conversions Volume that sets a plurality of volume control values that change with different characteristics for each of the plurality of musical tone signals with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator , using conversion data selected by the performer from the data There is provided control value setting means and volume control means for respectively controlling the volume of the plurality of generated musical tone signals according to the set plurality of volume control values.

In this case, the sound volume control operator, for example may be a expression pedal, provided on the operation panel of the electronic musical instrument may be a manual operator for controlling the volume. As for the conversion data stored in the storage means, a plurality of sets of conversion data respectively corresponding to a plurality of series are stored as a set of conversion data, a plurality of sets of conversion data are stored in the storage means, and a plurality of sets of conversion data are stored. A set of conversion data may be selected simultaneously from the data. Alternatively, a plurality of conversion data (for example, conversion data for each timbre) may be prepared for each series and stored in the storage means, and the conversion data may be selected independently for each series.

In the electronic musical instrument configured as described above, the volume control value setting means performs performance from a plurality of different conversion data stored in the storage means and representing the conversion characteristics of the volume control value with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator. A plurality of volume control values that change with different characteristics for each of a plurality of musical tone signals with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator , using the conversion data selected by the user, and the volume control means includes the setting The volume of the multiple tone signal generated in accordance with the plurality of volume control values is controlled. Therefore, the volume balance among the multiple series of musical tone signals is changed according to the operation of the volume control operator. For example, if the volume control value of a certain series and the volume control value of another series are set so as to crossfade with respect to the change in the operation amount of the volume control operator, It is also possible to crossfade the volume of the musical tone signal of the series according to the operation of the volume control operator. Further, the volume control value of a certain series is kept constant or slightly changed with respect to the change in the operation amount of the volume control operator, and the volume control value of the other series is changed with respect to the change in the operation amount of the volume control operator. If the volume is set so as to be changed greatly, the balance between the volume of a tone signal of a certain series and the volume of a tone signal of another series can be changed according to the operation of the volume control operator. As a result, according to the characteristics of the present invention, the performance of the electronic musical instrument can have high expressive power. Further, the performer can easily select various conversion characteristics of the volume control value with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator.

  Furthermore, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the invention of the electronic musical instrument, and can also be implemented as an invention of a computer program and method applied to the electronic musical instrument.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of an electronic musical instrument. The electronic musical instrument includes an upper keyboard 11, a lower keyboard 12, a foot keyboard 13, an expression pedal 14, a setting operator group 15, a display 16 and a tone generator circuit 17.

  The upper keyboard 11 is provided at the upper part on the front side of the electronic musical instrument, and is composed of a plurality of keys that are normally operated by the right hand and used for playing a melody sound. The lower keyboard 12 is provided slightly below the upper keyboard 11 on the front side of the electronic musical instrument, and is composed of a plurality of keys that are usually operated by the left hand and used for accompaniment sounds (chords). The generation and termination of The foot keyboard 13 is provided at the lower front part of the electronic musical instrument, and is composed of a plurality of keys that are normally operated by the left foot and used as an accompaniment sound (bass sound). These key press operations of the upper keyboard 11, the lower keyboard 12, and the foot keyboard 13 are detected by detection circuits 11a, 12a, and 13a connected to the bus 20, respectively. The expression pedal 14 is a rotary operation element that is normally operated by the right foot, and is used for volume control of a musical sound signal in accordance with the amount of depression (operation angle). The amount of depression of the expression pedal 14 is detected by a detection circuit 14 a connected to the bus 20.

  The setting operator group 15 is provided on the operation panel of the electronic musical instrument, instructing the operation of each part of the electronic musical instrument, and used for selecting and setting various data. In the present embodiment, the present embodiment is used for setting musical tone elements of musical tone signals, particularly including selection of timbres of plural series of musical tone signals. The operation of the setting operator group 15 is detected by a detection circuit 15 a connected to the bus 20. The display 16 is composed of a liquid crystal display, CRT, or the like provided on the operation panel, and displays characters, numbers, figures, and the like. The display content of the display 16 is controlled by a display circuit 16 a connected to the bus 20.

  The tone generator circuit 17 is connected to the bus 20 and generates a digital musical tone signal based on supplied performance data and various control data under the control of a computer unit 30 to be described later, and outputs it to the sound system 18. . The sound source circuit 17 will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. 3. In the sound source circuit 17, a plurality of tone signal generation units 17 a to 17 h are provided. The tone signal generators 17a and 17b generate and output tone signals of the first and second upper series according to the performance operation of the upper keyboard 11. The tone signal generators 17c and 17d generate and output tone signals of the first and second lead sequences in accordance with the performance operation of the upper keyboard 11. The first and second upper series musical tone signal generators 17a and 17b generate musical tone signals for all key presses performed on the upper keyboard 11, but the first and second lead series musical tone signal generators 17a and 17b generate musical tone signals. The tone signal generators 17c and 17d generate only a tone signal corresponding to the highest key that is being depressed on the upper keyboard 11.

  The tone signal generators 17e and 17f generate and output the first and second lower series tone signals in accordance with the performance operation of the lower keyboard 12. The musical tone signal generators 17g and 17h generate and output musical tone signals of the first and second pedal series according to the performance operation of the foot keyboard 13. The first and second lower-line musical tone signal generators 17e and 17f generate musical tone signals for all key depressions performed on the lower keyboard 12, but the first and second pedal-series musical tone signal generators 17e and 17f generate musical tone signals. The tone signal generators 17g and 17h generate only tone signals corresponding to the lowest key pressed on the foot keyboard 13. The presence / absence of generation of a musical tone signal in these musical tone signal generation units 17a to 17h, the tone color of the generated musical tone signal, the effect imparted to the generated musical tone signal, and the like are set by the operation of the setting operator group 15.

  The plurality of musical tone signals output from these musical tone signal generation units 17a to 17h are supplied to a plurality of multiplication units M1 to M8 provided in the tone generator circuit 17. The plurality of multiplication units M1 to M8 multiply the plurality of supplied tone signals by a plurality of volume control values supplied from the volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h, and supply the result to the summation unit DA1. The volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h are functional blocks realized by program processing of the computer unit 30 described later. The plurality of volume control values respectively represent the plurality of volume levels. A summing unit DA1 is also provided in the tone generator circuit 17, and sums up a plurality of musical tone signals multiplied by the volume control values by the multiplying units M1 to M8 and supplies the sum to the sound system 18. The plurality of tone signal generation units 17a to 17h, the plurality of multiplication units M1 to M8, and the summation unit DA described above are not physically provided independently in the tone generator circuit 17, but are appropriately time-divisionally calculated. This is a function realized by processing.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 1 again, the sound system 18 includes a D / A converter, an amplifier, a speaker, etc., and converts the supplied digital musical tone signal into an analog musical tone signal and supports the analog musical tone signal. Release the musical tone.

  The electronic musical instrument also includes a computer unit 30 connected to the bus 20, an external storage device 41, a MIDI interface circuit 42, and a communication interface circuit 43. The computer unit 30 includes a CPU 31, a timer 32, a ROM 33 and a RAM 34. The external storage device 41 includes a nonvolatile recording medium such as an HDD, FDD, CD-ROM, MO, DVD, semiconductor memory, and a drive unit for each recording medium, and stores and reads data and programs described later. Is possible. These data and programs may be stored in advance in the external storage device 41, or may be taken in from the outside via the MIDI interface circuit 42 or the communication interface circuit 43.

  The MIDI interface circuit 42 can be connected to a MIDI-compatible external device 51 such as another electronic music apparatus or a personal computer, and the electronic musical instrument can communicate with the external device 51 in various programs and data. The communication interface circuit 43 can be connected to a communication network 52 so that the electronic musical instrument can receive various programs and data from the server computer 53 or transmit them to the server computer 53.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described. When a power switch (not shown) of the electronic musical instrument is turned on, the computer unit 30 repeatedly executes the program of FIG. 2 every predetermined short time. When the setting operator group 15 is operated, the computer unit 30 sets the tone signal generation state of the tone generator circuit 17 in accordance with the operation of the setting operator group 15 in step S11. Specifically, as described above, the presence / absence of generation of a plurality of series of tone signals in the tone generator circuit 17, the tone color of the generated tone signal, the effect imparted to the generated tone signal, and the like are set.

  When any one of the keys of the upper keyboard 11, the lower keyboard 12, and the foot keyboard 13 is operated, the computer unit 30 performs performance data (note data, key-on) according to the performance operation of the key in step S12. Data, key-off data, etc.) are output to the tone generator circuit 17. In this case, the computer unit 30 converts the performance data into one or a plurality of tone signal generation units corresponding to the setting state of the setting operator group 15 among the plurality of series tone signal generation units 17a to 17h. 17a to 17h. The musical tone signal generators 17a to 17h to which the performance data is supplied generate musical tone signals according to the musical tone signal generation state set by the operation of the setting operator group 15 and supply them to the multipliers M1 to M8. When the generation of the musical tone signal in the musical tone signal generation units 17c and 17d that generate the lead musical tone signal is controlled, the computer unit 30 performs the key depression of the upper keyboard 11 by the processing of step S12. Among them, the performance data corresponding to the highest key is supplied to the tone signal generators 17c and 17d. Further, when controlling the generation of the musical tone signal in the musical tone signal generating units 17g and 17h that generate the pedal type musical tone signal, the computer unit 30 performs the key in the key depression of the foot keyboard 13 by the process of step S12. Among them, the performance data corresponding to the lowest key is supplied to the tone signal generators 17g and 17h.

  If there is a change in the depression operation of the expression pedal 14, the computer unit 30 calculates a plurality of series volume control values corresponding to the depression operation amount of the expression pedal 14 and outputs it to the sound source circuit 17 in step S 13. . The calculation of the volume control value will be described. As shown in the functional block of FIG. 3, the volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h input the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 from the detection circuit 14a, and the first and second volume control values are calculated. It converts into volume control values of the musical tone signals of the upper series, the first and second lead series, the first and second lower series, and the first and second pedal series, and the multiplication units M1 to M8 of the tone generator circuit 17 Respectively. The volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h correspond to a conversion table stored in the external storage device 41 and a program process for converting the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 into a volume control value using the conversion table.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the conversion table stores data representing conversion characteristics from the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 to the volume control value. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the first and second upper sequences are commonly defined as having a characteristic that the volume control value increases linearly as the stepping amount increases. As shown in FIG. 4 (B), the first and second lead series are commonly defined to have a characteristic that the volume control value increases nonlinearly as the stepping amount increases. For the first and second lower series, and the first and second lead series, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, in common, the volume control value is linear as the stepping amount increases. It is defined as an increasing characteristic. However, in this case, the conversion characteristics of the first and second upper series and the first and second lead series are the conversion characteristics of the first and second lower series and the first and second lead series. In comparison, the rate of change is set to be large, and as a result, the former volume control value changes greatly with respect to the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 compared to the latter volume control value.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the first and second upper series are separated, and the conversion characteristic line of the first upper series and the conversion characteristic line of the second upper series are crossed. You may set it to fade. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D, the first and second lower sequences are separated, and the conversion characteristics of the first lower sequence increase linearly as the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 increases. However, the conversion characteristic of the second lower sequence may be kept constant even if the stepping amount changes. The conversion characteristics in FIGS. 4A to 4D and FIGS. 5A to 5D are examples, and can be variously changed. Further, the volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h may calculate the volume control value using a function stored in advance instead of the conversion table.

  Then, the multipliers M1 to M8 multiply the musical tone signals from the musical tone signal generation units 17a to 17h by the volume control values from the volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h, respectively, and output the result to the summation unit DA1. The summation unit DA1 sums up a plurality of tone signals multiplied by the volume control values supplied from the multiplication units M1 to M8 and outputs the sum to the sound system 18. The sound system 18 emits the summed music signal.

  As can be understood from the above operation description, according to the embodiment, the first and second upper series, the first and second lead series, the first and second lower series, and the first and second series. The volume balance between the musical tone signals of the pedal series is changed according to the operation of the expression pedal 14, so that the performance of the electronic musical instrument can have high expressive power.

  In the above description, the conversion characteristic of the volume control value with respect to the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 of each series is fixed, but the conversion characteristic of each series may be changeable. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, an upper sequence (common to the first and second upper sequences), a lead sequence (common to the first and second lead sequences), and a lower sequence (common to the first and second lower sequences). ), And a plurality of conversion data 61 to 64 indicating conversion characteristics respectively corresponding to the pedal series (common to the first and second pedal series) are set as a set of conversion data, and a plurality of sets of conversion data 60 are stored in the external storage device 41. -1, 60-2... 60-n are stored. Then, the selection unit 71 simultaneously selects one set of conversion data from a plurality of sets of conversion data 60-1, 60-2,... 60-n and stores them in the RAM 34, and converts the volume characteristic conversion of FIG. The units 30a to 30h may be used to convert the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 into a volume control value. The process of the selection unit 71 corresponds to the program process based on the operation of the setting operator group 15 by the process of step S11 of FIG. Also in this case, as indicated by the broken line in FIG. 6, the first and second upper series of conversion data 61 and 65 are provided independently, and the first and second lower series of conversion data 63 and 66 are provided. It may be provided independently. According to this, the performer can easily set the conversion characteristics of various volume control values in a state in which the volume balance between the plurality of musical tone signals is kept good.

  Also, an upper series (common to the first and second upper series), a lead series (common to the first and second lead series), a lower series (common to the first and second lower series), and a pedal series (first And a plurality of conversion data 61-1 to 61-n, 62-1 to 62-n, 63-1 to 63-n, 64-1 to 64-n. Are prepared and stored in the external storage device 41. Then, the selection unit 72 selects the conversion data 61-1 to 61-n, 62-1 to 62-n, 63-1 to 63-n, 64-1 to 64-n for each series, and the RAM 34. 3 and may be used for conversion from the depression amount of the expression pedal 14 to the volume control value in the volume characteristic conversion units 30a to 30h in FIG. The process of the selection unit 72 also corresponds to the program process based on the operation of the setting operator group 15 by the process of step S11 of FIG. According to this, the performer can easily set the conversion characteristics of various volume control values by making use of the characteristics of the timbre in each series.

  Further, the user setting unit 73 includes an upper sequence (common to the first and second upper sequences), a lead sequence (common to the first and second lead sequences), a lower sequence (common to the first and second lower sequences), In addition, the conversion data may be arbitrarily set according to the operation of the setting operator group 15 for each of the pedal series (common to the first and second pedal series). The conversion data can also be set using a touch panel provided in the display 16 or on the operation panel. The set conversion data is also stored in the RAM 34. The process of the user setting unit 73 also corresponds to the program process based on the operation of the setting operator group 15 by the process of step S11 of FIG. According to this, the performer can generate a conversion characteristic of an arbitrary volume control value and replace the conversion characteristic prepared in advance with the generated conversion characteristic.

  Furthermore, in carrying out the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the object of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the expression pedal 14 is incorporated in the electronic musical instrument in advance. However, instead of this, the expression pedal 14 may be configured separately from the electronic musical instrument and connected to the electronic musical instrument by wire or wirelessly. Further, instead of the expression pedal 14 of the above embodiment, another volume control operator may be used. For example, it may be a manual operator that is provided on the operation panel of the electronic musical instrument and controls the volume.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the musical sound signals of a plurality of sequences are set as independent musical sound signal groups generated by the performance of the same keyboard for each keyboard. However , when one key is divided into a lower key range and an upper key range ("split") and musical signals are generated simultaneously by the performance of the lower key range and the upper key range, the lower key range and the upper key range are generated. The musical tone signals related to the key range may be two independent musical tone signals . For tone signals of plural sequences of these, to a conversion characteristic that changes the amount of depression of expression pedal 14 the volume control value may be provided for each series, a further tone signals a plurality of sequences further groups The conversion characteristics may be prepared for each group. Further, when a musical tone signal belonging to one series is generated by a combination of a plurality of timbres (or waveform data), the conversion characteristics may be prepared for each “timbre (waveform data)”.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the conversion characteristic data of the volume control values of a plurality of series of tone signals may be registered in the registration data so that they can be read and used at the same time when setting the registration.

  In the above embodiment, the detailed description of the parameters used as the volume control values is omitted. However, any parameters can be used as long as they can independently control a plurality of musical tone signals. For example, any of “expression”, “volume”, and “velocity” may be used. Furthermore, not only the volume of the musical tone signal for each of the plurality of sequences but also the tone color or effect may be controlled simultaneously according to the depression amount of the expression pedal 14. In this case, the tone color or effect control curve may be the same as or different from the volume control curve.

  Furthermore, the electronic musical instrument according to the above embodiment is provided with a musical sound signal generation unit for an automatic performance sound sequence that adds an automatic rhythm function, an automatic accompaniment function, etc., and generates a musical sound signal related thereto, You may make it control the volume change characteristic of the musical sound signal of the automatic performance sound series produced | generated in a signal generation part similarly to the volume change characteristic of the musical sound signal of each series in the said embodiment.

1 is an overall block diagram of an electronic musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the program performed with the electronic musical instrument of FIG. It is a functional block for explaining volume control of a plurality of musical tone signals using an expression pedal. (A)-(D) is a graph which shows an example of the conversion characteristic from the depression amount of an expression pedal to a volume control value in a plurality of musical tone signal series. (A)-(D) is a graph which shows the other example of the conversion characteristic from the depression amount of an expression pedal to a volume control value in a some musical sound signal series. It is a functional block diagram concerning the modification which makes it possible to change selectively the conversion characteristic of a plurality of musical tone signal series.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Upper keyboard, 12 ... Lower keyboard, 13 ... Foot keyboard, 14 ... Expression pedal, 15 ... Setting operation group, 17 ... Sound source circuit, 17a-17h ... Music signal generation part, 30 ... Computer part, 30a-30h ... Volume characteristic conversion unit, 41 ... external storage device, M1 to M8 ... multiplication unit, DA1 ... summation unit, 61 to 66, 61-1 to 61-n, 62-1 to 62-n, 63-1 to 63-n , 64-1 to 64-n ... Conversion data

Claims (4)

A musical tone signal generating means for generating a plurality of musical tone signals generated independently for each keyboard or each key range;
A volume control operator that is operated by the performer to control the volume of the tone signal;
Storage means storing a plurality of different conversion data representing a conversion characteristic of a volume control value with respect to an operation amount of the volume control operator, and using conversion data selected by a player from the plurality of different conversion data Te, and volume control value setting means for setting a plurality of volume control value that varies with different characteristics for different tone signals of said plurality of sequences with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator,
An electronic musical instrument comprising: volume control means for controlling the volume of the generated plurality of musical tone signals according to the set plurality of volume control values. A plurality of conversion data corresponding to each of the plurality of series is stored as a set of conversion data, a plurality of sets of conversion data is stored in the storage means, and one set of conversion data is selected from the plurality of sets of conversion data. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , which is selected at the same time. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of conversion data is prepared for each of the plurality of series and stored in the storage unit, and the conversion data is independently selected for each of the series. . Sound source means for generating a plurality of musical tone signals generated independently for each keyboard or key range, respectively, and controlling and outputting the volume of the generated plurality of musical tone signals;
A volume control operator that is operated by the performer to control the volume of the tone signal ;
A program applied to an electronic musical instrument comprising storage means for storing a plurality of different conversion data representing a conversion characteristic of a volume control value with respect to an operation amount of the volume control operator ,
Using the conversion data selected by the performer from among the plurality of different conversion data, a plurality of volume controls that change with different characteristics for each of the plurality of musical tone signals with respect to the operation amount of the volume control operator A program for causing a computer to execute a step of setting a value and supplying the set plurality of volume control values to the sound source means to control the volume of each of the plurality of generated musical tone signals.

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