JPH0580678B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a player piano equipped with an action mechanism that strikes a string using a hammer that interlocks with a key.

[Conventional technology]

In general, a player piano consists of a recording section that records performance information, and a reproducing section that reproduces the recorded performance information and automatically plays the piano.
In this case, the recording section records keystroke information such as note name and stop timing associated with keystroke operations on the keyboard, and volume associated with the strength of the keystroke, as performance information during piano performance.
String information such as string-striking timing is detected, and this information is digitized and recorded on a data recorder or the like. The reproducing section reproduces the recorded performance information and drives a solenoid provided for each key based on this performance information, thereby automatically playing the piano.

By the way, in order to detect performance information in such a player piano, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6, a key sensor 1 consisting of two switches arranged at different levels under the keyboard board is provided, and Performance information is detected by inputting signals S ₁ and S ₂ associated with on and off obtained from each switch to a counter 2 and a key assigner 3. At this time, one signal S ₁ of the key sensor 1 is input as a count start signal of the counter ₂ , and the other signal S ₂ is input as _a count stop signal. It will look like the figure.

In FIG. 7, when the keyboard is pressed, the signal from the key sensor 1 is generated based on this key pressing operation.
S ₁ occurs at time t ₁ , and this signal causes counter 2 to
counting starts. And the signal of key sensor 1
When S ₂ occurs at time t ₂ , this signal causes the counter 2 to stop counting. Therefore, this time
Since the time interval from t ₁ to _{t 2} corresponds to the keyboard speed due to the key press operation between the two points of each switch, the key press strength (sound strength) is calculated based on the count value of counter 2 obtained during this time. Can be detected as volume information. The signal _S1 from the key switch 1 is also input to the key assigner 3, where it is also detected which key has been pressed (note name determined). In addition, in Figure 7,
T indicates the counting period of counter 2, and key sensor 1
The signal S ₁ corresponds to the on/off time (key on) of the switch due to key press operation, and the time t ₃ at the off time
corresponds to the sound stop timing. Further, this signal _S1 is sent out as a reset signal for resetting the counter 2 through the inverter 4 (see FIG. 6). Furthermore, the signal _S2 corresponds to the string striking timing.

However, the signal obtained based on the configuration of the key sensor 1 as described above always reaches S ₂ within the signal generation period of S ₁ as shown in FIG.
signals will be included. This does not cause a problem with electronic medicine devices that do not have an action mechanism, but
This causes inconvenience in a player piano having an action mechanism.

In other words, for example, if a key is pressed rapidly and weakly, the string can be struck even if the key does not move the full stroke (10.2 mm), so there is a possibility that the S ₂ signal will not be generated after the S ₁ signal is generated. be. When this happens, the _S1 key-off signal is input to the key assigner 3 without the _S2 signal (count stop) being generated, as shown in FIG.
Keyboard recognition is canceled, and even though strings are actually being struck, this string-strike information is no longer recorded.

Furthermore, although the action mechanism operates in conjunction with the keyboard, strictly speaking, the speed of the hammer and the speed of the keyboard do not match, so even if the speed of the keyboard is detected between those two points, the strength with which the keys are pressed and the volume will vary. This did not result in accurate response, and as a result, there were inconveniences such as the inability to perform accurate volume detection.
Furthermore, since the signal S ₂ is generated before the actual string striking (sounding) (the opposite is true for shallow staccato), accurate string striking timing could not be obtained.

In order to eliminate these inconveniences, the present applicant has separately proposed a method for detecting performance information for automatic performance pianos. This method uses a key sensor that detects key presses at one point on the wiper part of the action mechanism or the keyboard as a sensor for recording performance information on a player piano, and a key sensor that is connected to the string-striking action of a hammer. A hammer sensor is provided to detect the string striking strength of the hammer at two points, and a key press operation signal obtained from the key sensor is input to a key assigner to detect the note name, and the hammer strike signal obtained from the hammer sensor is input to the key assigner. A signal associated with the string strength is input to a counter, and the volume is detected based on the counted value of the counter. Fig. 9 shows a signal time chart of each key sensor and hammer sensor.

In Fig. 9, K is the signal of the key sensor,
M ₁ and M ₂ indicate the signals of the hammer sensor, respectively. When a key is pressed, the K signal is first generated at _t1 , and upon receiving this signal K, the key assigner detects the note name, and the _M1 signal is generated by the action mechanism driven based on the key press. The counter starts counting at t ₂ , and the counter stops counting at t ₃ due to the signal M ₂ , and the strength of the key press (string strike) is detected. Since the hammer string strike→repulsion is performed during the key depression period of the keyboard, the signal _M1 turns off at _t4 before the signal K turns off at _t5 .

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the method described above, signals from each key sensor and hammer sensor are generated as shown in Figure 9, and it is possible to prevent mistakes in recording performance information. In some cases, the action mechanism operates faster than the keyboard, and the K signal is generated later than the _M1 signal as shown in FIG. If such a situation occurs, the key press signal K is delayed, which causes a delay in the detection of the note name by the key assigner 3, and the processing for recording the performance cannot be started until the note name is determined. A problem arises in that processing is delayed. Furthermore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 9, after the keystroke signal K is generated and the note name is detected, the automatic control is performed on the assumption that the signals M ₁ and M ₂ necessary for determining the volume information will be generated. Each part of the piano was designed. However, the above situation, i.e.
In order to ensure accurate performance recording even in situations where note name detection is delayed compared to signal _M1 , etc., it is necessary to It is necessary to change the design of the affected parts so that they are not affected by such adverse effects, and this imposes a large burden on design man-hours and manufacturing costs.

This invention was made to solve these inconveniences, and without making any major changes to conventional player pianos, the detection of keystrokes is delayed due to special performances such as weak staccato. To provide a player piano capable of accurately recording a performance without being affected by such a situation.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve such an object, a player piano according to the present invention is a player piano having a key sensor 12, a hammer sensor 13, and a recording control circuit 14, and the key sensor 12 is a player piano that has a key sensor 12, a hammer sensor 13, and a recording control circuit 14. The hammer sensor 13 detects that the key has been pressed more deeply than the key press and outputs a key press signal K. The recording control circuit 14 detects and outputs a first hammer detection signal M ₁ and a second hammer detection signal M ₂ .
c and a counter 14b, and an OR circuit 14c
outputs the logical sum of the keystroke signal K and the first hammer detection signal _M1 , and the key assigner 14
a outputs the note name information of the key 23 by inputting the output signal of the OR circuit 14c, and the counter 14b receives the first hammer detection signal.
Start counting with _M1 , start counting with second hammer detection signal _M1 , end counting with second hammer detection signal _M2 , and output the counted value as volume information. It is something to do.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram showing an overview of a self-playing piano using the signal processing method of a performance information sensor according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main parts of the present invention. Here, the automatic performance piano is provided with a sensor 11 for recording performance information of the main body of the piano 10, and the above-mentioned performance information accompanying the player's performance is digitized in the recording control circuit 14, and the digital signal is converted into a digital signal. Data recorder 15
Record sequentially. During playback, the performance information recorded in the data recorder 15 is sequentially read out by the playback logic circuit 16 and transferred to the solenoid drive circuit 17, which drives the electromagnetic solenoid circuit 18 having an electromagnetic solenoid arranged for each key as data. It is similar to the conventionally known system in that it is configured to mechanically move each key by driving according to the contents read from the recorder 15, thereby automatically playing the piano 10, and the details thereof are as follows. Omitted.

The present invention includes a key sensor 12 that detects the key press operation of each key at the wippen section of the action mechanism or at one point on the keyboard as a sensor 11 for recording performance information of the piano 10, and a key sensor 12 that detects the key press operation of each key at a wippen section of the action mechanism or at one point on the keyboard, and a string-striking operation of the hammer of the action mechanism. A hammer sensor 13 is provided to detect the string-strike strength of the hammer at two points related to the hammer, and the signals M ₁ and M ₂ associated with the hammer's string-strike strength obtained from the hammer sensor 13 are as shown in FIG. It is input to the counter 14b of the recording control circuit 14. And the key sensor 12
An OR (logical sum) circuit 14c connects the key press operation signal K obtained from the key press operation signal K and the signal _M1 of the hammer sensor 13.
This feature is characterized in that the information is input to the key assigner 14b via the key assigner 14b.

3 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of the action mechanism of a player piano equipped with the aforementioned key sensor 12 and hammer sensor 13, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the key sensor 12, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the hammer sensor 1.
3 is a sectional view of FIG. In FIG. 3, a keyboard reed 22 is placed on a shelf board 21 of a player piano, and a large number of keyboard reeds (for example, 88 pieces)
The keys 23 are arranged in parallel so as to be swingable in the vertical direction, with the intermediate portions of the keys being supported. The key 23 is normally pressed by hand, and during automatic performance, it is pressed as if by hand by an actuator 26 of an electromagnetic solenoid disposed between the shelf board 21 and the rear end 23a of the key 23. It operates as if a key had been operated.

A well-known action mechanism 27 is disposed above the rear end portion 23a of the key 23. This action mechanism 27 includes a wippen 30 whose one end is pivotally supported by a center rail 28 and which is pushed up and rotated by a capstan 29 when the key 23 is operated.
a jack 31 rotatably attached to the shaft 0; a butt 3 rotatably supported by the center rail 28 and pushed up and rotated by the jack 31;
2. A catcher 34 is attached to the butt 32 via a catcher shank 33, and rotating parts such as a hammer 35 are also attached to the butt 32, and the wippen 30 rotates upward in conjunction with the key press operation. However, when the jack 31 pushes up the butt 32, the hammer 35 rotates together with this and strikes the string 25.

The center rail 28 is further provided with a well-known damper mechanism 40. This damper mechanism 40 is a damper lever 41 whose intermediate portion is rotatably supported by the center rail 28 via a damper wire 42, and which normally presses the strings 25 to prevent their vibrations. 43, consists of a damper spoon 44 etc. installed on the rotation fulcrum side of the wippen 30, and as the wippen 30 rotates upward, the damper spoon 44 presses the lower end of the damper lever 41 and rotates it. By doing so, the damper 43 is separated from the string 25. The center rail 28 to which the action mechanism 27 and the damper 40 are attached is made up of two or three brackets that are erected on the shelf board 21 and whose upper ends are connected and fixed to the frame 24 by action bolts 45. 46. Also, 47 is a hammer rail, 48 is a leg reching button, 49
is a back check, and 50, 51, and 52 are springs, respectively.

In front of the action mechanism 27, a sensor bracket 55 whose upper end is fixed to the bracket 46 is arranged substantially vertically.
Wipen 30 and Catcher Yank 33
A large number of key sensors 12 and hammer sensors 13 respectively corresponding to the above are arranged via a common printed circuit board 80.

As shown in FIG. 4, the key sensor 12 includes a sensor mounting member 61 having a vertical notch groove 62 on its distal end surface, and a pair of left and right vertical notches 62 forming the notch groove 62 of the sensor mounting portion 61. wall 63
A light emitting element 64 and a light receiving element 65, such as a light emitting diode and a phototransistor, which are respectively embedded in the holes 63a and 63b and facing each other, are raised together with the wippen 30 when it is rotated upward, and the sensor mounting member 61 is cut off. The shutter 67 is inserted into the cutout groove 62 to block the light from the light emitting element 64 received by the light receiving element 65. The shutter 67 is a light receiving element 64
When the light is blocked, the voltage of the light-receiving element 65 rises to a high level and becomes a switch-on state, and the signal at this time is input to the key assigner 14a and detected as note name information. Also, the string-striking operation by the hammer 35 is completed, and the shutter 67 is activated by the wippen 3.
0 and exits from the notch groove 62, the light from the light emitting element 64 is received by the light receiving element 65, returning to the switch-off state, and the signal at this time is detected as sound stop information. Ru. Although this sound stop information is obtained by the return of the action mechanism 27, the action mechanism 27 and the damper mechanism 4
0 maintains a more accurate interlocking relationship than the interlocking relationship between the key 23 and the damper mechanism 40, so it is detected with higher fidelity than sound stop information using a conventional key.

The hammer sensor 13 has a distal end extending above the catch shank 33, and a pair of left and right sensor mounting portions 7 on the distal end surface as shown in FIG.
Sensor mounting member 71 consisting of 1A and 71B arranged oppositely
A pair of upper and lower light emitting elements 72A, 72B and a pair of light receiving elements 73A, 73B are arranged on each sensor mounting part 71A, 71B so as to face each other.
When the action mechanism 27 is actuated, the catcher shank 33 and the catcher 34 rise to the pair of sensor mounting portions 71A, 7.
It is configured to sequentially block light from light emitting elements 72B and 72A inserted between light receiving elements 73B and 73A. Here, when the light from the light-emitting elements 72B, 72A is sequentially blocked and the voltage of the light-receiving elements 73B, 73A rises to a high level and becomes switched on one after another, each signal at this time is input to the aforementioned counter 14b. Ru. Then, from the time when the light receiving element 73B is turned on, the light receiving element 73
The time until A is turned on is shorter when the string striking speed of the hammer 35 is faster, and longer when it is slower.
By measuring this with the counter 14b, the string-striking speed, that is, the string-striking intensity (volume) can be directly detected.

The time chart of the signals K, M ₁ and M ₂ obtained based on the configuration of the key sensor 12 and hammer sensor 13 as described above is the same as that shown in FIG. 9 described above. Therefore, the operation of the configuration shown in FIG.
This will be explained with reference to the time chart shown in the figure. In Fig. 2, when the keyboard is pressed, first the key sensor 1
2, a signal K is generated at time t ₁ , and this signal K
is input to the key assigner 14a via the OR circuit 14c, and the note name is detected. Then, the action mechanism 27 driven based on the key press receives a signal M ₁ from the hammer sensor 13 (light receiving element 73B).
is generated at time t ₂ , and this signal M ₁ is input to the counter 14b as a count start signal to start counting by the counter 14b. Subsequently, a signal _M2 is generated from the hammer sensor 13 (light receiving element 73A) at time _t8 , and this signal _M2 serves as a count stop signal to stop counting by the counter 14b. Thereby, the string striking strength is detected as volume information based on the count value of the counter 14b during this time. Therefore, since the action of the hammer 35 of the action mechanism 27 from hitting the string to repulsion is performed during the key press period, the signal M ₁ of the hammer sensor 13 is turned off at time t ₄ before the signal K of the key sensor 12 is turned off at time t ₅ . will be turned off.

Moreover, if the signal state of FIG. 10 occurs and the signal K of the key sensor 12 is delayed, the hammer sensor 13
When _a signal M _{1 of}
4c to the key assigner 14a, the pitch name and the counter 14b count simultaneously with the signal _M1 of the hammer sensor 13. As a result, the count value of the counter 14b will not be counted too low, and it is possible to accurately record the string striking strength even in special playing techniques such as weak staccato and repeated strikes. Also, since the OR output of the OR circuit 14c is input to the key assigner 14a, the stop sound information is the logical sum of the above two signals, but this is also very difficult to obtain information that corresponds to all playing styles. It is effective for

The signal K from the key sensor 12 is sent to the inverter 14.
d to the counter 14b as a reset signal. Note that the counter 14b and key assigner 14a are the same as the conventional ones.

In the above embodiment, the key sensor 12 is disposed corresponding to the wippen 30, but the key sensor 12 is not limited to this, and may be disposed at a portion directly connected to the wippen 30 or for each key 23 of the keyboard.

Furthermore, although the hammer sensor 13 is disposed at two points related to the string-striking motion of the hammer 35, corresponding to the upper position of the catcher shaft 33, the hammer sensor 13 is not limited to this. 2
It may also be configured to detect the string striking strength of the hammer at a certain point. According to this configuration, since the volume is directly detected as the hammer speed, the volume can be detected very accurately, and the string striking timing can be set to the string striking position of the hammer 35, so the advantage is that the string striking timing is accurate. play.

Furthermore, although the key sensor 12 and hammer sensor 13 described above are non-contact type switches consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, it is of course possible to use a contact type switch.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the player piano according to the present invention includes a key sensor 12, a hammer sensor 13, and a recording control circuit 14, and includes:
The key sensor 12 detects that the key 23 is pressed down deeper than a predetermined depth and outputs a key press signal K, and the hammer sensor 13 detects that the hammer 35 is pressed to the first and second positions set in its travel stroke. Second
It detects passing through a passing point and outputs a first hammer detection signal _M1 and a second hammer detection signal _M2 , and the recording control circuit 14 includes a key assigner 14a, an OR circuit 14c, and a counter. 14
The OR circuit 14c outputs the logical sum of the key press signal K and the first hammer detection signal _M1 , and the key assigner 14a has the OR circuit 14.
The counter 14b outputs the pitch name information of the key 23 by inputting the output signal of the counter 14b.
starts counting in response to the first hammer detection signal _M1 , ends counting in response to the second hammer detection signal _M2 , and outputs the counted value as volume information. If the output of K is delayed from the output timing of the first hammer detection signal _M1 , the key assigner 14a detects the note name using the first hammer detection signal _M1 . Therefore, according to the present invention, even if the output of the keystroke signal K is delayed due to a special performance such as a weak staccato, the note name can be detected quickly despite this delay, and other notes can be detected. This has the effect that the performance can be recorded as accurately as in the case of a normal performance. Further, according to the present invention, the hammer 35 has two
Since volume information is obtained by detecting the time it takes to pass through a point (corresponding to the above count value), accurate volume information can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall block diagram showing an overview of a self-playing piano using the signal processing method of the performance information sensor according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of the main parts showing an example of the configuration of the invention, and Fig. 3 1 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment of the action mechanism of a player piano equipped with the key sensor and hammer sensor shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the key sensor shown in FIG. 3, and FIG.
The figure is a cross-sectional view of the hammer sensor in Figure 3, Figure 6 is a block diagram for explaining the conventional method, Figures 7 and 8 are signal time charts of the key sensor in Figure 7, and Figures 9 and 10. is the signal time chart of the key sensor and hammer sensor in Figure 3. 12...Key sensor, 13...Hammer sensor, 14a...Key assigner, 14b...Counter, 14c...OR circuit, 23...Key, 27...
Action mechanism, 30... Wippen, 33... Catcher yank, 34... Catcher, 3
5...Hammer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A player piano having a key sensor 12, a hammer sensor 13, and a recording control circuit 14, wherein the key sensor 12 detects that a key 23 is pressed deeper than a predetermined depth. The hammer sensor 13 detects that the hammer 35 passes through the first and second passing points set in its travel stroke and outputs the first hammer detection signal _M1 . and a second hammer detection signal _M2 , and the recording control circuit 14 includes a key assigner 14a,
It has an OR circuit 14c and a counter 14b, the OR circuit 14c outputs the logical sum of the key press signal K and the first hammer detection signal _M1 , and the key assigner 14a outputs the output signal of the OR circuit 14c. The counter 2 starts counting in response to the first hammer detection signal _M1 , and starts counting in response to the second hammer detection signal _M2 . A player piano that completes counting and outputs the counted value as volume information.