JPH0695659A - Keyboard device and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of performance and the expressing power of the performance by providing a pressure sensing means for detecting the pressure acting in the direction perpendicular to the guide surface of a key board and controlling various music sounds by rolling the key during the course of a key touch stroke at the time of a key touch. CONSTITUTION:The key guide 5 consists of an outsert molding 13 having the front end of a key frame or other member as a core material 12, pressure sensitive rubber 14 provided on both surfaces thereof and a surface film 15. The flanks on both sides of the molding 13 are provided with a pair of electrodes 11. The resistance of the pressure sensitive rubber 14 decreases in correspondence to the pressing force and the electrodes 11 conduct to each other when the pressure sensitive rubber is pressed. As a result, the pressure applied on the pressure sensitive rubber 14 is detected. Detection signals are obtd. from the left and right pressures when the key is vibrated in a transverse direction at this time. The size of the pitch of the signal output is freely regulated by the finger operation; for example, the free control of the speed change of vibrato or a change in depth is possible during the course of the key touch.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard device for an electronic musical instrument, and more particularly to a musical tone control means during a key depression operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic musical instrument keyboard device,
A key switch is provided under each key to generate a key-on signal when a key is pressed, and a pressure sensor is provided near the end of the key stroke to control the musical tone in the aftertouch area after the key is pressed. For example, when vibrato is applied, the key is shaken finely after the keystroke stroke, the change in the pressing force due to this swinging motion is detected by the pressure-sensitive sensor, the musical tone is controlled, and the frequency is modulated to provide a regular pitch. Was changed to.

[0003]

However, in the conventional keyboard device, since the tone control such as the vibrato is performed only after the aftertouch area after the keystroke stroke is finished, there is a problem in the operability of the performance. In addition, the control range was narrowed and the performance expression power could not be fully exerted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard device for an electronic musical instrument, which enables control of musical tone parameters in a wide range and improves performance expression performance. To do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a key rotatably supported by a key supporting portion of a key frame, and a key fixed to the key frame for guiding the key when the key is pressed. In the keyboard device having the key guide portion, a pressure sensor for detecting a pressure in a direction perpendicular to the guide surface is provided on the guide surface of the key guide portion.

Further, in the keyboard device control method according to the present invention, the force acting in the direction perpendicular to the key pressing direction of the key is detected during the key pressing stroke, and the musical tone is controlled based on the detected value.

[0007]

The key is swayed in the direction perpendicular to the key pressing direction during the key pressing stroke, and the guide surface of the key guide portion is pressed. This pressing force is detected to control the musical sound. Here, by providing a key switch unit that outputs a key-on signal at an early point during the key depression stroke, the operation is more effective.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a keyboard device for an electronic musical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention. The key (white key) 1 is rotatably attached to the key frame 3 via a support member 4 at the rear end. A key guide 5 is attached to the tip of the key frame 3. The key guide 5 is formed by bending the tip of the key frame 3 and covering the bent portion by outsert molding, or by forming a molded body having another core material as a separate body, and attaching this to the tip of the key frame 3. It is attached. Side walls on both sides of the key 1 are slidably mounted on both sides of the key guide 5, and the key 1 rotates while slidingly contacting the guide surfaces on both sides of the key guide 5 during a key pressing operation. This prevents the key 1 from swinging or twisting during the key pressing stroke.

The key 1 is hung on the lower surface near the front end thereof,
It integrally has a substantially hook-shaped locking piece 8 whose lower end is bent rearward. The lower end of the locking piece 8 is vertically movably engaged with a through hole 3a provided in an inverted L-shaped portion of the front surface of the key frame 3. An upper limit stopper 6 and a lower limit stopper 7 are provided near the upper part and the lower part of the through hole 3a on the front surface of the key frame 3. The locking piece 8 comes into contact with the upper limit stopper 6 and the lower limit stopper 7, whereby the key 1
The keystroke stroke range of is determined. The figure shows a state in which the locking piece 8 is in contact with the upper limit stopper 6. The key 1 is constantly urged upward by a spring (not shown), and returns to the position in which it abuts on the upper limit stopper 6 after the key is pressed.

An actuator 10 is integrally formed on the lower surface of the key 1. Corresponding to this actuator 10,
An inverted L-shaped protrusion 2 is formed on the key frame 3. A key switch portion 9 is formed at a position of the protruding portion 2 corresponding to the actuator 10. The key switch portion 9 includes a fixed contact 9a formed on the protruding portion 2 and a movable contact 9b made of an elastic body having both ends fixed to the protruding portion and a central portion formed in a cylindrical shape. In the key switch portion 9, when the key is pressed, the actuator 10 descends and the movable contact 9b is pushed down in accordance with the key pressing stroke of the key 1, and the cylindrical portion at the center of the movable contact 9b becomes the fixed contact 9a. The contact is turned on. In this embodiment, for example, the switch is turned on to output a key-on signal at 1/3 of the full stroke or before, and after the switch is turned on by the cylindrical portion formed in the central portion of the movable contact 9b. Absorb strokes.

The configuration of the key switch section is not limited to this, and for example, a transfer switch for switching the switch piece from the first contact to the second contact at a predetermined position during the key depression stroke may be used. In this case, it is desirable to generate the key-on signal at an early point during the key depression stroke.

The transfer switch is the actuator 1.
By the action of 0, the switch piece is switched from the first contact to the second contact at a predetermined position during the key depression stroke. Conventionally, the key-on signal was generally output when the switch piece reached the second contact point, but in this embodiment, the key-on signal is output when the switch piece moves away from the first contact point to determine the generation timing of the key-on signal. I'm hastily.

FIG. 2 is a detailed explanatory view of the key guide 5 according to the present invention. The key guide 5 is composed of an outsert molded body 13 having the tip end of the key frame 3 or another member as a core material 12, pressure sensitive rubbers 14 provided on both side surfaces thereof, and a surface film 15. Outsert molding 13
May be integrally formed on the tip of the key frame 3 by molding, or may be formed separately and attached to the tip of the key frame 3 after formation.

A pair of electrodes 11 are provided on both side surfaces of the molded body 13. When the pressure sensitive rubber 14 is pressed, the resistance of that portion is reduced in accordance with the pressing force, and the electrode 11
Conduct each other. As a result, the pressure applied to the pressure sensitive rubber 14 can be detected. Instead of such a pressure-sensitive rubber structure, pressure-sensitive ink may be used. In this case, electrodes are provided on both sides of the pressure-sensitive ink layer with the pressure-sensitive ink layer sandwiched therebetween. As a result, when the pressure-sensitive ink layer is pressed, the resistance at that portion is reduced according to the pressing force, and the electrodes on both sides are brought into conduction. Thereby, the pressure applied to the pressure-sensitive ink layer can be detected.

The surface film 15 is made of a material having a smooth surface such as a polyfluorinated ethylene resin (eg, Teflon (trade name, du Pont America)). This is for smoothly sliding the key 1 that performs the key pressing operation along the guide surfaces on both sides of the key guide 5.

The operation of the key guide 5 having the above structure will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the pressure detecting pressure sensitive means 16L and 16R made of the pressure sensitive rubber 14 and the like are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the key guide 5 to form guide surfaces. The key 1 performs a key depression operation along the guide surface, as indicated by an arrow A. While pressing the key 1 during the descending stroke at the time of depressing the key, a force is applied by the finger so as to sway the key 1 in the direction perpendicular to the guide surface as indicated by arrows B and C. When a force in the direction of arrow B is applied, the key 1 causes the right pressure-sensitive means 16R to generate an output signal. Conversely, when a force in the direction of arrow C is applied, the key 1 causes the left pressure-sensitive means 16L to generate an output signal. To do. This state is shown in Figure 3.
It shows in (B). In this way, by vibrating the key 1 in the lateral direction, the detection signals are alternately obtained from the left and right pressure sensing means 16L and 16R.

The outputs of the pressure sensitive means 16L and 16R are shown in FIG.
As shown in (C), the pitch (interval in the horizontal axis direction) and size (height in the vertical axis direction) can be freely adjusted by operating the finger. As a result, for example, it becomes possible to freely control the speed change and the depth change of the vibrato during the key depression.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4A, in this embodiment, a sliding piece 17 serving as a guided member is integrally formed on the inner surface of the key 1. A guide block 18 is provided on the key frame 3 corresponding to the sliding piece 17. Guide block 1
8 is provided with a guide groove 50 into which the sliding piece 17 is inserted. The pressure sensitive means 19 is mounted on the inner surface of the guide groove 50. By the key pressing operation, the sliding piece 17 slides up and down in the guide groove 50, restricts the lateral movement of the key 1, and prevents lateral shake and twist.

In this key guide means, the sliding piece 17 and the guide groove 50 may be formed in a tapered shape as shown in FIG. 4 (B). As a result, the musical tone can be controlled not only by the rolling operation of the key 1 but also by the key pressing depth (stroke).
In addition, the accuracy of pressure detection during the stroke can be improved.

As shown in FIG. 4 (C), the pressure-sensitive means 19 coats a polyester film with a pressure-sensitive material 21 to form a pressure-sensitive sheet 20, and the electrode 24 is also formed on the polyester film. An electrode sheet 23 provided with (for example, a silver electrode) is laminated by arranging a pressure sensitive material 21 and an electrode 24 so as to face each other. Dotted line 22 indicates each sheet 20,
23 folds are shown. By mounting the pressure-sensitive means 19 in the guide groove 50 of the guide block 18, the rolling pressure of the key 1 can be detected during the key pressing stroke of the key 1 as in the above-described embodiment. it can.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of an electronic musical instrument provided with the keyboard device according to the present invention. A keyboard 25 and a roll detection circuit 26 including the pressure sensitive means are connected to a microcomputer 27, and a key-on signal, a key code and a time-division roll detection signal are sent to the microcomputer 27, respectively. The microcomputer 27 is connected to the pitch conversion table 28 and the tone color selection table 29. The pitch conversion table 28 is
It is a table that outputs pitch change amount data indicating a pitch change amount based on the detected roll signal, and, for example, the roll signal and the pitch change data have a proportional relationship.
The tone color selection table 29 is a table for outputting cutoff frequency data indicating a cutoff frequency of a filter described later based on the detected roll signal, and for example, the roll signal and the cutoff frequency data have a proportional relationship. . The outputs of the tables 28 and 29 are selectors 30 and 31.
Is input to the arithmetic circuit 32 and the filter 34 via. The selectors 30 and 31 selectively input the output of the pitch conversion table 28 or the tone color selection table 29 to the arithmetic circuit 32 or the filter 34 according to the operation state of the selection switch. The arithmetic circuit 32 is composed of a multiplier or an adder, and multiplies or adds the key code output from the microcomputer 27 and the bitch change amount data output from the pitch conversion table to generate the pitch () of the tone signal to be generated. f number) is supplied to the musical sound generating means 33.

The musical tone generating means 33 has a plurality of tone generation channels operating in a time division manner and can simultaneously generate a plurality of musical tone signals. The microcomputer 27 is a keyboard 25
When a key-on signal is received from the key-on signal from the keyboard 25, a tone generation channel for generating a tone signal corresponding to the depressed key of the keyboard 25 is determined, and the key code of the depressed key in the time slot corresponding to this tone-generation channel is calculated by the arithmetic circuit 32.
Send to. In addition, the microcomputer 27 supplies the pitch fluctuation amount data corresponding to the pressed key to the arithmetic circuit 32 in synchronism with the time slot corresponding to the tone generation channel to which the key is assigned. Of the roll detection signals output from, the roll detection signal corresponding to the pressed key is sent to the table 28. The roll detection signal is continuously output while the key is pressed, and the pitch of the musical tone signal generated according to the change of the roll signal changes.

The tone signal generated by the tone generation circuit 33 is supplied to the filter 34. The filter 34 operates in a time-sharing manner like the tone generation circuit 33, and includes a low-pass filter,
It consists of a high-pass filter or a band-pass filter, and controls the tone color by filtering the input musical tone signal. The cutoff frequency of the filter is
It is determined based on the cutoff frequency data supplied from the tone color setting table 29 via the selectors 30 and 31. Further, the microcomputer 27 synchronizes the cutoff frequency data corresponding to the pressed key with the filter 3 in synchronization with the time slot corresponding to the sounding channel to which the key is assigned.
4, the roll detection signal corresponding to the pressed key among the roll detection signals output from the roll detection means 26 is sent to the table 29. The roll detection signal is continuously output while the key is pressed, and the tone color of the musical tone signal generated according to the change of the roll signal changes.

The tone signal of each tone generation channel output from the filter 34 is accumulated and emitted from the sound system SS to the outside.

An example of the roll detection circuit 26 is shown in FIG.
This circuit detects the signals from the pressure-sensitive means on the left and right of the above-mentioned key guide and also detects aftertouch. 3-bit and 5-bit control signals are sent from the microcomputer to the demultiplexer circuits 35, 36 and 37, respectively. The circuits 35 and 36 are connected to groups of pressure sensitive elements (pressure sensitive rubber, pressure sensitive ink, etc.) on the left and right sides of the respective key guides. The circuit 35 corresponds to, for example, the pressure-sensitive means on the left side, and the circuit 3
6 corresponds to the pressure-sensitive means on the right side. These circuits 35, 3
At the intersection of 6 and the circuit 37, as shown in the drawing, each pressure sensitive element 40 is connected as a resistor. Therefore, these intersections are formed corresponding to the number of keys of the keyboard device, and in this embodiment, each key has two pressure-sensitive elements on the left and right, so that an intersection of twice the number of keys is formed. The pressure-sensitive element 40 at the intersection of these matrix-like circuits is time-divisionally scanned in a predetermined direction to detect the rolling pressure when a key is pressed. The detection outputs are multiplexer circuits 38, 38 corresponding to the left and right pressure-sensitive element groups, respectively.
It is sent via 39 to the output side circuit consisting of amplifiers 41, 42, 43. The amplifiers 41 and 42 combine the detection output A from the left pressure-sensitive element group and the detection output B from the right pressure-sensitive element group, and take out as a differential output AB from the output terminal Ox. On the other hand, the amplifier 43 outputs the left and right detection outputs A and B.
And the terminal O as the A + B aftertouch output.
taken out from y.

Output signals from these output terminals Ox and Oy are sent to the microcomputer 27 (FIG. 5) and used as, for example, a vibrato control signal. Such an output signal is
When applied to electronic musical instruments, various musical tone parameters (pitch, tone color, tremolo depth and speed, reverb depth, PAN, weighting of PCM and FM, volume balance,
And key scaling (such as volume, pitch, etc.).

The multiplexer circuits 38 and 39 are provided.
The output side circuit composed of the amplifiers 41, 42 and 43 for processing the detection signal from is capable of various configurations other than the configuration shown in the figure. For example, the difference signal for modulation of the left and right detection values A and B may be taken out, and the signal proportional to the pressure of the pressure sensitive element may be taken out. Alternatively, only one of the pressures detected by the left and right pressure sensitive elements may be selectively taken out. Furthermore, different musical tone parameters (pitch, tone color, volume, etc.) may be controlled by the detection outputs of the left and right pressure-sensitive elements.

[0028]

As described above, in the present invention, since the pressure sensitive means for detecting the pressure applied in the direction perpendicular to the guide surface of the key guide is provided, the key is pressed during the key pressing stroke. It is possible to control the various musical sounds by swaying, so that the operability of the performance is improved and the performance expressing ability can be improved.

Particularly, if the vibrato is controlled, the key can be rolled in the middle of the key depression and the rolling pressure and the vibration speed can be freely changed, so that the depth and speed of the vibrato can be widely changed. It is possible to easily achieve advanced performance techniques with rich musical expression. Further, the tone can be controlled so that the tone color is different between the glissando performance method in which a lateral pressure is applied to the key and the normal legato or other performance method, and the performance expressive power can be further expanded.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a keyboard device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed explanatory diagram of a key guide unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the pressure-sensitive means according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a circuit configuration diagram of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an example of a roll detection circuit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1; key, 3; key frame, 5; key guide, 6; upper limit stopper, 7; lower limit stopper, 8; locking piece, 11; electrode, 1
2; core material, 13; outsert molding, 14; pressure-sensitive rubber, 15; surface film.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard apparatus having a key rotatably supported by a key support portion of a key frame, and a key guide portion fixed to the key frame for guiding the key when a key is depressed, wherein the key guide portion is provided. A keyboard device having a pressure sensor for detecting a pressure in a direction perpendicular to the guide surface of the keyboard device. 2. A keyboard device control method comprising detecting a force acting in a direction perpendicular to a key pressing direction of a key during a key pressing stroke and controlling a musical sound based on the detected value.