JPH0715033Y2 - Electronic keyboard instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Use The present invention relates to an electronic keyboard instrument such as an electronic piano or a keyboard synthesizer.

Regarding

(B) Conventional Technology At present, electronic keyboard musical instruments represented by electronic pianos and keyboard-type synthesizers are widely used. Many of the electronic keyboard musical instruments of this kind are digitized. The control unit of the digitized electronic keyboard instrument has a CPU, which is the main control unit,
A control unit including a keyboard provided with an on / off detection switch, a sound source unit for generating musical sounds, and the like are provided. When the performer operates the control section, the CPU detects the content and sends the corresponding tone control parameter to the tone generator section. The sound source section generates a musical sound based on the musical sound control parameter, and sounds it from a sound system including an amplifier and a speaker. That is, at the moment when the key is turned on, the information regarding the musical sound to be generated is transmitted to the sound source section.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention As described above, in the conventional electronic keyboard instrument, the information necessary for sounding is collected and transmitted to the sound source section at the moment of key-on. There are various kinds of information necessary for sound generation in addition to tone color waveform data, pitch data, and sound level data, but these information must be detected and collected at the moment of key-on and transmitted to the sound source section. Therefore, the CPU at this time
However, there is a drawback in that the operation load of is large and a slight sound generation delay occurs. Human hearing cannot judge if the pronunciation delay is about several tens of ms, but if you try to make the pronunciation delay this level, you must use a high-speed CPU. This problem was caused by an increase in the number of sounds to be pronounced at the same time, and as the musical tones to be pronounced became more complex and more accurate, the CPU load at the time of pronunciation became higher, causing a cost increase.

This device is designed so that when a finger touches a key, that is, before the key is turned on, preparation for pronunciation is started, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic keyboard instrument that reduces the operational burden on the CPU and the like.

(D) Means for Solving the Problem The present invention provides a switch for detecting ON / OFF of each key of a keyboard and a contact sensor on the surface of the key. When the contact sensor detects a contact of a finger, It is characterized in that a preparation means for preparing the pronunciation of the key is provided.

(E) Function of the invention The electronic keyboard instrument of the invention is provided with a contact sensor for detecting that a finger touches the key, and prepares to produce sound before the key is touched by the finger (key touch). I chose In other words, parameters other than those determined by key-on (initial strength data, etc.) can be prepared in advance, so this should be detected, collected, and buffered. At this time, it is necessary to search for a channel to be forcibly muted. By performing such a process before key-on, it is only necessary to detect the initial strength and transmit the data to the sound source unit at the time of key-on.
The work load on the control unit (CPU) can be significantly reduced.

(F) Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic keyboard instrument which is an embodiment of the present invention. The keyboard 1 has a tone range of about 4 to 5 octaves, and the sound source 15 is provided with eight channels capable of producing sounds independently. In addition to the keyboard 1, a switch group 2 including a tone color selection switch and a sound system 4 such as a speaker are provided on the outer surface of the musical instrument. The operation of the musical instrument is controlled by the CPU 10, and the memory and each operating unit are controlled by the CP via the bus 11.
It is connected to U10. Touch intensity detection circuit 1 on bus 11
2, key-on detection circuit 13, switch interface 14, sound source circuit 15, key touch detection circuit 16, ROM17, RAM18, timer 19
Are connected. The touch strength detection circuit 12 and the key-on detection circuit 13 are connected to a key-on detection switch 34 (see FIG. 1) to turn on / off each key (key) of the keyboard 1 and touch strength (initial strength, after-touch strength). To detect. Further, the key touch detection circuit 16 detects whether or not the finger is touching the key from the conductive thin film 31 (see FIG. 1) provided on the key surface. Switch interface 14
Detects ON / OFF of each switch of the switch group 2.
The tone generator circuit 15 is provided with an independent eight-channel tone generator and can generate up to eight tones simultaneously based on the musical tone information received from the CPU 10.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one key and the key touch detection circuit 16 which constitute the keyboard 1. Conductive thin film 31 on the surface of the key 30
Are formed. The conductive thin film 31 is formed by conductive paint or chemical plating. The conductive thin film 31 is connected to the high gain amplifier 32, and amplifies the hum noise picked up by the conductive thin film 31. This output is the judgment circuit 33
Has been entered in. The determination circuit 33 is a circuit that determines the level of the amplified hum noise and determines and outputs that there is a key touch if it is above a certain level. That is, when the player's finger touches the key, the hum noise picked up by the human body is input from the conductive thin film 31, and the noise gain increases. This is utilized to determine the key touch / key release. The conductive thin film is formed so that the white key is white and the black key is black. The key-on detection switch is located below the key 30.
34 are provided. This key-on detection switch 34 is 2
It is composed of individual switch bodies, and turns on and back when the key is pressed. When the previous switch body is turned on, it is determined that the key is on, and the initial strength is determined from the shift in the on timing of the two switch bodies.

A memory area shown in FIG. 3 is set in the ROM 17 and the RAM 18. First, the system program (M
1), tone color data (M2) is stored and read out as required. The RAM 18 has storage areas of a tone color data register M3, a key touch flag M4, a key code register M5, an assigned channel register M6, a key on flag M7 and an initial intensity register M8. Of these, M4 ~
M8 is set as many as the number of key touches. The tone color data register M3 is a memory area for reading out the selected tone color data from the ROM 17 (M2) and making it ready for immediate transmission to the tone generator circuit 15. The key touch flag M4 is a flag for storing whether or not a key is touched. The key code register M5 is a register for storing the key code detected when the key is touched. Assigned channel register
M6 is a register for storing the channel of the tone generator circuit 15 to which this musical sound is assigned. The key-on flag M7 is a flag for storing whether or not the key is turned on. The initial strength register M8 is a register for storing the initial strength at the time of key-on. Immediately after key-on, these contents are transmitted to the tone generator circuit 15 together with the tone color data.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the CPU 10. In the figure, (A) is a main routine, and (B) to (F) are subroutines.

First, in FIG. 9A, when the power of this electronic keyboard instrument is turned on, initial processing such as resetting each register is executed (n1). By this processing, it becomes possible to play, and tone color switch processing operation (n2) and key processing operation (M
3) The key touch sensor processing operation (n4) is repeatedly executed. When an on / off event of a key or a switch is detected, a corresponding operation is executed in each operation (subroutine).

FIG. 6B is a flowchart showing the tone color switch processing operation. This operation starts when the tone color switch is pressed, and the tone color data corresponding to the pressed tone color switch is read from the tone color data storage area M2 of ROM17 (n
5) Set in the tone color data register M3 (n6). After this operation, it returns.

FIG. 7C is a key-on event processing routine. This operation is executed when there is a key-on event. First,
The initial strength of the turned-on key is detected and stored in the initial strength register M5 (n7), and the data set in each register for transmission is transmitted to the tone generator circuit 15 (n
8). After that, the key-on flag M7 is set (n9) and the process returns.

FIG. 6D shows a key-off event processing routine. When a key-off event is detected, the key-on flag M7 is first reset (n10), the key-off data is transmitted to the tone generator circuit 15 (n11), and then the process returns.

FIG. 6E shows a key touch event processing routine.
When a key touch event occurs, the key touch flag M7
Is set (n12), pre-processing is executed (n13), and the process returns. Here, the pre-processing is a register (M3 for transmitting music tone control parameters (key code etc.) that can be detected before key-on.
~ M9) is the operation of setting or searching for the channel to which the pronunciation is assigned. n13 corresponds to the prepare means of this invention.

FIG. 6F is a key release event processing routine. When a key release event occurs, the register is cleared at n14 and the key touch flag is reset (n1
5) Return.

(G) Effect of the Invention According to the invention as described above, when the key is touched, the key is prepared for sounding.
At the time of key-on, it is sufficient to detect a small amount of data such as initial intensity and to transmit the data to the sound source section. Therefore, the delay in producing a musical tone is reduced, and even if a large number of tones are produced at the same time, their simultaneity is not lost. In addition, even if a sound source that requires complicated or long-time calculation for tone generation is used, the CPU load can be reduced by using the keyboard of the present invention. Therefore, it is not necessary to use an expensive and high-performance CPU, and the cost can be reduced. There is an advantage that it becomes advantageous.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of keys and a key touch detection circuit of an electronic keyboard instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control section of the electronic keyboard instrument, and FIG. 3 is the electronic keyboard instrument. 4A to 4F are flowcharts showing the operation of the CPU of the electronic keyboard instrument. 16 …… Key touch detection circuit, 30 …… Key, 31 …… Conductive thin film, 32 …… High gain amplifier, 33 …… Judgment circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A prepare for preparing a sound for a key when each key of the keyboard is provided with a switch for detecting ON / OFF and a contact sensor on the surface of the key, and when the contact sensor detects the contact of a finger. An electronic keyboard instrument characterized by having means.