JPH0772885A - Karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a KARAOKE (accompaniment to recorded music) device with an entertaining music guessing quiz function CONSTITUTION:When a music number is specified by an operation panel 1 and an operation is executed to start a playing, the data processed by a microcomputer 2 for the panel are sent to a system microcomputer 3. Based on the data above, the microcomputer 3 selects and reads the music data and the lyrics data recorded in a music cartridge and these data are transmitted to a sound source section 9. The section 9 synthesizes and outputs an accompaniment music based on the data above. When a music guessing quiz start key button 1a is pushed, an introduction portion is started at a higher speed and then, gradually reduced to a prescribed timing and a normal reproducing speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improved karaoke apparatus, and more particularly to a karaoke apparatus with a music hitting quiz function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, a karaoke device is a device for reproducing an accompaniment recorded on a tape, a CD or the like and singing along with it. Conventionally, in such a karaoke apparatus, there is a system called a "intro quiz" in which a song is played by playing a song for a short time as a system having a song quiz mode. There is also a karaoke device having a function of changing the performance speed of an accompaniment piece.

[0003]

However, according to the former conventional device, it is impossible to stop the performance midway or display the correct answer when the song title is known. In addition, there is also a problem that an audio tape or the like specially recorded is generally required to perform this quiz. Furthermore, the latter conventional device is not intended to give various changes to the playing speed, and does not have an entertaining quiz function.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a karaoke apparatus having an entertaining quiz function which allows the playing speed of an accompaniment piece to be varied in various ways and allows the title of the piece to be guessed. It is another object of the present invention to provide a karaoke device which can increase the number of tracks (the number of musical instruments) to be played in reproducing an accompaniment song and which has a quiz function of assigning the song title.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention changes the playing speed of an intro reproduction selecting operation means and a predetermined portion of an accompaniment in response to the operation of this means. The gist is that it is provided with a playing means for playing as. A second aspect of the present invention is based on the first aspect, wherein the playing means has a function of changing the playing speed from a fast state to a normal playing speed at a predetermined timing. A third aspect of the present invention has a gist that it comprises an intro reproduction selection operation means and a performance means for increasing the number of performance tracks of the accompaniment in response to the operation of this means.

[0006]

In the apparatus of the present invention, when the intro reproduction selecting operation means is operated, the performance speed of a predetermined portion (intro portion) of the accompaniment piece changes in a predetermined manner. For example,
The normal playback speed changes from an early state at a predetermined timing. When the intro reproduction selection operation means is operated, the performance tracks of the accompaniment pieces, that is, the number of musical instruments is increased at a predetermined timing. As described above, it is possible to carry out the music guessing quiz with the karaoke apparatus.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a synthesizer karaoke device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an operation panel, which has operation keys and a switch section for performing operations such as specifying an accompaniment song number, playing, and stopping, and in particular, is provided with key buttons 1a to 1d for a music piece quiz There is. Reference numeral 2 denotes a panel microcomputer, which processes input by an operation key or an infrared remote controller, sends data corresponding to the operated key to the system microcomputer 3, and also displays accompaniment number and the like.

The system microcomputer 3 controls the entire apparatus, loads data from the music cartridge 8, controls the tone generator section 9 (selects a musical instrument, controls sound generation, etc.), and displays characters on the TV screen. (Lyrics) control the display.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a kanji ROM, which is composed of a memory that stores characters (fonts) used for lyrics and operation guidance.
Character data up to the JIS second level is written. Reference numeral 5 is a VSG, which is an LSI that performs processing for displaying graphics images such as lyrics on a TV screen. 6 is VRAM
(Video RAM), which comprises a video display memory for the VSG 5. Reference numeral 7 is a video encoder which converts the graphics data from the VSG 5 into a general TV video signal (NTS).
C signal).

8 is a music cartridge (ROM)
The song data and lyrics data for performing a karaoke performance are stored in the song data. The song data is data that controls which instrument is played and how it is played. It is the data that records when to output the character for performing to the screen.

The sound source section 9 is a circuit block which receives the music data outputted from the music cartridge 8 and actually generates a sound, and its digital output is the D / A converter 1.
At 0, it is converted into an analog signal (voice signal).

When the accompaniment tune number is input on the operation panel 1, the system microcomputer 3 searches the music cartridge 8 and reads the stored tune data. Next, the system microcomputer 3 transmits to the tone generator section 9 data for controlling which tone generator (musical instrument) plays at what pitch and when. That is, the sound source section 9 has data for designating musical instruments,
Data corresponding to the musical score for playing it is sequentially sent.

The tone generation system of the tone generator 9 is called the PCM synthesizer system, and its internal structure is shown in FIG. This method uses the audio ROM 9a, which is a memory in which the musical performance waveforms of the musical instruments are recorded, to specify the waveform data of the designated musical instrument (the characteristics of the waveforms are extracted, not the musical performance waveforms themselves).
Is read by the sound source processing LSI 9b, and the pitch of the sound (pitch),
D-RAM is used as a memory for holding the data during the sound processing such as the control of the pitch and the addition of reverberant sound by processing the strength and weakness of the sound to obtain the performance waveform data.
9c is used. In this way, the waveform processing in the middle is performed in the form of digital performance processing of a numerical value by using a DSP (sound source processing LSI) or the like, and the processed digital signal is converted into an analog voice signal L, Converted to R.

As described above, in the sound source processing LSI 9b, all the waveform data is digitally played back, and processing such as pitch, sound intensity, tone color, and reverberation is performed.
The details are shown in FIG. In the figure, 9b-1 is a tone generator block, 9b-2 is a digital filter block, and 9b-3 is a multiple digital effect block.

The frequency of the waveform data read from the voice ROM 9a is adjusted by the tone generator block 9b-1 so as to correspond to the pitch of the note on the score (digital key control process). Next, an envelope multiplication process is performed to control how the musical instrument peculiar to the musical instrument is played, the strength of the tone, the extended tone, and the short tone.

In the digital filter block 9b-2, even the same musical instrument has different sounds depending on the pitch of the sound, and there are differences in sound such as bright sound and dark sound. Performs processing that changes the frequency characteristics.

The multiple digital effect block 9b-3 performs effect processing for adding reverberation such as echo and reverb.

By performing the above arithmetic processing a plurality of times within a fixed time (waveform sampling time) and adding the arithmetic results, it is possible to synthesize a waveform in which a plurality of musical instruments are performing an ensemble performance. . This can be thought of as if multiple sound sources are sounding individually.

Now, the accompaniment performance of the above-mentioned synthesizer karaoke apparatus will be described. When a music number is specified on the operation panel 1 and a performance start operation is performed, data processed by the panel microcomputer 2 is sent to the system microcomputer 3, and the system microcomputer 3 records the music cartridge 8 based on the data. The selected song data and lyrics data are selected and read. In this music cartridge 8, for example, control data indicating what musical instrument and how the musical piece to be reproduced is played (for example, musical score data for the musical piece for each musical instrument is recorded). .

The system microcomputer 3 temporarily stores the data read from the music cartridge 8 in the RAM inside the microcomputer, then reads this data and sends it to the tone generator 9 so that the performance is performed. As described above, the tone generator section 9 reads the tone color data of each instrument from the tone color ROM 9a and produces the instrument sound by the voice processing LSI 9b in order to produce the tone of each instrument based on the transmitted data. This sound is synthesized so as to be an accompaniment, and then the synthesized digital signal is D / A converted and processed so that a sound can be produced from the speaker.

In the above-mentioned synthesizer type karaoke apparatus, a quiz function for assigning the title of the tune by changing the performance speed of the accompaniment tune is provided. The performance speed in this case is processed in the system microcomputer 3 as follows.

That is, the read speed from the RAM for temporarily storing the data read from the music tape 8 is changed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, when an intro quiz start is instructed, N = A (A is an initial value, for example, 3) is set in step S1, and the RAM is operated at N times the normal speed in step S2.
The data is read out and sent to the sound source unit 9. In step S3, it is determined whether or not there is an operation for ending the intro portion. If it is completed, the processing proceeds to step S4, and if not, the processing proceeds to step S5.

In step S4 (this indicates, for example, a case where either of them can be set at the time of intro quiz start instruction), it is judged whether or not it is the normal reproduction instruction. If NO, stop and normal reproduction if YES. Transition.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not the intro portion is finished. If it is finished, the procedure goes to step S6, but if it is not finished, the procedure returns to step S2 (this portion is checked by a timer to see whether a predetermined time has been reached or not). But it may be).

In step S6, it is determined whether or not N = 1, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S4, but if NO, N = N-R (R may be 0.1 or 0, for example, in step S7). .5 or an integer, or this R may be generated by a random number) and the process returns to step S2. It should be noted that it may be set from the beginning so as to shift to the reproduction by the operation of ending the intro quiz (the setting may be stopped), and in that case, step S4 is unnecessary.

The following music hitting quiz function is realized based on the function of changing the playing speed by the system microcomputer 3 described above. (B) When the key button 1a on the operation panel 1 is pressed, the music quiz mode is switched to from the normal karaoke operation. (B) Press the key button 1b according to your preference and select the genre of the musical composition (for example, pop music and enka, but it can be subdivided if the selection code is recorded in the music cartridge 8). . (C) A screen display showing the selected genre is performed. (D) The system microcomputer 3 searches the music cartridge 8 for songs of the selected genre, and loads the performance data for one of the songs. (E) When the start key 1C is pressed, the system microcomputer 3 sequentially sends performance data to the tone generator section 9 to start the performance. (F) Initially, the performance is started at a speed faster than the normal performance (for example, three times), and the elapsed time is displayed on the screen. After a certain period of time, the playing speed becomes slower than before (for example, 2.
(5 times), and gradually get closer to the normal playing speed thereafter. After a while at the normal playing speed,
The correct song name is displayed and the song quiz for one song ends. In this example, the playing speed is assumed to be from fast forward to normal playback speed, but may be slow playback to normal playback speed, or may be played at random speed, and can be set freely. It is also possible to pause during the performance or display the answer when the correct answer is known.

Next, as another tune hitting quiz function of the karaoke apparatus of the present invention, a function of changing the number of tracks (the number of musical instruments) will be described. In this case, the system microcomputer 3 first sends only the data for one musical instrument to the sound source unit 9 (in this case, several musical instruments may be sent from the beginning. You may want to start from a few minutes in some cases). Next, when the predetermined condition is met, the system microcomputer 3 controls the tone generator 9 so as to gradually increase the number of performance tracks (musical instruments) as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the number M of normal reproduction tracks is read in step S10, and N = A (A
Is an initial value and is an integer), and the number of reproduction tracks is reproduced by N in step S12. In step S13, it is determined whether or not there is an end operation. If it is end, the process proceeds to step S14, and if not, the process proceeds to step S15. In step S14, it is determined whether or not it is a normal reproduction instruction. If YES, it is normal reproduction, and if NO, it is stopped.

In step S15, it is determined whether or not the introduction part has ended. If not, the process returns to step S12, but if it is the end, N = M is determined in step S16,
If YES, the process proceeds to step S14, but if NO, N = N + R (R is an integer, N + R <M, and R is (M−N−
R)> 1 may be set as a random number. ) Is calculated and the process returns to step S12.

Based on the function of changing the number of playing tracks by the system microcomputer 3 described above, the sound source section 9 has a plurality of sound sources,
For example, drums, strings (back performance) and piano (melody performance) can be assigned as the sound sources 1, 2, and 3, respectively. When the start key 1d is pressed, the playing of the drums of the sound source 1 starts, and after a certain period of time, the playing of the string of the sound source 2 is added, and thereafter, the number of musical instruments serving as other sound sources increases in sequence. When all the instruments sound, the correct song name is displayed and the song guessing quiz for one song ends.
It should be noted that the music selection for the quiz may be selected by the operation of the intro quiz start by setting a random number or the like, but other music selection methods may be used.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a karaoke apparatus having an entertaining music guessing quiz function without using a dedicated music source or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a sound source unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an internal operation of a sound source processing LIS.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of changing the performance speed of the system microcomputer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of changing the number of performance tracks of the system microcomputer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Operation panel 1a, 1d Music hit quiz start key button 2 Panel microcomputer 3 System microcomputer 9 Sound source section 9a Voice ROM 9b Sound source processing LSI

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus comprising: an intro reproduction selection operation means; and a performance means for performing a performance by changing a performance speed of a predetermined portion of an accompaniment piece in response to an operation of the means. 2. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the playing means has a function of changing a playing speed from a fast state to a normal playing speed at a predetermined timing. 3. A karaoke apparatus comprising: an intro reproduction selecting operation means; and a performance means for increasing the number of performance tracks of an accompaniment to perform in response to the operation of the means.