JPH10282954A - Keyboard driving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a proper key touch feeling in a manual performance by a player and to make an actuator small-sized and low in power consumption by lightening a key touch at the time of an automatic performance and reducing the load placed in the actuator. SOLUTION: A proper key touch feeling is obtained at the time of a manual performance by player and when the device is played automatically, rubber switched 12 and 13 which places a load on a key 2 are moved away from depression parts 15 and 17 of the key by operating an operation lever 3, so the load of the rubber switches 12 and 13 operating on the key 2 is reducible and a coil unit 14 can be put close to the magnetic body 22 of the key 2. In this state, the coil unit 14 rotates the key 2, so the coil unit 14 does not require a large driving force at the time of the automatic performance and the key 2 can be operated with a small driving force. Consequently, the coil unit 14 is made small-sized and reduced in power consumption and then the whole device is made small-sized and reduced in power consumption.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key depressing operation based on supplied automatic performance data.
The present invention relates to a keyboard drive for performing an automatic performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic keyboard instrument such as an electronic piano, a rear end portion of each key arranged at a front upper portion of an instrument case is rotatably supported, and each key is substantially driven by the elastic force of a rubber switch. By urging to the horizontal initial position and pressing the key against the elastic force of this rubber switch,
It is configured so that a player can perform a manual performance. In this case, the elastic force of the rubber switch is set to be larger than the turning force of the key by its own weight, so that when the player depresses the key in manual performance, an appropriate key touch feeling similar to playing a natural musical instrument is obtained. I have. In recent years, an actuator such as an electromagnetic solenoid has been attached to each key of an electronic keyboard instrument that can be played manually,
A so-called automatic piano, in which the actuator is driven based on automatic performance data supplied from the outside and a desired key is pressed to perform an automatic performance, is realized. Automatic performance is performed by driving the key with an actuator such as an electromagnetic solenoid against the elastic force of the rubber switch.

[0003]

However, in such an electronic keyboard instrument, the elastic force of the rubber switch is set to be larger than the turning force by the weight of the key, so that the key touch must be heavy. For this reason, there is a problem that an actuator for driving each key is required to have an unnecessarily large driving force, and the size of the actuator is increased and power consumption is increased. For example, when an electromagnetic solenoid is used as an actuator and 500 mA per key, when 6 keys are operated at the same time, 3 A (= 0.5 A × 6) is required, and a normal driving voltage of several tens of volts is required. If so, the power consumption is several tens of watts, and it becomes difficult to use the battery. Further, when the electromagnetic solenoid requires a large driving force, not only the power of the electromagnetic solenoid is increased, but also the size of the coil, the plunger, the transformer of the power supply circuit, and the like, the size of the entire device is accordingly increased. Here, if the elastic force of the rubber switch is made smaller, it is possible to avoid an increase in the size of the actuator and an increase in power consumption to some extent. However, such a method loses the key touch feeling of playing a natural musical instrument during manual performance, thus giving the player a strange performance feeling.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the load applied to an actuator during an automatic performance without losing an appropriate key touch feeling during a manual performance by a player, and to reduce the size and power consumption of the actuator. It is to plan.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a key supported so as to be depressable, and a key provided for each key and usually arranged at a position to be pressed when the key is depressed. A switch member for instructing the generation of a musical tone by being pressed, a moving means for moving the switch member to a position not pressed by the key, and a state in which the switch member is moved to a position not pressed by the key by the moving means. And actuator means for depressing the corresponding key based on the supplied performance data. Therefore, according to the present invention,
When a player performs a manual performance, an appropriate key touch feeling is obtained, and when performing an automatic performance, the switch member is moved to a position where the switch member is not pressed by the moving means, thereby reducing the load on the switch member applied to the key. Since the actuator rotates the key in this state, a large driving force is not required for the actuator during automatic performance, and the key can be operated with a small driving force. Low power consumption can be achieved.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a keyboard driving device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the electronic keyboard instrument. In this electronic keyboard musical instrument, a large number of keys (white keys and black keys) 2 are arranged in musical order in the upper front upper part of a musical instrument case 1, and an operation lever 3 for mode switching is provided on the right end of the musical instrument case 1. It has a structure. Operation lever 3 for mode switching
Is for switching between a performance mode in which a player performs and an automatic performance mode in which an automatic performance is performed.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, each key 2 has a rear side (the left side in the figure) supported by a support shaft 4 so as to be rotatable in a vertical direction. Although not shown, the support shaft 4 includes a musical instrument case 1 or a chassis 5 provided in the musical instrument case 1.
Attached to. The key 2 is provided with a weight member 6 for load balancing behind the support shaft 4, and the distal end side (the right side in the figure) of the key 2 is supported by the weight member 6.
, And the hook 7 provided on the front end side of the hook abuts against an upper limit stopper 8 such as a felt provided on the lower right surface of the chassis 5 to regulate the upper limit position of the key 2. It has a structure. In this case, the biasing force of the weight member 6 for load balancing is set to be slightly larger than the turning force of the key 2 due to its own weight, for example, about 1 gfcm.

At the right end of the chassis 5, there is provided a stopper 9 for regulating the lower limit position of the key 2 and preventing the key 2 from swaying. Further, on the lower surface of the chassis 5,
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the substrate 10 is rotatably mounted on a rotation shaft 11. That is, the rotating shaft 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a state in which the chassis 5
Is rotatably mounted on a shaft mounting portion (not shown) provided at one end thereof, and an operation lever 3 is mounted on one end of the shaft mounting portion. The substrate 10 is attached to the rotating shaft 11 and has a structure that rotates with the rotating shaft 11. The board 10, the rotating shaft 11, and the operation lever 3 constitute a moving unit. On the upper surface of the substrate 10 on the rear side (left side in FIG. 2) of the rotation shaft 11, two rubber switches 12, 13 project through the through-hole 5a provided in the chassis 5 and protrude upward. At the end of the substrate 10 on the front side (right side in the figure) of the rotating shaft 11, a unit mounting portion 15 having a U-shaped cross section for accommodating a coil unit 14 to be described later is provided in a chassis. 5 is provided in a state of projecting upward through an opening 5b provided in the same.

The two rubber switches 12 and 13 are respectively provided on the substrate 10 and are swelled rubbers 12a and 13a swelled in an inverted “bowl” shape, and the swelled rubbers 12a and 13a
a movable contacts 12b, 13b provided on the upper part of the inner surface of
The substrate 10 facing the movable contacts 12b and 13b
And a pair of fixed contacts (not shown) provided on the upper surface of the key 2. Each expanded rubber 12a, 13a is pressed by cross-shaped pressing portions 16, 17 provided on the key 2 to be elastically deformed. Thus, the movable contacts 12b and 13b come into contact with the fixed contacts to be turned on. In this case, each of the rubber switches 12 and 13 is connected to each of the expanded rubbers 12a,
13a pushes up the key 2 by its elastic force, and this elastic force is set to be much larger than the urging force of the weight member 6 for load balance, for example, about 100 gfcm.
The rubber switches 12 and 13 are turned on at the front side of the key 2 (right side in FIG. 2) so as to be turned on with a time difference when the key is pressed.
The distance between the movable contact 12b of the rubber switch 12 and the fixed contact is set wide, and the distance between the movable contact 13b of the rubber switch 13 on the rear side of the key 2 (the left side in the figure) and the fixed contact is set narrow. . The pressing portion 16 corresponding to the front rubber switch 12 is formed longer than the pressing portion 17 corresponding to the rear rubber switch 13, and is constantly urged upward by the front rubber switch 12.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the coil unit 14 housed in the unit mounting portion 15 of the substrate 10
A coil bobbin 18 and a copper wire 19
a and a core 20 provided at the center of the coil bobbin 18. When both ends of the copper wire 19 a of the coil 19 are connected to the electrodes of the substrate 10 and a current is applied to the coil 19, It has a structure that generates a magnetic field. In this case, the copper wire 19a is, for example, an oxygen-free copper wire,
The diameter of the coil 19 is about 0.041 mm, and the coil 19 is 0.041 mm ×
It has a structure of about 300 T and generates a magnetic force of about 10 gfcm, for example. A mounting rib 21 is provided on the key 2 corresponding to the coil unit 14.
The mounting rib 21 is provided with a magnetic body 22. The magnetic body 22 and the coil unit 14 constitute an actuator, and the magnetic field generated in the coil 19 of the coil unit 14 causes the coil unit 14 to
, The key 2 is rotated clockwise in FIG.

Next, a circuit configuration of the electronic keyboard instrument will be described with reference to FIG. The storage unit 30 includes a ROM storing a program and data R storing performance data.
It is composed of an OM and a work RAM for exchanging data with the CPU 31. The CPU 31 controls the entire circuit, and operates the switch member 1 by pressing a key.
When key press information is given from the switch section 32 composed of the keys 2 and 13, tone information is created based on the key press information in accordance with a program in the ROM of the storage section 30, and the tone information is temporarily stored in the RAM of the storage section 30. At the same time, a tone is generated by the sound source section 33 based on the tone information, and the tone is emitted from the sound system 34. Further, the CPU 31
When the mode switching operation lever 3 is operated to switch to the automatic performance mode, the performance data is read from the data ROM of the storage unit 30 based on a command from the operation unit 35, and the tone data is read based on the read performance data. Is created, and the actuator control unit 3 is created based on the musical sound data.
6 to drive the coil unit 14 by giving a control signal,
When the key 2 is operated, tone information is created based on the tone data, a tone is created in the sound source unit 33 based on the tone information, and the tone is emitted from the sound system.

In such an electronic keyboard instrument, FIG.
When the operation lever 3 is set to the performance mode by the player, the substrate 10 comes close to the lower surface of the chassis 5 as shown in FIG. In this state, the key 2 is pushed up by the elastic force of the swelling rubber 12a of the rubber switch 12 on the front side and the urging force of the weight member 6 among the rubber switches 12 and 13 provided on the substrate 10, whereby the key 2 2 is restricted to a horizontal initial position (upper limit position). In this state, when the player depresses the key 2 to perform a manual performance, the swelling rubber 12
When the key 2 is pressed against the elastic force a and the urging force of the weight member 6, the key 2 rotates about the support shaft 4, so that the performance can be performed with a heavy key touch. That is, at this time, the key 2 starts rotating with a key pressing force F _U (= 100 gfcm + 1 gfcm or more) that is equal to or greater than the sum of the elastic force of the bulging rubber 12 a and the urging force of the weight member 6. When one of the rubber switches 12 and 13 is switched, key-on data for instructing the start of generation of a musical tone is obtained, and by sequentially switching with a time difference corresponding to the key depressing speed of the key 2, the musical tone characteristics such as volume can be improved. Initial touch data to be controlled is obtained, and a tone is generated based on the data.

When performing an automatic performance, the operation lever 3
When the operation lever 3 is set to the automatic performance mode, the rotation shaft 11 rotates in accordance with the operation of the operation lever 3, and accordingly, the substrate 10 rotates in a direction away from the chassis 5. As a result, each of the rubber switches 12 and 13 moves to a position separated from the key 2. For this reason, in the initial position of the key 2, the swelling rubber 12a of the front rubber switch 12 is provided.
Does not act on the key 2 and only the urging force of the weight member 6 acts on the key 2, so that the key pressing force F _U of the key 2 should be greater than the urging force (1 gfcm) of the weight member 6, The load acting on the key 2 is greatly reduced. In addition, when the substrate 10 rotates in this manner, the unit mounting portion 15 moves toward the key 2, and accordingly, the coil unit 14 approaches the magnetic body 22 provided on the mounting rib 21 of the key 2. become. When the automatic performance is performed by driving the coil unit 14 in this state, a magnetic field is generated in the coil 19 of the coil unit 14,
The magnetic body 22 is attracted by the magnetic force, and the key 2 rotates. At this time, the coil unit 14 is
Since close to 2, correspondingly, the force F _D (= 10gfcm) for attracting the magnetic body 22 becomes larger, the pulled force F _D
Acts on the key 2, the key 2 is biased by the weight member 6 (F _U
= 1gfcm) in against the force _{(-F D + F U = -10gfcm} + 1gfcm =
-9gfcm).

As described above, according to this electronic keyboard instrument,
When a player performs a key-pressing operation, an appropriate key touch feeling is obtained, and when performing an automatic performance, the rubber levers 12 and 13 for applying a load to the key 2 by operating the operation lever 3 are pressed by the pressing portion of the key 2. Since it is moved to a position away from 16, 17
The load on the rubber switches 12 and 13 acting on the key 2 can be reduced, and at the same time, the coil unit 14
Can be brought closer to the magnetic body 22 of the key 2, and in this state, the coil unit 14 rotates the key 2, so that a large driving force is not required for the coil unit 14 during automatic performance, and a small driving force is required. The key 2 can be operated, so that the coil unit 14 can be reduced in size and power consumption, and the overall device can be reduced in size and power consumption.

In the above-described embodiment, each of the rubber switches 1 is rotated by operating the operation lever 3 to rotate the substrate 10.
The magnetic plates 2 and 13 are separated from the pressing portions 16 and 17 of the key 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a magnetic plate 40 is provided on the lower surface of the rear end of the substrate 10 as in a modification shown in FIG. An electromagnet 41 is provided below the magnetic plate 40.
1, the magnetic plate 40 is attracted to rotate the substrate 10 so that the rubber switches 12 and 13 are pressed by the pressing portion 1 of the key 2.
You may make it separate from 6,17. In this manner, the substrate 10 can be automatically rotated by the electromagnet 41 in addition to the operation lever 3 being operated to manually rotate the substrate 10. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the coil unit 14 is used as the actuator for rotating the key 2 during the automatic performance has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an electromagnetic solenoid, a shape memory alloy, a piezoelectric laminated element, or the like may be used. Is also good. In this case, a latch-type electromagnetic solenoid that fixes the plunger with a magnetic material or the like when the plunger operates may be used as the electromagnetic solenoid.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, an appropriate key touch feeling can be obtained when the player performs a manual performance, and the switch member is not pressed by the moving means during the automatic performance. Since the actuator is moved to the position, the load on the switch member applied to the key can be reduced. In this state, the actuator rotates the key. The key can be operated by force, and therefore the size and power consumption of the actuator can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an embodiment of an electronic keyboard instrument to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the keyboard driving device of FIG. 1 in a normal state.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a state where a key is pressed in the state of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of an automatic performance state in which the operation lever is operated in the state of FIG. 2 to separate each rubber switch from a key.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a coil unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the electronic keyboard instrument of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing a modification in which the keyboard is automatically rotated in the keyboard driving device of FIG. 2;

[Description of Signs] 2 Key 3 Operating Lever 4 Supporting Shaft 10 Substrate 11 Rotating Shaft 12, 13 Rubber Switch 14 Coil Unit 21 Magnetic Material

Claims (3)

[Claims] A key supported so as to be depressed, and a key provided for each key and usually arranged at a position to be depressed when the key is depressed, and instructing generation of a musical tone by being depressed A switch member for moving the switch member to a position where the switch member is not pressed by the key; and a state in which the switch member is moved to a position where the switch member is not pressed by the key. A keyboard driving device, comprising: actuator means for depressing the corresponding key based on the key operation. 2. The moving means according to claim 1, wherein said moving means moves said actuator means to a position closer to said key when said switch member is moved to a position where said switch member is not depressed by said key. Item 2. The keyboard driving device according to Item 1. 3. The rubber switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch member is a rubber switch that applies a load to the key when the key is pressed by being elastically deformed by being pressed by the pressed key. Keyboard drive as described.