JPH10309000A - Sound source system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a stereoscopic sound field with a simple configuration in a multi-channel sound source. SOLUTION: Sampled music data are stored in advance in a wave memory 1 in a voice process 10. The music data are read from the memory 1 and distributed into 4 channels. The distributed music data are respectively fed to sound volume control sections 5a 5d. Localization in a stereoscopic sound field of the music data is determined by properly controlling the level with the sound volume control sections 5a-5d. Outputs for each channel of N-sets of the voice process 10 are summed respectively by adders 6a-6d. Thus, localization is set in the stereoscopic sound field up to N sets of music data at the maximum. The output of 4 channels is formed in the stage of the voice process and the localization in the stereoscopic sound field is set, then the stereoscopic sound field is reproduced even when other processing is connected to the poststage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sound source device for outputting a sound signal under the control of a computer or the like.
In particular, the present invention relates to a sound source device having an output of three or more channels and capable of easily forming a three-dimensional sound field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, personal computers and home game machines are often equipped with a tone generator for tone synthesis. This sound source device reproduces music by generating a predetermined musical tone in response to an instruction from the CPU based on performance control data, for example. A typical example of such a sound source device uses a so-called wavetable sound source. This is to read out tone data stored in advance in a wave memory based on performance control data and output it through various signal processing. In such a sound source device, two signal processing and two output systems are provided so that stereo sound can be obtained.

FIG. 6 schematically shows an example of a basic configuration of a sound source device according to the prior art. A plurality of sampled musical sound (or sound effect) data is stored in the wave memory 100 in advance. The tone data is read from the wave memory 100 and the pitch controller 101
Supplied to The musical tone data having a predetermined pitch based on the performance control data by the pitch controller 101 is supplied to the filter 102 and tone-controlled. The output of the filter 102 is supplied to the envelope controller 103,
A temporal change in volume from when one sound is generated until when it disappears is given.

[0004] The output of the envelope controller 103 is divided into two and supplied to both voice volumes 104L and 104R for controlling the gain of the sound source data. These voice volumes 104L and 104R
By appropriately controlling and adjusting the gain of, the localization in the stereo sound field is expressed. The processing from the wave memory 100 to the voice volumes 104L and 104R is called a voice process 110. Note that the reference symbols L and R shown in the figure are used to represent the correspondence between the left voice and the right voice.

[0005] The output of the voice volume 104L is supplied to an adder 105L. When a plurality of voice processes 110 exist, the plurality of voice processes 110
Are supplied to the adder 105L and added to the left channel (L-ch). Adder 105
Similarly for R, the right channel (R-ch) output is added. The outputs of the voice processes 110 are added by the adders 105L and 105R, respectively.
A comprehensive L-ch signal and R-ch signal can be obtained.

The outputs of the adders 105L and 105R are supplied to master volumes 106L and 106R for controlling the gain of the musical tone data, respectively. Master volumes 106L and 106R control the overall volume and localization in the stereo sound field. Adder 105L
The processing from (and 105R) to the master volume 106L (and 106R) is called a channel process.

[0007] Master volumes 106L and 106R
Output from D / A converters 107L and 1L, respectively.
07R, and output as analog audio signals of L-ch and R-ch. Note that other processing, such as reverberation processing and delay processing, may be added before the D / A converters 107L and 107R.

FIG. 7 shows a configuration in which a plurality of voice processes 110 are provided in the configuration shown in FIG. 6 and a large number of different tone data can be output simultaneously. In this example, the voice process 110 is replaced with the voice process 11
0 _1, voice process 110 _2,..., And the voice process 110 _N, to the N Yes. In this case, the number of sounds that can be output simultaneously (the number of simultaneous sounds) is N. The L-ch and R-ch outputs output from each of the voice processes 110 _{1 to} 110 _N are added to adders 105L and 105R, respectively.
To obtain a stereo output of the entire sound source device.

[0009]

However, in recent years,
In addition to the conventional stereo sound field in which localization is distributed to the left and right, that is, not only the spread of the sound image in the horizontal direction, but also a three-dimensional sound image, that is, a three-dimensional sound field such as a sound field vertically above or behind the listener position. Have been. However, in the sound source device according to the related art as described above,
Since the entire output is only two channels, L-ch and R-ch, the spread of the sound image in the horizontal direction can be expressed, but there is a problem that it is extremely difficult to obtain such a three-dimensional sound field. .

This is because each of the voice processes 110 _{1 to} 11 ₁
0 _N is output from, simply voice volume 104L
This is because it is not easy to extract the second, third,... Sound source output signals for reproducing the three-dimensional sound field from the two-channel outputs whose levels are just distributed to the left and right at 104R and 104R. This process requires an enormous amount of computation and sophisticated algorithms. Therefore, in order to realize this, an extremely large amount of processing resources is required, and there has been a problem that the cost is greatly increased.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sound source device capable of obtaining a three-dimensional sound field with a simple configuration.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a tone generator which synthesizes and outputs musical tone data based on control data and generates tone data. The sound source device is characterized in that it has a voice process including data distributed to three or more channels and level control means provided for each of the channels to control the level of musical sound data.

As described above, according to the present invention, the generated musical sound data is distributed to three or more channels, and the level of the musical sound data can be controlled for each channel, so that the localization of the three-dimensional sound image can be easily obtained. .

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. According to the present invention, in a voice process, a three-dimensional sound field can be easily obtained by providing outputs of three or more channels whose volume can be adjusted. FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of a basic configuration of a sound source device according to the embodiment. In this figure, each component is controlled based on a control signal from the outside, for example, a control signal supplied from a computer (not shown) connected to this configuration. In this figure, control signal paths and the like are omitted to avoid complication.

A plurality of sampled tone data are stored in the wave memory 1 in advance. This musical sound data is obtained, for example, by sampling the timbre and sound effect of a musical instrument at a predetermined sampling frequency.
It is fragmentary data. As the sampling frequency,
For example, 44.1 KHz or 32 KHz is used. Tone data is selected based on an external control signal and read out from the wave memory 1. The read musical sound data is supplied to the pitch controller 2.

Performance control data is externally supplied to the pitch controller 2 as a control signal. The tone data supplied from the wave memory 1 is pitch-converted by the pitch controller 2 based on the performance control data.
A predetermined pitch is set. The output of the pitch controller 2 is
The tone color is supplied to the filter 3 and controlled. The output of the filter 3 is supplied to the envelope controller 4 and given a temporal volume change from the generation of one sound to the disappearance of the sound.

The output of the envelope controller 4 is distributed to a plurality of channels. In this example, channels are allocated to four channels, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4. In addition, this distribution, this 4
It is not limited to the example of the channel. That is, if the distribution is to three or more channels, the distribution may be made to any number of channels as necessary. The greater the number of channels to be distributed, the more diverse sound image expression is possible. Normally, it is sufficient to allocate to 4 or 6 channels.

The tone data of the channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4 distributed to these four channels are supplied to voice volumes 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d, respectively. This voice volume 5a, 5
Each of b, 5c, and 5d has, for example, a register, stores supplied tone data in this register, and digitally increases or decreases the level of the stored tone data based on external control. These voice volumes 5a, 5b,
By appropriately controlling and adjusting the levels of 5c and 5d, for example, localization in a three-dimensional sound field can be expressed. This voice volume 5 from wave memory 1
The processes of a, 5b, 5c, and 5d are processes for producing a single tone, and are referred to as a voice process 10.

The output of the voice volume 5a is added to an adder 6a.
Supplied to As will be described later, a plurality of voice processes 10 exist in order to simultaneously generate a large number of tones. The signals of the respective channels Ch1 output from the plurality of voice processes 10 are supplied to the adder 6a and added. Similarly, the signals of the channels Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4 output from the plurality of voice processes 10 are supplied to the adders 6a, 6b, and 6c, respectively, and added.

These adders 6a, 6b, 6c and 6
At d, the signals of the channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4 output from the respective voice processes 10 are respectively added, whereby the channels Ch1, Ch
2, Ch3 and Ch4 are obtained as a total output.

The output of the adder 6a is the master volume 7a
Supplied to Similarly, the outputs of the adders 6b, 6c, and 6d are the master volumes 7b, 7c,
And 7d. The master volumes 7a to 7d have, for example, a register similarly to the above-mentioned voice volumes 6a to 6d, store the supplied musical tone data in this register, and store the stored musical tone data based on external control. Digitally increase or decrease the level.
From the adders 6a-6d, the master volumes 7a-7
The processing up to d is a process of synthesizing a single tone, and is called a channel process.

Outputs from master volumes 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d are supplied to D / A converters 8a and 8a, respectively.
b, 8c, and 8d are converted into analog signals, and are converted into channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4.
As an analog audio signal. Since the configuration shown in FIG. 1 has only one voice process 10, it is called a single voice sound source. Note that, before each of the D / A converters 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d, other processing such as reverberation processing or delay processing may be added.

FIG. 2 shows _N voice processes 10 in the configuration of the single voice sound source shown in FIG. 1, for example, N voice processes 10 ₁ , 10 ₂ ,... An example of the configuration of a sound source device capable of simultaneously outputting a large number of different musical sound data is shown. In this case, the number of simultaneous sounds is N. This figure 2
Is referred to as a multi-voice sound source because it has a plurality of voice processes.

In such a multi-voice sound source, single voice processing by the above-described voice process 10 is performed N times in a time-division or parallel manner as a whole. As a result the channel Ch1 that is output from the respective voice process _{10 1 ~10 N, Ch2, Ch3} , and the output of Ch4, are added by the adders 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d,
Channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch as the whole sound source device
3 and Ch4 are obtained.

The outputs of the adders 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d are supplied to master volumes 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d, respectively. This master volume 7
The signals whose gains have been adjusted by a, 7b, 7c, and 7d are D / A converters 8a, 8b, 8 respectively.
The signals are converted into analog signals by c and 8d, and are output as analog audio signals of channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3 and Ch4. This channel Ch1
The analog outputs up to Ch4 are output from, for example, a speaker through respective amplifiers or the like.

Note that the plurality of voice processes and channel processes shown in FIG.
It is composed of P (Digital Signal Processor). Of course, the voice process and the channel process are each 1
Alternatively, it may be constituted by a plurality of DSPs, or a plurality of channels may be constituted by one DSP.
Note that the wave memory 1 may be separately provided outside the DSP.

As described above, by using the sound source device that outputs four channels of channels Ch1 to Ch4, sound image control most suitable for the contents of the program can be performed. In the above configuration, each voice process 10
_In each of ₁ to 10 _N , the voice volume 5a, 5
Each of b, 5c, and 5d can be software-controlled by, for example, a computer connected to the outside.

For example, in a certain program, channels Ch1 and Ch2 among the four channels are respectively assigned to the front left and right speakers, and channels Ch3 and Ch4 are assigned.
Are assigned to the rear left and right speakers, respectively. The tone data to be sounded from behind the listener is level-adjusted by weighting the channels Ch3 and Ch4 by the control software of the voice volumes 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d.

In another example of the program, channels Ch1, Ch2, and Ch3 are assigned to front left, right and center speakers, respectively, and channel Ch4 is assigned to rear speakers. By doing so, an effect such as sound reproduction in a movie theater can be realized.

As described above, by using the sound source device according to the present invention, the most effective speaker arrangement can be assumed for each program, and the sound image localization can be freely set only by the voice volume control data of the program. A highly flexible system can be constructed.

The adders 6a, 6b, 6c and 6
The addition at d can be such that the outputs from all voice processes are added for each channel. According to this method, an output with a higher degree of freedom can be obtained. In this case, for example, a voice process that is not used has a weight of 0.

The present invention is not limited to this, and the adders 6a, 6b, 6c,
And 6d are added by adders 6a, 6b, 6c,
And a predetermined voice process may be assigned every 6d. For example, in the adder 6a for adding the channel Ch1, the voice processes 10 ₁ to 10 are used.
Performs addition of channels Ch1 output from _4, the adder 6b for adding the channel Ch2, performs addition of channel Ch2 output from the voice processing 10 ₅ to 10 _8, ..., and as, in each channel Assign a voice process.

According to this method, the degree of freedom of the output is reduced as compared with the method of adding the outputs from all the voice processes for each channel, but the processing capability of the DSP can be reduced. Which of the two systems is to be adopted is preferably determined in consideration of the number of simultaneous voices of the multi-voice sound source and the performance, application, cost, and the like required for the system. In addition, these two methods can be switched by software.

Next, application examples of the present invention will be described. 3 to 5 show examples of a system using the sound source device according to the embodiment. Here, a description will be given assuming that the output of the sound source device is four channels of Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4.

FIG. 3 shows that the output of each channel is D
This is an example in which analog signals are converted into analog signals via / A converters 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d and output as they are. The voice process / channel process 21 corresponds to FIG.
In, from the voice processing 10 ₀ to 10 _N, the structure up to the master volume 7a~7d is obtained by the collectively. Channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and C
h4, for example, FL (Front Left), FR (Fro
nt Right), RL (Rear Left), and RR (Rear Righ
Corresponds to t). Outputs of the D / A converters 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d are supplied to speakers and the like via respective amplifiers. By arranging four speakers at predetermined positions, a three-dimensional sound field can be obtained.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which a three-dimensional sound field processor 22 for performing three-dimensional sound field processing by two channels is connected to the output of the voice process / channel process 21. The three-dimensional sound field processor 22 receives three or more channels of sources and performs processing to reproduce a three-dimensional sound field that can be expressed by these two speakers.

Each of the channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4 is, for example, L (Left), R (right),
Corresponds to C (Center) and S (Surround). Outputs of these channels Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, and Ch4 are input to predetermined input terminals of the three-dimensional sound field processor 22, respectively. The three-dimensional sound field processor 22 performs predetermined processing and outputs signals converted into two channels via D / A converters 8a and 8b, respectively. The output signal is reproduced by a speaker or the like, and a three-dimensional sound field effect by two channels can be obtained.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which an encoder 23 for encoding a signal supplied as a multi-channel input of three or more channels into a two-channel signal is connected to the output of the voice process / channel process 21. The encoder 23 outputs outputs Lt and Rt of two channels, respectively. These outputs Lt and Rt are converted into analog signals via D / A converters 8a and 8b, respectively, and output.

In the case of this example, even if the analog-converted outputs Lt and Rt are directly reproduced by a speaker via an amplifier or the like, only a stereo sound field having a spread only in the horizontal direction can be obtained. The outputs Lt and Rt are supplied to a dedicated decoder corresponding to the encoder 23 to reproduce a three-dimensional sound field. That is, the outputs Lt and Rt of two channels are supplied to a decoder (not shown), and are subjected to, for example, a process reverse to that of the encoder 23 to obtain outputs L, R, C, and S of four channels. A typical example of such an encoding / decoding system is the Dolby ProLogic Surround System (registered trademark).

As described above, by providing the output of the four localized channels in the sound source device, a predetermined processor can be connected to the subsequent stage,
By directly outputting four channels as it is, it is possible to easily configure a system for reproducing various three-dimensional sound fields.

In the above description, the present invention has been described as being applied to the wave table system in which musical data is obtained by reading out sampling data stored in advance in the wave memory 1, but this is not limited to this example. It is not something to be done. For example, the present invention can be applied to a system using an FM sound source, which obtains musical sound data by synthesizing a sine wave. Similarly, the present invention can be applied to a system using a physical sound source for obtaining musical sound data by calculation. Further, a signal supplied from the outside can be used as a signal of each channel.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a multi-channel system capable of stereoscopic sound image localization by simply applying a simple extension to a part of the voice process and the channel process according to the conventional configuration. There is an effect that it can be realized.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to smoothly cope with the current system, such as converting to a two-channel output by connecting or incorporating various existing processors, even if the output is performed in a multi-channel state. effective. In addition, there is an effect that various three-dimensional sound field reproduction systems can be easily configured.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that a versatile and highly flexible three-dimensional sound field can be reproduced according to various program contents by extremely simple control by software.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a basic configuration of a sound source device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a multi-voice sound source according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an application example of the present invention. This is an example in which a signal of each channel is output as it is.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an application example of the present invention. 2
This is an example of using a three-dimensional sound field processor that performs three-dimensional sound field processing by a channel.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an application example of the present invention. 3
This is an example of using an encoder that encodes a signal supplied as a multi-channel input of two or more channels into a two-channel signal.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a basic configuration of a sound source device according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a multi-voice sound source according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Wave memory, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d ...
Voice volume, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d: adder, 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d: master volume, 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d: D / A converter,
10: Voice process, 21: Voice process / channel process, 22: Stereo sound field processor, 23: Encoder

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A sound source device for synthesizing tone data based on control data and outputting the tone data, a tone data generating means for generating tone data, the tone data being distributed to three or more channels,
A sound source device comprising: a voice process provided with level control means for controlling a level of the musical sound data provided in each of the channels. 2. The sound source device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said voice processes and sound source data of each of said divided channels output from said plurality of said voice processes are added for each of said channels. A sound source device further comprising an adding means for obtaining an added output for each channel. 3. The sound source device according to claim 2, wherein the sound source device outputs the sound source data with the same number of channels as the number of allocated channels. 4. The sound source device according to claim 2, wherein a three-dimensional sound field processor that obtains a three-dimensional sound field by two outputs is connected to the adding means, and the added output for each channel is sent to the three-dimensional sound field processor. A sound source device for supplying and outputting two channels. 5. The sound source device according to claim 2, wherein encoding means for encoding an input of three or more channels into two channels is connected to said addition means, and an addition output for each channel is supplied to said encoding means. And a two-channel output. 6. The sound source device according to claim 2, wherein the processing by the plurality of voice processes and the processing by the adding means are performed by one integrated circuit, and the tone data is directly output by the number of allocated channels. Is output.