JPH1049192A - Singing sound synthesizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To synthesize high quality singing sounds corresponding to lyrics data. SOLUTION: A sound source section 20 is provided with the formant synthesis sound source which consists of a voiced sound component sound source group (VTG) 21 that generates voiced sound formant components and a unvoiced sound component sound source group (UTG) 22 which generates voiceless sound formant components and a PCM sound source 23 which has a waveform memory storing voice waveforms of voiceless consonants. A ROM 11 stores a control program and the phoneme database which store the phoneme parameters to utter each phoneme and sound adjusting and coupling parameters that are the control parameters of the portions bridging proceeding and succeeding phonemes. A data memory 13 stores the song data which consist of the lyrics data of the musics and accompaniment data. Based on the lyrics data, the corresponding parameters are read from the phoneme database and the section 20 synthesizes and outputs the corresponding voice. At that time, voiceless consonants are uttered by a PCM sound source 23.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a singing sound synthesizing apparatus which generates corresponding phonemes based on lyrics data and sings the lyrics with human voices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of speech synthesis techniques, a rule synthesis method capable of synthesizing a speech of an arbitrary vocabulary is known. In this method, analysis parameters are stored in units of short-length sounds such as phonemes, and a control signal necessary for driving a voice synthesizer is generated based on the stored voice data and rules.

In this rule synthesis method, a method using a PCM waveform is often used. Generally speaking, in speech synthesis, the realization of articulation coupling between phonemes and the naturalness of synthesized speech are major problems.However, these problems can be solved by editing the phonemic segments used in the waveform superposition method, etc. It is realized by processing as much as possible and preparing many waveforms.

[0004] A speech synthesis method using formant synthesis is also known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-251297). This method includes a storage unit that previously stores parameter data relating to a formant that changes in a time series over a plurality of steps, and the parameter data from the storage unit when a voice is to be uttered in a time series over the plurality of steps. Reading means for reading, and formant synthesizing means for receiving the read-out parameter data and synthesizing a tone signal having a formant characteristic determined according to the parameter data. To change it.

On the other hand, recently, such a rule synthesis method is applied to music, and a singing sound synthesizer (singing synthesizer) that synthesizes and outputs a natural singing sound based on lyrics data.
Has also been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-218241).

[0006]

When a singing sound synthesizer (singing synthesizer) as described above employs a rule synthesizing method using a PCM waveform, a large amount of data is used, and voice quality conversion is not performed. It is not easy, and it is difficult to follow a large change in pitch.

In the case of formant synthesis,
Although smooth articulation is possible, the amount of data used is small, and the width of change in pitch can be made large, there are advantages over the case of using the PCM waveform, but the recognition rate, that is, the naturalness of synthesized speech This is inferior to the PCM method described above. In particular, it has been difficult to produce natural unvoiced consonants by formant synthesis.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a singing sound synthesizing apparatus capable of producing a more natural singing voice.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a singing sound synthesizer according to the present invention comprises a formant synthesis having a voiced component sound source group for generating voiced sound and an unvoiced component sound source group for generating unvoiced sound. A sound source unit, a PCM sound source unit having a waveform memory in which a speech waveform corresponding to an unvoiced consonant is stored, a storage unit for storing singing data corresponding to the lyrics of the music, and a phonological parameter for uttering each phoneme. A singing sound synthesizing device, comprising: a phonological database in which an articulation combination parameter for articulation coupling of a preceding phonology and a succeeding phonology is stored; and Reading corresponding phonological parameters and articulation coupling parameters from the database, based on the read phonological parameters and articulation coupling parameters; It is intended to supply a control signal to the serial formant synthesis sound source unit and the PCM tone generator.

In the singing data or the phonological parameters, sound source specifying data for specifying a sound source unit for generating the phoneme is stored, and the control unit specifies the control signal by the sound source specifying data. This is supplied to the sound source section. Further, phoneme parameters and articulation combination parameters obtained by analyzing the speech waveform stored in the waveform memory are stored in the phoneme database. When the phoneme to be uttered is an unvoiced consonant, the PCM sound source section And the unvoiced consonant sound source group performs voicing processing of the unvoiced consonant, and the synthesized output from the unvoiced consonant sound source group is not output to the outside, so that articulation coupling from the unvoiced consonant to the subsequent voiced sound is performed. Is performed smoothly. Still further, the unvoiced sound output simultaneously with the voiced sound is uttered using the unvoiced sound source group.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a singing sound synthesizer according to the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a central processing unit (CP) for controlling the entire apparatus.
U) and 11 are ROMs storing various data such as a control program and a phonological database described later.
RAM is used as a work area and various buffers, and 13 is a data memory for storing song data including singing data and accompaniment data. In addition to a semiconductor memory, a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an MO disk device And various media such as an IC memory card can be used as the data memory. Reference numeral 14 denotes a display unit for displaying the operating state of the device, input data, a message to the operator, and the like. Reference numeral 15 denotes a performance operator including a keyboard. Reference numeral 16 denotes various setting operators such as operation knobs and operation buttons. .

Reference numeral 20 denotes a sound source section, as shown in the figure, a formant synthesis sound source section (FORMANT TG) and a PCM sound source section 23.
(PCM TG). As shown, the formant synthesis sound source unit includes a voiced component sound source (VTG) group 21 including a plurality of sound sources VTG1 to VTGn that generate voiced sound formant components having a pitch, a noise component included in a vowel, and an unvoiced sound formant. Unvoiced sound component sound source (UT) composed of a plurality of sound sources UTG1 to UTG for generating components
G) Group 22. Then, each component is generated by combining VTGs and UTGs corresponding to the number of formants corresponding to the respective phonemes to be generated. Each of the sound sources can also generate a tone, and a sound source that is not assigned as a sound channel for sound can be assigned to generate a tone.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a D / A converter for converting the data output from the sound source section 20 into a digital-to-analog signal. This output is amplified by a sound system (not shown).
Sound will be emitted. Reference numeral 19 denotes a bus for performing data transfer between each unit in the apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the sound source section 20. Here, the voiced sound component sound source (VTG) group 21 is j
The unvoiced sound component sound source (UTG) group 22 includes k sound sources UTG1 to KTG.
It is made up of Note that such a formant synthesis sound source section has already been proposed by the present applicant (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-200300). Further, this sound source section can be executed by a CPU to execute a sound source program, that is, it can be replaced by software. The specific configuration of each sound source of the VTG group 21 is configured, for example, as described in JP-A-2-254497, and a specific configuration example of each sound source of the UTG group 22 is, for example, JP-A-4-346
No. 502 is configured.

In the formant synthesized sound source section configured as described above, the sound sources VTG1 to VTGj of the VTG group 21 for generating voiced sound formants are generated by sharing j characteristic parts of the voiced sound formants. I do. That is, each of the sound sources VTG1 to j starts its operation in response to a formant sounding start instruction signal FKON applied from the CPU 10, and supplies formant center frequency data and formant shape data supplied as voiced formant data VOICED FORMANT DATA from the CPU 10. Each sound source VT by formant level data
The configuration and characteristics (mainly, amplitude and frequency) of the formant in charge of G are controlled.
The voiced portion of the phoneme is generated by synthesizing the formant outputs from ~ j. Also, by controlling the pitch frequency of each of the sound sources VTG1 to VTG4, the pitch of the generated phoneme is controlled.

On the other hand, a UT for generating an unvoiced sound formant
Each of the sound sources UTG1 to UTG of the G group 22 emits a noise component or an unvoiced sound formant component of the phoneme. That is, each of the sound sources UTG1 to Uk starts its operation by the formant sounding start instruction signal FKON, and generates white noise generated by the sound source according to each parameter included in the unvoiced sound formant data UNVOICED FORMANT DATA supplied from the CPU 10. The band pass characteristic or formant characteristic assigned to each is added and output. And each of these UTG1 to k
By synthesizing the outputs from the above, a noise-like component and an unvoiced sound formant component of the voice are generated.

The PCM sound source 23 has a waveform memory 2
The waveform memory 24 stores the voice waveforms of various unvoiced consonants of a specific singer. Then, the PCM tone generation start instruction signal PCMK supplied from the CPU 10
When the signal is turned on, the operation is started. The waveform of the unvoiced consonant specified by the PCM formant data PCM FORMANT DATA supplied from the CPU 10 is sequentially read from the waveform memory 24 at the specified timing, and the waveform of the unvoiced consonant is reproduced.

The VTG group 2 configured as described above
1. The outputs from the UTG group 22 and the PCM sound source 23 are added in the mixer 25 and output.

Generally, the V of the formant synthesis sound source section
Parameters supplied to each sound source of the TG group 21 and the UTG group 22 (VOICED FORMANT DATA and UN
VOICED FORMANT DATA) is obtained by analyzing a natural voice waveform actually uttered by a human. Therefore, in the present invention, for unvoiced consonants, the natural voice waveform is stored as it is in the waveform memory 24 in the PCMTG 23, and the parameters obtained by analyzing it are stored in a dictionary (a phoneme database described later). deep. Other phonemes (vowels and voiced consonants)
For, parameters obtained by analysis without storing natural waveforms are stored in a dictionary.

It is important to continuously change the formants that occur when a consonant changes to a vowel during a sounding time so that the sound can be heard as a natural sound. Therefore, each parameter such as the above-described formant center frequency, formant level, formant bandwidth, and pitch frequency is changed at predetermined time intervals (for example,
At intervals of about several milliseconds), control is performed by sequentially transmitting the parameters from the CPU 10 serving as a control unit, or the parameters are sequentially controlled by an envelope generator included in each sound source.

In the present invention, the natural voice waveform of an unvoiced consonant is stored in the waveform memory 24, as described above. Therefore, when an unvoiced consonant is uttered, the waveform sample stored in the waveform memory 24 is used. And read P
The unvoiced sound component sound source group (UTG group) 22 directly outputs from the CMTG 23 and uses the parameters analyzed from the waveform sample.
The unvoiced consonants are simultaneously generated. However, this UT
The output level of the unvoiced consonant uttered in the G group 22 is set to 0 so that it is not actually output. Then, according to the transition of the formant frequency from the unvoiced consonant to the following voiced sound (vowel), the VTG group 21 that generates the voiced sound formant starts to sound. Therefore, at the connection between the preceding phoneme and the subsequent phoneme, the unvoiced consonant uttered from the PCMTG 23 and the subsequent vowel uttered in the VTG group 21 are output in an overlapping manner, and a smooth transition from the consonant to the vowel is realized. And high-quality unvoiced consonants can be uttered.

The transition of each formant when such a musical tone is generated will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
, The horizontal axis indicates time, and this figure shows one note, in this case, a half note,
The transition of each formant frequency and the transition of the formant output level when the voice “sagai” is uttered are shown. Here, it is assumed that both the voiced sound utterance part and the unvoiced sound utterance part have four formant frequencies f1 to f4.

In the figure, (1) shows a period corresponding to the half note, and (2) shows a utterance period of each generated phoneme. (3) shows four formant frequencies f of the voiced sound formant and the unvoiced sound formant, respectively.
The transition from 1 to f4 is shown, in which v represents a voiced sound formant and u represents an unvoiced sound formant. (4) indicates the output level of the unvoiced sound formant, and (5) indicates the output level of the voiced sound formant. (6) shows a phoneme waveform output from the PCM sound source 23. Further, (7) shows an FKON signal for instructing the VTG group 21 and the UTG group 22 to start sounding, and (8) shows a PKON signal supplied to the PCMTG 23.
The CM sounding start instruction signal PCMKON is shown. In this figure, the PCM sounding start instruction signal PCMKON is a signal that continues during the sounding period of the unvoiced consonant.
This signal may be configured as a short pulse signal serving as a trigger for starting reading of the waveform memory, and the waveform sample may be read to the end when the trigger signal is input.

Now, corresponding to the half note, "saga
When the voice "i" is uttered, first, as shown in the figure, based on the key-on signal (KON), (7)
Signal FKON and PCMKON signal (8) rise. Based on this, the VTG group 21, UTG group 22, and PCMTG 23 are activated. The first to be pronounced is the unvoiced consonant "s", so the PCM
The waveform sample corresponding to the "s" is read from the TG 23 and output as shown in (6). At this time, also in the UTG group 22, as shown in the figure, the first formant f1 to the fourth formant f4 are set to predetermined frequencies, respectively, and sound generation processing is executed. At this time, the u level becomes (4). As shown, the phoneme from the UTG group 22 is not output. In this period, no formant frequency is generated from each TG of the VTG group 21.
The v level is also set to 0 as shown in (5).

Next, the pronunciation of the "s" approaches the end,
At the next transition to the pronounced "a", as shown in (1), each formant frequency f1 to f4 of the VTG group 21 is generated so as to correspond to a change from "s" to "a". At first, along with this, as shown in (5), v
The level gradually rises.

Then, the pronunciation of the "s" ends,
When it is time to pronounce only "a", (8) PCMKON
Goes to a low level, and the operation of the PCMTG 23 ends. Also, as shown in the above (3), UTG
The generation of the formants of each UTG in the group 22 is stopped, and the first to fourth formant frequencies by the respective VTGs in the VTG group 21 are generated. At this time, as shown in (5), the v level is set to a large value. If the phoneme generated at this time is a phoneme containing a noise component, a formant component is also generated from the UTG group 22 as shown by the broken line in (4), and the VTG group 21 generates the formant component. The output can be superimposed on the phoneme to be output.

Next, when the pronunciation of "a" approaches the end,
UTG group 2 to correspond to the transition to “g”
The pronunciation of No. 2 is started. Then, the u level starts to rise as shown in (4). In addition, the v level gradually decreases as shown in (5).

Next, when the transition period from “a” to “g” ends and a period in which “g” is generated is reached, the UT
The G group 22 is a formant frequency for generating the “g”. Since “g” is a phoneme that includes not only unvoiced sound components but also voiced sound components, the VTG group 21 is also a formant corresponding to the “g”. That is, as shown, in this period, both the VTG group 21 and the UTG group 22 generate a voiced sound component and an unvoiced sound component. At this time, the u level is a large value as shown in (4), and the v level is also a predetermined value as shown in (5).

Next, when the pronunciation of "g" approaches the end,
As shown in (3), the formant frequencies f1 to f4 of the VTG group 21 are changed so as to correspond to the transition from “g” to “a”, the u level in (4) gradually decreases, and The v level in 5) gradually increases.

Next, when the sounding of "g" is finished and the period of sounding of "a" comes, the generation of the formant frequency in the UTG group 22 is stopped, and each sound source of the VTG group 21 is set to "a". (1) to (4) are generated. Accordingly, the u level in (4) is attenuated, and the v level in (5) is increased.

Subsequently, at the connection from "a" to "i", the formant frequencies f1 to f4 of the VTG group 21 are smoothly coupled from the "a" formant frequency to the "i" formant frequency. Is changed as follows. Similarly, the v level in (5) is changed from the level corresponding to “a” to the level of “i”.

Next, the period of "i" is reached, and as shown in the figure, the first to fourth formant frequencies corresponding to "i" are stably generated by each sound source of the VTG group 21. Further, the v level in (5) is also kept constant.

Subsequently, when the sounding period of the note of (1) ends, the FKON signal of (7) goes low, and the v level of (5) becomes 0 with a predetermined attenuation curve.
Level. Thus, the generation of the phoneme corresponding to the note ends. In this manner, using the wired sound formant synthesis VTG group 21, the unvoiced sound formant synthesis UTG group, and the PCMTG, a phoneme corresponding to one note is generated.

Next, various data used to execute the above-described operation in the singing sound synthesizer of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4A shows the ROM 1
1 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of FIG. 1, and a ROM 11 stores a CPU program and a phoneme database PHDB as shown in FIG. The CPU program section stores various processing programs such as a control program for controlling the entire apparatus and a program for executing a singing generation process described later.

The phoneme database PHDB comprises a phoneme data section and an articulation combination data section. In the phoneme data section, various parameters PHPAR [*] for synthesizing each phoneme (vowel and consonant) are stored for each phoneme. In the articulation combination data section, various parameters PHCOMB [1-2] for performing articulation combination (particularly, formant frequency transition) when transitioning from unvoiced sound to voiced sound or from voiced sound to unvoiced sound are included in the preceding and succeeding phonemes. Stored for each phoneme set.

FIG. 4B shows the structure of the phoneme data PHPAR [*]. As shown in this figure, phoneme data PHPAR [*]
Is sound source specification data TGSEL for specifying whether to utter using PCMTG or formant synthesis to generate the phoneme, and waveform specification data for specifying a waveform sample corresponding to the phoneme when a PCM sound source is used. PCMWAVE, PCM level data PCMLEVEL for specifying the output level in the case of a PCM sound source, FSHAPE for specifying the form of each formant for generating this phoneme, and the center frequency of each of the first to fourth voiced sound formants VF FREQ1 to VF FREQ4 to specify respectively, UF FREQ1 to UF FREQ4 to specify the center frequency of each of the first to fourth unvoiced sound formants, and output levels VF LEVEL1 to VF LEVEL4 of each of the first to fourth voiced sound formants, Output levels UF LEVEL1 to UF of first to fourth unvoiced sound formants
It is composed of LEVEL4 data.
PAR [*] is stored for each phoneme.

FIG. 4C shows the articulation combination data PHCOMB.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of [1-2]. This articulation combined data PHCO
MB [1-2] is data indicating a change in formant in a portion extending from a preceding phoneme indicated by 1 to a subsequent phoneme indicated by 2, and as shown in FIG. VF LEVEL CURVE1 to specify, UF LEVEL CURVE1 to specify the amplitude lowering characteristic of the unvoiced sound of the preceding phoneme, VF FREQ CURVE2 to specify the frequency change characteristic of the voiced formant of the subsequent phoneme during the transit period, unvoiced formant of the subsequent phoneme during the transit period UF to specify the frequency change characteristics of
FREQ CURVE2, VF LEVEL CURVE2 specifying the rising characteristic of the output level of the voiced sound of the subsequent phoneme, UF LEVEL CURVE2 specifying the rising characteristic of the output level of the unvoiced sound of the subsequent phoneme,
VF INIT FREQ1 to VF INIT FREQ4 and UF FREQ1 to UF, which are the initial values of each formant frequency of the succeeding phoneme when there is no preceding phoneme and suddenly rises from the succeeding phoneme.
Each data of FREQ4 is stored.

When the articulation combination data is [] like PHCOMB [-a]
When the phoneme is not described before the hyphen in, there is no preceding phoneme, and this means that the phoneme "a" is immediately pronounced. In such a case, the VF INIT FR
EQ1 to VF INIT FREQ4 and UF INIT FREQ1 to UF INIT
Data is set in FREQ4, and the preceding phonological amplitude lowering characteristic data VF LEVEL CURVE1 to VF LEVEL CURVE4 and UF LEVEL CURVE1 to UF LEVEL CURVE4 are ignored.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining how the articulated combined data PHCOMB [1-2] is used during the period from the preceding phoneme to the succeeding phoneme. In this figure, (a) is the preceding phoneme, and the four formants of the voiced sound have center frequencies specified by VF FREQ1 to VFFREQ4, respectively, and VF LEVEL1 to VF LEV, respectively.
It is output at the level specified by EL4, and
The four unvoiced formants are UF FREQ1 to UF F
With a center frequency specified by REQ4,
It is output at the level specified by EVEL1 to UF LEVEL4.

When the preceding phoneme is changed to the following phoneme shown in (b), each formant of the voiced sound of the preceding phoneme is determined according to the VFFREQ CURVE2 stored in PHCOMB [1-2]. The formant center frequencies VF FREQ1 to VF FREQ4 of the voiced sound of the preceding phoneme are converted from the formant center frequencies VF FREQ1 to VF FREQ4 of the voiced sound of the succeeding phoneme.
Is changed to Similarly, each formant of the unvoiced sound of the preceding phoneme is changed from the formant center frequency of the unvoiced sound of the preceding phoneme to the formant center frequency of the unvoiced sound of the following phoneme according to the UF FREQCURVE2.

The output levels VF LEVEL1 to VF LEVEL4 of the voiced formant of the preceding phoneme fall in accordance with VF LEVEL CURVE1 included in the articulation combined data PHCOMB [1-2], and similarly, the output level of the unvoiced formant of the preceding phoneme. Each output level UF LEVEL1 to UF LEVEL4 is the UF LEVEL CURVE1
Descend according to. Further, the output level of the voiced formant of the succeeding phoneme is determined by the articulation combined data PHCOMB [1-
2], each voiced sound formant level of the following phoneme rises to VF LEVEL1 to VF LEVEL4. Similarly, the output level of the unvoiced formant of the succeeding phoneme rises to each unvoiced formant level of the following phoneme UF LEVEL1 to UF LEVEL4 according to the rising characteristic specified by the UF LEVEL CURVE2. In this manner, the preceding phoneme indicated by 1 and the subsequent phoneme indicated by 2 are smoothly combined by the articulation combination data PHCOMB [1-2].

FIG. 6A shows an example of a memory map of the RAM 12. As shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, RA
In the M12, areas of a CPU working area, a song buffer storing song data, and a PH buffer in which phoneme data for generating a phoneme corresponding to one note are expanded are set. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an example of expanding the phoneme data in the PH buffer. In this example, a case where a phoneme “sagai” is generated is shown. As shown in this figure, the PH buffer stores articulated combined data PHCOMB [1-2] and phonemic data PHPAR corresponding to a phoneme to be generated in a period corresponding to one note.
[*] Are stored alternately.

The articulation combination data and the phoneme data stored in the PH buffer correspond to the sound sources VTG1 to VTG1 of the VTG group 21 and the UTG group 22, respectively.
The data is applied to the TG4 and the UTG1 to UTG4, and a sound corresponding to the data is generated.

FIG. 7A shows an example of a memory map of the data memory 13. As shown, a plurality of song data SONG1 to SONGn are stored in the data memory 13. FIG. 7B shows the structure of the song data. As shown in the figure, the song data includes SONGNAME indicating the name of the song, TEMPO indicating the performance tempo of the song, MISC DATA indicating the time signature and tone color designation data of the song, and singing data used for singing sound synthesis. It consists of LYRIC SEQ DATA and accomp data ACCOMP DATA for playing accompaniment.

FIG. 8A shows the singing data LYRIC SEQ DA.
3 shows the configuration of a TA. As shown, singing data LYRIC SE
Q DATA is the lyrics data LYRI corresponding to each note of the song.
It consists of C DATA1 to LYRIC DATAm. Lyrics data
LYRIC DATAi has different data depending on whether there is a lyrics to be generated at the time corresponding to the note or not, and if there is a lyrics to be uttered, it should be pronounced during the note period It consists of phoneme data LYPH DATA, KEYON data that specifies the pitch, etc., NOTE DURATION data that specifies the duration of the note equal to the length of the note, etc. It is only duration data DURATION that specifies time.

As shown in the figure, lyrics data LYRIC DATAh when there is a lyrics to be uttered at the time corresponding to the note
Is the number of phonemes in the lyrics that should be pronounced during that note (hma
x), which is a set of data PHDATA indicating phonemes arranged in an array of only PH) and data PHTIME indicating the sound generation time (PHDATA1, PHTIME1 to PH
DATAhmax, PHTIMEhmax), the key code and velocity data of the note (in the example of the figure, C3
And key-on data KEYO
N, key-off data having a note duration data NOTEDUR, and a combination flag COMBIFLG for specifying whether or not to combine the phoneme that is pronounced last in the note with the phoneme that is pronounced first in the subsequent note to produce sound. KEYOFF
It is composed of

Here, the data PHTIME designates the sounding time of the phoneme in units of absolute time which does not change due to the tempo of the performance when the value is set to a value of "1" or more. When it is "0", the sounding time of the phoneme whose PHTIME is "0" (usually a vowel) is appropriately adjusted in accordance with the time of the entire note specified by the NOTEDUR. Which indicates that. When the PHTIME of all phonemes is set to a numerical value of 1 or more, each phoneme is sounded for the absolute time specified by the value.

When there is no phoneme to be pronounced in the note, as described above, the lyrics data LYRIC DATAi
Is composed of data DURATION indicating a time interval corresponding to the note and an end code END indicating the end of the LYRIC DATAi.

FIG. 8B is a diagram showing an example of the LYRIC DATAi, which is composed of "h", "i" and "t".
Are uttered (hmax = 3). As shown in the figure, the pitch of the note is C3, the velocity is 64, and the duration of the note is 96 units. Further, the PHTIME of “h” and “t” are each set to 5 unit times, and the PHTIME of “i” is set to “0”. Therefore, in this example, "h" is first pronounced for 5 unit times, and then "i" is played for 86 hours.
(= (96 of DUR)-(5 of "h")-(5 of "t")) The unit time is pronounced, and finally "t" is pronounced for 5 unit times. Also, this "t" and the following LYRI
When combining the first phoneme of C DATAi = 1 and sounding, COMBIFLG in KEYOFF is set.

FIG. 8C shows another example of the LYRIC DATAi. Examples shown in this figure are "s", "a", "g",
The case where five phonemes “a” and “i” are generated is shown. The pitch of the note is A5, the velocity is 85, and the length is 127 unit time. Therefore, in this case, “s” is 5 unit times, and “a” is 32
Unit time (= (127 of DUR)-(5 of "s")-
(5 of “g”) − (35 of “a”) − (5 of “i”
0)), “g” is 5 unit time, “a” is 35 unit time,
"I" is pronounced for 50 unit times.

In the singing sound synthesizing apparatus configured as described above, when the operator selects a music piece to be reproduced and starts the operation, the user selects a song from the song data stored in the data memory 13. The song data corresponding to the selected music is selected and transferred to the RAM 12. The CPU 10 is included in the song data.
Determines the performance speed based on the TEMPO data, and
Specify the tone to be used based on SC DATA. Then, a process of producing an accompaniment sound based on the automatic performance data stored in the accompaniment data ACCOMP DATA section is executed, and a singing utterance process is executed based on the singing data LYRIC SEQ DATA.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the singing voice production process. When this processing is started, first, in step S
At 11, the pointer i for reading the phoneme data LYRIC DATA corresponding to each note from the singing data LYRIC SEQ DATA section is reset to "1". As a result, the LY
Phoneme data corresponding to the first note in RIC SEQ DATA
LYRIC DATA will be specified. Next, step S
Proceeding to 12, the first LYRIC DATA1 is read. Then, it is determined whether or not the read LYRIC DATA is data other than LYRIC END indicating the end of the phoneme data (S13). If the result of the determination is YES, that is, if it is not LYRIC END, Proceed to step S14.

In this case, since LYRIC DATA1 is read with i = 1, the result of the determination in step S13 is YES.
Becomes Therefore, the process proceeds to step S14, and it is determined whether the read data is DURARTION DATA. If the result of this determination is YES, the value of the duration data is set in the timer (S15) and the process waits until the time has elapsed (S16). When the time has elapsed, the pointer i is incremented to i + 1 (S17), and the process returns to S12 to read the next phoneme data LYRIC DATAi + 1.

On the other hand, the read LYRIC DATA is DURATION D
If the result of the determination in S14 is NO instead of ATA, the process proceeds to step S19. In this step S19, this LY
The pointer h for specifying LYPH DATA in RICDATA is set to "1". As a result, the first LYPH DATA in the LYRIC DATA is specified.

Next, the process proceeds to step S20, in which the COMBIFLG in the KEYOFF code of the LYRIC DATA read and processed immediately before.
Is read from the phoneme database PHDB in the ROM 11 and written into the phoneme buffer PHBUFF. That is, the last LYRIC
If COMBIFLG in the KEYOFF code of DATA is set, the last phoneme data PHDATA hmax of the last LYRIC DATA and the first PHDATA of the current LYRIC DATA
1 is stored in the ROM 11
It is read from the phoneme database PHDB in the middle and written into the phoneme buffer PHBUFF. Also, LYRI just before
If COMBIFLG in the KEYOFF code of C DATA is not set, the articulatory combination data PHCOMBy which immediately generates the phoneme of PHDATA1 of this LYRIC DATA is read out and written to PHBUFF.

For example, if the LYRIC DATA read this time is the data for uttering “sagai” shown in FIG. 8C and the COMBIFLG of the immediately preceding LYRIC DATA has not been set, this step S 20 As a result, PHCOMB [-s] is changed to PHBUFF as shown in FIG.
Is written at the head of

Next, the process proceeds to step S21, referring to PHDATAh designated by the pointer h, and storing the corresponding phoneme data PHPARh in the phoneme database PHDB.
And writes it to the PHBUFF. In the case of the above example, as shown in FIG. 6B, PHPAR [s] is read and written to the second address of PHBUFF.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S22, wherein it is determined whether or not the value of the pointer h has not reached hmax.
h has not reached hmax, and the result of this determination is YES
In step S23, the process proceeds to step S23, where it is determined whether or not articulation combination data PHCOMBy of this PHDATAh and the next PHDATAh + 1 exists in the phoneme database PHDB. If the result is NO, the process directly proceeds to step S25, and if the articulation combination data PHCOMBy exists in the PHDB, it is read out and written in the PHBUFF. In the case of the above example, as shown in FIG.
PHCOMB [sa] is written.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S25, wherein the value h of the pointer is incremented to h + 1, and
Return to 21. Then, as described above, the phoneme data PHPARh corresponding to the next phoneme data PHDATAh is read out and written in PHBUFF. Thus, h is hm
Steps S21 to S25 are repeated until ax is reached, and PHCOMBy and PHPARy corresponding to PHDATA1 to PHDATAh in the LYPH DATA are alternately written and arranged in PHBUFF. In this way, as shown in FIG. 6B, the phoneme data is developed in PHBUFF. Note that whether or not h has reached hmax is determined by:
This can be performed by reading the data at the position of h + 1 and determining that h = hmax when the content is a KEYON code.

When h reaches hmax, step S2
If the result of the determination in step 2 is NO, the process proceeds to step S26, where an END code is written in the PHBUFF. Then, the process proceeds to a step S27, in which the PHBUFF is read from the head thereof, and the read articulated combined data PHCO
Based on the MB and the phoneme data PHPAR, the voice is uttered using the VTG group, UTG group or PCMTG specified by the data. At this time, the pitch of the voiced sound is determined by the key code KC in the key-on code.
And the pronunciation time of each phoneme is NO, as described above.
Controlled by TE DUR and PHTIME.

Then, the i-th phoneme data LYRIC
This step S27 is repeated until all the phonemes corresponding to DATAi have been sounded (S28). And the P
When reaching the HBUFF END code, step S2
9, the LYRIC DATA read pointer i is set to i
The value is incremented to +1 and again in step S12
Return to In this manner, the reading of the LYRIC SEQ DATA and the sound generation processing are sequentially repeated, and when the reading of the LYRIC SEQ DATA reaches the end (LYRIC END), the result of the determination in S13 becomes NO, and the singing generation processing ends. (S18).

The analysis data of the PCM waveform used in the unvoiced sound part is combined with the PCM waveform, and a plurality of such sets of the PCM waveform and the analysis data are prepared for each singer, for example, and are switched. By doing so, sound quality conversion can be easily performed. Also, it is not necessary that all unvoiced consonants have a PCM waveform, and those capable of realizing a certain level of speech synthesis by formant synthesis may be directly generated by formant synthesis. For voiced plosives, it is desirable to use unvoiced PCM waveforms separated by voice and unvoiced, but all consonants may use PCM waveforms. Further, when there is little change in the formant, the noise component of the voiced portion may use a looped PCM waveform. Furthermore, the consonant PCM waveform may be changed according to the type, pitch, volume or the like of the voiced sound following the consonant produced by the PCM sound source.

Particularly suitable examples of the application field of the singing sound synthesizing device of the present invention include an electronic musical instrument, a computer system, a voice response device, a game machine and an amusement device such as a karaoke capable of outputting a singing sound. Can be Further, the singing sound synthesizer of the present invention can be implemented in the form of software of a computer system represented by a personal computer. At that time, the processing up to the synthesis of the audio waveform may be executed by the CPU,
Alternatively, a separate sound source may be provided as shown in FIG.
Further, various types of network interfaces or modems are added to the configuration of FIG. 1 to download necessary data and parameters such as phonological data through a network or a telephone line, and to transfer synthesized singing sounds through a network. You may.

[0064]

Since unvoiced consonants are uttered using a PCM sound source (waveform synthesis processing), a high quality singing sound can be synthesized and output. Further, since the analysis data of the PCM waveform corresponding to the unvoiced consonant is used as the parameter of the phoneme, smooth articulation can be realized. Further, since it is possible to prepare a phoneme database corresponding to a singer, it is possible to easily produce various singing sounds.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of a singing sound synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a sound source unit of the singing sound synthesizer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the singing sound synthesizing device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining data stored in a phoneme database used in the singing sound synthesizer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a transition from a preceding phoneme to a subsequent phoneme.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining data in a RAM 12;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a structure of song data in a data memory.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the structure of singing data (LYRIC SEQ DATA).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a singing voice production process.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 CPU, 11 ROM, 12 RAM, 13 data memory, 14 display unit, 15 performance operator, 16
Setting operator, 18 D / A converter, 19 bus, 20
Sound source section, 21 voiced sound group, 22 unvoiced sound group, 23 PCM sound source, 24 waveform memory, 25 mixer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A PCM sound source having a formant synthesis sound source section having a voiced sound component sound source group for generating a voiced sound and an unvoiced sound component sound source group for generating an unvoiced sound, and a waveform memory storing a sound waveform corresponding to an unvoiced consonant. Unit, a storage unit for storing singing data corresponding to the lyrics of the song, and a phoneme storing a phoneme parameter for producing each phoneme and an articulation combination parameter for articulating a preceding phoneme and a subsequent phoneme. A singing sound synthesizer having a database and a control unit, wherein the control unit reads a corresponding phonological parameter and an articulation combination parameter from the phonological database based on the singing data, and reads the read phonological parameter and articulation. A control signal is sent to the formant synthesis sound source unit and the PCM sound source unit based on the coupling parameter. Singing sound synthesizing apparatus characterized by feeding. 2. The singing data or the phonological parameter stores sound source specifying data for specifying a sound source unit to generate the phoneme. The control unit specifies the control signal by the sound source specifying data. The singing sound synthesizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the singing sound synthesizing apparatus supplies the singing sound to a sound source. 3. The phoneme parameter and articulation combination parameter obtained by analyzing the speech waveform stored in the waveform memory are stored in the phoneme database, and when the phoneme to be uttered is an unvoiced consonant, PC
In both the M sound source unit and the unvoiced component sound source group, the unvoiced consonant utterance process is executed, and the synthesized output from the unvoiced sound component sound source group is not output to the outside, so that the unvoiced consonant is converted to a subsequent voiced sound. 2. The singing sound synthesizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the articulation is smoothly performed. 4. The singing sound synthesizer according to claim 1, wherein the unvoiced sound output simultaneously with the voiced sound is uttered using the unvoiced sound component group.