JPS62223795A - Electronic stringed instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to electronic stringed instruments, and in particular, the present invention relates to electronic stringed instruments, and in particular, the invention relates to an electronic stringed instrument, and in particular, an ultrasonic signal that is transmitted to a string and is connected to a string based on the time it takes for an ultrasonic signal to be reflected back to a fret in contact with the string. This invention relates to an electronic stringed instrument that determines the pitch of a musical note to be produced by determining the position of the frets that come in contact with it.

(Prior Art) Generally, in electronic string instruments, the position of the fret that is in contact with the string pressed by the player is determined, and based on the determination result, the pitch of the musical note to be produced is specified, and the pitch of the musical note to be produced is determined. A musical tone having the specified pitch is generated by detecting the timing of .

To determine the fret position during the sound generation process of such an electronic stringed instrument, since the string vibrates at a frequency corresponding to its string length, the vibration of the string is converted into an electrical signal with a waveform similar to the vibration of the string using an electromagnetic hump. Then, the waveform was converted and the error S was calculated based on the beat interval of the waveform.

However, if you try to convert the string vibration based on the above-mentioned string into an electrical signal and determine which fret is in contact with the string, ↑
Because it took a long time to generate a musical tone from a cosine, which gave an unnatural impression to the performer, the applicant proposed in Patent Application No. 240138 filed in 1985 that the fret positions were determined based on scanning using ultrasonic signals. We proposed an electronic stringed instrument that discriminates. The electronic stringed instrument disclosed in this 1985 patent WJ No. 240138 determines the fret based on the propagation time of the ultrasonic signal transmitted from the piezoelectric element to the string,
The original timing was based on detecting the low-frequency string vibrations that occur in the strings during string celebration using an electromagnetic hitch 0.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The electronic stringed instrument disclosed in Patent Application No. 240138 of 1985 uses the timing of string composition based on low-frequency string vibrations detected by an electromagnetic horn. Since the fret position was determined based on the round trip time of the ultrasonic signal transmitted to the string via a piezoelectric element, two types of vibration detection means (i.e., a piezoelectric element and an electromagnetic There was a climax when the manufacturing cost of electronic stringed instruments increased as a result of having to install a 70-tsukuff 0) complicate the structure.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to determine the timing of dynamic plucked strings and the fret position using a single detection means.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention includes strings stretched on a musical instrument body, a plurality of frets that reflect ultrasonic signals propagating through the strings and generate echoes when they come into contact with the strings, and a first fret. Generates an ultrasonic signal based on the electric signal and supplies the ultrasonic signal to the upper string, generates a second electric signal based on the echo, and generates a third electric signal based on the string vibration when the string is discarded. a piezoelectric transducer, a pitch information forming means for supplying a first electric signal to the piezoelectric transducer and forming pitch information regarding the pitch of a musical tone to be produced based on the first electric signal and the second electric signal; 1. Cosine information forming means for forming string picking information regarding pitch value based on 3. electric signals (Function and Effects) In the electronic stringed instrument having the above configuration, cosine information forming means is provided that is supplied from the pitch information forming means. The piezoelectric transducer generates an ultrasonic signal based on the first electrical signal, and the ultrasonic signal is transmitted to the string. This ultrasonic signal propagates down the string toward the frets,
When a string touches a fret, it is reflected by the fret and an echo is generated. This echo propagates along the string toward the piezoelectric transducer and is converted into a second electrical signal by the piezoelectric transducer. Since the time interval between the first electric signal and the second electric signal corresponds to the position of the fret that generated the echo, the pitch information forming means
Pitch information regarding the pitch of the musical tone to be generated is formed based on the time interval with the N signal. On the other hand, when the player twists the string and the string vibrates at a low frequency, the piezoelectric transducer generates a third electrical signal based on the string vibration at the low frequency. the result,
The string picking information forming means forms pitch value information based on the third electrical signal, and a musical tone having a pitch specified by the pitch information is produced at a timing indicated by the string picking information.

In this way, in the present invention, since pitch information and plucked string information are commonly obtained from the piezoelectric transducer, there is no need to provide separate detection means to obtain pitch information and plucked string information, and the configuration can be improved. It is possible to simplify the process and reduce manufacturing costs.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a large-arc key, and numeral 1 indicates the main body of the musical instrument. This musical instrument main body 1 is provided with a string winding 3 and a tail top 0-s 5, and between these string winding 3 and the tail top 0-s 5 there are 6
Book strings of different widths 7.9.11.13.15.
17 are installed. Strings 7 are attached to the neck of the instrument body 1.
n frets] 9, 21, . . . are installed substantially at right angles to the strings 7 to 17, and these frets 19, 21, . A ridge assembly 23 is fixed to the instrument body 1 on the 0-5 side of the tail, and this ridge assembly 23 has six ceramic piezoelectric elements 25, 27, 2 as piezoelectric transducers.
9.31.33.35, and these piezoelectric elements 25 to 35 are in direct contact with the six strings 7 to 17, respectively. An ultrasonic signal is generated based on the driving pulse P1 as a first electric signal supplied from the means, and the ultrasonic signal is transmitted to the corresponding strings 7 to 17. 3rd string 7
The ultrasonic signals transmitted to frets 19 to 17
, . . . and when the strings 7 to 17 are pressed toward the frets 19.21, . . . , the frets 19.21, .
21,... generates an echo. This echo propagates again through the strings 7 to 17 toward the piezoelectric elements 25 to 35, and is converted by the piezoelectric elements 25 to 35 into a reflected signal S1 as a second electric signal. This reflected signal S1
is supplied to the pitch information forming means 37, and the pitch information forming means 37 generates the reflected signal S1 from the sending of the driving pulse P1.
The frets 19, 21, . . . that caused the echo are determined based on the counting result. Fret 19.21 that caused this echo,
・ indicates the pitch of the musical tone desired by the performer, so
The pitch information forming means 37 forms a pitch signal S2 representing the pitch of the musical tone to be generated based on the result of determining the fret position, and sends it to the musical tone signal forming circuit 39.

On the other hand, when the player plucks the strings 7 to 17 with the desire to generate musical tones, the strings 7 to 17 vibrate at a low frequency, and the low frequency string vibrations are transmitted to the third electric field by the piezoelectric elements 25 to 35. It is converted into a low frequency f-firing signal S3 as a signal. This firing signal S3 is detected by the string information forming means 41,
The four-string string information forming means 41 generates a volume signal S representing the volume of the musical tone to be produced based on the plucked string signal S3, as will be described in detail later.
4 and the period signal S5 representing the duration of sound generation, the above-mentioned musical tone signal formation cycle'#! Send to I39. As a result, the musical tone signal forming circuit 39 forms a musical tone signal S6 based on the pitch signal S2, volume signal S4, and period signal S5, and supplies this to the sound system 43 to generate a musical tone.

Subsequently, the pitch information forming means 37 and the talent value information forming means 4
1 and its detailed structure and operation will be explained based on FIGS. 2 and 3. Note that the circuit shown in FIG.
Although the piezoelectric elements 25 to 35 are respectively provided, in the following description, only those provided for the piezoelectric element 25 will be explained for the sake of brevity. 101 indicates a pulse generation circuit that generates the drive pulse P1, and at time t1, the drive pulse P1 is generated by this pulse generation circuit 101.
When it is supplied to the piezoelectric element 25 and the monostable multi-hyfilator 105 in parallel via the transmitter 103 (the third
3(a)), the piezoelectric element 25 generates an ultrasonic signal based on the drive pulse P1 and transmits this ultrasonic signal to the string 7 (N in FIG. 3(d) is due to the self-vibration of the piezoelectric element 25. The ultrasonic signal transmitted to the string 7 propagates along the string 7 toward frets 19, 21, etc., and the string 7 is pressed and any of the frets 19, 21, etc.
When in contact with ..., it reflects the ultrasonic signal and generates an echo. This echo propagates again along the string 7 towards the piezoelectric element 25.

On the other hand, the monostable multi-half generator 105 has a driving force of 0.
Based on the pulse P1, the one-shot pulse P2 is sent to the pitch designation circuit 107 (FIG. 3(b)), the pitch designation circuit 1
07, a counter circuit (not shown) starts counting reflock signals based on the one-shot pulse P2 (FIG. 3(C)). When the echo reaches the piezoelectric element 25 at time t2, the piezoelectric element 25 generates a reflected signal S1 based on the echo (FIG. 3(d)). After this reflected fU signal S1 is amplified by the amplifier 109, it is
The low hemisphere filter 111 and the low hemisphere filter 113 are supplied in parallel. Since the reflected signal S1 is formed based on the echo of the ultrasonic signal, its frequency is high, and it passes only through the high frequency filter 111 and is sent to the pitch specifying circuit 10.
As a result, the counter circuit of the pitch designation time 1107 stops counting the clock signal and holds the counted value (FIG. 3(C)). This count value corresponds to the time interval from sending out the driving pulse P1 to receiving the reflected signal S1, and generates an echo.
．． It represents 21,... Therefore, the pitch specifying circuit 107 sends a pitch signal S2 representing the pitch of the musical tone to be generated to the musical tone signal forming circuit 39 based on the counted value.

After the pitch of the musical tone to be produced is determined in this way, when the player plucks the string 7 with the desire to generate a musical tone, the string 7 vibrates at a low frequency, and this string vibration is caused by the piezoelectric element 25 at time t3. It is converted into a low frequency plucked string signal S3 (Fig. 3(d)). After this quaternary value signal S3 is amplified by an amplifier 109, it passes only through a low-hess filter 113 and is sent to a waveform shaping circuit 115.
is supplied to In this waveform shaping circuit 115, the original value signal S
Loaf 0 is extracted from the envelop 3 (Fig. 3(e)).

The subsequent speed detection circuit 117 holds the peak value after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and forms a volume signal S4 corresponding to that value (third
Figure (f)). Generally, when a string is plucked strongly, the amplitude of the string increases, and the peak value of the dimension value signal S3, which is similar to string vibration, also increases. Therefore, the peak value after a predetermined time has elapsed is proportional to the force with which the string is plucked, and is proportional to the volume of the musical tone to be produced. The output of the waveform shaping circuit 115 is also supplied to the duration determination circuit 119, and the output of the waveform shaping circuit 115 is also supplied to the duration determination circuit 119. ! The duration determination circuit 119 compares the peak value with a threshold value vth. As a result, when the output of the waveform shaping circuit 115 becomes equal to or higher than the threshold value vth at time t4, the period signal s5 output from the duration determination circuit 119 shifts to a high level, and the output of the waveform shaping circuit 115 increases again. At time t5 when the voltage becomes lower than the threshold value vth, the voltage decreases and shifts to Hale (Fig. 3 (g)).
.

While the period signal S5 is high, the switch circuit 12
1 is turned on, so the volume signal s4 is output from the voltage controlled amplifier 1.
Based on the output of the amplifier 123 and the pitch (a number S6), the musical tone forming circuit 39 forms a musical tone signal for producing a predetermined pitch at a predetermined volume, and sends this to the Sawanto system 43.

Therefore, the electronic stringed instrument according to one embodiment uses the piezoelectric element 2.
5 to 35 can be used in common to form the reflected signal s1 and the original value signal S3, thereby simplifying the structure and reducing manufacturing costs.

In one embodiment, the volume information S4 and the period information S5 are formed by the ten-value information forming means 41, but the present invention is not limited to these signals, and other signals related to one string can be formed. It's okay.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an electrical lock diagram of one embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram of one embodiment. 1... Instrument body, 7 to 17... Strings, 19.21... Frets, 25 to 35... Piezoelectric conversion elements (piezoelectric linkage), 37・・・・・・Pitch information forming means, 41...
...Four-dimensional value information forming means. Patent applicant: Nippon Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Representative: Patent attorney Kiyoshi Kuwai −

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A string stretched on a musical instrument body, a plurality of frets that reflect an ultrasonic signal propagating through the string when they come into contact with the string, and generate an echo; a piezoelectric transducer that generates an ultrasonic signal and supplies the ultrasonic signal to the string, and generates a second electrical signal based on the echo and a third electrical signal based on the string vibration during plucking; pitch information forming means for supplying a first electrical signal to a piezoelectric transducer and forming pitch information regarding the pitch of a musical tone to be produced based on the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal; 1. An electronic stringed instrument characterized by comprising: string plucking information forming means for forming string plucking information accompanying string plucking based on a signal. (3) The electronic stringed instrument according to claim 1, wherein the plucked string information includes information regarding the duration of sound generation.