USRE32445E - Electronic musical instrument having portamento property - Google Patents

Electronic musical instrument having portamento property Download PDF

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Publication number
USRE32445E
USRE32445E US06/784,150 US78415085A USRE32445E US RE32445 E USRE32445 E US RE32445E US 78415085 A US78415085 A US 78415085A US RE32445 E USRE32445 E US RE32445E
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Prior art keywords
voltage
current
capacitor
signal
control
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Expired - Lifetime
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US06/784,150
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English (en)
Inventor
Hideo Suzuki
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Nippon Gakki Co Ltd
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Nippon Gakki Co Ltd
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10H—ELECTROPHONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; INSTRUMENTS IN WHICH THE TONES ARE GENERATED BY ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS OR ELECTRONIC GENERATORS, OR IN WHICH THE TONES ARE SYNTHESISED FROM A DATA STORE
    • G10H1/00—Details of electrophonic musical instruments
    • G10H1/02—Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10H—ELECTROPHONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; INSTRUMENTS IN WHICH THE TONES ARE GENERATED BY ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS OR ELECTRONIC GENERATORS, OR IN WHICH THE TONES ARE SYNTHESISED FROM A DATA STORE
    • G10H2210/00—Aspects or methods of musical processing having intrinsic musical character, i.e. involving musical theory or musical parameters or relying on musical knowledge, as applied in electrophonic musical tools or instruments
    • G10H2210/155—Musical effects
    • G10H2210/195—Modulation effects, i.e. smooth non-discontinuous variations over a time interval, e.g. within a note, melody or musical transition, of any sound parameter, e.g. amplitude, pitch, spectral response or playback speed
    • G10H2210/221—Glissando, i.e. pitch smoothly sliding from one note to another, e.g. gliss, glide, slide, bend, smear or sweep
    • G10H2210/225—Portamento, i.e. smooth continuously variable pitch-bend, without emphasis of each chromatic pitch during the pitch change, which only stops at the end of the pitch shift, as obtained, e.g. by a MIDI pitch wheel or trombone

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an electronic musical instrument having a portamento property and capable of continuously varying the tone pitch from a frequency corresponding to the note of a first key to that corresponding to the note of the a second, subsequently operated, key.
  • the pitch voltage KV is applied to act as an oscillator driving signal to a voltage controlled type oscillator 17 (hereinafter called VCO) via voltage holding time constant circuit 12 comprising a switching element 13 in the form of a field effect transistor, a variable resistor 14, a capacitor 15 and a portamento property selection switch 16 connected in parallel with the variable resistor 14 for producing a tone source signal.
  • VCO voltage controlled type oscillator 17
  • the tone source signal is applied to a voltage controlled filter 18 (hereinafter termed VCF) to form a musical tone by coloring a tone.
  • the tone signal produced by VCF 18 is subjected to the control of a musical tone level that is an envelope in a voltage controlled type variable gain amplifier 19 (hereinafter called VCA), and the output of this VCA is amplified by an amplifier 20 to produce a tone from a loudspeaker 21.
  • VCA voltage controlled type variable gain amplifier
  • the keying signal KS is applied as a driving signal to the voltage holding time constant circuit 12 which is used to hold the pitch voltage KV snd to impart the portamento property, and to control voltage generators 21, 22 and 23 (hereinafter termed CVG).
  • these control voltage generators CVG's In response to the keying signal KS generated by key, these control voltage generators CVG's generate time-variable control voltage signals controlled by a variety of parameters which are set in a parameter control voltage generator 24, and these control voltage signals are applied to VCO 17, VCF 18 and VCA 19 respectively.
  • the oscillation frequency In the VCO 17, the oscillation frequency is finely varied in accordance with the control voltage signal from CVG 21, while in VCF 18, the cut-off frequency is varied to form a musical tone signal resembling a natural musical tone.
  • the VCA 19 operates to form a musical tone envelope in accordance with a control wave signal.
  • the selection switch 16 of the voltage holding time constant circuit 12 is closed so as to apply the pitch voltage KV generated by a depressed key directly to VCO 17 via the selection switch 16 and to store the tone voltage KV in capacitor 15.
  • the purpose of capacitor 15 is to hold the pitch voltage KV for obtaining a sustained tone after release of the key while the purpose of the switching element 13 is to prevent the discharge of the voltage held by the capacitor 15.
  • the portamento property selection switch 16 is opened to charge the pitch voltage KV in capacitor 15 via variable resistor 14 so that the voltage applied to VCO 17 varies with a time constant determined by the variable resistor 14 and capacitor 15.
  • a pitch voltage KV 1 corresponding to a previously depressed key (the first key) is stored in the capacitor 15 as shown in FIG. 2 and when a new pitch voltage KV 2 corresponding to a subsequently depressed key (the second key) is generated at time t 1 , the terminal voltage of the capacitor 15 increases logarithmically as shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 at a speed corresponding to the time constant determined by the variable resistor 14 and capacitor 15.
  • the oscillation frequency of VCO 17 varies continuously as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, whereby the pitch varies continuously from the pitch of the first key to that of the second key.
  • the pitch frequency of the tone source signal produced by the VCO 17 varies rapidly and then slowly as shown by the solid line curve shown in FIG. 2, it varies differently from the actual pitch variation in the natural portamento shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2 thus giving an unnatural feeling to the audiences.
  • the charging and discharging currents of the capacitor are such that the current that charges the capacitor according to the difference between the two pitch voltages varies exponentially thereby causing the terminal voltage of the capacitor which drives a voltage controlled oscillator to vary exponentially.
  • a mutual conductance converter is connected between the capacitor and the keyboard section and a detector is provided for detecting a control signal corresponding to the capacitor terminal voltage so as to control the output voltage of the mutual conductance converter by the control signal.
  • FIG. 1 is block diagram showing the basic construction of a prior art electronic musical instrument having a portamento property
  • FIG. 2 is a graph showing the pitch voltage variation produced by the capacitor shown in FIG. 1 and such variation in the natural portamento;
  • FIG. 3 is a connection diagram showing one embodiment of the novel electronic musical instrument of this invention and having a portamento property
  • FIG. 4 is a connection diagram showing one example of the current controlled mutual conductance converter and of the current controlling circuit shown in FIG. 3;
  • FIG. 5 is a graph showing a collector current base-emitter voltage of a transistor useful to explain the operation of the converter
  • FIGS. 6A and 6B are waveforms showing the input voltage to the converter and the terminal voltage of the capacitor shown in FIG. 3 where the pitch voltage of the second key is higher than that of the first key;
  • FIGS. 7A and 7B are waveforms showing the converter input voltage and the capacitor terminal voltage where the pitch voltage of the second key is lower than that of the first key;
  • FIG. 8 is a connection diagram showing a modified embodiment of this invention.
  • FIG. 9 is a connection diagram showing another example of the current controlling circuit shown in FIG. 3.
  • a preferred embodiment of the electronic musical instrument of the invention having a portamento property shown in FIG. 3 comprises a comparator 32 which compares the pitch voltage KV sent from the keyboard section 11 shown in FIG. 1 with the output voltage of a source follower amplifier 33 having a high input impedance and a low output impedance and also serving as a buffer circuit (described below) so that the comparator 32 produces a zero output when the pitch voltage KV coincides with the output voltage of the source follower amplifier 33.
  • the pitch voltage KV is applied to the positive input terminal 32 a of the comparator 32, whereas the output voltage V 0 from the buffer circuit 33 is applied to the negative terminal (-).
  • the comparator 32 is also supplied with source voltages +V s and -V s .
  • a resistance voltage divider 34 for dividing the output voltage of the comparator 32 is constituted by resistors 34 a and 34 b which are connected in series between the output terminal of the comparator 32 and ground potential.
  • a current controlled mutual conductance converter 36 is provided for controlling the output voltage from the voltage divider 34 in accordance with a control current i produced by a current controlling circuit 35.
  • the positive input terminal (+) of the converter 36 is connected to the junction between resistors 34 a and 34 b of the voltage divider 34, while the negative input terminal (-) is grounded via a resistor 36 a .
  • Source voltages +V s and -V s are also applied to the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36.
  • the output terminal of this converter 36 is connected to one terminal of a capacitor 37, the other terminal of which is grounded.
  • the source follower amplifier 33 adapted to amplify the terminal voltages of capacitor 37 includes a field effect transistor 33 a of a high input impedance having a drain electrode connected to the voltage source +V 5 , and a source electrode connected to the voltage source -V s via a load resistor 33 b .
  • the output terminal 33 c connected to the source electrode is connected to the VCO 17 shown in FIG. 1.
  • the current controlling circuit 35 for producing the control current i corresponding to the output voltage from the source follower amplifier 33 supplies the control current i to the control terminal 36 b of the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36.
  • the current controlling circuit 35 includes a transistor 35 a having an emitter electrode connected to the output terminal 33 c of the source follower amplifier 33 via a variable resistor 35 b , a collector electrode connected to the control terminal 36 b of the current controlled conductance converter 36 and a base electrode connected to the voltage source -V s via a resistor 35 c and to the ground through a diode 35 d .
  • the variable resistor 35 b varies the control current i for the purpose hereinafter described.
  • FIG. 4 shows one example of the current control circuit 35 and the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36 described above.
  • the converter 36 comprises a pair of NPN type transistors 36 c and 36 d with their emitter electrodes connected together so as to constitute a differential amplifier.
  • the base electrode of the transistor 36 c is connected to receive the output voltage V i of the voltage divider 34 via positive input terminal (+).
  • the base electrode of transistor 36 d is connected to one terminal of a resistor 36 a via the negative input terminal (-).
  • the commonly connected emitter electrodes of transistors 36 c and 36 d are connected to the collector electrode of a transistor 36 l which constitutes a current mirror circuit together with a transistor 36 m .
  • the collector electrode of the transistor 36 m is supplied with the output current of the current controlling circuit 35, that is the collector current of the transistor 35 a via control terminal 36 b which acts as the control current i for the converter 36. Since a fixed bias voltage is applied to the base electrode of transistor 35 a , the current i varies in accordance with the input to the current controlling circuit 35, that is the output V 0 of the source follower amplifier 33. Accordingly, a portion of the control current i proportional to the input V 0 to the current controlling circuit 35 flows through the collector electrodes of transistors 36 c and 36 d as the collector currents I c1 and I c2 .
  • the same current as the collector current I c1 of the transistor 36 c flows to the collector electrode of a transistor 36 f through PNP transistors 36 e and 36 f and NPN transistors 36 g and 36 h which constitute a current mirror.
  • the same current as the collector current I c2 of the transistor 36 d flows to the collector electrode of a transistor 36 j through PNP transistors 36 i and 36 j which constitute a current mirror.
  • the mutual conductance gm of the converter 36 is determined by the collector currents of transistors 36 c and 36 d . More particularly, the relationship between the collector current I c1 of transistor 36 c and the base-emitter voltage V BE thereof represents the forward characteristic of a diode as shown in FIG. 5. For this reason, the collector current I c1 of transistor 36 c is expressed by an equation
  • the mutual conductance can be variably controlled by the control voltage V 0 .
  • the electronic musical instrument having the portamento property and constructed as above described operates as follows.
  • C represents the capacitance of the capacitor 37.
  • the control current i applied to the control terminal 36 d of the converter 36 from the current controlling circuit 35 is small at first but increases gradually thus controlling the output current I to increase exponentially. Accordingly, the terminal voltage V of capacitor 37 charged with this output current I varies exponentially as shown in FIG. 6B until a steady state is reached at which the voltage V becomes equal to the applied pitch voltage KV 2 . Thereafter, since the output of the comparator 32 is zero, this voltage is held. Accordingly, the source follower amplifier 33 produces an output voltage V 0 having the same waveform as the terminal voltage V of the capacitor 37 at its output terminal 33 c which is supplied to the VCO 17 shown in FIG. 1.
  • the VCO 17 continuously produces a tone source signal having a frequency corresponding to the variation in the voltage applied thereto thus manifesting the portamento property.
  • the voltage wave supplied to the VCO 17 closely approximates the pitch variation in the natural portamento (see the dotted line characteristics shown in FIG. 2), and the listeners perceive a natural portamento.
  • control current i of the current controlling circuit 35 is varied by adjusting the variable resistor 35 b , the variation inclination of the converter output current I is changed accordingly so that the charging speed of the capacitor 37 is controlled.
  • the tempo of portamento i.e. the time for continuously changing a tone from one note to the other is controlled.
  • the charge accumulated in capacitor 37 at the time of operating the first key discharges through the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36 so that the terminal voltage of the capacitor 37 decreases as above described. More particularly, when the partial voltage shown in FIG. 7A is impressed upon the positive input terminal of the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36, the terminal voltage of the capacitor 37 decreases exponentially as shown in FIG. 7B, thus producing a portamento tone ranging between from a high pitch to a low pitch.
  • FIG. 8 shows a modified embodiment of the electronic musical instrument having a portamento property in which elements corresponding to those shown in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference characters.
  • This modification differs from that shown in FIG. 3 in the following points, that is the control current i is controlled by the output voltage from the source follower amplifier 33 and a tempo control voltage.
  • the tempo of portamento is controlled by voltage in contrast to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 where it is controlled by current.
  • a current controlled mutual conductance converter 40 having the same construction as the converter 36 is included in the current controlling circuit 35.
  • the positive input terminal (+) of the converter 40 is connected to receive a fractional portion of the output voltage V 0 of the source follower amplifier 33 which is produced by a voltage divider 41 comprising resistors 41 a and 41 b , whereas the negative input terminal of the converter 40 is grounded through a resistor 40 a .
  • the control terminal 40 b of the converter 40 is connected to receive the output of the collector electrode of a transistor 42 a .
  • the emitter electrode of this transistor 42 a is connected to receive, via a resistor 42 b , a tempo control voltage generated by a potentiometer (not shown) which is, for example, interlocked with a tempo control member mounted on a control panel of the electronic musical instrument.
  • the base electrode of the transistor 42 a is connected to the voltage source -V s via a resistor 42 c and to ground through a diode 42 d . Consequently, the output current from the current controlling circuit 35 varies in proportion to the tempo control voltage.
  • the output current from the current controlled mutual conductance converter 40 corresponds to both the output voltage of the source follower amplifier 33 and the tempo control voltage, and this output current is applied to the control terminal 36 b of the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36 to act as the control current i.
  • the differential output between the pitch voltages of the first and second keys and produced by the comparator 32 is applied to the current controlled mutual conductance converter 36 and when the terminal voltage of the capacitor 37 charged by the output current of the converter 36 becomes equal to an applied pitch voltage the differential output of the comparator 32 becomes zero so that the charging of the capacitor 37 is terminated. It is, however, also possible to interrupt the charging circuit of the capacitor 37 from the converter 36 when the terminal voltage of the capacitor 37 becomes equal to the applied pitch voltage where the pitch voltage is applied directly to the converter 36.
  • the construction of the current controlled mutual conductance converters 36 and 40 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4 but various other types may be used.
  • a CA3080 type linear integrated circuit made by Radio Corporation of America may be used.
  • the current controlling circuit 35 for producing the control signal applied to the current controlled mutual conductance circuit may be a circuit as shown in FIG. 9.
  • the output voltage V 0 of the source follower amplifier circuit 33 is applied to the positive input terminal of an operational amplifier 45 and the output thereof is applied to the base electrode of a NPN transistor 46.
  • the emitter electrode of this transistor is connected to the voltage source -V s via a variable resistor 47 and to the negative input terminal of the amplifier 45.
  • the collector electrode of the transistor 46 is connected to a current mirror circuit (not shown) so that a current corresponding to the collector current in the transistor 46 is applied to the control terminal 36 b of the converter 36.
  • the mutual conductance converter 36 has been shown and described as being controlled by an independent current, controlling circuit these elements can be combined into a unitary element. Then the converter may be changed to a voltage controlled type.
  • the mutual conductance, converter 36 can be constituted by three terminal active elements, such as a field effect transistor, and a bipolar transistor.
  • the input terminal of the converter is supplied with the pitch voltage from the keyboard section 11 and one of the inputs is connected to receive a feedback voltage of the output voltage corresponding to the terminal voltage of capacitor 15.
  • the charging current of a capacitor which holds the pitch voltage at the time of playing a portamento is controlled to be varied exponentially and the terminal voltage of the capacitor is used to drive a voltage controlled type oscillator which serves as the tone source circuit as that the frequency of the tone source signal generated by the voltage controlled type oscillator varies exponentially thus closely approximating the frequency variation in the natural portamento. Accordingly, it is possible to play the natural portamento by an electronic musical instrument.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Electrophonic Musical Instruments (AREA)
US06/784,150 1976-06-25 1985-10-04 Electronic musical instrument having portamento property Expired - Lifetime USRE32445E (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP51-75067 1976-06-25
JP7506776A JPS531016A (en) 1976-06-25 1976-06-25 Poltment musical performance equipement of electronic musical instrument

Related Parent Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US05807084 Continuation 1977-06-06
US05/908,489 Reissue US4408514A (en) 1976-06-25 1978-05-22 Electronic musical instrument having portaments property

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USRE32445E true USRE32445E (en) 1987-06-30

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102011087440A1 (de) * 2011-11-30 2013-01-31 Osram Ag Schaltung zur Ansteuerung einer Beleuchtungskomponente

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3789718A (en) * 1971-12-30 1974-02-05 Baldwin Co D H Voltage controlled chord organ
US3828110A (en) * 1972-01-26 1974-08-06 Arp Instr Control circuitry for electronic musical instrument
US3872764A (en) * 1973-06-15 1975-03-25 Baldwin Co D H Sample and hold circuit for an electric organ
US3880039A (en) * 1974-02-26 1975-04-29 Baldwin Co D H Sample and hold circuit for an electronic organ
US3886836A (en) * 1973-04-11 1975-06-03 Nippon Musical Instruments Mfg Electronic musical instrument capable of generating tone signals having the pitch frequency, tone color and volume envelope varied with time
US3948139A (en) * 1974-08-28 1976-04-06 Warwick Electronics Inc. Electronic synthesizer with variable/preset voice control

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3789718A (en) * 1971-12-30 1974-02-05 Baldwin Co D H Voltage controlled chord organ
US3828110A (en) * 1972-01-26 1974-08-06 Arp Instr Control circuitry for electronic musical instrument
US3886836A (en) * 1973-04-11 1975-06-03 Nippon Musical Instruments Mfg Electronic musical instrument capable of generating tone signals having the pitch frequency, tone color and volume envelope varied with time
US3872764A (en) * 1973-06-15 1975-03-25 Baldwin Co D H Sample and hold circuit for an electric organ
US3880039A (en) * 1974-02-26 1975-04-29 Baldwin Co D H Sample and hold circuit for an electronic organ
US3948139A (en) * 1974-08-28 1976-04-06 Warwick Electronics Inc. Electronic synthesizer with variable/preset voice control

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102011087440A1 (de) * 2011-11-30 2013-01-31 Osram Ag Schaltung zur Ansteuerung einer Beleuchtungskomponente

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JPS5756079B2 (enrdf_load_html_response) 1982-11-27
JPS531016A (en) 1978-01-07

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