Classifications

• • 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
  • G10H1/0033—Recording/reproducing or transmission of music for electrophonic musical instruments
  • G10H1/0041—Recording/reproducing or transmission of music for electrophonic musical instruments in coded form
  • G10H1/0058—Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system
• • 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
  • G10H1/04—Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos by additional modulation
  • G10H1/053—Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos by additional modulation during execution only
• • 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
  • G10H1/32—Constructional details
  • G10H1/34—Switch arrangements, e.g. keyboards or mechanical switches specially adapted for electrophonic musical instruments
  • G10H1/344—Structural association with individual keys
  • G10H1/348—Switches actuated by parts of the body other than fingers
• • 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
  • G10H3/00—Instruments in which the tones are generated by electromechanical means
  • G10H3/12—Instruments in which the tones are generated by electromechanical means using mechanical resonant generators, e.g. strings or percussive instruments, the tones of which are picked up by electromechanical transducers, the electrical signals being further manipulated or amplified and subsequently converted to sound by a loudspeaker or equivalent instrument
  • G10H3/14—Instruments in which the tones are generated by electromechanical means using mechanical resonant generators, e.g. strings or percussive instruments, the tones of which are picked up by electromechanical transducers, the electrical signals being further manipulated or amplified and subsequently converted to sound by a loudspeaker or equivalent instrument using mechanically actuated vibrators with pick-up means
  • G10H3/18—Instruments in which the tones are generated by electromechanical means using mechanical resonant generators, e.g. strings or percussive instruments, the tones of which are picked up by electromechanical transducers, the electrical signals being further manipulated or amplified and subsequently converted to sound by a loudspeaker or equivalent instrument using mechanically actuated vibrators with pick-up means using a string, e.g. electric guitar
  • G10H3/186—Means for processing the signal picked up from the strings
  • G10H3/187—Means for processing the signal picked up from the strings for distorting the signal, e.g. to simulate tube amplifiers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to instrument amplification systems and may for example find use in a footswitch for controlling an instrument amplification device or system.
• Instrument amplification systems typically have a variety of controls, which are commonly provided on a front-panel of the amplifier itself. A performer may use these controls to select desired amplification parameters. Broadly speaking, there are two levels of control for the sound that the performer is given: the 'channel', and the particular 'mode' for that channel. The front-panel also allows control over more general settings such as the output volume. Traditionally instrument amplification systems have been remote controlled by a footswitch or a set of them to allow the performer to change channels or modes while playing a musical instrument.
• a typical instrument amplifier consists of an input, an electronic circuit to process the signal and an output which can be a signal output or directly a loudspeaker.
• an output which can be a signal output or directly a loudspeaker.
• channels Common examples are clean and distortion channels, which may allow the player to achieve a sound similar to a clean instrument or to the distorted guitar sound associated with rock music.
• channels have their own set of user controls to select the particular parameters of the amplification using that circuit to afford the performer more precise control of the sound.
• the performer can, for example, manipulate the gain, treble, middle and bass via such front-panel controls and also switch different gain or distortion settings, brightness controls, etc.
• a performer will, in general, not be able to operate the front-panel controls whilst playing for a variety of reasons: his hands will be occupied with playing the instrument; operating the controls would divert too much of his attention; and it will generally be too awkward to be in close proximity to the front-panel.
• Currently available footswitches provide one or more buttons that may be pressed with the foot whilst playing the instrument to select a specific channel, thus offering a basic selection of the amplifier functions whilst playing.
• the present invention consists in one aspect in a musical instrument amplification system comprising:
• an amplification device having a plurality of amplification parameters
• a first control device comprising a first plurality of controls, the controls operable to allow a user to set the amplification parameters of the amplification device;
• a second control device in remote communication with said first control device, comprising a second plurality of controls, at least one of said controls having a user- definable function, thus being operable to allow a user to control at least one amplification parameter of the amplification device.
• a remote control device for an instrument amplification device, the instrument amplification device having a plurality of amplification parameters, wherein the control device comprises a plurality of controls, at least one of said controls having a user-definable function, thus being operable to allow a user to control at least one amplification parameter of the instrument amplification device.
• the control device comprises a plurality of controls, at least one of said controls having a user-definable function, thus being operable to allow a user to control at least one amplification parameter of the instrument amplification device.
• Examples of the present invention allow the performer to assign the amplifier system controls or switches (or combinations of these) to any of the available remote controller switches, thus overcoming the constraints of having predefined and fixed configurations.
• Figure 1 displays a prior art foot controller
• FIG. 2 displays a foot controller in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional footswitch remote controller 10.
• the footswitch comprises a plurality of buttons 11a-11f, each of which selects a specific predefined channel.
• the footswitch also comprises a plurality of LEDs 12a-12f, each of which corresponds to a button and thus a specific predefined channel. The LEDs become illuminated when the corresponding channel is selected.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a footswitch according to an embodiment of the present invention 20.
• the footswitch comprises a plurality of buttons 21a-21f.
• the buttons do not have a predetermined function, and may be assigned by the performer, thus allowing improved access to the available features of the amplifier.
• the footswitch also comprises a plurality of LED indicators 22a-22g each of which corresponds to a particular channel of the amplifier. In this way, the performer is made aware of which channel is currently selected, since the buttons no longer correspond to a specific channel as with known footswitches.
• the footswitch may be connected to the main amplifier by wires or any other known form of communication such as radio or infrared.
• the amplifier and/or the footswitch is equipped with a microcontroller or any other electronic processor to allow programming and storing the different configurations.
• two main types of assignation may be performed on each button on the remote controller: key store and preset store.
• Key store allows the user to assign a front panel switch to one of the remote controller buttons. This may be achieved, for example, by holding down the desired remote controller switch and while it is being held down simultaneously press the relevant front panel switch. This way, the programmed remote controller switch will replicate the function of the front panel one.
• the user might, for example, assign remote controller switch 21a to the master volume; thereafter, every time the user presses switch 21a the volume is progressively increased.
• Preset store allows the user to assign a specific combination of parameters selected on the front-panel to a switch on the remote controller. This may be achieved, for example, by holding down the desired remote controller switch for a certain period of time, such as three seconds, and the configuration selected on the front-panel will be mapped to that remote controller switch. That remote controller switch will then recall the programmed amplifier configuration every time it is pressed.
• each of the channels has several different modes.
• Each of the channels has its own dedicated mode switches on the front panel which allow the user to select the desired mode.
• the amplifier will also have some additional circuits like reverberation, external effects or different output levels also selected by means of front panel switches.
• This amplifier would then be able to provide multiple different sounds, each one with several possible combinations of effects, reverberation and output levels which would require a prohibitively large conventional footswitch to recreate the same functionality.
• the invention may include different channel arrangements with different modes or additional circuits all controlled by the same principle. Indeed, it is envisaged that any property controlled using conventional amplifier controls may also be controlled using a footswitch according to the present invention.
• inventive amplification device may be arranged to be back- compatible with standard non-programmable remote controllers, thus replicating the familiar functionality of such devices.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Nonlinear Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Control Of Amplification And Gain Control (AREA)
• Selective Calling Equipment (AREA)
• Electrophonic Musical Instruments (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Citations (2)

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• 2006
  • 2006-10-09 GB GB0619953A patent/GB2442765B/en active Active
• 2007
  • 2007-10-08 EP EP07824060.3A patent/EP2080191B1/en active Active
  • 2007-10-08 US US12/226,839 patent/US7888577B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2007-10-08 JP JP2009531900A patent/JP5308340B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2007-10-08 WO PCT/GB2007/003806 patent/WO2008043990A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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