WO2014025819A1 - Système et procédé de musique sociale avec correction continue de hauteur tonale en temps réel et de capture vocale non traitée pour un nouveau rendu ultérieur basé sur un/des modèle(s) d'effets vocaux sélectivement applicables - Google Patents

Système et procédé de musique sociale avec correction continue de hauteur tonale en temps réel et de capture vocale non traitée pour un nouveau rendu ultérieur basé sur un/des modèle(s) d'effets vocaux sélectivement applicables Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014025819A1
WO2014025819A1 PCT/US2013/053851 US2013053851W WO2014025819A1 WO 2014025819 A1 WO2014025819 A1 WO 2014025819A1 US 2013053851 W US2013053851 W US 2013053851W WO 2014025819 A1 WO2014025819 A1 WO 2014025819A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
vocal
user
performance
captured
pitch
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2013/053851
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Jeannie Yang
Nicholas M. KRUGE
Gregory C. THOMPSON
Perry Cook
Original Assignee
Smule, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Smule, Inc. filed Critical Smule, Inc.
Priority to JP2015526650A priority Critical patent/JP6371283B2/ja
Priority to KR1020157005988A priority patent/KR102246623B1/ko
Publication of WO2014025819A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014025819A1/fr

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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
    • G10H1/36—Accompaniment arrangements
    • G10H1/361—Recording/reproducing of accompaniment for use with an external source, e.g. karaoke systems
    • G10H1/366—Recording/reproducing of accompaniment for use with an external source, e.g. karaoke systems with means for modifying or correcting the external signal, e.g. pitch correction, reverberation, changing a singer's voice
    • 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
    • G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
    • G10L21/00—Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility
    • G10L21/003—Changing voice quality, e.g. pitch or formants
    • 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
    • G10H2210/031—Musical analysis, i.e. isolation, extraction or identification of musical elements or musical parameters from a raw acoustic signal or from an encoded audio signal
    • G10H2210/091—Musical analysis, i.e. isolation, extraction or identification of musical elements or musical parameters from a raw acoustic signal or from an encoded audio signal for performance evaluation, i.e. judging, grading or scoring the musical qualities or faithfulness of a performance, e.g. with respect to pitch, tempo or other timings of a reference performance
    • 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
    • G10H2210/265—Acoustic effect simulation, i.e. volume, spatial, resonance or reverberation effects added to a musical sound, usually by appropriate filtering or delays
    • G10H2210/281—Reverberation or echo
    • G10H2210/291—Reverberator using both direct, i.e. dry, and indirect, i.e. wet, signals or waveforms, indirect signals having sustained one or more virtual reflections
    • 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
    • G10H2210/315—Dynamic effects for musical purposes, i.e. musical sound effects controlled by the amplitude of the time domain audio envelope, e.g. loudness-dependent tone color or musically desired dynamic range compression or expansion
    • 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
    • G10H2210/325—Musical pitch modification
    • G10H2210/331—Note pitch correction, i.e. modifying a note pitch or replacing it by the closest one in a given scale
    • 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
    • G10H2220/00—Input/output interfacing specifically adapted for electrophonic musical tools or instruments
    • G10H2220/005—Non-interactive screen display of musical or status data
    • G10H2220/011—Lyrics displays, e.g. for karaoke applications
    • 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
    • G10H2230/00—General physical, ergonomic or hardware implementation of electrophonic musical tools or instruments, e.g. shape or architecture
    • G10H2230/005—Device type or category
    • G10H2230/015—PDA [personal digital assistant] or palmtop computing devices used for musical purposes, e.g. portable music players, tablet computers, e-readers or smart phones in which mobile telephony functions need not be used
    • 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
    • G10H2240/00—Data organisation or data communication aspects, specifically adapted for electrophonic musical tools or instruments
    • G10H2240/171—Transmission of musical instrument data, control or status information; Transmission, remote access or control of music data for electrophonic musical instruments
    • G10H2240/281—Protocol or standard connector for transmission of analog or digital data to or from an electrophonic musical instrument
    • G10H2240/295—Packet switched network, e.g. token ring
    • G10H2240/305—Internet or TCP/IP protocol use for any electrophonic musical instrument data or musical parameter transmission purposes

Definitions

  • the invention(s) relates (relate) generally to capture and/or processing of vocal performances and, in particular, to techniques suitable for selectively applying vocal effects schedules to captured vocals.
  • iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch are trademarks of Apple, Inc.
  • iOS is a trademark of Cisco Technology, Inc. used by Apple under license.
  • performances may be captured and, in some cases or embodiments, pitch-corrected and/or processed in accord with a user selectable vocal effects schedule for mixing and rendering with backing tracks in ways that create compelling user experiences.
  • the vocal performances of individual users are captured on mobile devices in the context of a karaoke-style presentation of lyrics in correspondence with audible renderings of a backing track.
  • Such performances can be pitch- corrected in real-time at the mobile device (or more generally, at a portable computing device such as a mobile phone, personal digital assistant, laptop computer, notebook computer, pad-type computer or net book) in accord with pitch correction settings.
  • Vocal effects schedules may also be selectively applied to such performances.
  • such transactions may include purchase or license of a computer readable encoding of artist-, song-, and/or performance-characteristic vocal effects schedule that may be selectively applied to captured vocals.
  • the vocal effects schedule is specific to a musical genre.
  • transactions may include purchase or license of a computer readable encoding of lyrics, timing and/or pitch correction settings or plug- ins.
  • transactions may include purchase of "do overs" or retakes for all or a portion of a vocal performance.
  • access to computer readable encodings of vocal effects schedules, lyrics, timing, pitch correction settings and/or retakes may be earned in accord with vocal achievement (e.g., based on pitch, timing or other correspondence with a target score or other vocal performance) or based on successful traversal of game play logic.
  • social interactions mediated by an application or social network infrastructure such as forming groups, joining groups, sharing performances, initiating an open call, etc. generate an applicable currency or credits for transactions involving "do over" or retake entitlements.
  • user viewing of advertising content may generate the applicable currency or credits for such transactions.
  • pitch correction settings code a particular key or scale for the vocal performance or for portions thereof. In some cases or
  • pitch correction settings include a score-coded melody and/or harmony sequence supplied with, or for association with, the lyrics and backing tracks. Harmony notes or chords may be coded as explicit targets or relative to the score coded melody or even actual pitches sounded by a vocalist, if desired.
  • vocal effects schedules and/or pitch correction settings supplied with, or for association with, the lyrics and backing tracks may pertain to only a portion of a coordinated vocal performance (e.g., to lead vocals, backup singer vocals, a chorus or refrain, a portion of a duet or three part harmony, etc.)
  • user performances can be significantly improved in tonal or performance quality
  • the user can be provided with immediate and encouraging feedback and, in some cases or embodiments, the user can emulate or take on the persona or style of a favorite artist, iconic
  • feedback may include both the pitch- corrected vocals themselves and visual reinforcement (during vocal capture) when the user/vocalist is "hitting" the (or a) correct note.
  • "correct" notes are those notes that are consistent with a key and which correspond to a score-coded melody or harmony expected in accord with a particular point in the performance.
  • pitches sounded in a given vocal performance may be optionally corrected solely to nearest notes of a particular key or scale (e.g., C major, C minor, E flat major, etc.)
  • vocal sounding of "correct" notes may earn a user-vocalist points (e.g., in a game play sequence) and/or credits (e.g., in an in-application transaction framework).
  • such points or credits may be applied (using transaction handling logic implemented, in part, at the handheld device) to purchase or license of additional vocal scores and lyrics, of additional artist-, song-, performance-, or musical genre-specific vocal effects schedules, or even of vocal capture "redos" for a user selectable portion of a previously captured vocal performance.
  • user/vocalists may overcome an otherwise natural shyness or angst associated with sharing their vocal performances. Instead, even mere amateurs are encouraged to share with friends and family or to collaborate and contribute vocal performances as part of virtual "glee clubs" or "open calls.” In some implementations, these interactions are facilitated through social network- and/or eMail-mediated sharing of performances and invitations to join in a group performance.
  • a content server or service can mediate such virtual glee clubs or open calls by manipulating and mixing the uploaded vocal performances of multiple contributing vocalists.
  • uploads may include (i) dry vocals versions of user's captured vocal performance suitable for application (re- application) of a vocal effects schedule and/or pitch-correction, (ii) pitch-corrected vocal performances (with or without harmonies), and/or (iii) control tracks or other indications of user key, pitch correction and/or vocal effects schedule selections, etc.
  • dry vocals By including dry vocals in the upload, significant flexibility is afforded for postprocessing (at a content server or service) with selectable vocal effects schedule and for mixing, cross-fading and/or pitch shifting of respective vocal contributions into appropriate score or performance template slotting or position.
  • Virtual glee clubs or open calls can be mediated in any of a variety of ways.
  • a first user's vocal performance captured against a backing track at a portable computing device (and pitch-corrected in accord with score-coded melody and/or harmony cues for the benefit of the performing user vocalist), is supplied to other potential vocal performers via a content server or service.
  • the captured vocal performance is supplied as dry vocals with, or in an encoding form associable with, pitch-correction and/or vocal effect schedule settings or selections.
  • a vocal effects schedule may be selectively applied (the content server or service or, optionally at the portable computing device) to the supplied vocal performance (or portions thereof) and the result is mixed with backing instrumentals/vocals to form a second-generation backing track against which a second user's vocals may be captured.
  • successive vocal contributors are geographically separated and may be unknown (at least a priori) to each other, yet the intimacy of the vocals together with the collaborative experience itself tends to minimize this physical separation.
  • an open call may be posted to a group of potential contributors selected by, or otherwise associable with, the initiating user-vocalist.
  • successive vocal performances are captured (e.g., at respective portable computing devices) and accreted as part of the virtual glee club or in response to an open call
  • the backing track against which respective vocals are captured may evolve to include previously captured vocals of other "members" or open call respondents.
  • storing or maintaining dry vocals versions of the captured vocal performances may facilitate application of changeable (or later selectable) vocal effects schedules.
  • the vocal effects (EFX) schedule may include (in a computer readable media encoding) settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio compression, pitch correction, stereo delay, and reverberation effects for application to one or more respective portions of the user's vocal performance.
  • a vocal effects schedule may be characteristic of an artist, song or performance and may be applied to an audio encoding of the user's captured vocal performance to cause a derivative audio encoding or audible rendering to take on characteristics of the selected artist, song or performance.
  • vocal effects schedule is meant to encompass, in at least some cases or embodiments, an enumerated and operant set of vocal EFX to be applied to some or all of a captured (typically, dry vocals version of a) vocal performance.
  • differing vocal effects schedules may be earned or transacted and applied to captured dry vocals to provide a "Katy Perry effect” or a "T-Pain effect.”
  • social interactions mediated by an application or social network infrastructure such as forming groups, joining groups, sharing performances, initiating an open call, etc. generate an applicable currency or credits for such transactions.
  • user viewing of advertising content may generate the applicable currency or credits for such transactions.
  • differing vocal effects schedules may be applied to a user's captured dry vocals to imbue a derivative audio encoding of audible rendering with studio or "live" performance characteristics of a particular artist or song.
  • the term vocal effects schedule may further encompass, an enumerated set of vocal EFX that varies in temporal or template correspondence with portions of a vocal score (e.g., with distinct vocal EFX sets for pre-chorus and chorus portions of a song and/or with distinct vocal effects sets for respective portions of a duet or other multi-vocalist performance).
  • respective portions of a single vocal effects schedule may be employed relative to respective vocal performance captures to provide appropriate and respective EFX for a vocal performance capture of a first portion of a duet performed by a first user and for a separate vocal performance capture of a second portion of a duet performed by a second user.
  • captivating visual animations and/or facilities for listener comment and ranking, as well as open call management or vocal performance accretion logic are provided in association with an audible rendering of a vocal performance (e.g., that captured at another similarly configured mobile device) mixed with backing instrumentals and/or vocals.
  • Synthesized harmonies and/or additional vocals e.g., vocals captured from another vocalist at still other locations and optionally pitch-shifted to harmonize with other vocals
  • Geocoding of captured vocal performances (or individual contributions to a combined performance) and/or listener feedback may facilitate animations or display artifacts in ways that are suggestive of a performance or endorsement emanating from a particular geographic locale on a user manipulate globe. In this way, implementations of the described functionality can transform otherwise mundane mobile devices into social instruments that foster a unique sense of global connectivity, collaboration and community.
  • a method includes using a portable computing device for vocal performance capture, the portable computing device having a touch screen, a microphone interface and a communications interface.
  • the method includes, responsive to a user selection on the touch screen, retrieving via the communications interface, a vocal score temporally synchronized with a corresponding backing track and lyrics, the vocal score encoding a sequence of target notes for at least part of a vocal performance against the backing track.
  • the backing track is audibly rendered and corresponding portions of the lyrics are concurrently presented on a display in temporal
  • a vocal performance of the user is captured via the microphone interface, and a dry vocals version of the user's captured vocal performance is stored at the portable computing device.
  • the portable computing device performs continuous, real-time pitch shifting of at least some portions of the user's captured vocal performance and mixes the resulting pitch-shifted vocal performance of the user into the audible rendering of the backing track.
  • the method further includes applying at least one vocal effects schedule to the user's captured vocal performance.
  • the vocal effects schedule includes a computer readable encoding of settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio
  • compression, stereo delay, and reverberation effects for application to one or more respective portions of the user's vocal performance.
  • the vocal effects schedule is characteristic of a particular artist, song or performance.
  • the method further includes transacting from the portable computing device a purchase or license of at least a portion of the vocal effects schedule.
  • the method includes, in furtherance of the transacting, retrieving via the communications interface, or unlocking a preexisting stored instance of, a computer readable encoding of the vocal effects schedule.
  • the method further computationally evaluating correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and, based on a threshold figure of merit, awarding the user a license or access to at least a portion of the vocal effects schedule.
  • the vocal effects schedule is subsequently applied to the dry vocals version of the user's captured vocal performance.
  • the subsequent application to the dry vocals is at the portable device and the method further includes audibly re-rendering at the portable device the user's captured vocal performance with pitch shifting and vocal effects applied.
  • the method includes transmitting to a remote service or server, via the communications interface, an audio signal encoding of the dry vocals version of the user's captured vocal performance for the subsequent application, at the remote service or server, of the vocal effects schedule.
  • the method further includes transmitting in, or for, association with the transmitted audio signal encoding of the dry vocals, an open call indication that the user's captured vocal performance constitutes but one of plural vocal performances to be combined at the remote service or server.
  • the open call indication directs the remote service or server to solicit from one or more other vocalists the additional one or more vocal performances to be mixed for audible rendering with that of the user.
  • the solicitation is directed to (i) an enumerated set of potential other vocalists specified by the user, (ii) members of an affinity group defined or recognized by the remote service or server, or (iii) a set of social network relations of the user.
  • the open call indication specifies for at least one additional vocalist position, a second vocal score and second lyrics for supply to a responding additional vocalist. In some cases, the open call indication further specifies for the at least one additional vocalist position, a second vocal effects schedule for application to the vocal performance of the responding additional vocalist.
  • the method further includes receiving from the remote service or server a version of the user's captured vocal performance processed in
  • the vocal effects schedule is applied at the portable computing device in a rendering pipeline that includes the continuous, real-time pitch shifting such that the audible rendering includes the scheduled vocal effects.
  • the method includes transacting from the portable computing device an entitlement to initiate vocal recapture of a user selected portion of the previously captured vocal performance.
  • the method includes computationally evaluating correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and based on a threshold figure of merit, according the user an entitlement to initiate vocal recapture of a user selected portion of the previously captured vocal performance.
  • the pitch shifting is based on continuous time-domain estimation of pitch for the user's captured vocal performance.
  • the continuous time-domain pitch estimation includes computing, for a current block of a sampled signal corresponding to the user's captured vocal performance, a lag- domain periodogram, the lag-domain periodogram computation includes, for an analysis window of the sampled signal, evaluation of an average magnitude difference function (AMDF) or an autocorrelation function for a range of lags.
  • AMDF average magnitude difference function
  • autocorrelation function for a range of lags.
  • the method includes, responsive to the user selection, also retrieving the backing track via the data communications interface.
  • the backing track resides in storage local to the portable computing device, and the retrieving identifies the vocal score temporally synchronizable with the corresponding backing track and lyrics using an identifier ascertainable from the locally stored backing track.
  • the backing track includes either or both of instrumentals and backing vocals and is rendered in multiple versions, wherein the version of the backing track audibly rendered in correspondence with the lyrics is a monophonic scratch version, and the version of the backing track mixed with pitch- corrected vocal versions of the user's vocal performance is a polyphonic version of higher quality or fidelity than the scratch version.
  • the portable computing device is selected from the group of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player or gaming device, and a laptop computer, notebook computer, tablet computer or net book.
  • the display includes the touch screen.
  • the display is wirelessly coupled to the portable computing device.
  • the method includes geocoding the transmitted audio signal encoding of the dry vocals. In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving from the remote service or server via the communications interface an audio signal encoding that includes a second vocal performance captured at a remote device and displaying a geographic origin for the second vocal performance in correspondence with an audible rendering that includes the second vocal performance. In some cases, the display of geographic origin is by display animation suggestive of a performance emanating from a particular location on a globe.
  • a method includes (i) using a portable computing device for vocal performance capture, the portable computing device having a touch screen, a microphone interface and a communications interface; (ii) responsive to a user selection on the touch screen, retrieving via the communications interface, a vocal score temporally synchronized with a corresponding backing track and lyrics, the vocal score encoding a sequence of target notes for at least part of a vocal performance against the backing track; (iii) at the portable computing device, audibly rendering the backing track and
  • the method further includes applying, at the remote service or server, of the selected vocal effects schedule. In some embodiments, the method further includes performing, at the portable computing device and in accord with the vocal score, continuous, real-time pitch shifting of at least some portions of the user's captured vocal performance and mixing the resulting pitch-shifted vocal performance of the user into the audible rendering of the backing track.
  • the selected vocal effects schedule includes a computer readable encoding of settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio compression, pitch correction, stereo delay, and reverberation effects for application to one or more respective portions of the user's vocal performance.
  • the vocal effects schedule is specific to a musical genre. In some cases, the vocal effects schedule is characteristic of a particular artist, song or performance.
  • the method includes transacting from the portable computing device a purchase or license of at least a portion of the vocal effects schedule. In some embodiments, the method includes computationally evaluating correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and, based on a threshold figure of merit, awarding the user a license or access to at least a portion of the vocal effects schedule. In some embodiments, the method includes transacting from the portable computing device an entitlement to recapture a selected portion of the vocal performance. In some embodiments, the method includes computationally evaluating correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and based on a threshold figure of merit, according the user an entitlement to recapture a selected portion of the vocal performance.
  • a portable computing device includes a microphone interface, an audio transducer interface, a data communications interface, user interface code, pitch correction code and a rendering pipeline.
  • the user interface code is executable on the portable computing device to capture user interface gestures selective for a backing track and to initiate retrieval of at least a vocal score corresponding thereto, the vocal score encoding a sequence of note targets for at least part of a vocal performance against the backing track.
  • the user interface code is further executable to capture user interface gestures to initiate (i) audible rendering of the backing track, (ii) concurrent presentation of lyrics on a display (iii) capture of the user's vocal performance using the microphone interface and (iv) storage of a dry vocals version of the captured vocal performance to computer readable storage.
  • the pitch correction code is executable on the portable computing device to, concurrent with said audible rendering, continuously and in real-time pitch correct the captured vocal performance in accord with the vocal score.
  • the rendering pipeline is executable to mix the user's pitch-corrected vocal performance into the audible rendering of the backing track against which the user's vocal performance is captured.
  • the rendering pipeline is further executable to apply vocal effects schedules to the user's captured vocal performance, the vocal effects schedules selectable by the user and including a computer readable encoding of settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio compression, stereo delay, and reverberation effects, for application to one or more respective portions of the user's vocal performance.
  • the portable computing device includes the display.
  • the data communications interface provides a wireless interface to the display.
  • the user interface code is further executable to capture user interface gestures indicative of a user selection of a vocal effects schedule and, responsive thereto, to transmit to a remote service or server via the data
  • the communications interface an audio signal encoding of the dry vocals version of the user's captured vocal performance for the subsequent application, at the remote service or server, of the selected vocal effects schedule.
  • the transmission includes in, or for, association with the audio signal encoding of the dry vocals, an open call indication that the user's captured vocal performance constitutes but one of plural vocal performances to be combined at the remote service or server.
  • the portable computing device includes code executable on the portable computing device evaluate correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and based on a threshold figure of merit, to award the user a license or access to at least a portion of the vocal effects schedule.
  • the portable computing device includes code executable on the portable computing device evaluate correspondence of at least a portion of the user's captured vocal performance with the vocal score and based on a threshold figure of merit, to award the user an entitlement to recapture a selected portion of the vocal performance.
  • the portable computing device further includes local storage, wherein the initiated retrieval includes checking instances, if any, of the vocal score information in the local storage against instances available from a remote server and retrieving from the remote server if instances in local storage are unavailable or out- of-date.
  • a computer program product encoded in one or more non-transitory media includes instructions executable on a processor of the portable computing device to cause the portable computing device to perform the steps one of the above-described methods.
  • FIG. 1 depicts information flows amongst illustrative mobile phone-type portable computing devices and a content server in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating, for a captured vocal performance, real-time continuous pitch-correction and harmony generation based on score-coded pitch or harmony cues, together with storage and/or upload of a dry vocals version of the captured vocal performance for local and/or remote application of a vocal effects schedule in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of hardware and software components executable at an illustrative mobile phone-type portable computing device to facilitate real-time continuous pitch-correction and transmission of dry vocals for application, at a remote content server, of a vocal effects schedule in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates features of a mobile device that may serve as a platform for execution of software implementations in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 5 is a network diagram that illustrates cooperation of exemplary devices in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIGS. 6A and 6B present, in flow diagrammatic form, complementary (and in some cases cooperative) deployments of a signal processing architecture for application of a vocal effects schedule in accordance with respective and illustrative embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIGS. 6A illustrates content server-centric deployment of the signal processing architecture including interactions with a client application (e.g., portable computing device hosted) vocal capture platform.
  • client application e.g., portable computing device hosted
  • FIGS. 6B analogously illustrates a client application-centric deployment (e.g., portable computing device hosted) of the signal processing architecture including interactions with a content server.
  • client application-centric deployment e.g., portable computing device hosted
  • Pitch detection and correction of a user's vocal performance are performed continuously and in real-time with respect to the audible rendering of the backing track at the handheld or portable computing device.
  • pitch-corrected vocals may be mixed with the audible rendering to overlay (in real-time) the very instrumentals and/or vocals of the backing track against which the user's vocal performance is captured.
  • pitch detection builds on time- domain pitch correction techniques that employ average magnitude difference function (AMDF) or autocorrelation-based techniques together with zero-crossing and/or peak picking techniques to identify differences between pitch of a captured vocal signal and score-coded target pitches.
  • AMDF average magnitude difference function
  • autocorrelation-based techniques together with zero-crossing and/or peak picking techniques to identify differences between pitch of a captured vocal signal and score-coded target pitches.
  • pitch correction based on pitch synchronous overlapped add (PSOLA) and/or linear predictive coding (LPC) techniques allow captured vocals to be pitch shifted in realtime to "correct" notes in accord with pitch correction settings that code score-coded melody targets and harmonies.
  • Frequency domain techniques such as FFT peak picking for pitch detection and phase vocoding for pitch shifting, may be used in some implementations, particularly when off-line processing is employed or computational facilities are substantially in excess of those typical of current generation mobile devices.
  • Pitch detection and shifting e.g., for pitch correction, harmonies and/or preparation of composite multi-vocalist, virtual glee club mixes
  • correct notes are those notes that are consistent with a specified key or scale or which, in some embodiments, correspond to a score-coded melody (or harmony) expected in accord with a particular point in the performance. That said, in a capella modes without an operant score (or that allow a user to, during vocal capture, dynamically vary pitch correction settings of an existing score) may be provided in some implementations to facilitate ad-libbing.
  • user interface gestures captured at the mobile phone may, for particular lyrics, allow the user to (i) switch off (and on) use of score-coded note targets, (ii) dynamically switch back and forth between melody and harmony note sets as operant pitch correction settings and/or (iii) selectively fall back (at gesture selected points in the vocal capture) to settings that cause sounded pitches to be corrected solely to nearest notes of a particular key or scale (e.g., C major, C minor, E flat major, etc.)
  • user interface gesture capture and dynamically variable pitch correction settings can provide a Freestyle mode for advanced users.
  • pitch correction settings may be selected to distort the captured vocal performance in accord with a desired effect, such as with pitch correction effects popularized by a particular musical performance or particular artist.
  • pitch correction may be based on techniques that computationally simplify autocorrelation calculations as applied to a variable window of samples from a captured vocal signal, such as with plug-in implementations of Auto-Tune ® technology popularized by, and available from, Antares Audio Technologies.
  • a user selectable vocal effects (EFX) schedule may include (in a computer readable media encoding) settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio
  • a vocal effects schedule may be characteristic of an artist, song or performance and may be applied to an audio encoding of the user's captured vocal performance to cause a derivative audio encoding or audible rendering to take on characteristics of the selected artist, song or performance.
  • one vocal effects schedule may, for example, be characteristic of a studio recording of lead vocals by the artist, Michael Jackson, performing "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," while another may be characteristic of a cover version of the same song by the artist, T-Pain.
  • a first vocal effects schedule (corresponding to the original performance by Michael Jackson) may encode in computer readable form EFX that (using in terminology often employed by studio engineers) includes bass roll-off, moderate compression, and digital plate reverb.
  • the first vocal effects schedule may encode parameters or settings of a 12 dB/octave high pass filter at 120 Hz, a tube compressor with 4:1 ratio and threshold of -10dB, and a digital reverberator with warm plate setting, 30ms pre-delay and 15% wet/dry mix.
  • a second vocal effects schedule (corresponding to the cover versions by T-Pain) may encode in computer readable form EFX that (again using in terminology often employed by studio engineers) includes high-pass equalization, pop compression, fast pitch correction, vocal doubling on some words, light reverb for "airiness.” More specifically, the second vocal effects schedule may encode parameters or settings for a 24 dB/octave high pass filter at 200 Hz, digital compression with 4:1 ratio and threshold of -15dB, pitch correction with 0 ms attack, stereo chorus, with a rate of 0.3 Hz, an intensity of 100% and mix of 100% (to emulate words that are doubled such as "pretty young thing" at particular score coded positions) and impulse-response-based reverb, for a concert hall with high- pass filtering at 300 Hz, length of 2.5 seconds, and 10% wet/dry mix.
  • a vocal effects schedule may be characteristic of a particular musical genre.
  • one vocal effects schedule may be characteristic of a dance genre (e.g., encoding parameters or settings of a 24 dB/octave high pass filter at 250 Hz, a digital compressor with 6:1 ratio and threshold of -15dB, a stereo delay with left channel [200ms delay, 15% wet/dry mix, 40% feedback coefficient] and right channel [260ms delay, 15% wet/dry mix, 40% feedback coefficient], and a digital reverberator with bright plate setting and 15% wet/dry mix), while another may be characteristic of a ballad genre (e.g., encoding parameters or settings of a 12 dB/octave high pass filter at 120 Hz, a digital compressor with 4:1 ratio and threshold of -8dB, and a digital reverberator with large concert hall setting, 30ms pre-delay and 20% wet/dry mix).
  • a dance genre e.g., encoding parameters or settings of
  • vocal effects schedule is meant to encompass, in at least some cases or embodiments, an enumerated and operant set of vocal EFX to be applied to some or all of a captured (typically, dry vocals version of a) vocal performance.
  • differing vocal effects schedules may be transacted and applied to captured dry vocals to provide a "Katy Perry effect” or a "T-Pain effect.”
  • differing vocal effects schedules may be transacted and applied to captured dry vocals to imbue a derivative audio encoding or audible rendering with a musical genre-specific effect.
  • differing vocal effects schedules may be transacted and alternatively applied to a user's captured dry vocals to imbue a derivative audio encoding or audible rendering with studio or "live" performance characteristics. While, artist-, song- or performance- specific vocal EFX schedules are described separately from musical genre-specific vocal EFX schedules, it will be appreciated, that in some cases or embodiments, a particular vocal EFX schedule may conflate artist-, song-, performance-, and/or musical genre-specific aspects.
  • vocal effects schedule may further encompass, an enumerated set of vocal EFX that varies in temporal or template correspondence with portions of a vocal score (e.g., with distinct vocal EFX sets for pre-chorus and chorus portions of a song and/or with distinct vocal effects sets for respective portions of a duet or other multi-vocalist performance).
  • portions corresponding to pre-chorus sections of the performance may encode in computer readable form EFX that (using in terminology often employed by studio engineers) include spectral equalization, moderate compression, strong pitch correction, and light stereo delay, while portions corresponding to chorus sections of the performance may encode EFX that include bass roll-off, pop compression, long high-passed stereo delay, and rich/warm reverb.
  • pre-chorus section EFX in the vocal effects schedule may encode parameters or settings for a 24 dB/octave high pass filter at 400 Hz and a 12 dB/octave low pass filter at 2.2 kHz, a digital soft-knee compressor with 3:1 ratio and threshold of -10dB, pitch correction with 0 ms attack, and a quarter-note synched delay on the left channel, offset by one eighth note on the right channel, both at 15% wet/dry mix and with feedback of 33%.
  • chorus section EFX in the vocal effects schedule may encode
  • respective portions of a single vocal effects schedule may be employed relative to respective vocal performance captures to provide appropriate and respective EFX for a vocal performance capture of a first portion of a duet performed by a first user and for a separate vocal performance capture of a second portion of a duet performed by a second user.
  • EFX pitch-corrected vocals and selectable vocal effects
  • these interactions are facilitated through social network- and/or eMail-mediated sharing of performances and invitations to join in a group performance or virtual glee club.
  • a content server or service
  • uploads may include pitch-corrected vocal performances, dry (i.e., uncorrected) vocals, and/or control tracks of user key and/or pitch correction selections, etc.
  • first and second encodings (often of differing quality or fidelity) of the same underlying audio source material may be employed.
  • first and second encodings of a backing track e.g., one at the handheld or other portable computing device at which vocals are captured, and one at the content server
  • the respective encodings can be adapted to data transfer bandwidth constraints or to needs at the particular device/platform at which they are employed.
  • a first encoding of the backing track audibly rendered at a handheld or other portable computing device as an audio backdrop to vocal capture may be of lesser quality or fidelity than a second encoding of that same backing track used at the content server to prepare the mixed performance for audible rendering. In this way, high quality mixed audio content may be provided while limiting data bandwidth requirements to a handheld device used for capture and pitch correction of a vocal performance.
  • backing track encodings employed at the portable computing device may, in some cases, be of equivalent or even better quality/fidelity those at the content server.
  • a suitable encoding of the backing track already exists at the mobile phone (or other portable computing device) such as from a music library resident thereon or based on prior download from the content server
  • download data bandwidth requirements may be quite low. Lyrics, timing information and applicable pitch correction settings may be retrieved for association with the existing backing track using any of a variety of identifiers ascertainable, e.g., from audio metadata, track title, an associated thumbnail or even fingerprinting techniques applied to the audio, if desired.
  • an iPhoneTM handheld available from Apple Inc. hosts software that executes in coordination with a content server to provide vocal capture and continuous real-time, score-coded pitch correction and harmonization of the captured vocals.
  • karaoke-style applications such as the "I am T- Pain” application for iPhone originally released in September of 2009 or the later "Glee” application, both available from Smule, Inc.
  • lyrics may be displayed (102) in correspondence with the audible rendering so as to facilitate a karaoke-style vocal performance by a user.
  • backing audio may be rendered from a local store such as from content of an iTunesTM library resident on the handheld.
  • User vocals 103 are captured at handheld 101 , pitch-corrected continuously and in real-time (again at the handheld) and audibly rendered (see 104, mixed with the backing track) to provide the user with an improved tonal quality rendition of his/her own vocal performance.
  • Pitch correction is typically based on score-coded note sets or cues (e.g., pitch and harmony cues 105), which provide continuous pitch- correction algorithms with performance synchronized sequences of target notes in a current key or scale.
  • score- coded harmony note sequences provide pitch-shifting algorithms with additional targets (typically coded as offsets relative to a lead melody note track and typically scored only for selected portions thereof) for pitch-shifting to harmony versions of the user's own captured vocals.
  • pitch correction settings may be characteristic of a particular artist such as the artist that performed vocals associated with the particular backing track.
  • backing audio here, one or more instrumental and/or vocal tracks
  • lyrics and timing information and pitch/harmony cues are all supplied (or demand updated) from one or more content servers or hosted service platforms (here, content server 110).
  • content server 110 For a given song and performance, such as "Hot N Cold," several versions of the background track may be stored, e.g., on the content server.
  • versions may include:
  • lyrics, melody and harmony track note sets and related timing and control information may be encapsulated as a score coded in an appropriate container or object (e.g., in a Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI, or Java Script Object Notation, j son, type format) for supply together with the backing track(s).
  • an appropriate container or object e.g., in a Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI, or Java Script Object Notation, j son, type format
  • handheld 101 may display lyrics and even visual cues related to target notes, harmonies and currently detected vocal pitch in correspondence with an audible performance of the backing track(s) so as to facilitate a karaoke-style vocal performance by a user.
  • a captured pitch-corrected (possibly harmonized) vocal performance is saved locally on the handheld device as one or more wav files and is subsequently compressed (e.g., using lossless Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE, or lossy Advanced Audio Coding, AAC, or vorbis codec) and encoded for upload (106) to content server 110 as an MPEG-4 audio, m4a, or ogg container file.
  • MPEG-4 is an international standard for the coded representation and transmission of digital multimedia content for the Internet, mobile networks and advanced broadcast applications.
  • OGG is an open standard container format often used in association with the vorbis audio format specification and codec for lossy audio compression. Other suitable codecs, compression techniques, coding formats and/or containers may be employed if desired.
  • encodings of dry vocal and/or pitch-corrected vocals may be uploaded (106) to content server 110.
  • vocals encoded, e.g., as wav, m4a, ogg/vorbis content or otherwise
  • pitch-corrected vocals can then be mixed (1 11 ), e.g., with backing audio and other captured (and possibly pitch shifted) vocal performances, to produce files or streams of quality or coding characteristics selected accord with capabilities or limitations a particular target (e.g., handheld 120) or network.
  • pitch-corrected vocals can be mixed with both the stereo and mono wav files to produce streams of differing quality.
  • a high quality stereo version can be produced for web playback and a lower quality mono version for streaming to devices such as the handheld device itself.
  • performances of multiple vocalists may be accreted in response to an open call.
  • one set of vocals (for example, in the illustration of FIG. 1 , main vocals captured at handheld 101 ) may be accorded prominence (e.g., as lead vocals).
  • a user selectable vocal effects schedule may be applied (112) to each captured and uploaded encoding of a vocal performance.
  • initially captured dry vocals may be processed (e.g., 1 12) at content server 100 in accord with a vocal effects schedule characteristic of Katy Perry's studio performance of "Hot N Cold.”
  • processing may include pitch correction (at server 100) in accord with previously described pitch cues 105.
  • a resulting mix (e.g., pitch- corrected main vocals captured, with applied EFX and mixed with a compressed mono m4a format backing track and one or more additional vocals, themselves with applied EFX and pitch shifted into respective harmony positions above or below the main vocals) may be supplied to another user at a remote device (e.g.,
  • handheld 120 for audible rendering (121 ) and/or use as a second-generation backing track for capture of additional vocal performances.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating real-time continuous score-coded pitch-correction and/or harmony generation for a captured vocal performance in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.
  • a user/vocalist sings along with a backing track karaoke style.
  • Vocals captured (251 ) from a microphone input 201 are continuously pitch- corrected (252) to either main vocal pitch cues or, in some cases, to corresponding harmony cues in real-time for mix (253) with the backing track which is audibly rendered at one or more acoustic transducers 202.
  • the audible rendering of captured vocals pitch corrected to "main" melody may optionally be mixed (254) with harmonies (HARMONY1 , HARMONY2) synthesized from the captured vocals in accord with score coded offsets.
  • harmonies HARMONY1 , HARMONY2
  • Both pitch correction (to main or harmony pitches) and optionally added harmonies are chosen to correspond to a score 207, which in the illustrated configuration, is wirelessly communicated (261 ) to the device (e.g., from content server 110 to an iPhone handheld 101 or other portable computing device, recall FIG. 1 ) on which vocal capture and pitch-correction is to be performed, together with lyrics 208 and an audio encoding of the backing track 209.
  • the device e.g., from content server 110 to an iPhone handheld 101 or other portable computing device, recall FIG. 1
  • lyrics 208 and an audio encoding of the backing track 209 One challenge faced in some designs and implementations is that harmonies may have a tendency to sound good only if the user chooses to sing the expected melody of the song. If a user wants to embellish or sing their own version of a song, harmonies may sound suboptimal.
  • pitch corrector 252 and/or harmony generator 255 may synthesize the other portions of the desired score-coded chord by generating appropriate pitch-shifted versions of the captured vocals (even if user/vocalist is intentionally singing a harmony).
  • a dry vocals version of the user's captured vocal performance and, optionally, one or more of the resulting pitch-shifted versions combined (254) or aggregated for mix (253) with the audibly-rendered backing track may be wirelessly communicated (262) to content server 110 or a remote device (e.g., handheld 120).
  • content server 100 side application of vocal effects has been described, it will be appreciated that user selectable vocal effects (EFX) schedules may likewise be applied in signal processing flows 250 implemented at a portable computing device (e.g., 101 , 120).
  • a selected vocal effects (EFX) schedule which in the present case may be encoded and included in wireless transmission 261 , includes settings and/or parameters for one or more of spectral equalization, audio compression, pitch correction, stereo delay, and reverberation effects for application to one or more respective portions of the user's captured vocal performance.
  • EFX vocal effects
  • an optional signal processing flow is provided for an audio signal encoding of dry vocals stored in local storage and the mixed (253) with a previously described backing track for audible rendering using acoustic
  • EFX vocal effects
  • application of a user selected vocal effects (EFX) schedule at the portable computing device is a post-processing application although, depending on the nature and computational of complexity of EFX selected, real-time continuous procession (including score coded pitch correction) may be provided in some embodiments.
  • scores may be coded as a set of tracks represented in a MIDI file, data structure or container including, in some implementations or deployments:
  • notes specified in a given harmony track may be interpreted as absolute scored pitches or relative to user's current pitch, corrected or uncorrected (depending on current settings).
  • a chord track although desired harmonies are set in the harmony tracks, if the user's pitch differs from scored pitch, relative offsets may be maintained by proximity to the note set of a current chord.
  • PitchCorrect ion ⁇ ON , OFF ⁇ : Codes whether to correct the user/vocalist's pitch. Default is ON. May be turned ON and OFF at temporally synchronized points in the vocal performance.
  • harmony tracks are interpreted as absolute pitch targets for harmony shifts.
  • Chord track events include the following text markers that notate a root and quality (e.g., c min7 or Ab ma j ) and allow a note set to be defined. Although desired harmonies are set in the harmony track(s), if the user's pitch differs from the scored pitch, relative offsets may be maintained by proximity to notes that are in the current chord. As used relative to a chord track of the score, the term "chord” will be understood to mean a set of available pitches, since chord track events need not encode standard chords in the usual sense. These and other score- coded pitch correction settings may be employed furtherance of the inventive techniques described herein.
  • FIGs. 2 and 3 illustrate basic signal processing flows (250, 350) in accord with certain
  • implementations suitable for an iPhoneTM handheld e.g., that illustrated as mobile device 101 , to generate pitch-corrected and optionally harmonized vocals for audible rendering (locally and/or at a remote target device).
  • pitch-detection and pitch- correction have a rich technological history in the music and voice coding arts.
  • decimation to 22k (for use in pitch detection and correction of sampled vocals as a main voice, typically to score-coded melody note target) and to 1 1 k (for pitch detection and shifting of harmony variants of the sampled vocals).
  • PitchDetector : CalculatePitch ( )
  • the CalculatePitch ( ) method calculates an average magnitude difference function (AMDF) and executes logic to pick a peak that corresponds to an estimate of the pitch period. Additional processing refines that estimate. For example, in some embodiments parabolic interpolation of the peak and adjacent samples may be employed. In some embodiments and given adequate computational bandwidth, an additional AMDF may be run at a higher sample rate around the peak sample to get better frequency resolution.
  • AMDF average magnitude difference function
  • PSOLA pitch- synchronous overlap add
  • the PSOLA implementation (Smola : : Pitchshif tvoice ( ) ) is called with data structures and Class variables that contain information (detected pitch, pitch target, etc.) needed to specify the desired correction.
  • target pitch is selected based on score-coded targets (which change frequently in correspondence with a melody note track) and in accord with current scale/mode settings. Scale/mode settings may be updated in the course of a particular vocal performance, but usually not too often based on score-coded information, or in an a capella or Freestyle mode based on user selections.
  • PSOLA techniques facilitate resampling of a waveform to produce a pitch- shifted variant while reducing aperiodic affects of a splice and are well known in the art.
  • PSOLA techniques build on the observation that it is possible to splice two periodic waveforms at similar points in their periodic oscillation (for example, at positive going zero crossings, ideally with roughly the same slope) with a much smoother result if you cross fade between them during a segment of overlap. For example, if we had a quasi periodic sequence like: a b c d e d c b a b c d.l e.2 d.2 c.l b.l a b.l c.2
  • linear/triangular overlap-add but (more generally) may employ complimentary cosine, 1 -cosine, or other functions as desired.
  • LPC is applied to the main un-pitch-corrected voice at 1 1 k (or optionally 22k) in order to derive a spectral template to apply to the pitch-shifted residues. This tends to avoid the head-size modulation problem (chipmunk or munchkinification for upward shifts, or making people sound like Darth Vader for downward shifts).
  • Resulting mix is upsampled back up to 44.1 k, mixed with the backing track (except in Freestyle mode) or an improved fidelity variant thereof buffered for handoff to audio subsystem for playback.
  • lag-domain periodogram describes a function that takes as input, a time-domain function or series of discrete time samples x(n) of a signal, and compares that function or signal to itself at a series of delays (i.e., in the lag-domain) to measure periodicity of the original function x. This is done at lags of interest.
  • examples of suitable lag- domain periodogram computations for pitch detection include subtracting, for a current block, the captured vocal input signal x(n) from a lagged version of same (a difference function), or taking the absolute value of that subtraction (AMDF), or multiplying the signal by its delayed version and summing the values
  • AMDF will show valleys at periods that correspond to frequency components of the input signal, while autocorrelation will show peaks. If the signal is non-periodic (e.g., noise), periodograms will show no clear peaks or valleys, except at the zero lag position.
  • AMDF(k) ⁇ n
  • autocorrelationQt ⁇ n x(n) * x(n— k) .
  • AMDF-based lag-domain periodogram calculations can be efficiently performed even using computational facilities of current-generation mobile devices. Nonetheless, based on the description herein, persons of skill in the art will appreciate implementations that build any of a variety of pitch detection techniques that may now, or in the future become, computational tractable on a given target device or platform.
  • the captured vocal performance audio (typically dry vocals, but optionally pitch corrected) is compressed using an audio codec (e.g., an Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or ogg/vorbis codec) and uploaded to a content server.
  • FIGs. 1 , 2 and 3 each depict such uploads.
  • the content server e.g., content server 110, 310) then processes (112, 312) the uploaded dry vocals in accord with a selected vocal effects (EFX) schedule and applicable score-coded pitch correction sets.
  • the content server then remixes (111 , 311 ) this captured, pitch-corrected, EFX applied vocal performance encoding with other content.
  • the content server may mix such vocals with a high- quality or fidelity instrumental (and/or background vocal) track to create high-fidelity master audio of the mixed performance.
  • Other captured vocal performances may also be mixed in as illustrated in FIG. 1 and described herein.
  • the resulting master may, in turn, be encoded using an appropriate codec (e.g., an AAC codec) at various bit rates and/or with selected vocals afforded prominence to produce compressed audio files which are suitable for streaming back to the capturing handheld device (and/or other remote devices) and for
  • an appropriate codec e.g., an AAC codec
  • data streamed for playback or for use as a second (or N th ) generation backing track may separately encode vocal tracks for mix with a first generation backing track at an audible rendering target.
  • vocal and/or backing track audio exchange between the handheld device and content server may be adapted to the quality and capabilities of an available data communications channel.
  • an accretion of pitch-corrected, EFX applied vocals captured from an initial, or prior, contributor may form the basis of a backing track used in a subsequent vocal capture from another user/vocalist (e.g., at another handheld device).
  • a backing track used in a subsequent vocal capture from another user/vocalist (e.g., at another handheld device).
  • additional vocalists may be invited to sing a particular part (e.g., tenor, part B in duet, etc.) or simply to sign, whereupon content server 110 may pitch shift and place their captured vocals into one or more positions within an open call or virtual glee club.
  • the user-vocalist who initiated an open call selects the slots or positions (characterized temporally or by performance template/blueprint, by applicable pitch cues and/or applied EFX) into which subsequently accreted vocal performances are slotted or placed.
  • the content server e.g., content server 110
  • the content server is in position to manipulate (112) mixes in ways that further objectives of a virtual glee club or accommodate sensibilities of the user vocalist who initiates an open call.
  • alternative mixes of three different contributing vocalists may be presented in a variety of ways.
  • Mixes provided to (or for) a first contributor may feature that first contributor's vocals more prominently than those of the other two (e.g., as lead vocals with appropriate pitch correction to main melody and with an artist-, song-, performance- or musical genre- specific vocal effects (EFX) schedule applied).
  • content server 110 may alter the mixes to make one vocal performance more prominent than others by manipulating pitch corrections and EFX applied to the various captured vocals therein.
  • vocal performance capture occurs at another device and after a corresponding encoding of the captured (and typically pitch-corrected) vocal performance is received at a present device, it is audibly rendered in association with a visual display animation suggestive of the vocal performance emanating from a particular location on a globe.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a snapshot of such a visual display animation at handheld 120, which for purposes of the present illustration, will be understood as another instance of a programmed mobile phone (or other portable computing device) such as described and illustrated with reference to handheld device instances 101 and 301 (see FIG. 3), except that (as depicted with the snapshot) handheld 120 is operating in a play (or listener) mode, rather than the capture and pitch-correction mode described at length hereinabove.
  • a world stage is presented. More specifically, a network connection is made to content server 110 reporting the handheld's current network connectivity status and playback preference (e.g., random global, top loved, my performances, etc). Based on these parameters, content server 110 selects a performance (e.g., a pitch- corrected, EFX applied vocal performance such as may have been initially captured at handheld device instance 101 or 301 and transmits metadata associated therewith.
  • a performance e.g., a pitch- corrected, EFX applied vocal performance such as may have been initially captured at handheld device instance 101 or 301 and transmits metadata associated therewith.
  • the metadata includes a uniform resource locator (URL) that allows handheld 120 to retrieve the actual audio stream (high quality or low quality depending on the size of the pipe), as well as additional information such as geocoded (using GPS) location of the vocal performance capture (including geocodes for additional vocal performances included as harmonies or backup vocals) and attributes of other listeners who have loved, tagged or left comments for the particular performance.
  • URL uniform resource locator
  • listener feedback is itself geocoded.
  • the user may tag the performance and leave his own feedback or comments for a subsequent listener and/or for the original vocal performer. Once a performance is tagged, a relationship may be established between the performer and the listener.
  • the listener may be allowed to filter for additional performances by the same performer and the server is also able to more intelligently provide "random" new performances for the user to listen to based on an evaluation of user preferences.
  • geocoded listener feedback indications are, or may optionally be, presented on the globe (e.g., as stars or "thumbs up” or the like) at positions to suggest, consistent with the geocoded metadata, respective geographic locations from which the corresponding listener feedback was transmitted.
  • the visual display animation is interactive and subject to viewpoint manipulation in correspondence with user interface gestures captured at a touch screen display of handheld 120.
  • travel of a finger or stylus across a displayed image of the globe in the visual display animation causes the globe to rotate around an axis generally orthogonal to the direction of finger or stylus travel.
  • Both the visual display animation suggestive of the vocal performance emanating from a particular location on a globe and the listener feedback indications are presented in such an interactive, rotating globe user interface presentation at positions consistent with their respective geotags.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates features of a mobile device that may serve as a platform for execution of software implementations in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a mobile device 400 that is generally consistent with commercially-available versions of an iPhoneTM mobile digital device. Although embodiments of the present invention are certainly not limited to iPhone deployments or applications (or even to iPhone-type devices), the iPhone device, together with its rich complement of sensors, multimedia facilities, application programmer interfaces and wireless application delivery model, provides a highly capable platform on which to deploy certain implementations. Based on the description herein, persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate a wide range of additional mobile device platforms that may be suitable (now or hereafter) for a given implementation or deployment of the inventive techniques described herein.
  • mobile device 400 includes a display 402 that can be sensitive to haptic and/or tactile contact with a user.
  • Touch-sensitive display 402 can support multi-touch features, processing multiple simultaneous touch points, including processing data related to the pressure, degree and/or position of each touch point. Such processing facilitates gestures and interactions with multiple fingers, chording, and other interactions.
  • other touch-sensitive display technologies can also be used, e.g., a display in which contact is made using a stylus or other pointing device.
  • mobile device 400 presents a graphical user interface on the touch- sensitive display 402, providing the user access to various system objects and for conveying information.
  • the graphical user interface can include one or more display objects 404, 406.
  • the display objects 404, 406, are graphic representations of system objects. Examples of system objects include device functions, applications, windows, files, alerts, events, or other identifiable system objects.
  • applications when executed, provide at least some of the digital acoustic
  • the mobile device 400 supports network connectivity including, for example, both mobile radio and wireless internetworking functionality to enable the user to travel with the mobile device 400 and its associated network-enabled functions.
  • the mobile device 400 can interact with other devices in the vicinity (e.g., via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.).
  • mobile device 400 can be configured to interact with peers or a base station for one or more devices. As such, mobile device 400 may grant or deny network access to other wireless devices.
  • Mobile device 400 includes a variety of input/output (I/O) devices, sensors and transducers.
  • I/O input/output
  • a speaker 460 and a microphone 462 are typically included to facilitate audio, such as the capture of vocal performances and audible rendering of backing tracks and mixed pitch-corrected vocal performances as described elsewhere herein.
  • speaker 460 and microphone 662 may provide appropriate transducers for techniques described herein.
  • An external speaker port 464 can be included to facilitate hands- free voice functionalities, such as speaker phone functions.
  • An audio jack 466 can also be included for use of headphones and/or a microphone.
  • an external speaker and/or microphone may be used as a transducer for the techniques described herein.
  • a proximity sensor 468 can be included to facilitate the detection of user positioning of mobile device 400.
  • an ambient light sensor 470 can be utilized to facilitate adjusting brightness of the touch-sensitive display 402.
  • An accelerometer 472 can be utilized to detect movement of mobile device 400, as indicated by the directional arrow 474. Accordingly, display objects and/or media can be presented according to a detected orientation, e.g., portrait or landscape.
  • mobile device 400 may include circuitry and sensors for supporting a location determining capability, such as that provided by the global positioning system (GPS) or other positioning systems (e.g., systems using Wi-Fi access points, television signals, cellular grids, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)) to facilitate geocodings described herein.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • other positioning systems e.g., systems using Wi-Fi access points, television signals, cellular grids, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to facilitate geocodings described herein.
  • URLs Uniform Resource Locators
  • Mobile device 400 can also include a camera lens and sensor 480.
  • the camera lens and sensor 480 can be located on the back surface of the mobile device 400.
  • the camera can capture still images and/or video for association with captured pitch-corrected vocals.
  • Mobile device 400 can also include one or more wireless communication
  • a port device 490 e.g., a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, or a docking port, or some other wired port connection, can be included and used to establish a wired connection to other computing devices, such as other communication devices 400, network access devices, a personal computer, a printer, or other processing devices capable of receiving and/or transmitting data.
  • Port device 490 may also allow mobile device 400 to synchronize with a host device using one or more protocols, such as, for example, the TCP/IP, HTTP, UDP and any other known protocol.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates respective instances (501 and 520) of a portable computing device such as mobile device 400 programmed with user interface code, pitch correction code, an audio rendering pipeline and playback code in accord with the functional descriptions herein.
  • Device instance 501 operates in a vocal capture and continuous pitch correction mode, while device instance 520 operates in a listener mode. Both communicate via wireless data transport and intervening networks 504 with a server 512 or service platform that hosts storage and/or functionality explained herein with regard to content server 110, 210. Captured, pitch-corrected vocal
  • performances may (optionally) be streamed from and audibly rendered at laptop computer 511.
  • Embodiments in accordance with the present invention may take the form of, and/or be provided as, a computer program product encoded in a machine-readable medium as instruction sequences and other functional constructs of software, which may in turn be executed in a computational system (such as a iPhone handheld, mobile or portable computing device, or content server platform) to perform methods described herein.
  • a machine readable medium can include tangible articles that encode information in a form (e.g., as applications, source or object code, functionally descriptive information, etc.) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer, computational facilities of a mobile device or portable computing device, etc.) as well as tangible storage incident to transmission of the information.
  • a machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., disks and/or tape storage); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, etc.); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and
  • EEPROM electrically descriptive information encodings
  • flash memory or other types of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions, operation sequences, functionally descriptive information encodings, etc.
  • plural instances may be provided for components, operations or structures described herein as a single instance. Boundaries between various components, operations and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within the scope of the invention(s).
  • structures and functionality presented as separate components in the exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component.
  • structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computational Linguistics (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
  • Auxiliary Devices For Music (AREA)
  • Telephone Function (AREA)

Abstract

Malgré plusieurs limitations pratiques imposées par des plates-formes de dispositif mobile et des environnements d'exécution d'application, des performances musicales vocales peuvent être capturées, et dans certains cas ou modes de réalisation, corrigées en hauteur tonale et/ou traitées en fonction d'un modèle d'effets vocaux pouvant être sélectionné par l'utilisateur pour le mixage et le rendu avec des pistes de support selon des modalités qui créent des expériences d'utilisateur irrésistibles. Dans certains cas, les performances vocales d'utilisateurs individuels sont capturées sur des dispositifs mobiles dans le contexte d'une présentation de style karaoké de paroles en correspondance avec des rendus audibles d'une piste de support. De telles performances peuvent être corrigées en hauteur tonale en temps réel au niveau du dispositif mobile en conformité avec des paramètres de correction de hauteur tonale. Des modèles d'effets vocaux peuvent également être appliqués de manière sélective à de telles performances. Ainsi, même des utilisateurs/interprètes amateurs avec une hauteur tonale imparfaite sont encouragés à s'essayer au « vedettariat » et/ou à participer à un jeu, sur un réseau social ou une architecture d'application d'accomplissement vocal qui facilite la collaboration musicale sur une échelle globale et/ou dans certains cas ou modes de réalisation, pour lancer des transactions IAP générant des revenus.
PCT/US2013/053851 2012-08-07 2013-08-06 Système et procédé de musique sociale avec correction continue de hauteur tonale en temps réel et de capture vocale non traitée pour un nouveau rendu ultérieur basé sur un/des modèle(s) d'effets vocaux sélectivement applicables WO2014025819A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (2)

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JP2015526650A JP6371283B2 (ja) 2012-08-07 2013-08-06 選択的に適用可能な（複数の）ボーカルエフェクトスケジュールに基づいて、その後で再演奏するために、ボーカル演奏の連続的リアルタイムピッチ補正およびドライボーカル取込を用いるソーシャル音楽システムおよび方法
KR1020157005988A KR102246623B1 (ko) 2012-08-07 2013-08-06 선택적으로 적용가능한 보컬 효과 스케줄에 기초한 후속적 리렌더링을 위한 보컬 연주 및 드라이 보컬 캡쳐의 연속적인 실시간 피치 보정에 의한 소셜 음악 시스템 및 방법

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US201261680652P 2012-08-07 2012-08-07
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FR3035535A1 (fr) * 2015-04-27 2016-10-28 Agece Dispositif de capture de signaux sonores et systeme de capture et de transmission de signaux
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