Abstract: A pump-motor apparatus comprising: a pump having an input shaft for receiving motive force to operate the pump, wherein during rotation of the input shaft, the pump exhibits repeating cyclical first torque variations on the input shaft, said first torque variations including cyclical torque peaks and torque dips and occurring in substantially evenly spaced increments in angular position of the input shaft; and an electric drive motor having an output shaft coupled to and driving the input shaft, wherein the electric drive motor exhibits on the output shaft repeating cyclical second torque variations, said second torque variations including cyclical torque peaks and torque dips and occurring in substantially evenly spaced increments in angular position of the output shaft, wherein the substantially evenly spaced increments in angular position of the output shaft are equal to the substantially evenly spaced angular increments in position of the input shaft, wherein torque peaks and dips of the output shaft seco

Abstract: A device for connecting two drum pedals of a drum includes an outer tube, an inner rod and a resilient strip. The outer tube defines therein an axial hexagonal (tetragonal) hole. A first end of the outer tube forms a recess on a periphery thereof having a plurality of screw holes and a through hole defined from a circumference of the outer tube to the outer surface of the recess. The inner rod is received in the hexagonal hole of the outer tube and defines a cutout in an appropriate position of a circumference thereof. The resilient strip is received in the recess of the outer tube and abuts the inner rod. A first end of the resilient strip has a protrusion integrally extending from one end thereof to be received in the through hole of the outer tube and a second end of the resilient strip is retained by the cutout of the inner rod. With this arrangement, the device for connecting two drum pedals can prevent damage to the inner rod and separation from the outer tube.

Abstract: A composition and method of making bodies and necks for stringed musical instruments is provided. The composition is basically an unsaturated compound poly-urethan resin and an inorganic filler, or components comparable thereto, which are combined with a hardener and then molded to form a guitar body, neck or other component of a stringed instrument. The method of making a body or neck of the present invention generally includes the steps of preparing the composition mixture, adding a hardener to the mixture, delivering the mixture and hardener to a mold, and molding the composition. Various appropriate actions may be undertaken upon completion of the molding process including machining, finishing, etc., although the molding process tends to obviate the need for further machining.

Abstract: A silent violin converts vibrations of strings to an electric signal, and the electric signal is supplied to two delay circuits and, thereafter, two multipliers so as to produce a left sound signal and a right sound signal different in delay time and magnitude; when a headphone produces stereophonic sounds from the left/right sound signals, the player feels the source of stereophonic sounds to be at a certain point on the silent violin same as an acoustic violin.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a digital processing device with smooth-clipping function and a digital musical tone synthesizing device using it. When one or a plurality of digital values are input to the digital processing device and a smooth-clipping mode is activated, an overflow during processing of the digital values is avoided as the internal resulting value of the device is scaled down before it is output. The scaling down of the internal resulting value is continuously increased in dependence on the increase of the value of the internal resulting value, such that an overflow is avoided. For example, if the digital processing device is performing a summation of two digital operands in a digital musical tone forming device, the time behavior of the resulting tone signal slope is smooth and thus the sound dynamics are improved and sound distortions are avoided during sound reproduction.

Abstract: A brushless direct current (DC) electric motor includes a rotor and a stator. The rotor has at least one disc mounted to a central shaft. The disc has an outer portion consisting of permanent magnets. The magnets are mounted with their direction of magnetization transversing through the disc. The stator includes C-shaped electromagnets which straddle the disc and are mounted with their magnetic poles aligned in coupling proximity to the poles of the permanent magnets in the disc. Position circuitry senses a position of the permanent magnets with respect to the electromagnets and then provides a signal based on the position to the electromagnets to cause the rotor to rotate.

Abstract: When a running vehicle moves backward and a right back portion of the robot, which is one end of it touches a wall, the robot is rotated to the left until a left back portion of the robot touches the wall. The angle of rotation .beta. at this time is measured and the value .beta./2 is represented by .alpha.. The robot is rotated to the right by the angle .beta.-.alpha.. Therefore, the robot is positioned perpendicular to the wall. Thereafter, the robot is moved backward until the back portion of the robot touches the wall. As a result, an apparatus for positioning the running robot relative to the wall is provided.

Abstract: Finger-controlled members for contacting the strings on a guitar includes three string-contacting finger members, one for the index finger, one for the middle or second finger, and one for the third or ring finger. Each of the string-contacting finger members is securely fastenable upon the respective finger such that it is on the palm-side of the finger and on the second segment of the finger so that the user can manipulate the string-contacting finger members with one's finger tips. Each string-contacting finger member has a body with a single string contact stem extending from the bottom thereof and being capable of holding only one string against the fingerboard of the guitar. In addition, there are four multiple string contact attachments which can be detachably attached to the string-contacting finger members and which have bottoms that are capable of holding two or three consecutive strings or two nonconsecutive strings against the fingerboard of the guitar to achieve selected musical chords.

Abstract: A music processing system that processes music events includes a performance supervisor and a graph object. The graph object defines an ordered graph of music event processors, through which music events are routed. The graph object has a graph interface with methods allowing an application to insert and remove event processors in the graph. In addition, the graph interface has a method that can be called to update a music event data structure that represents the music event. This updating consists up supplying an identification of a music event processor that is next to receive the music event. Each event processor has a processor interface, which includes an initialization method and a process event method for performing the actual processing of a music event. Each processor supports one of a plurality of delivery timing modes, and also supports a subset of available event types.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a circuit arrangement for controlling a stepper motor, e.g. in a panoramic X-ray apparatus. In the method of the invention, the control data of a processor (5) is first converted into an analog signal with a digital-analog converter (6), and the signal thus obtained is integrated with an integrating circuit (7,10), whereafter the signal is converted into pulses controlling the stepper motor (9) with a voltage-frequency converter (8). The circuit arrangement comprises preferably one or two integrators. In consequence, the changes in the speed of rotation of the stepper motor can be made stepless, whereby the stresses directed at the mobile parts are small, and mechanical oscillation caused by high momentary forces is avoided. In addition, the loading of the processor can be made uniform. Error correction circuits employing feedback are employed to enhance operation of the invention.

Abstract: A performance instructing apparatus is provided wherein data that meet a predetermined condition or conditions are extracted from each predetermined range of automatic performance data, and the predetermined range and the predetermined condition used when the data are extracted are changed depending upon a performance level entered through a performance level input device. The data extracted from the automatic performance data may be used for guiding a player through the performance.

Abstract: An auxiliary system includes a plurality of devices that are driven by ac motors. A plurality of independently controllable isolators couple phase windings of the ac motors directly to phase windings of the electric generator. When an isolator connects the phase windings of its corresponding ac motor to the windings of the electric generator, the ac motor is operated directly on a high frequency unconverted output of the electric generator. Motor speed is determined by the number of poles on the ac motor relative to the number of poles of the electric generator. Pole-switching allows the speed of the motor to be varied.

Abstract: A musical instrument for musical therapy which stimulates and urges patients suffering from dementia, aphasia, and other functional disorders of the brain to voluntarily play and to sing a song comprises an indicating part for displaying the lyrics of a song or other musical indicia in a predetermined pattern, an operating panel, and a scale generator. The indicating part is mounted upon the operating panel, which is provided with a plurality of switch elements arranged in physical alignment with the respective lyrics of the song or other musical indicia. The plural switch elements are connected to the scale generator such that a musical tone or voice signal is output by the scale generator in accordance with a selected switch element. By use of the inventive device, a patient is stimulated and urged to sing the song when the patient successively activates the switch elements corresponding to the displayed lyrics of the song.

Abstract: A brush-to-brushless motor controller adapter for use with a two-wire output signal from a medical console consists of a small enclosure containing a circuit board and has a short cable terminating in a two-wire connector which plugs into the two-wire controller output of the medical console and a connector jack for an electrical connection to a surgical instrument having a brushless D.C. motor. The brush-to-brushless motor controller generates a stable voltage for the adapter internal electronics (i.e., 12 to 15 volts), from a varying input voltage (i.e., 2.5 to 30 volts D.C.). The surgical instrument brushless D.C. motor speed is controlled as a function of the console output signal drive voltage amplitude and the adapter accepts pulsed inputs from a high power two-wire motor controller (e.g., 10 watts and up). The adapter accepts bipolar drive signals and is adapted to reverse the surgical instrument brushless D.C.

Abstract: A karaoke playback apparatus and system capable of substantially improving quality of background image services by making use of a digital multi-channel broadcasting are disclosed.A karaoke playback apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a data memory 2 for storing karaoke data transmitted via a telephone network, a sound processor 4 for generating audio signal of an accompaniment sound according to the karaoke data read out from the data memory 2 to be output via a speaker 7, an image processor 8 for controlling display of lyrics contained in the karaoke data in synchronism with processing of the accompaniment sound to be displayed via a monitor 10, a receiver 12 of a digital multi-channel television broadcasting for receiving a plurality of channels on which background images for karaoke musical pieces are broadcasted, and a background controller 14 for controlling the receiver 12 of the broadcasting.

Abstract: A current sensing circuit including a shunt resistor coupled, at one end, to the low-side transistor of a half bridge circuit and, at its other end, to a load. The voltage sensed across the shunt resistor is proportional to the current delivered to the load. A level shifting circuit is provided to transpose the sensed voltage to a low voltage signal which can be fed back to control commutation of the transistors in the half bridge circuit.

Abstract: A rotary valve (10) for a brass wind instrument includes a rotor (12) rotatably disposed in a casing (30). Four tube connecters (50) are connected to the casing in fluid-tight connections. Each tube connecter (50) has a passageway (52) therethrough having a constant, circular cross section. The rotar (12) has two ducts (14, 16) therethrough, each having a constant, circular cross section with a diameter (18) equal to the diameter of the passageways (52) through the tube connecters (50). The rotor (12) is selectively rotatable between an unactuated position and an actuated position. When the rotor (12) is in the unactuated position, a single soundpath (70) is formed through the valve. The single soundpath (70) has limited curvature and has a constant diameter. When the rotor (12) is in the actuated position, two soundpaths (72, 74) are formed through the valve (10). The first of the two soundpaths (72) subjects the sound to only a single 45 degree turn through the valve.

Abstract: A method for automatically adjusting the parameters of a synthesizer includes generating a first synthesized signal based on an initial set of synthesizer parameters, comparing the first synthesized signal to an input sound signal, and generating a control signal for adjusting a subset of parameters of the synthesizer to minimize the differences between the first synthesized signal and the input sound signal. These steps may be iteratively performed for a predetermined number of additional subsets of synthesizer parameters, until a final output of the synthesizer is obtained which represents an optimization of the synthesis of the input sound signal.

Abstract: A music playing data fetch circuit for a personal computer which is capable of improving a music playing operation using a CPU of a personal computer by using a 64-bit FIFO memory without using an interrupt signal. The circuit includes a sound interface controller for receiving a serial playing data from a music playing program from a central processing unit (CPU) of a personal computer (PC), a midi (musical instrument device interface) interface controller for fetching a serial playing data from the sound interface controller and generating tone, waveform, etc. by enabling an interrupt request signal, and a buffer for buffering a data from the sound interface controller when the personal computer requests the data transmitted to the midi interface controller.

Abstract: An acoustical guitar having a hollow main body forming a sound box and defined by top and bottom walls joined by a side rim. A long cantilevered neck is attached to the hollow main body adjacent a head end thereof and projects outwardly therefrom. A headblock arrangement at the head end fixedly attaches a heel end of the neck to the hollow main body. The headblock arrangement comprises a one-piece U-shaped headblock positioned between and fixedly connected to the top and bottom walls at the head end. The U-shaped headblock defines a concave recess which projects longitudinally inwardly of the hollow body at the head end. The neck projects into the concave recess with the heel end of the neck disposed within the recess and fixedly secured to the U-shaped headblock. A pair of access spaces are defined by the recess on opposite sides of the neck.