Abstract: A musical toy includes a vehicle traveling on a track which includes visual indicia representative of a standard nine note musical staff. Note tiles having first fastener halves may engage with second fasteners at predetermined locations on the track corresponding with the locations of notes on the represented staff. Switch operators facing down from the train may sense the note tiles to play the music so represented by the note tiles and track arranged in the staff and note configuration. The note tiles and track fastener features could be constructed in a format similar to the familiar stud and tube blocks of the popular Lego® system. An additional row of fastener halves could reside on the track adjacent to the main musical staff or outside the rails to allow for placement of tiles that could trigger sharp or flat notes, standard chords or perhaps percussive beat patterns.

Abstract: A system and an apparatus to play an Angklung musical instrument automatically consisting of hardware and software. The hardware consists of Angklung, two vertical poles, horizontal pole to hang Angklungs, bottom supporting frame which is equipped with an actuator supporting frame, the actuator is in the form of electric motor mounted on the actuator supporting frame connected in a cross-sectional position with each Angklung, an eccentric disk which is equipped with eccentric shaft, vibrator sleeves for connecting the electric motor with an Angklung, controller device consisting of the controller driver and the flow controller as a track storage and regulator of pulses of electrical current that would flow to the electric motor. The software installed on the computer that consists of an interface program to download, remove, save or record the songs stored on the controller device, and other programs to write songs.

Abstract: Improved methods and apparatus of producing vibrato on keyboard percussion/tone bar instruments such as the vibraphone and marimba are provided. Means are disclosed for real time control of the expressive qualities of both the speed and strength of the vibrato of such instruments, while eliminating the need for an electrical motor. According to certain embodiments, methods and apparatus are disclosed to easily produce a change of dynamic level (crescendo and diminuendo) after a single strike of a tone bar or chord.

Abstract: A furniture piece incorporates a percussion element such as a key that can generate a musical sound. For example, the top of a coffee table may incorporate a set of tuned keys that together form a xylophone-like instrument. Thus, not only can one use the table for conventional purposes, he/she can also play the keys for enjoyment.

Abstract: A scratch board musical instrument (1) and playing implement (2) having a playing surface (5) with a plurality of horizontal ripples, ridges and valleys (8, 6, 7), a border (9) surrounding the playing surface and a handle (4) on one side for holding the musical instrument by hand. The playing implement (2) has a handle (12) with a metal rod (13) extending therefrom which is bent or curved at a distal end to provide a surface on each side for running the rod transversely across the horizontal ridges to produce a “bluegrass” musical effect.

Abstract: A musical device includes a mounting base, a plurality of sound producing bodies, and a plurality of striking mechanisms for striking the sound producing bodies to create a melody. Each striking mechanism includes two striking arms, each for striking a respective sound producing body at a striking position. Each striking mechanism includes a driving device for driving each striking arm from a rest position to a position intermediate the rest position and the striking position. The momentum of the striking arm carries the striking arm from the intermediate position to the striking position while the striking arm is not in contact with the driving device. This enables the musical device to recreate desired tones without any damping.

Abstract: A plurality of rectangular parallelopiped tone bars are incorporated in a percussion instrument, are connected to a supporting bar at central points thereof so as to produce the second-order vertical flexural vibration and the first-order torsional vibration, and the ratio of width to thickness is regulated to a frequency ratio of 1:2 so as to improve the interval between the percussion sounds and the consonance.

Abstract: A drive unit and a toy using the same wherein a mechanical drive transmitting mechanism is not used and moving parts are made to pivot by means of magnetic interaction forces acting between coils and magnets and the response of the moving parts is quick and movements of the moving parts can be controlled accurately and subtly, and wherein fatiguing of the coil wires is prevented by the coil parts being fixed and the permanent magnets being made to move. By the drive unit being simplified and reduced in size, a drive unit and a toy using the same which can operate stably over a long period are provided while mass production benefits and cost reductions together with simplification of the manufacturing process are promoted.In the drive unit, a swinging body 21 is mounted on a swing shaft 20 and a pair of permanent magnets 26, 27 are mounted on the swinging body 21 side by side in the direction in which the swinging body 21 pivots.

Abstract: A musical toy in which tappers on the ends of swinging bodies can be swung up and kept upswung without using any springs; space for spring mounting is thereby made unnecessary and the toy can be made small; the manufacturing process can be simplified and resulting mass production benefits and cost reductions can be achieved, and which can operate stably over a long period of time. There are provided a toy body 7, a sound producing body 5 and a control device 54, and the toy body 7 comprises first permanent magnets 23a and 23b and swinging bodies 9a and 9b mounted in the vicinity of the first permanent magnets 23a and 23b.

Abstract: A musical toy has a simple construction and can accurately produce melodies and rhythms without also producing extraneous mechanical noise. A generally doll-shaped body contains two permanent magnets and is fitted with a pair of swinging members each containing an electromagnetic coil disposed so that it faces the permanent magnets. A control device, containing a rhythm signal generator circuit and a control circuit which creates rhythm drive signals based on the signal from the rhythm signal generator circuit, supplies each of the coils with a separate and independent drive signal. A sound producing body is disposed in the swinging path of each swinging member so that when the swinging member is caused by the magnetic interaction between the coil and the permanent magnets to swing in response to the rhythm signal from the control device, the sound producing body is struck by the swinging member and a musical note is sounded.

Abstract: Apparatus for synchronizing playback rates of a plurality of music sources includes a reference generator generating a reference signal including beats, a music source producing a music signal representative of music, a discriminating circuit operative in response to the music signal for extracting beats involved in the music signal to produce a beat signal representative of the extracted beats, and control circuitry interconnected to the reference generator and music source for determining the time difference between the occurrence of beats involved in the reference signal and the occurrence of the beat signal to regulate the music source so as to make the time difference substantially constant. The music source will thereby produce the music signal with a phase difference of the beats involved in the music signal substantially constant with respect to the beats involved in the reference signal.

Abstract: A driven mobile having a plug secured to a shaft with a plurality of arms radially extending from the plug. Objects of interest are secured to each arm and the shaft is rotated by a magnetic escapement mechanism. The mobile further includes an audio signal generating device which operates in conjunction with the rotation of the shaft.