Constant Power Patents (Class 84/112)
  • Patent number: 4757737
    Abstract: A whistle synthesizer comprises a microphone, a housing, system electronics within the housing, and controls outside the housing. The player whistles into the microphone, the signals from which are processed to provide an instrument output signal suitable for communication to an external amplifier. The controls are located within easy reach of the player so that they may be manipulated all the while the player is whistling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1986
    Date of Patent: July 19, 1988
    Inventor: Ugo Conti
  • Patent number: 4656428
    Abstract: A step signal of which the period varies according to random data is derived from a step pulse generator, and is supplied to an address counter. By the output data from the address counter, an address of a waveform ROM is specified. From a waveform ROM, the waveform based on the random data is output in the form of a distorted waveform signal. Using this output signal of the distorted waveform, a cymbal sound, for example, is generated in a musical tone generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1987
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohisa Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 4493237
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electronic percussion-type musical instrument, such as an electronic piano, capable of producing electronically sounds simulating a piano, harpsichord or other keyboard percussion instrument. The keyboard is multiplexed to produce a serial time division multiplexed data stream having tri-level encoded signals in time slots corresponding to the keys, wherein the encoded signals indicate whether the key is undepressed, partially depressed or fully depressed. The amount of time for the key to travel in its undepressed to its fully depressed state is detected and a binary representation of the key velocity correlated to this timing is stored in a memory for readout synchronized with the scanning of the keyboard. In each time slot, a portion of the percussion envelope for the pertaining key is calculated and generated together with the discrete amplitude levels for the percussion envelope in a digital to analog conversion circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 1983
    Date of Patent: January 15, 1985
    Assignee: Kimball International, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles E. DeLong, Gary A. Eck
  • Patent number: 4444514
    Abstract: An apparatus for adapting an electric player piano to play the hours, simulating the chimes of a clock, can be attached to the piano without alterations to the piano of a permanent nature. The apparatus includes a clock for actuating the piano on each hour and a switch responsive to actuation of a predetermined note by the piano for producing a control signal for turning the piano off. A second switch, responding to actuation of a second predetermined note, produces a signal for suppressing striking of the hour during the night. A sensor block carrying one or more switches may be placed upon the keyboard for detecting depression of corresponding keys. In addition, a key may be maintained in a partially depressed condition to prevent its sounding when it is used to produce a chime control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1981
    Date of Patent: April 24, 1984
    Assignee: LYF Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: F. Cecil Grace
  • Patent number: 4256004
    Abstract: An electronic musical instrument is of a harmonic synthesis type and is provided with an order number memory device which stores a plurality of order numbers of the harmonic components necessary to form respective tone colors, an amplitude coefficient memory device which stores a plurality of sets of amplitude coefficients for the respective harmonic components corresponding to the respective order of numbers stored in the order number memory device, and a tone color selector which controls the order number memory device and the amplitude coefficient memory device, when a certain tone color is selected, for causing the respective memory devices to produce the order numbers and the amplitude coefficients of a set corresponding to the selected tone color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1979
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1981
    Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Chifumi Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 4149440
    Abstract: A polyphonic electronic musical instrument in which the complex signal delivered by the instrument is made up of successive samples.Each sample in the complex signal is the sum of the samples of the different harmonics of the various notes played, at the corresponding amplitudes. A device for scanning the keys and pedals comprises two or three counters which operate in association with one another to detect the number (i) of each played note out of the 12 or 13 notes in an octave, and also detect the number of the corresponding octave (n) and successively calculate the various samples of the harmonics of the note (i, n). The set of operations is performed in a sufficiently short time to produce notes of 6- 10 kHz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1977
    Date of Patent: April 17, 1979
    Inventor: Christian J. Deforeit
  • Patent number: 4145946
    Abstract: A sustained repeat control in a digital polyphonic synthesizer for gradually decreasing the amplitude of one or more notes generated repetitively in response to operation of a single key. The sustained repeat control includes a digital register storing a plurality of control words in digitally coded form, there being one control word assigned to each note being generated at any one time. Each word includes bits coded to indicate the current relative amplitude of the associated note. When a key is depressd, the control word or words for the note or notes assigned to that key have bits initialized to a predetermined value. When the key is released the amplitude values represented by the bits are counted down periodically. The bits in turn control the amplitude of the repetitively generated notes, a zero detector terminating the operation when the bits are decremented to zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1976
    Date of Patent: March 27, 1979
    Assignee: Kawai Musical Instrument Mfg. Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ralph Deutsch
  • Patent number: 4133241
    Abstract: Musical tone signals are produced in an electronic musical instrument by calculating the amplitudes at successive sample points of a complex waveshape and by delivering these calculated amplitudes one after another in time sequence. A recursive algorithm is implemented to calculate each amplitude, using one or more sets of parameters and also the calculated amplitudes for a plurality of the preceding sample points. This musical instrument can produce a variety of musical sounds which realistically simulate those of the various existing natural musical instruments including percussion instruments, simply by suitably determining the parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1976
    Date of Patent: January 9, 1979
    Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Niimi, Michiaki Kumaoka, Takashi Yamada
  • Patent number: 4129056
    Abstract: Pedal control circuits for use with an electronic musical instrument, such as a piano, which provide control functions analogous to the actions of a sustaining pedal, of a sustenuto pedal, and of a volume pedal of a conventional piano. Damper circuits operable in conjunction with a sustaining pedal provide an effect analogous to the action of the sustaining pedal in a conventional piano, a latching circuit actuated by depression of a sustenuto pedal operates in conjunction with the damper circuits in a manner analogous to the action of a sostenuto pedal in a conventional piano, and a volume pedal and associated circuitry is operative to determine the level of the output tones only at the moment of strike of the keys, an action analogous to that of the volume pedal in a conventional piano.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1978
    Inventors: Richard W. Jensen, Richard H. Peterson
  • Patent number: 4114498
    Abstract: An electronic musical instrument capable of changing a slope portion of a filter characteristic continuously from start to completion of production of a musical tone.The inventive electronic musical instrument changes a filter slope in a frequency region above or below a cut-off frequency with lapse of time and, in order to achieve such change in the filter slope, changes a slope factor continuously from start to completion of production of the tone. The instrument is also capable of changing the cut-off frequency.An example of a low-pass filter is shown in which a desired form of a successively changing filter slope can be obtained by employing four slope factor values and three values representing a speed of change of the slope factors as well as three cut-off frequency values and two values representing a speed of change of the cut-off frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1978
    Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masanobu Chibana, Tsuyoshi Futamase, Hideo Yamada
  • Patent number: 4095502
    Abstract: In an electronic musical instrument of the type having keys, a system for controlling the volume of the sound produced by the instrument when the keys are depressed or struck. For each key, the system comprises a tone generator, a gate coupled between the tone generator and the speaker of the instrument; and control means for producing a control signal having an amplitude which is a function of the speed at which its associated key is moved while being depressed. The control signal is applied to the gate to pass the output of the tone generator to the speaker and to control the volume of the sound produced by the speaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: June 20, 1978
    Assignee: Rhythm Band, Inc.
    Inventors: William T. Moore, Tadayaki Adachi
  • Patent number: 4014237
    Abstract: Apparatus for automatically detecting the pitch of individual notes of music represented in analog form by an electrical signal. The apparatus includes an arrangement of band-pass filters, connected in parallel, for receiving the electrical signal and passing selected portions thereof which contain the frequencies of the well-tempered scale. According to the invention, means are provided for varying the sensitivity of the pitch detecting apparatus in dependence upon the loudness of the notes to be detected to thereby inhibit the detection of harmonics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1975
    Date of Patent: March 29, 1977
    Inventor: Karl F. Milde, Jr.
  • Patent number: 3999457
    Abstract: This invention relates to a key system for electronic musical instruments, comprising a key circuit for forming control signals and control circuits for transmitting sound signals in response to the control signals. The key circuit produces the control signals in dependence on the position of a key and/or on elapsed time after depression of the key. Coupling means forming part of each control circuit modifies transient characteristics of the control signals whereby each control circuit can transmit notes in such a way that they each have a different build-up time. This enables the instrument to make a sound similar to that produced by a conventional non-electronic instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1974
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1976
    Inventor: Adolf Michel
  • Patent number: 3978754
    Abstract: This invention provides an electronic musical instrument comprising a keyboard circuit for producing a pitch determining voltage signal representing the note of an operated key, a voltage controlled oscillator for producing a tone signal having a tone pitch determined by the pitch determining voltage signal, and a voltage controlled lowpass filter for imparting a desired tone color to the tone signal. The voltage controlled lowpass filter is responsive to the pitch determining voltage signal from the keyboard circuit to control the cutoff frequency of the voltage controlled lowpass filter in such a manner that the harmonic content of a higher tone signal is decreased from that of a lower tone signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 1975
    Date of Patent: September 7, 1976
    Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takeshi Adachi
  • Patent number: 3973461
    Abstract: A selective distortion control circuit for an electrical musical instrument employs a cathode or emitter follower valve having a load resistance that is selectively changed to provide either a clean or distorted output signal. The mutually in-phase clean input and distorted output of the valve are connected to opposite sides of a potentiometer of which the wiper provides a selectively proportioned mixture of clean and distorted signals. The relative amount of distortion may be selected, and once selected, the operator may readily choose between clean and distorted sound by changing the load resistance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 1974
    Date of Patent: August 10, 1976
    Assignee: CBS Inc.
    Inventor: Edward R. Jahns
  • Patent number: 3937115
    Abstract: Disclosed is an electronic piano circuit arrangement which combines a multitude of different frequencies within a resistordiode matrix array. The resistor-diode coupling elements provide a different value impedance for various signals to be combined and the amplitude of the signals are predetermined to electronically produce a piano sound which substantially corresponds to the sound of an actual piano tone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1974
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1976
    Assignee: The Wurlitzer Company
    Inventor: James G. Staley
  • Patent number: 3935783
    Abstract: The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is directed to an electronic musical instrument of the keyboard type used to electronically reproduce piano sounds. The circuit has means to vary the amplitude of the piano voice in response to the velocity of the downward movement of the key. Means are provided for producing a fundamental square wave frequency and the second and fourth harmonics thereof, in response to the actuation of a given key on the keyboard. One circuit arrangement includes means for combining the fundamental frequency and the second and fourth harmonics in a predetermined time relation to produce the zero, attack, peak, and decay characteristics of a piano voice as actually produced by a piano string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1974
    Date of Patent: February 3, 1976
    Assignee: The Wurlitzer Company
    Inventors: William V. Machanian, Robert R. Williams
  • Patent number: RE31653
    Abstract: An electronic musical instrument is of a harmonic synthesis type and is provided with an order number memory device which stores a plurality of order numbers of the harmonic components necessary to form respective tone colors, an amplitude coefficient memory device which stores a plurality of sets of amplitude coefficients for the respective harmonic components corresponding to the respective order of numbers stored in the order number memory device, and a tone color selector which controls the order number memory device and the amplitude coefficient memory device, when a certain tone color is selected, for causing the respective memory devices to produce the order numbers and the amplitude coefficients of a set corresponding to the selected tone color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 28, 1984
    Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Chifumi Takeuchi