Fundamental Tone Detection Or Extraction Patents (Class 84/654)
  • Patent number: 7893339
    Abstract: Audio reproduction apparatus and method for controlling audio data reproduction in accordance with a user operation or input extracts a predetermined musical characteristic, such as a rhythm, melody, etc., from audio data and generates a time information string indicating reproduction timings. During the audio data reproduction, a user operation/input on the apparatus based on a sensor output can be detected to generate detection information indicating a user operation/input timing, and determine whether or not the user operation/input timing coincides with a corresponding one of the reproduction timings indicated by the time information string. A sound system can reproduce the audio data as is, if both timings coincide with each other. Otherwise, predetermined effects can be added to the audio data or the audio data can be manipulated during reproduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Hasebe
  • Patent number: 7885808
    Abstract: A pitch-estimation method, a pitch-estimation system, and a pitch-estimation program are provided, which estimate a weight of a probability density function of a fundamental frequency and relative amplitude of a harmonic component through fewer computations than ever. In the improved pitch-estimation method, 1200 log2 h and exp[?(x?(F+1200 log2 h))2/2W2] in the following expression are computed in advance and then stored in a memory of a computer: c ? ? ( t ) ? ( h ? F , m ) ? 1 2 ? ? ? ? W 2 ? exp ( - ( x - ( F + 1200 ? ? log 2 ? h ) ) 2 2 ? W 2 ) ( 61 ) The above expression is computed only with respect to a fundamental frequency F wherein x?(F+1200 log2 h) is close to zero. With this arrangement, computations to be performed may considerably be reduced, and computing time may accordingly be shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
    Inventor: Masataka Goto
  • Patent number: 7872188
    Abstract: Determining a plurality of heart rate sections for an individual, and selecting a plurality of songs, wherein each of the plurality of songs has an average beats per minute approximately equal to an average beats per minute of one of the plurality of heart rate sections, and playing the plurality of songs in a sequence on a song playing device. The plurality of songs includes a middle song, which has an average beats per minute which is greater than the average beats per minute of all of the other songs of the plurality of songs. The plurality of songs includes one or more preceding songs which precede the middle song, and each of which has an average beats per minute which is less than the average beats per minute of the middle song. The plurality of songs includes one or more succeeding songs which succeed the middle song, and each of which has an average beats per minute which is less than the average beats per minute of the middle song.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Inventor: Mariann Martin Willis
  • Patent number: 7842878
    Abstract: A system and method thereof for determining the musical key of a musical composition. The system includes a database of reference musical works, defined by both a root musical key and a note strength profile, and a musical key estimation system that detects the musical key of the musical compositing based on relationships between the note strength profiles of the reference works and the note strength profile of the musical composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2010
    Assignee: Mixed in Key, LLC
    Inventor: Yakov Vorobyev
  • Patent number: 7781664
    Abstract: The game apparatus stores music data which indicates at least a pitch of each of sounds which form a melody of a predetermined piece of music and an output timing to output each of the sounds. The game apparatus sequentially detects, among the sounds included in the music data, a target sound which is a sound an output timing of which comes after start of playing by the music data. In the case where a first input is performed when or after the output timing of the target sound comes, the game apparatus outputs the target sound. On the other hand, in the case where a second or later input is performed after the output timing of the target sound comes, the game apparatus determines a pitch of an ad-lib sound, and outputs the ad-lib sound at the determined pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Nintendo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazumi Totaka, Junya Osada
  • Patent number: 7777125
    Abstract: A “Music Mapper” automatically constructs a set coordinate vectors for use in inferring similarity between various pieces of music. In particular, given a music similarity graph expressed as links between various artists, albums, songs, etc., the Music Mapper applies a recursive embedding process to embed each of the graphs music entries into a multi-dimensional space. This recursive embedding process also embeds new music items added to the music similarity graph without reembedding existing entries so long a convergent embedding solution is achieved. Given this embedding, coordinate vectors are then computed for each of the embedded musical items. The similarity between any two musical items is then determined as either a function of the distance between the two corresponding vectors. In various embodiments, this similarity is then used in constructing music playlists given one or more random or user selected seed songs or in a statistical music clustering process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John Platt, Erin Renshaw, Max Chickering, Cormac Herley
  • Patent number: 7777122
    Abstract: An electronic device that receives a signal indicative of the sound made my a musical instrument in order to determine the instantaneous rate of play of melodic notes on that instrument in terms of notes played per second and display the rate in real time via a display. The regularity of the musician's rate of play is further indicated by the stability of the display reading. Individual sustained melodic notes are identified utilizing differential capacitance and circuit delay time constants to generate a voltage differential in response to a step signal. The device is also selectively operable as a conventional metronome to provide an exemplary sound cue to the musician corresponding to a given number of notes per second and convertible by a switch or foot pedal to monitor the musicians rate of play as he tries to match the demonstrated rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Inventors: Tobias Hurwitz, Howard Davis
  • Patent number: 7767897
    Abstract: Beat matching for two audio streams extracts beats from each, computes a conversion ratio from one stream to the other stream by an initial beat alignment plus a stability-maintaining beat alignment. A variable resampling converter or time scale modifier adjusts one stream to align beats with those of the other (reference) stream. Thus for cross-fading two music streams the beats of the fading-in stream can be matched to those of the fading-out stream for a seamless transition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Daniel S Jochelson, Stephen J Fedigan
  • Patent number: 7763789
    Abstract: The present invention relates to musical instrument tuners, more particularly to a tuner for providing tuning information regarding a musical instrument without making physical or electrical contact with the instrument. We describe a musical instrument tuner for providing tuning information for tuning a musical instrument, said musical instrument having a vibrating element, the tuner comprising: a light source for emitting light onto the said vibrating element; a light detector for detecting reflected light; an amplifier coupled to said light detector for amplifying a signal from said light detector; and tuning indication means coupled to said amplifier for providing tuning information responsive to said amplified signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Inventor: James Hastings Clark
  • Patent number: 7754958
    Abstract: A sound analysis apparatus stores sound source structure data defining a constraint on one or more of sounds that can be simultaneously generated by a sound source of an input audio signal. A form estimation part selects fundamental frequencies of one or more of sounds likely to be contained in the input audio signal with peaked weights from various fundamental frequencies during sequential updating and optimizing of weights of tone models corresponding to the various fundamental frequencies, so that the sounds of the selected fundamental frequencies satisfy the sound source structure data, and creates form data specifying the selected fundamental frequencies. A previous distribution imparting part imparts a previous distribution to the weights of the tone models corresponding to the various fundamental frequencies so as to emphasize weights corresponding to the fundamental frequencies specified by the form data created by the form estimation part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Masataka Goto, Takuya Fujishima, Keita Arimoto
  • Patent number: 7745718
    Abstract: A bibliographic-information impression word is generated from a bibliographic information segment about selected one of music pieces. An acoustic feature quantity of an audio signal representing the selected music piece is calculated. A feature-quantity impression word is generated from the calculated acoustic feature quantity. A degree of conformity between the bibliographic-information impression word and the feature-quantity impression word is determined. Both the bibliographic-information impression word and the feature-quantity impression word are selected as final impression words when the determined conformity degree is greater than a predetermined threshold value. One is selected from the bibliographic-information impression word and the feature-quantity impression word as a final impression word when the determined conformity degree is not greater than the predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaaki Makino, Ichiro Shishido
  • Patent number: 7732701
    Abstract: The electronic musical system comprises a keyboard that has a plurality of keys to designate the pitch, a key operation detector for detecting the operating state of the keyboard, set operator that can switch to the parameter setting state, parameter value input port to input the parameter values, pressed key count detector to detect the number of pressed keys, parameter setting program for setting the parameter value according to the pressed keys detected by the key operation detector. If one key being pressed is detected, then the parameter values are set to the value of the pressed key. If, however, multiple keys being pressed are detected, then the parameter values are set to the value of the multiple pressed keys and parameter output port outputs the parameter values that were set by the parameter setting program. The electronic musical instrument allows the user to intuitively set the parameter values with a effortless operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2010
    Assignee: Roland Corporation
    Inventors: Junichi Miki, Takahiro Sugizaki
  • Patent number: 7728216
    Abstract: A method for controlling a plurality of light sources. Control signals corresponding to notes of a music file are generated to enable selected ones of a plurality of receptacles to be powered. The plurality of receptacles comprises a first plurality of receptacles and a second plurality of receptacles, and the first plurality of receptacles are powered more frequently than the second plurality of receptacles. The plurality of receptacles is adapted to supply power to the plurality of light sources. A pleasing twinkling effect can be created even if light sources are not coupled to one of the plurality of receptacles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Mr. Christmas Incorporated
    Inventors: Terry Hermanson, Huang Meng-Suen
  • Patent number: 7678982
    Abstract: A device and method for automatic tuning of a string Instrument, in particular, a guitar, comprising a recording device, for recording a tone generated by striking a string and for the output of a digital signal corresponding to the recorded tone, a memory device for storage of given digital signals which correspond to a desired tone, a comparator device for comparison of the digital signal output by the recording device with a digital signal corresponding to the desired tone stored in the memory device, an adjuster device for altering the tension of the strings, at least one actuator, for operating the adjuster device, a controller connected to the comparator device, which controls the at least one actuator using a bus line, by means of a difference determined in the comparator device between the signals representing the generated tone and the desired tone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Tectus Anstalt
    Inventor: Christopher Adams
  • Patent number: 7671266
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to speech therapy and voice training methods. A system is provided which utilizes tonal and rhythm visualization components to allow a person to “see” their words as they attempt to improve or regain their ability to speak clearly. The system is also applicable to vocal music instruction and allows students improve their singing abilities by responding to visual feedback which incorporates both color and shape. The system may comprise a step-by-step instruction method, live performance abilities, and recording and playback features. Certain embodiments incorporate statistical analysis of student progress, remote access for teacher consultation, and video games for enhancing student interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Master Key, LLC
    Inventor: Kenneth R. Lemons
  • Patent number: 7672466
    Abstract: An audio signal processing apparatus includes a splitting unit for splitting an audio signal of a first system and another audio signal of a second system into pluralities of frequency band components, a level comparing unit for calculating a level ratio or a level difference between each of the frequency bands of the first system and each of the frequency bands of the second systems, and an output control unit for removing frequency band components whose level ratio or level difference calculated by the level comparing unit is equal and substantially equal to a predetermined value from at least one of the first and second systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Yamada, Koyuru Okimoto
  • Patent number: 7667125
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices are described for automatically converting audio input signal data into musical score representation data. Embodiments of the invention identify a change in frequency information from the audio signal that exceeds a first threshold value; identify a change in amplitude information from the audio signal that exceeds a second threshold value; and generate a note onset event, each note onset event representing a time location in the audio signal of at least one of an identified change in the frequency information that exceeds the first threshold value or an identified change in the amplitude information that exceeds the second threshold value. The generation of note onset events and other information from the audio input signal may be used to extract note pitch, note value, tempo, meter, key, instrumentation, and other score representation information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2010
    Assignee: MuseAmi, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert D. Taub, J. Alexander Cabanilla
  • Patent number: 7615701
    Abstract: A method for keying human voice audio frequency includes the steps of setting the human factor of the singer; recording the singing of the singer; calculating the audio frequency by an audio frequency counter; recording the maximum ground frequency by the recorder; estimating a maximum fundamental audio frequency thereof by the diapason estimator; and converting the maximum fundamental audio frequency into musical terminology, the best audio frequency of the singer being determined. The method for keying human voice audio frequency is very easy and fast.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2009
    Assignee: Tiao-Pin Cultural Enterprise Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Wen-Hsin Lin
  • Patent number: 7582824
    Abstract: There is provided a tempo detection apparatus capable of detecting, from the acoustic signal of a human performance of a musical piece having a fluctuating tempo, the average tempo of the entire piece of music and the correct beat positions, and further, the meter of the musical piece and the position of the first beat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
    Inventor: Ren Sumita
  • Patent number: 7498505
    Abstract: A game apparatus includes an operating switch and a microphone. A player operates a player object through intuition by the operating switch or inputting a sound. The number of zero crossings contained in waveform of a sound input through the microphone is detected, and also individual interval times between the zero crossings are detected. Then, it is determined whether or not the distribution of the interval times, i.e. the frequency distribution matches the distribution of interval times (frequency distribution) related to a breath sound stored in advance. If there is a match between the two, the input sound is recognized as a breath sound, and a game process based on the breath (wind) is carried out. For example, a game screen depicting the breath or wind is displayed on an LCD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: Nintendo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Taro Bando, Daiki Iwamoto, Koichi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 7485797
    Abstract: When a first bar-division determination section determines that the bass note changes in a bar or when a second bar-division determination section determines that the degree of change in the chord in the bar is large, a chord-name determination section divides the bar and detects chords. This operation allows correct chords to be detected even when the chord changes within a bar, while the bass note is maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
    Inventor: Ren Sumita
  • Patent number: 7470851
    Abstract: An electronic stringed instrument is provided where the value of a pitch that has been currently detected and the value of a pitch that has been stored are compared. A determination is made as to whether or not the pitch has dropped roughly a half tone. In those cases where the currently detected pitch has dropped roughly a half tone from the pitch detected a specified period earlier, a tone generator begins the attenuation of a musical tone that is generated and the note height of the musical tone is controlled so that the note height does not change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Roland Corporation
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Haga
  • Patent number: 7446252
    Abstract: A music information calculation apparatus recognizing a structure of a piece of music based on an acoustic signal. The apparatus includes: an acoustic signal input for inputting the acoustic signal of the piece of music; an acoustic parameter calculator for calculating, using the acoustic signal, at least a first acoustic parameter indicating a volume of the piece of music; an inflection degree calculator for calculating, using at least the first acoustic parameter, an inflection degree indicating an inflection of the piece of music; a story node calculator for calculating, using at least the first acoustic parameter, a story node representing a time at which a formation of the piece of music changes; and a story information calculator for calculating, as story information indicating at least a correspondence between the story node having been calculated and the inflection degree obtained at the time represented by the story node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Tagawa, Hiroaki Yamane
  • Patent number: 7378587
    Abstract: MIDI compression and decompression methods that reduce the size of a standard MIDI file and maintains information to play the MIDI music. The exemplary method of the invention makes use of the high correlation and repetitions between a look-ahead MIDI event and previous set of MIDI events. An adjustable size Lempel-Ziv-like MIDI Event Search Window (MESW) is created during the compression and decompression process to allow searching of matched events or event elements in previous window size of MIDI events. Further reduction of the MIDI events can be made by discarding the matched events in the event search window. Therefore, with 4-bit of MIDI event search window, the number of MIDI events stored in the window can be more than 16.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2008
    Assignee: VTech Telecommunications Limited
    Inventor: Han Peng (Henry) Chang
  • Patent number: 7353167
    Abstract: A system and method for creating a ring tone for an electronic device takes as input a phrase sung in a human voice and transforms it into a control signal controlling, for example, a ringer on a cellular telephone. Time-varying features of the input signal are analyzed to segment the signal into a set of discrete notes and assigning to each note a chromatic pitch value. The set of note start and stop times and pitches are then translated into a format suitable for controlling the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2008
    Assignee: Nellymoser, Inc.
    Inventors: John Puterbaugh, Eric J. Puterbaugh, Peter Velikonja, Robert Baxter
  • Patent number: 7348482
    Abstract: A nibble stream containing MIDI music data words and synchronous nibbles and an external audio signal are selectively converted to an audio-frequency signal, which in turn is converted to a set of PCM codes for storing it in a compact disc; and the audio frequency signal, which is demodulated from the PCM data codes, is analyzed to see which is the origin of the audio frequency signal on the basis of the signal level and what sort of modulation technique was employed on the basis of features of the audio frequency signal such as peak-to-peak intervals and similarity to reference waveforms so that the nibble stream or the external audio signal is exactly reproduced from the audio frequency signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Jun Ishii, Takashi Tamaki
  • Patent number: 7346500
    Abstract: A system and method for creating a ring tone for an electronic device takes as input a phrase sung in a human voice and transforms it into a control signal controlling, for example, a ringer on a cellular telephone. Time-varying features of the input signal are analyzed to segment the signal into a set of discrete notes and assigning to each note a chromatic pitch value. The set of note start and stop times and pitches are then translated into a format suitable for controlling the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Nellymoser, Inc.
    Inventors: John D. Puterbaugh, Eric J. Puterbaugh, Peter Velikonja, Robert A. Baxter
  • Patent number: 7309827
    Abstract: An electronic musical instrument provides a player with an assisted performance to offer him/her the pleasure of performing on a musical instrument, and to help him/her in practicing the electronic musical instrument on which a tone pitch of a musical tone to be generated is determined in accordance with the operation of a combination of performance operators, as in the case of a wind instrument such as a trumpet. A number of operating modes are provided to allow the player to independently practice their ability with respect to one or more performance operators or to simply play the electronic musical instrument without an assisted performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2007
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Shinya Sakurada
  • Patent number: 7230176
    Abstract: In one aspect thereof this invention provides a method to estimate pitch in an acoustic signal. The method includes initializing a function ƒt and a time t, where t=0, x?0=ƒ0(F0), x?0 is a pitch estimate at time zero and F0 is a frequency of the acoustic signal at time zero; determining at least one pitch estimate using the function x?t=ƒt(Ft) by an iterative process of creating ƒt+1(Ft+1) based at least partly on pitch estimates x?t, x?t?1, x?t?2, x?t?3, . . . , and functions ƒt(Ft), ƒt?1(Ft?1), ƒt?2(Ft?2), ƒt?3(Ft?3) . . . and incrementing t; and calculating at least one final pitch estimate. Embodiments of this invention can be applied to pitch extraction with various different input acoustic signal characteristics, such as just intonation, pitch shift in the frequency domain, and non-12-step-equal-temperament tuning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: Timo Antero Kosonen
  • Patent number: 7112738
    Abstract: An electronic musical instrument which can realize a choking effect by a simple operation. The electronic musical instrument is constructed such that a neck provided with a fingerboard is fixed to a body. A plurality of (twelve) fret operating elements are provided for each of six sounding channels. The body is provided with a string input section and an arm, and six stringed operating elements are provided for the respective sounding channels. For each sounding channel, a tone generator generates a musical tone at a pitch determined by the corresponding fret operating element and in sounding timing determined by the corresponding stringed operating element. When the arm is operated, a CPU provides control to apply a choking effect to a musical tone for a sounding channel, in which the musical tone is being sounded, by raising the pitch of the musical tone by a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Seiichi Hyakutake, Junichi Mishima
  • Patent number: 7065416
    Abstract: In connection with a classification system for classifying media entities that merges perceptual classification techniques and digital signal processing classification techniques for improved classification of media entities, a system and methods are provided for automatically classifying and characterizing melodic movement properties of media entities. Such a system and methods may be useful for the indexing of a database or other storage collection of media entities, such as media entities that are audio files, or have portions that are audio files. The methods also help to determine media entities that have similar, or dissimilar as a request may indicate, melodic movement by utilizing classification chain techniques that test distances between media entities in terms of their properties. For example, a neighborhood of songs may be determined within which each song has similar melodic movement properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher B. Weare, Jeffrey S. Hoekman
  • Patent number: 7012186
    Abstract: A pitch detection method and appartus are provided. The pitch detection method includes anlyzing an externally input digital signal into frequency components and detecting a pitch candidate based on the frequency components; comparing an error range for the pitch candidate with an error range, which is calculated using the error range or the result of performing autocorrelation on an autocorrelation range, which is calculated using the error range for the pitch candidate, permorming autocorrelation on the digital signal in a predetermined time range when the error range for the result of autocorrelation is less than or equal to the range for the pitch candidate; and determining a pitch within an intersection between a frequency range obtained using frequency analysis and a frequency range, in which an autocorrelation value is largest, as a final pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: Amusetec Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Doill Jung, Hunseok Seo
  • Patent number: 6995311
    Abstract: An invention using a data processing system, herein called the Pitch Processing System, comprising a Pitch Processing Module, a User Control Module, a transducer, software, and signal processing techniques integrated into an electric stringed musical instrument. The system automatically and dynamically provides pitch alteration of the instrument without requiring human or electromechanical intervention to physically change string tension. The system corrects unintentional pitch drift and intonation errors, and provides intentional pitch altering techniques for temperament changes, altered tuning styles, and pitch bending. The result is a pitch altered signal output from the instrument. Embodiments herein include a variety of input/output signal configurations for both analog and digital interfaces to support maximum flexibility of the Pitch Processing System.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Inventor: Alexander J. Stevenson
  • Patent number: 6982377
    Abstract: A time scale modification method employs separate bands obtained through an analysis polyphase filter bank with separate time-scale modification processing for the bands. The outputs are combined using a synthesis filter bank. Some constraints are imposed on the time-scale modification processing, such a limitation of the range of overlap adjustment values for bands other than the greatest energy band, to eliminate noise due to aliasing and inter-channel phase mismatch. This invention produces output quality considerably higher than conventional time-domain time-scale modification methods for general music signals with computational requirements comparable to those of conventional time-domain time-scale modification methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Atsuhiro Sakurai, Steven Trautmann, Daniel L. Zelazo
  • Patent number: 6945784
    Abstract: Generating a pitched musical part from an electronic music file comprised of instrumental parts includes generating a control stream that indicates which of the instrumental parts has a highest value for a period of time, selecting one of the instrumental parts for the period of time based on the control stream, and outputting the selected instrumental part for the period of time to produce the musical part. Generating a non-pitched musical part from an electronic music file includes identifying patterns in the electronic music file and selectively combining the patterns to produce the musical part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Namco Holding Corporation
    Inventors: John Paquette, Robert Ferry
  • Patent number: 6930236
    Abstract: An apparatus for analyzing music based on sound information of instruments is provided. The apparatus uses sound information of instruments or the sound information and score information in order to analyze digital sounds. The sound information of instruments performed to generate digital sounds is previously stored by pitches and strengths so that monophonic notes and polyphonic notes performed by the instruments can be easily analyzed. In addition, by using the sound information, of instruments and score information together, input digital sounds can be accurately analyzed and can be detected in the form of quantitative data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Amusetec Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Doill Jung
  • Patent number: 6881890
    Abstract: A vibration signal (e.g. a human voice) is generated at a desired pitch corresponding to a tone pitch of a musical tone desired to be generated, and is input via a microphone. The pitch of the input vibration signal and an amplitude (volume) level thereof are detected. When an amplitude level equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold level has been detected but the pitch has not been detected yet, an instruction of generation of a noise tone is issued thereby to generate the noise tone. Thereafter, when a certain pitch is detected, a musical tone is generated at a pitch determined according to the detected pitch. In this way, a noise tone is generated during a delay in pitch detection, and a delay in response at the start of sounding is absorbed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Shinya Sakurada
  • Patent number: 6864413
    Abstract: An ensemble system reproduces a performance on an automatic player piano expressed by a set of MIDI music data codes in ensemble with another performance recorded in a compact disc in the form of audio data codes; the ensemble system firstly determines the pitch of the fundamental tone produced through vibrations of a string, then searching the audio data codes for a corresponding tone, calculating a ratio between the pitch of the fundamental tone and the pitch of the corresponding tone, and determining a data read-out speed for the audio data codes; while the MIDI data codes are being supplied to the automatic player piano, the audio data codes are transferred to a speaker system at a speed equal to the product between the standard speed and the ratio so that the piano tones are well harmonized with the electronic tones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shiiya
  • Publication number: 20040221710
    Abstract: The tone pitch of a given tone waveform is detected by forming an envelope waveform of the given tone waveform, holding the level of the envelope waveform at each of the zero cross times of the given tone waveform and releasing such holding starting new holding when the level of the given tone waveform exceeds the held level of the envelope waveform, and determining the pitch of the given tone waveform based on the period between the adjacent zero cross times, A correction target note pitch is provided, to which the detected tone pitch of the given tone waveform is corrected. The detected tone pitch, the correction target note pitch and the amount of correction are exhibited for the user to visually understand the pitch correction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2004
    Publication date: November 11, 2004
    Inventor: Toru Kitayama
  • Publication number: 20040159220
    Abstract: A pitch detection method and appartus are provided.The pitch detection method includes anlyzing an externally input digital signal into frequency components and detecting a pitch candidate based on the frequency components ;comparing an error range for the pitch candidate with an error range which is calculated using the error range or the result of performing autocorrelation on an autocorrelation range, which is calculated using the error range for the pitch candidate, permorming autocorrelation on the digital signal in a predetermined time range when the error range for the result of autocorrelation is less than or equal to the range for the pitch candidate: and detrmining a pitch within an intersection between a frequency range obtained using frequency analysis and a frequency range, in which an autocorrelation value is largest, as a final pitch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2004
    Publication date: August 19, 2004
    Inventors: Doill Jung, Hunseok Seo
  • Patent number: 6747201
    Abstract: A method and system for extracting melodic patterns by first recognizing musical “keywords” or themes. The invention searches for all instances of melodic (intervallic) repetition in a piece (patterns). This process generally uncovers a large number of patterns, many of which are either uninteresting or are only superficially prevalent. Filters reduce the number and/or prevalence of such patterns. Patterns are then rated according to characteristics deemed perceptually significant. The top ranked patterns correspond to important thematic or motivic musical content. The system operates robustly across a broad range of styles, and relies on no metadata on its input, allowing it to independently and efficiently catalog multimedia data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of Michigan
    Inventors: William P. Birmingham, Colin J. Meek
  • Publication number: 20030145714
    Abstract: A software solution to the pitch limitations inherent in the MIDI standard. The invention uses the Polyphonic Aftertouch (also known as “Key Aftertouch”) messages available in the basic MIDI standard to retune selected notes, according to the following process: First, a standard note lying on the Western scale is played. Then, a Polyphonic Aftertouch signal is immediately sent to shift the pitch of the standard note to transform it into a non-standard note. The Polyphonic Aftertouch message follows immediately behind the Note On message and pitch value creating the standard note. Thus, the standard note only sounds for about 960 microseconds. The shortest temporal resolution of the human ear is approximately 2-3 milliseconds. As a result, the human ear does not hear the first standard note, since it does not sound for a sufficient length of time. The human ear only perceives the pitch shifted note.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2003
    Publication date: August 7, 2003
    Inventor: Ahmed Shawky Moussa
  • Patent number: 6541691
    Abstract: A method for generating accompaniment to a musical presentation, the method comprising steps of providing a note-based code representing musical information corresponding to the musical presentation, generating a code sequence corresponding to new melody lines by using said note-based code as an input for a composing method, and providing accompaniment on the basis of the code sequence corresponding to new melody lines. Providing the note-based code representing the musical information comprises steps of receiving the musical information in the form of an audio signal, and applying an audio-to-notes conversion to the audio signal for generating the note-based code representing the musical information, the audio-to-notes conversion comprising the steps of estimating fundamental frequencies of the audio signal for obtaining a sequence of fundamental frequencies, and detecting note events on the basis of the sequence of fundamental frequencies for obtaining the note-based code.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Oy Elmorex Ltd.
    Inventors: Tero Tolonen, Ville Pulkki
  • Publication number: 20020007724
    Abstract: A data modifying apparatus having: a memory that stores modification data for modifying data; a detecting unit for detecting each data group from performance data, the data group being unable to be reproduced at the same time from the viewpoint of music; and a modifying unit for modifying the data group detected by the detecting unit to divide the data group into a plurality of sub-data groups capable of being reproduced at the same time from the viewpoint of music, by using the modification data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2001
    Publication date: January 24, 2002
    Applicant: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Akira Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 6140568
    Abstract: A system and method for automatically detecting and identifying a plurality of frequencies simultaneously present in an audio signal, as well as the duration, amplitude, and phase of those frequencies, then filtering out harmonic components to determine which frequencies are fundamentals. The system includes a computer readable medium of instruction code that decomposes the signal into its component sine waves by computing and comparing correlations between the input signal and sine waves at various phase and amplitude combinations. The system also employs several optimization and error correction routines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Innovative Music Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph Louis Kohler
  • Patent number: 6124544
    Abstract: A method for detecting the pitch of a musical signal comprising the steps of receiving the musical signal, identifying an active portion of the musical signal, identifying a periodic portion of the active portion of the musical signal, and determining a fundamental frequency of the periodic portion of the musical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2000
    Assignee: Lyrrus Inc.
    Inventors: John Stern Alexander, Themistoclis George Katsianos
  • Patent number: 6002080
    Abstract: There are provided a plurality of keys for designating a pitch and a plurality of sensors for detecting operating states of the keys. Main pitch determination section identifies respective ON/OFF states of the keys on the basis of output values from the sensors to thereby determines a performed pitch. When the output value from the sensor, corresponding to a particular one of the keys determined to be in the ON or OFF state, presents a predetermined intermediate value, a subsidiary pitch determination section determines another pitch on the basis of predetermined assumptive ON/OFF states of the keys. The assumptive ON/OFF states are similar to the ON/OFF states of the keys identified by the main pitch determination section except that the ON or OFF state of the particular key is inverted to the OFF or ON state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1999
    Assignee: Yahama Corporation
    Inventor: So Tanaka
  • Patent number: 5998725
    Abstract: A musical sound synthesizer generates a predetermined singing sound based on performance data. A compression device determines whether each of a plurality of phonemes forming the predetermined singing sound is a first phoneme to be sounded in accordance with a note-on signal indicative of a note-on of the performance data, and compresses a rise time of the first phoneme when the first phoneme is sounded in accordance with occurrence of the note-on signal of the performance data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1999
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Ohta
  • Patent number: 5942709
    Abstract: An audio apparatus extracts information of a musical performance from an acoustic signal having a frequency and an amplitude, which time-vary during the musical performance. In the audio apparatus, a filtering device has a plurality of filters which are set with different cutoff frequencies so as to pass different frequency ranges of the acoustic signal. A pitch detecting device is connected to the filtering device for processing the acoustic signal to detect therefrom a pitch. A controlling device operates according to the detected pitch fed back from the pitch detecting device for selecting one of the filters set with one of the different cutoff frequencies adapted to the pitch of the acoustic signal so that the pitch detecting device can detect the pitch based on the acoustic signal filtered by the selected filter. Further, the envelope detecting device has a plurality of envelope followers corresponding to the plurality of the filters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1999
    Assignees: Blue Chip Music GmbH, Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Andreas Szalay
  • Patent number: 5929360
    Abstract: There is provided a method of determining the pitch in string instruments that are excited by plucking or striking, wherein a vibration of a string is converted by a transducer into an electrical signal and the electrical signal is evaluated.Up to now, the transducers have primarily been electromagnetic transducers for which a plurality of evaluation algorithms and methods are available. Now however, one also wants to be able to use pressure transducers without having to use new evaluation algorithms and methods.To this end, a pressure transducer is used as the transducer and the electrical signal is subjected to differentiation with respect to time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignees: BlueChip Music GmbH, Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Andreas Szalay