A 60245/2021 issued by the Austrian Patent Office on the 21 Sep. 2021
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The present invention relates generally to electric and electronic music instruments, audio amplifiers and sound equipment. In particular, the invention relates to modular circuit bending and modding of electric and electronic instruments, audio amplifiers and sound equipment.
From the pickup to the speaker, the electromagnetic pulse of an electric or electronic instrument is shaped by each stage of the signal path. The basics of tone control circuitry are well known in the art and need not to be repeated here. It is enough to say that the tone character and sound is determined by the choice of the built-in electronic components of the instrument maker and audio designer.
The player of an electric instrument today is faced with a vast variety of instruments, amplifiers and musical devices. The wide range of products in the music industry ranges from the most complex devices to the simplest designs. However, the musician is limited either to be satisfied with the specific sound of a particular device or to purchase more models of music gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,761 discloses a “modular musical instrument amplification system” that allows the musician to add pre-amplification modules in order to achieve different sounds characters. However, this method has a narrow applicability due to the limitation that only the preamplifier modules are interchangeable and that many of the modules recreate the gain and tone profiles of popular traditional amplifiers.
US 2019/0051273 discloses a “modular musical instrument amplification system with adjustable input amplification stage response”. Although this method offers expanded sound possibilities, the choices are limited to the combinations of the existing built-in circuits.
Furthermore, a report at the Gitec Forum describes a “Modular Tube Guitar Amplifier” by Prof. Zollner, which provides a switchable selection for direct comparison between tubes, transformers, circuits and settings. Although this unit is capable of shaping the sound from the instrument input to the speaker, the choice is further limited by the built-in circuitry available. For example only Fender, Vox or Marshall “period-correct” tonestacks can be emulated. In addition, as mentioned at the end of the article, this experimental amplifier is not suitable for either the stage nor the studio due to the overly complicated transport and set-up. https://www.gitec-forum-eng.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/modular-tube-amplifier.pdf
Over the years, together with the development of the instrument and audio equipment industry, modding and circuit bending of this musical gear has received considerable attention, with the aim of either achieving “period-correct” historical sounds or developing new innovative tones.
According to the prior art, the bending of circuits would not be possible without technical intervention. Changing component values and adding or removing electronic parts wouldn't have been possible without soldering.
When modding equipment, bending circuits, and generally doing DIY work on the circuit, the results are obviously dependent on the electronic knowledge of the user. Without a professional build structure, such an intervention can very often lead to damaging the audio equipment. Moreover, by patching different audio modules, the lengthening of the signal path can cause sonic losses and interference, even if the wiring is done with high quality wires. According to the prior art the patch cables needed to be routed around the chassis of the musical gear from front to back and back to front regardless how big the piece of equipment was.
In accordance with the present invention, the limitations of the prior art are overcome by providing a method and system that allows the musician-user to mod and bend circuits in order to shape the tone, without the physical intervention in the electronic circuit of an electric and electronic music instruments, audio amplifier or sound equipment by soldering.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the modular modding system of an electric and electronic music instruments, audio amplifier or sound equipment includes:
Practically an unlimited selection of tone control modules are provided in the present invention, which are differentiated according to the following characteristics:
1) by type of electronic circuitry—instrument tone controls, gain section tone controls, tonestacks, power amp tone controls, passive or active equalizers, coupling capacitor selector, negative feedback adjustment, other sound design methods that are not connected to the signal path, period-correct, modern circuits or new circuits obtained by modding or circuit bending;
2) by audio connector options—the modules work with any conventional connectors or custom connectors can be produced;
3) by type of power supply—DC input jacks or battery connection option for active equalizers;
4) by the number of units—1, 2, 3 ore more unit modules;
5) according to the form of the module—different optimized geometrical forms and sizes.
Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, a multitude of insert options in the electronic circuit of the audio equipment are provided by the the modular modding system with insert possibilities after the instrument's pickup, before the preamp, in the preamp block, in the power amp, and at other locations that are not part of the signal path.
In addition, the variety of insertion options is expanded by the advantageous embodiment of the multiplier. To connect the tone control modules no installation is required. The modules can be swapped without turning the audio equipment on and off.
In addition to the great flexibility of the modular modding system comprising the modding structure, the multiplier and a large number of tone control modules, the system according to the present invention offers:
It is obvious that lengthening the signal path can cause sonic losses and interference, even if the wiring is done with high quality wires. According to the present invention, the audio equipments are provided with at least one front to rear orifice in the chassis which serves as a cable-tray to shield and shorten the signal path. The shape and size of the cross-section of the orifice-cable-tray is optimized as required and metal and/or ferrite core shields are used for interference suppression.
The term “modding” as used in the specification and claims refers to:
The figures are to be understood as illustrative and are not intended in any way to limit the scope of the invention.
It is the object of the present invention to offer the user a variety of modding options to reconfigure the tone controls of an instrument, amplifier or musical device. The parts that make up the present invention are as follows:
1) a plurality of modular modding structures 1, 2, 3, 4, 40, 41, 42;
2) multiple multiplier options 5, 6;
3) and a variety of tone control modules 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
In the first embodiment, modular modding structures 1, 2, 3 are provided right after the pickups 18, 19, 20 of the electric instrument, which are shown in three variations
According to the first embodiment,
In the second embodiment of
According to an aspect of the second embodiment, as shown in
In the third embodiment of
According to an aspect of the third embodiment as shown in
According to the third embodiment, in
The present invention refers to an advantageous embodiment of sound and audio equipment that is provided with at least one front to rear orifice in the chassis that serves as a cable-tray for the patch cables. The shape and size of the cross section of the orifice-cable-tray can be optimized according to the number of patch cables. The shielding of the orifice-cable-tray can be made of metal and/or ferrite. An exemplary embodiment is shown in
In the fourth embodiment, tone control modules 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are shown. Their functions and use are illustrated and can be grouped by:
1) position of audio modules in the tone chain: instrument tone controls 7, 8, 9, 10 after the instrument pickup 18, 19, 20; gain section tone controls 49 before preamp; tonestacks 50 in preamp block; power amp tone controls 51 in the power amplifier;
2) modules not connected to the signal path: other circuitry 52 for sound shaping options;
3) according to audio connector options—in the present invention 3.5 mm 21 and 6.35 mm 43, 44, 45, 47, stereo 21, 43, 45, 47 and mono 44 jack plugs are depicted, but other standard audio connectors may also be used be used;
4) passive 17 and active 16 equalizer modules with DC input jack 46 or battery connection option (not shown) for active equalizers;
5) according to number of units—“one knob” 7, 11, “two knob” 8, 12, “three knob” 9, 13 and/or multi-knob 10, 14;
6) different shapes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific preferred embodiments thereof, many variations and modifications will be readily apparent. For example, a modular modding structure could be associated with a fixed tone control of a “one knob” audio amplifier
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 60245/2021 | Sep 2021 | AT | national |