Patent Grant
8609972
The present application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-156416, file Jul. 9, 2010, and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a performance apparatus and an electronic musical instrument, which generate musical tones, when held and swung by a player with his or her hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic musical instrument has been proposed, which comprises an elongated member of a stick type with a sensor provided therein, and generates musical tones when the sensor detects a movement of the elongated member. Particularly, in the electronic musical instrument, the elongated member of a stick type has a shape of a drumstick and is constructed so as to generate musical tones as if percussion instruments generate sounds in response to player's motion of striking drums and/or Japanese drums.
For instance, Patent Gazette No. 2,663,503 discloses a performance apparatus, which is provided with an acceleration sensor in its stick-type member, and generates a musical tone when a certain period of time has lapsed after an output (acceleration-sensor value) from the acceleration sensor reaches a predetermined threshold value.
In the performance apparatus disclosed in Patent Gazette No. 2,663,503, generation of musical tones is simply controlled based on the acceleration-sensor values of the stick-type member and therefore, the performance apparatus has a drawback that it is not easy for a player to change musical tones as he or she desires.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent No. 2007-256736 A discloses an apparatus, which is capable of generating musical tones having plural tone colors. The apparatus is provided with a geomagnetic sensor in addition to an acceleration sensor, and detects an orientation of a stick-type member based on a sensor value obtained by the geomagnetic sensor, selecting based on the detected orientation one from among plural tone colors of musical tones.
When a player holds and swings a stick type member, the member moves in various ways depending on the position where the member is initially held by the player or movement of the player's armor wrist. The present invention has an object to provide a performance apparatus and an electronic musical instrument, which allow the player to change a musical-tone composing element of musical tones to be generated as his or her desired by the manner in which he or she swings the stick type member down.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a performance apparatus used with musical-tone generating equipment for generating musical tones, the apparatus, which comprises a holding member extending in an longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand, a first acceleration sensor provided in a head portion of the holding member, for obtaining a first acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, a second acceleration sensor provided in other portion of the holding member, for obtaining a second acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, wherein the other portion of the holding member is a portion opposite to the base portion of the holding member, and a controlling unit for giving the musical-tone generating equipment an instruction of generating a musical tone, wherein the controlling unit comprises a sound-generation instructing unit for obtaining a timing for a sound generation base on at least one of the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor and for giving an instruction of generating a musical tone to the musical-tone generating equipment at the obtained timing, an operation-mode determining unit for determining an operation mode corresponding to an operation of the holding member base on the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor, and a musical-tone composing element determining unit for determining a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the operation mode determined by the operation-mode determining unit.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a performance apparatus used with musical-tone generating equipment for generating musical tones, the apparatus, which comprises a holding member extending in an longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand, a first acceleration sensor provided in a head portion of the holding member, for obtaining a first acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, a second acceleration sensor provided in a base portion of the holding member, for obtaining a second acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, wherein the base portion of the holding member is a portion opposite to the head portion of the holding member, and a controlling unit for giving the musical-tone generating equipment an instruction of generating a musical tone, wherein the controlling unit comprises a sound-generation instructing unit for obtaining a timing for a sound generation based on at least one of the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor and for giving an instruction of generating a musical tone to the musical-tone generating equipment at the obtained timing, an operation-mode determining unit for determining an operation mode corresponding to an operation of the holding member based on the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor, and a musical-tone composing element determining unit for determining a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the operation mode determined by the operation-mode determining unit.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic musical instrument, which comprises a performance apparatus and a musical instrument unit provided with a musical-tone generating unit for generating musical tones, wherein both the performance apparatus and the musical instrument unit have a communication unit, and the performance apparatus comprises a holding member extending in an longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand, a first acceleration sensor provided in a head portion of the holding member, for obtaining a first acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, a second acceleration sensor provided in a base portion of the holding member, for obtaining a second acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, wherein the base portion of the holding member is a portion opposite to the head portion of the holding member, and a controlling unit for giving an instruction of generating a musical tone to the musical-tone generating unit of the musical instrument unit, wherein the controlling unit comprises a sound-generation instructing unit for obtaining a timing for a sound generation based on at least one of the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor and for giving an instruction of generating a musical tone to the musical-tone generating unit at the obtained timing, an operation-mode determining unit for determining an operation mode corresponding to an operation of the holding member based on the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor, and a musical-tone composing element determining unit for determining a musical-tone composing element of a musical tone to be generated, based on the operation mode determined by the operation-mode determining unit.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a performance apparatus used with tone generating equipment for generating tones, which comprises a holding member extending in an longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand, a first acceleration sensor provided in a head portion of the holding member, for obtaining a first acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, a second acceleration sensor provided in a base portion of the holding member, for obtaining a second acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively, wherein the base portion of the holding member is a portion opposite to the head portion of the holding member; and a controlling unit for giving the tone generating equipment an instruction of generating a tone, wherein, the controlling unit comprises a sound-generation instructing unit for obtaining a timing for a sound generation based on at least one of the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor and for giving an instruction of generating a tone to the tone generating equipment at the obtained timing, an operation-mode determining unit for determining an operation mode corresponding to an operation of the holding member based on the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor, and a tone composing element determining unit for determining a tone composing element of a tone to be generated, based on the operation mode determined by the operation-mode determining unit.
a, 3b and 3c are views schematically showing movements of the performance apparatus swung by a player in the first embodiment of the invention.
a and 4b are views schematically showing movements of the performance apparatus swung by the player in the first embodiment of the invention.
a and
a is a view showing an example of a pitch table, which associates ranges of the difference values θd with pitches of musical tones.
b is a view schematically showing a relationship between the pitches and directions, in which the performance apparatus is swung.
Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in detail.
The I/F 13 of the musical instrument unit 19 serves to receive data (for instance, a note-on event) from the performance apparatus 11 to store the received data in RAM 15 and to give notice of receipt of such data to CPU 12. In the present embodiment, the performance apparatus 11 is provided with an infrared communication device 24 at the edge of the base and the I/F 13 of the musical instrument unit 19 is also provided with an infrared communication device 33. The infrared communication device 33 of I/F 13 receives infrared light generated by the infrared communication device 24 of the performance device 11, whereby the musical instrument unit 19 can receive data from the performance apparatus 11.
CPU 12 controls whole operation of the electronic musical instrument 10. In particular, CPU 12 serves to perform various processes including a controlling operation of the musical instrument unit 19, a detecting operation of a manipulated state of key switches (not shown) in the input unit 17 and a generating operation of musical tones based on note-on events received through I/F 13.
ROM 14 stores programs for executing various processes, wherein the processes include a process for controlling the whole operation of the electronic musical instrument 10, a process for controlling the operation of the musical instrument unit 19, a process for detecting the operated state of the key switches (not shown) in the input unit 17, and a process for generating musical tones based on note-on events received through I/F 13. ROM 14 has a waveform-data area for storing waveform data of various tone colors, including waveform data of wind instruments such as flutes, saxes and trumpets, waveform data of keyboard instruments such as pianos, waveform data of string instruments such as guitars, and waveform data of percussion instruments such as bass drums, high-hats, snare drums and cymbals.
RAM 15 serves to store programs read from ROM 14 and to store data and parameters generated during the course of the executed process. The data generated in the process includes the manipulated state of the switches in the input unit 17 and sensor values received through I/F 13.
The displaying unit 16 has, for example, a liquid crystal displaying device (not shown) and is able to display a selected tone color and contents of a tone-color table, wherein the tone-color table associates operation modes (to be described later) with tone colors of musical tones, respectively. The input unit 17 includes various switches (not shown).
The sound system 18 comprises a sound source unit 31, an audio circuit 32 and a speaker 35. Upon receipt of an instruction from CPU 12, the sound source unit 31 reads waveform data from the waveform-data area of ROM 14 to generate and output musical-tone data. The audio circuit 32 converts the musical-tone data supplied from the sound source unit 31 into an analog signal and amplifies the analog signal to output the amplified signal from the speaker 35, whereby musical tones are output from the speaker 35.
The player generates a parallel movement of a stick or a rotational movement of the stick with the center at the player's wrist, by gripping a portion (for example, the base 201) of the stick and swinging the stick.
a is a view for explaining the first operation mode in the first embodiment of the invention. In
a is a view showing the parallel movement of the performance apparatus 11, wherein the player holds the performance apparatus 11 and stretched his or her arm forwards to move the performance apparatus 11 forwards. As shown in
b is a view for explaining the second operation mode. In
c is a view for explaining the third operation mode. In
a and 4b are views for explaining the fourth operation mode.
b is a view showing a rotational movement of the performance apparatus 11, wherein the player holds around the middle of the performance apparatus 11 and turns his or her wrist with the fulcrum at his or her elbow to rotate the performance apparatus 11. As shown in
In the first embodiment, it is judged depending on the orientation and magnitude of the vector in the X-axis, in which operation mode the performance apparatus 11 has been operated. This judgment will be described later, again.
In the present embodiment, the acceleration sensors 22, 23 are able to obtain components of the acceleration-sensor values of the base and head of the performance apparatus 11 along the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis (in
As shown in
ROM 25 stores various process programs for obtaining acceleration-sensor values in the performance apparatus 11, detecting of sound-generation timings of musical tones in accordance with the acceleration-sensor values, determining the tone color of musical tones in accordance with the operation mode, producing a note-on event, and controlling a sending operation of the note-on event through I/F 27 and the infrared communication device 24. RAM 26 stores values produced and/or obtained in the process such as acceleration-sensor values, and tone-color tables to be described later, wherein the tone color table associates tone colors with the operation modes. In accordance with an instruction from CPU 21, data is supplied to the infrared communication device 24 through I/F 27. The input unit 28 includes various switches (not shown).
After performing the initializing process at step 601, CPU 21 obtains a sensor value (first acceleration-sensor value) of the first acceleration sensor 22 and a sensor value (second acceleration-sensor value) of the second acceleration sensor 23, and stores the obtained sensor values in RAM 26 at step 602. As described above, the acceleration sensors 22, 23 in the present embodiment are the 3-dimensional sensors, and therefore, both the obtained first and second acceleration-sensor value include the components of the acceleration-sensor value in the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis, respectively.
Then, CPU 21 performs a sound-generation timing detecting process at step 603.
CPU 21 judges at step 703 whether or not the acceleration flag in RAM 26 has been set to “0”. When it is determined YES at step 703, CPU 21 judges at step 704 whether or not the sensor-combined value is larger than a value of (1+a) G, where “a” is a positive fine constant. For example, if “a” is “0.05”, CPU 21 judges whether or not the sensor-combined value is larger than a value of 1.05 G. In the case it is determined YES at step 703, this means that the performance apparatus 11 is swung by the player and the sensor-combined value has increased larger than the gravity acceleration of “1G”. The value of “a” is not limited to “0.05”. On the assumption that “a”=0, it is possible to judge at step 704 whether or not the sensor-combined value is larger than a value corresponding to the gravity acceleration “1G”.
When it is determined YES at step 704, CPU 21 sets a value of “1” to the acceleration flag in RAM 26 (step 705). Further, CPU 21 initializes a variation Da of the first acceleration-sensor value in RAM 26 to a value of “0” and a variation Db of the second acceleration-sensor value in RAM 26 to a value of “0” at step 706. When it is determined NO at step 704, then the sound-generation timing detecting process terminates.
When it is determined at step 703 that the acceleration flag in RAM 26 has been set to “1” (NO at step 703), CPU 21 calculates a fluctuation value ΔDa of the first variation Da of the first acceleration-sensor value obtained from the first acceleration sensor 22 (step 707). In the present embodiment, the fluctuation value ΔDa (first fluctuation value) represents a difference with a sign along the X-axis between the first variation Da obtained at the time when the just previous fluctuation value ΔDa is calculated and the first variation Da obtained at the time when the current fluctuation value ΔDa is calculated, wherein the above time difference is expressed by Δt. For instance, the first fluctuation value ΔDa can be calculated from X component (X1) of the first acceleration-sensor value and the above time difference Δt. CPU 21 calculates a fluctuation value ΔDb of the second variation Db depending on the second acceleration-sensor value obtained from the second acceleration sensor 23 (step 708). The second fluctuation value ΔDb represents a difference with a sign along the X-axis between the second variation Db obtained at the time when the just previous fluctuation value ΔDb is calculated and the second variation Db obtained at the time when the current fluctuation value ΔDb is calculated, wherein the above time difference is expressed by Δt.
CPU 21 adds the first fluctuation value ΔDa to the first variation Da stored in RAM 26 (step 709) and adds the second fluctuation value ΔDb to the second variation Db stored in RAM 26 (step 710). Then, CPU 21 judges at step 711 whether or not the sensor-combined value is smaller than the value of (1+a)G. When it is determined that the sensor-combined value is not smaller than the value of (1+a)G (NO at step 711), then the sound-generation timing detecting process terminates. When it is determined YES at step 711, CPU 21 performs a note-on event producing process at step 712.
Before describing the note-on event producing process, the sound-generation timing in the electronic musical instrument 10 of the present embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, at the time “t0” when the sensor-combined value has increased larger than a value of (1+a)G, where “a” is a positive fine constant, the first variation Da and the second variation Db are initialized to “0” (step 706 in
In the note-on event producing process of
Vel=a·Da, where if a·Da>Vmax, Vel=Vmax, and “a” is a positive constant.
Then, CPU 21 judges depending on the first variation Da and the second variation Db, in which operation mode the performance apparatus 11 has been operated (step 802). As described with reference to
More specifically, referring to the tone-color table stored in RAM 26, CPU 21 judges whether or not the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy any one of the conditions corresponding respectively to the first, second, third, and fourth operation mode.
As shown in
In the first mode, the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy the following conditions:
|Da|>Dth1, where Dth1 is a first positive threshold value,
|Db|>Dth1, |Da−Db|<Dth2, where Dth2 is a second positive threshold value, which is sufficiently smaller than the first threshold value Dth1, and Da and Db have the same sign.
More specifically, in the case that the absolute values of the variations Da, Db along the X-axis of the head 202 and base 201 of the performance apparatus 11 are larger than the first threshold value and both the variations Da, Db have substantially the same value, that is, in the case that the absolute values of both the variations Da, Db are substantially equivalent and both the variations Da, Db have the same sign, it is determined that the performance apparatus has been operated in the first operation mode.
In the second mode, the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy the following conditions:
|Da|>Dth1, and |Db|<Dth2.
More specifically, in the case that the absolute value of the variation Da along the X-axis of the head 202 of the performance apparatus 11 is larger than the first threshold value and meanwhile the variation Db along the X-axis of the base 201 of the performance apparatus 11 is substantially null, then it is determined that the performance apparatus has been operated in the second operation mode.
In the third mode, the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy the following conditions:
|Da|>Dth1, Dth2<|Db|<Dth1, and Da and Db have the same sign.
More specifically, in the case that the absolute value of the variation Da along the X-axis of the head 202 of the performance apparatus 11 is larger than the first threshold value and the absolute value of the variation Db along the X-axis of the base 201 of the performance apparatus 11 is larger than the second threshold value and smaller than the first threshold value, and both the variations Da, Db have the same sign, then it is determined that the performance apparatus has been operated in the third operation mode.
In the fourth mode, the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy the following conditions:
|Da|>Dth3, where Dth3 is a third positive threshold value, and Dth2<Dth3 ≦Dth1, |Db|>Dth3, and Da and Db have the different sign.
More specifically, in the case that the absolute values of the variations Da, Db along the X-axis of the head 202 and base 201 of the performance apparatus 11 are larger than the third threshold value and the variations Da, Db have the different sign, it is determined that the performance apparatus has been operated in the fourth operation mode.
CPU 21 judges at step 803 which one of the four conditions described above the first variation Da and the second variation Db satisfy, wherein the four conditions correspond to the first, second, third, and fourth operation mode, respectively. When it is determined NO at step 803, CPU 21 advances to step 807. Meanwhile, when it is determined YES at step 803, CPU 21 determines a tone color of the musical tone to be generated depending on the operation mode (step 804). As shown in
Then, CPU 21 produces a note-on event including information representing a tone color and a pitch at step 805. A fixed pitch may be used. CPU 21 sends the produced note-on event to I/F 27 at step 806. I/F 27 makes the infrared communication device 24 send an infrared signal of the note-on event. The infrared signal is transferred from the infrared communication device 24 to the infrared communication device 33 of the musical instrument unit 19. Thereafter, CPU 21 resets the acceleration flag in RAM 26 to “0” at step 807.
When the sound-generation timing detecting process finishes at step 603 in
The process to be performed in the musical instrument unit 19 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to a flow chart in
The present embodiment may be modified so as to allow the player to edit the tone-color table. For example, CPU 21 displays the contents of the table on the display screen of the displaying unit 16, allowing the player to change the tone color of musical tones by operating the switches and ten keys (not shown) in the input unit 17. The table whose contents are changed is stored in RAM 15. An arrangement may be made such that the conditions in the tone-color table are edited.
Then, CPU 12 judges at step 903 whether or not any note-on event has been received through I/F 13. When it is determined at step 903 that a note-on event has been received through I/F 13 (YES at 903), CPU 12 performs the sound generating process at step 904. In the sound generating process, CPU 12 sends the received note-on event to the sound source unit 31. The sound source unit 31 reads waveform data from ROM 14 in accordance with the tone color represented by the note-on event. The waveform data is read at a rate corresponding to the pitch included in the note-on event. The sound source unit 31 multiplies the waveform data by a coefficient corresponding to the sound-volume data (velocity) included in the note-on event, producing musical tone data of a predetermined sound-volume level. The produced musical tone data is supplied to the audio circuit 32, and a musical tone is finally output through the speaker 35.
After the sound generating process has been finished (step 904), CPU 12 performs a parameter communication process at step 905. In the parameter communication process, CPU 12 gives an instruction to the infrared communication device 33, and the infrared communication device 33 sends data of the tone-color table selected in the switch operating process (step 902) to the performance apparatus 11 through I/F 13. In the performance apparatus 11, when the infrared communication device 24 receives the data, CPU 21 stores the data in RAM 26 through I/F 27 (step 604 in
When the parameter communication process has finished at step 905 in
In the present embodiment, the performance apparatus 11 is provided with the 3-dimensional acceleration sensors 22, 23 at its head and base, respectively. The first variation Da appearing in a period between the first timing and the second timing is calculated from the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor 22, and the second variation Db appearing in the period between the first timing and the second timing is calculated from the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor 23, wherein the first timing corresponds to the time at which the player starts swinging motion of the performance apparatus 11 and the second timing corresponds to the time at which the player finishes the swinging motion of the performance apparatus 11. CPU 21 judges the way in which the performance apparatus 11 is moved or swung by the player, depending on the first and second variations Da and Db, thereby deciding the operation mode and a musical-tone composing element (for example, a tone color) of a musical tone to be generated. Therefore, the player is allowed to decide a musical-tone composing element (tone color) of musical tones to be generated by changing the way of swinging or moving the performance apparatus 11 and to generate musical tones of the decided tone color.
In the present embodiment, CPU 21 calculates the first variation Da of the head 202 of the performance apparatus 11 in the period from a first timing to a second timing, depending on the first acceleration-sensor value and the second variation Db of the base 201 of the performance apparatus 11 in the period from the first timing to the second timing, depending on the second acceleration-sensor value, and determines the operation mode of the performance apparatus 11 depending on the calculated first and second variations Da, Db. CPU 21 can properly obtain displacements of the base and the head of the performance apparatus 11 using the sensor values of the acceleration sensors 22, 23 provided at both ends of the performance apparatus 11.
In the present embodiment, CPU 21 calculates the first variation Da from the first acceleration-sensor value component in the direction perpendicular to the axis in the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 11, obtained by the first acceleration sensor 22 and the second variation Db from the second acceleration-sensor value component in the direction perpendicular to the axis in the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 11, obtained by the second acceleration sensor 23, whereby CPU 21 can properly obtain displacements of the head and base of the performance apparatus 11 without executing complex operations.
In the present embodiment, CPU 21 judges which operation mode the operation of the performance apparatus 11 satisfies, the first operation mode, second operation mode, third operation mode or fourth operation mode, wherein the first operation mode meets the conditions that both the absolute values of the first variation and the second variation are larger than the first threshold value, the absolute value of a difference between the first variation and the second variation is smaller than the second threshold value, wherein the second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value, and the first variation and the second variation have the same sign, and the second operation mode meets the conditions that the absolute value of the first variation is larger than the first threshold value and the absolute value of the second variation is smaller than the second threshold value, and the third operation mode meets the conditions that the absolute value of the first variation is larger than the first threshold value and the absolute value of the second variation falls into a range from the second threshold value to the first threshold value, and the first variation and the second variation have the same sign, and the fourth operation mode meets the conditions that both the absolute values of the first variation and the second variation are larger than the third threshold value and the first variation and the second variation have the different sign from each other.
Depending on the operation mode of the performance apparatus 11, CPU 21 can properly determines the movement of the performance apparatus 11 out of the following movements: a parallel or side movement of the performance apparatus 11 with the base held by the player (first operation mode), a rotating movement of the performance apparatus 11 about the center at the player's wrist with the base held by the player (second operation mode), a rotating movement of the performance apparatus 11 about the center at the player's elbow or wrist with the base held by the player (third operation mode), and a rotating movement of the performance apparatus 11 with the middle portion held by the player (fourth operation mode).
In the present embodiment, when the sensor-combined value of the first acceleration-sensor value or the sensor-combined value of the second acceleration-sensor value has increased larger than a predetermined value, CPU 21 determines that the performance apparatus 11 starts its motion (first timing), and when the sensor-combined value has decreased smaller than a predetermined value after once increasing, CPU 21 determines that the performance apparatus 11 stops its motion (second timing). From the first timing and the second timing, a time period can be calculated, between the time when the performance apparatus 11 starts its motion and the time when the performance apparatus 11 stops its motion.
In the present embodiment, referring to the tone-color table stored in RAM 26, CPU 21 determines a tone color of a musical tone to be generated, wherein the tone-color table associates the operation modes with tone colors of musical tones to be generated. In this way, CPU 21 can be properly determine the tone color of a musical tone to be generated without executing complex operations.
Now, the second embodiment of the invention will be described. A performance apparatus in the second embodiment is further provided with a geomagnetic sensor in addition to the acceleration sensors 22, 23. Pitches of musical tones are adjusted based on sensor values obtained by the geomagnetic sensor.
CPU 21 judges at step 1402, whether or not the setting switch of the input unit 28 has been turned on. When it is determined YES at step 1402, CPU 21 stores in RAM 26 the discrepancy angle as the reference-offset value θp (step 1403). Then, CPU 21 judges at step 1404 whether or not a finishing switch (not shown) of the input unit 28 has been turned on. When it is determined NO at step 1404, CPU 21 returns to step 1401. Meanwhile, when it is determined YES at step 1404, CPU 21 finishes the reference setting process. In the above reference setting process, the reference-offset value θp is stored in RAM 26.
When the reference setting process finishes in the performance apparatus 111 at step 1303 in
After the process at step 1306, CPU 21 performs the sound-generation timing detecting process at step 1307. The sound-generation timing detecting process at step 1307 is substantially the same as the sound-generation timing detecting process (
The processes at step 1502 to step 1505 are substantially the same as the processes at step 801 to step 804 in
a and
Hereinafter, generation of musical tones of pitches such as C (Do), D (Re), and E (Mi) will be described.
In the musical instruments such as pianos, marimbas and vibraphones, pitches of the these musical instruments go high as the keys of the keyboard go rightwards. In the case that musical tones having a tone color of a general keyboard instrument are generated, the pitch of the performance apparatus 111 is set to increase higher as the direction, in which the performance apparatus 111 is swung, moves in the clockwise direction. Meanwhile, in the case that musical tones having tone colors of toms (Hi-tom, Low tom and Floor tom) of a drum set are generated, the toms (Hi-tom, Low tom and Floor tom) of the drum set are arranged in order of pitch around a single player in the clockwise direction. For example, the toms are arranged in the order of Hi-tom, Low tom and Floor tom and in the clockwise direction. Therefore, in the case musical tones of tone colors of percussion instruments are generated, the values contained in the tone-color table in RAM 26 are edited and stored such that the pitch of the performance apparatus 111 will decrease lower as the direction of the longitudinal axis of the performance apparatus 111 to be swung moves in the clockwise direction.
Then, CPU 21 produces a note-on event at step 1507 in
In the second embodiment, using the geomagnetic sensor 29 in addition to the acceleration sensors 22 and 23, CPU 21 calculates the difference value representing the angle between the predetermined reference direction and the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 111. For example, CPU 21 calculates the difference value representing the angle between the reference direction and the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 111 which is held by the player at the time when the player has finished the swinging motion of the performance apparatus 111. CPU 21 determines other musical-tone composing elements (for example, pitches) based on the calculated difference value. In this way, the player can change plural sorts of musical-tone composing elements (for example, pitches and tone colors) as he or she desires.
Now, the third embodiment of the invention will be described. In the third embodiment of the invention, an angular rate sensor is used in place of the geomagnetic sensor in the second embodiment, and the pitches of musical tones to be generated are adjusted based on an angular-rate sensor value obtained by the angular rate sensor.
CPU 21 of the performance apparatus 211 performs an initializing process at step 1901, clearing data in RAM 26. CPU 21 judges at step 1902 whether or not the switch (not shown) in the input unit 28 has been operated to give an instruction of setting reference information. When it is determined YES at step 1902, CPU 21 performs a reference setting process at step 1903.
CPU 21 judges at step 2002, whether or not the setting switch of the input unit 28 has been turned on. When it is determined YES at step 2002, CPU 21 stores in RAM 26 the angular-rate sensor value as the reference sensor value ωp (step 2003). Then, CPU 21 judges at step 2004 whether or not the finishing switch (not shown) of the input unit 28 has been turned on. When it is determined NO at step 2004, CPU 21 returns to step 2001. Meanwhile, when it is determined YES at step 2004, CPU 21 finishes the reference setting process. In the above reference setting process, the reference sensor value ωp is stored in RAM 26.
When the reference setting process finishes in the performance apparatus 211 at step 1903 in
After the process at step 1905, CPU 21 performs the sound-generation timing detecting process at step 1906. The sound-generation timing detecting process at step 1906 is substantially the same as the sound-generation timing detecting process (
The processes at step 2102 to step 2105 are substantially the same as those at step 801 to step 804 in
The pitch of a musical tone is determined at step 2107 in substantially the same fashion as in the process of determining the pitch of a musical tone at step 1506 in
In the third embodiment, using the angular-rate sensor 30 as well as the acceleration sensors 22, 23, CPU 21 calculates a difference value representing an angle between the predetermined reference direction and the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 211. For example, CPU 21 calculates the difference value representing the angle between the reference direction and the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 211 held at the time when the player has finished the swinging motion of the performance apparatus 211. CPU 21 determines other musical-tone composing elements (for example, pitches) based on the calculated difference value. In this way, the player is allowed to change plural sorts of musical-tone composing elements (for example, pitches and tone colors) as he or she desires.
The present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings and the first to the third embodiment, but it will be understood that the invention is not limited to these particular embodiments described herein, and numerous arrangements, modifications, and substitutions may be made to the embodiments of the invention described herein without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the embodiments, CPU 21 of the performance apparatus 11 detects acceleration-sensor values caused when the player swings the performance apparatus 11, and determines the timing of sound generation. Further, CPU 21 of the performance apparatus 11 detects displacements of the head and the base of the performance apparatus 11, and determines a tone color of a musical tone to be generated based on the detected displacements. Thereafter, CPU 21 of the performance apparatus 11 produces the note-on event including a sound-volume level and a tone color at the timing of sound generation, and transmits the note-on event to the musical instrument unit 19 through I/F 27 and the infrared communication device 24. Meanwhile, receiving the note-on event, CPU 12 of the musical instrument unit 19 supplies the received note-on event to the sound source unit 31, thereby generating a musical tone. The above arrangement is suitable for the case that the musical instrument unit 19 is a device not specialized in generating musical tones, such as personal computers and game machines provided with a MIDI board.
The processes to be performed in the performance apparatus 11 and the processes to be performed in the musical instrument unit 19 are not limited to those described in the above embodiments. For example, an arrangement that obtains the acceleration sensor values and sends them to the musical instrument unit 19 may be made to the performance apparatus 11. In the arrangement, the sound generation timing detecting process (
Further, in the embodiments, the infrared communication devices 24 and 33 are used to exchange an infrared signal of data between the performance apparatus 11 and the musical instrument unit 19, but the invention is not limited to the exchange of infrared signals. For example, data may be exchanged between percussion instruments 11 and the musical instrument unit 19 through other radio communication and/or wire communication in place of the infrared communication devices 24 and 33.
In the above embodiments, the sound-volume level of a musical tone to be generated is determined based on the first displacements, but the sound-volume level may be determined based on the maximum value of the sensor-combined values of the acceleration sensor values, or may be constant.
In the first embodiment of the invention, the tone colors are employed as the musical-tone composing elements, and the tone colors of musical tones to be generated are determined based on the operation modes. But musical-tone composing elements other than the tone color may be employed. For example, the sound-volume levels, pitches, and tone lengths may be employed as the musical-tone composing elements, and the sound-volume levels, pitches, and tone lengths of musical tones to be generated may be determined based on the operation modes. In the second and third embodiment of the invention, musical-tone composing elements other than the pitch may be employed.
In the second embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 111 held at the time when the player has turned on the setting switch is set as the reference position, but the reference position is not limited to the longitudinal direction of the performance apparatus 111. The reference position may be set to the magnetic north. In this case, the process for setting the reference position is not required.
In the embodiments of the invention, tone colors of natural musical instruments such as pianos, toms, guitars, and trumpets can be selected (Refer to
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-156416 | Jul 2010 | JP | national |
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| 7667129 | Chidlaw et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120006181 A1 | Jan 2012 | US |
