Patent Grant
7420113
The present invention relates generally to rendition style determination apparatus, methods and programs for determining a musical expression to be imparted on the basis of characteristics of performance data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved rendition style determination apparatus and method which determine a rendition style to be imparted, in accordance with propriety (or appropriateness) of application (i.e., applicability) of the rendition style, to two partially overlapping notes to be sounded in succession. Further, the present invention relates to an improved rendition style determination apparatus and method which, in accordance with predetermined pitch range limitations, determine applicability of a rendition style designated as an object to be imparted and then determine a rendition style to be imparted in accordance with the thus-determined applicability.
In recent years, electronic musical instruments have been popularly used which electronically generate tones on the basis of performance data generated in response to operation, by a human player, of a performance operator unit or performance data prepared in advance. The performance data for use in such electronic musical instruments are constructed as, for example, MIDI data corresponding to notes and musical signs on a musical score. However, if respective tone pitches of a series of notes are represented by only tone pitch information, such as note-on information and note-off information, then an automatic performance of tones executed, for example, by reproducing such performance data tends to become mechanical and expressionless and hence musically unnatural. Thus, there have heretofore been known apparatus which are designed to make a performance-data-based performance more musically natural, beautiful and vivid, such as: apparatus that can execute a performance while imparting the performance with rendition styles designated in accordance with user's operation; and apparatus that determines various musical expressions, representing rendition styles etc., on the basis of characteristics of performance data so that it can execute a performance while automatically imparting the performance with rendition styles corresponding to the determination results. Among such known apparatus is the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-271139 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,911,591). In the conventionally-known apparatus, determinations are made, on the basis of characteristics of performance data, about various musical expressions and rendition styles (or articulation) characterized by a musical instrument and the rendition styles are imparted to the performance data. For example, each position, suitable for execution of a staccato, legato or other rendition style, is automatically searched or found from among the performance data, and then performance information (e.g., rendition style designating event), capable of achieving a rendition, such as a staccato or legato (also called “slur”), is newly imparted to the thus-found position of the performance data.
In order to allow an electronic musical instrument to reproduce more realistically a performance of a natural musical instrument, such as an acoustic musical instrument, it is essential to appropriately use a variety of rendition styles; any rendition styles are, in theory, realizable by a tone generator provided in the electronic musical instrument. However, if a performance on an actual natural musical instrument is considered, it is, in practice, sometime difficult for the actual natural musical instrument to execute the performance and impart some designated rendition styles due to various limitations, such as those in the construction of the musical instrument, characteristics of the rendition styles and fingering during the performance. For example, despite the fact that it is very difficult for an actual natural musical instrument to impart a glissando rendition style to two partially overlapping notes to be sounded in succession because a tone pitch difference (i.e., interval) between the two notes is extremely small, it has been conventional for the known apparatus to apply as-is a glissando rendition style having been determined (or designated in advance) as a rendition style to be imparted to such two partially overlapping notes. Namely, in the past, even where a rendition style designated as an object to be imparted is an unsuitable one that is difficult to execute even on a natural musical instrument, the designated rendition style would be undesirably applied as-is, which thus results in a performance with a musically unnatural expression.
Further, in not only actual natural musical instruments but also electronic musical instruments of different model types and/or makers etc., there are some limitations in the pitch range specific to the musical instrument or in a user-set available pitch range (in this specification, these pitch ranges are referred to as “practical pitch ranges”). Thus, when a performance is to be executed on an electronic musical instrument using a desired tone color of a natural musical instrument, impartment of some rendition style, designated as an object to be imparted, is sometimes inappropriate. Regarding impartment of a bend-up rendition style, for example, it is not possible to use an actual natural musical instrument to execute a performance while effecting a bend-up from outside the practical pitch range into the practical pitch range. However, the conventional electronic musical instruments are constructed to apply as-is a bend-up rendition style, determined (or designated in advance) as an object to be imparted, and thus, even a bend-up from outside the practical pitch range into the practical pitch range, which has heretofore been non-executable by actual natural musical instruments, would be carried out in the electronic musical instrument in undesirable form; namely, in such a case, the performance by the electronic musical instrument tends to break off abruptly at a time point when the tone pitch has shifted from outside the practical pitch range into the practical pitch range in accordance with the bend-up instruction. Namely, even where a rendition style to be imparted is of a type that uses a pitch outside the practical pitch range and hence is non-realizable with a natural musical instrument, the conventional technique applies such a designated rendition style as-is, which would result in a musically unnatural performance.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rendition style determination apparatus, method and program which permit a more realistic performance close to a performance of a natural musical instrument by avoiding application of a rendition style that is, in practice, difficult to perform.
It is another object of the present invention to a provide rendition style determination apparatus, method and program which permit a more realistic performance close to a performance of a natural musical instrument by avoiding application of a rendition style that is difficult to achieve using a practical pitch range alone.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an improved rendition style determination apparatus, which comprises: a supply section that supplies performance event information; a setting section that sets a tone pitch difference limitation range in correspondence with a given rendition style; a detection section that, on the basis of the supplied performance event information, detects at least two notes to be sounded in succession or in an overlapping relation to each other and detects a tone pitch difference between the detected at least two notes; an acquisition section that acquires information designating a rendition style to be imparted to the detected at least two notes; and a rendition style determination section that, on the basis of a comparison between the set tone pitch difference limitation range corresponding to the rendition style designated by the acquired information and a tone pitch difference between the at least two notes detected by the detection section, determines applicability of the rendition style designated by the acquired information. When the rendition style determination section has determined that the designated rendition style is appropriately applicable, the rendition style determination section determines the designated rendition as a rendition style to be imparted to the detected at least two notes.
Namely, when a rendition style has been designated which is to be imparted to at least two notes to be sounded in succession or in an overlapping relation to each other, an applicability determination is made, on the basis of a comparison between the tone pitch difference limitations corresponding to the designated rendition style and the tone pitch difference between the at least two notes detected by the detection section, as to whether the designated rendition style is to be applied or not, and a rendition style to be imparted is determined in accordance with the result of the applicability determination. Thus, the present invention can avoid a rendition style from being undesirably applied in relation to a tone pitch difference that is, in practice, impossible because of the specific construction of the musical instrument or characteristics of the rendition style, and thus, it can avoid an unnatural performance. As a result, the present invention permits a more realistic performance close to a performance of a natural musical instrument.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an improved rendition style determination apparatus, which comprises: a supply section that supplies performance event information; a setting section that sets a pitch range limitation range in correspondence with a given rendition style; an acquisition section that acquires information designating a rendition style to be imparted to a tone; a detection section that, on the basis of the performance event information supplied by the supply section, detects a tone to be imparted with the rendition style designated by the information acquired by the acquisition section and a pitch of the tone; and a rendition style determination section that, on the basis of a comparison between the set pitch range limitation range corresponding to the designated rendition style by the acquired information and the pitch of the tone detected by the detection section, determines applicability of the designated rendition style. When the rendition style determination section has determined that the designated rendition style is appropriately applicable, the rendition style determination section determines the designated rendition as a rendition style to be imparted to the detected tone. Because it is automatically determined, in accordance with a pitch range of a tone to be imparted with a designated rendition style, whether or not the designated rendition style is to be applied, the present invention can avoid a rendition style from being applied in relation to a tone of a pitch outside a predetermined pitch range, and thus, it can avoid application of a rendition style that is, in practice, difficult to perform and avoid a performance with a musically unnatural expression. As a result, the present invention permits a more realistic performance close to a performance of a natural musical instrument.
The present invention may be constructed and implemented not only as the apparatus invention as discussed above but also as a method invention. Also, the present invention may be arranged and implemented as a software program for execution by a processor such as a computer or DSP, as well as a storage medium storing such a software program.
The following will describe embodiments of the present invention, but it should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments and various modifications of the invention are possible without departing from the basic principles. The scope of the present invention is therefore to be determined solely by the appended claims.
For better understanding of the objects and other features of the present invention, its preferred embodiments will be described hereinbelow in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The electronic musical instrument shown in
In the electronic musical instrument of
The ROM 2 stores therein various programs to be executed by the CPU 1 and also stores therein, as a waveform memory, various data, such as waveform data (e.g., rendition style modules to be later described in relation to
The performance operator unit 5 is, for example, in the form of a keyboard including a plurality of keys operable to select pitches of tones to be generated and key switches corresponding to the keys. This performance operator unit 5 can be used not only for a real-time manual performance based on manual playing operation by the human player, but also as an input means for selecting a desired one of prestored sets of performance data to be automatically performed. It should be obvious that the performance operator unit 5 may be other than the keyboard type, such as a neck-like type having tone-pitch-selecting strings provided thereon. The panel operator unit 6 includes various operators, such as performance data selection switches for selecting a desired one of the sets of performance data to be automatically performed and determination condition input switches for entering a desired rendition style determination criterion or condition to be used to automatically determine a rendition style, rendition style designation switches for directly designating a desired rendition style to be imparted, and tone pitch difference limitation input switches for entering tone pitch difference limitations (see
The tone generator 8, which is capable of simultaneously generating tone signals in a plurality of tone generation channels, receives performance data supplied via the communication bus 1D and synthesizes tones and generates tone signals on the basis of the received performance data. Namely, as waveform data corresponding to rendition style designating information (rendition style designating event), included in performance data, are read out from the ROM 2 or external storage device 4, the read-out waveform data are delivered via the bus 1D to the tone generator 8 and buffered as necessary. Then, the tone generator 8 outputs the buffered waveform data at a predetermined output sampling frequency. Tone signals generated by the tone generator 8 are subjected to predetermined digital processing performed by a not-shown effect circuit (e.g., DSP (Digital Signal Processor)), and the tone signals having undergone such digital processing are then supplied to a sound system 8A for audible reproduction or sounding.
The interface 9, which is, for example, a MIDI interface or communication interface, is provided for communicating various information between the electronic musical instrument and external performance data generating equipment (not shown). The MIDI interface functions to input performance data of the MIDI standard from the external performance data generating equipment (in this case, other MIDI equipment or the like) to the electronic musical instrument or output performance data of the MIDI standard from the electronic musical instrument to other MIDI equipment etc. The other MIDI equipment may be of any desired type (or operating type), such as the keyboard type, guitar type, wind instrument type, percussion instrument type or gesture type, as long as it can generate data of the MIDI format in response to operation by a user of the equipment. The communication interface is connected to a wired or wireless communication network (not shown), such as a LAN, Internet or telephone line network, via which the communication interface is connected to the external performance data generating equipment (in this case, server computer or the like). Thus, the communication interface functions to input various information, such as a control program and performance data, from the server computer to the electronic musical instrument. Namely, the communication interface is used to download particular information, such as a particular control program or performance data, from a server computer in a case where the particular information is not stored in the ROM 2, external storage device 4 or the like. In such a case, the electronic musical instrument, which is a “client”, sends a command to request the server computer to download the particular information, such as a particular control program or performance data, by way of the communication interface and communication network. In response to the command from the client, the server computer delivers the requested information to the electronic musical instrument via the communication network. The electronic musical instrument receives the particular information via the communication interface and accumulatively stores it into the external storage device 4. In this way, the necessary downloading of the particular information is completed.
Note that, where the interface 9 is the MIDI interface, it may be a general-purpose interface rather than a dedicated MIDI interface, such as RS232-C, USB (Universal Serial Bus) or IEEE1394, in which case other data than MIDI event data may be communicated at the same time. In the case where such a general-purpose interface as noted above is used as the MIDI interface, the other MIDI equipment connected with the electronic musical instrument may be designed to communicate other data than MIDI event data. Of course, the music information handled in the present invention may be of any other data format than the MIDI format, in which case the MIDI interface and other MIDI equipment are constructed in conformity to the data format used.
Now, a description will be made about the performance data and waveform data stored in the ROM 2, external storage device 4 or the like, with reference to
As shown in
This and following paragraphs describe the waveform data handled in the instant embodiment.
In the ROM 2, external storage device 4 and/or the like, there are stored, as “rendition style modules”, a multiplicity of original rendition style waveform data sets and related data groups for reproducing waveforms corresponding to various rendition styles peculiar to various musical instruments. Note that each of the rendition style modules is a rendition style waveform unit that can be processed as a single data block in a rendition style waveform synthesis system; in other words, each of the rendition style modules is a rendition style waveform unit that can be processed as a single event. Each rendition style module comprises combinations of rendition style waveform data and rendition style parameters. As seen from
Such rendition style modules can be classified into several major types on the basis of characteristics of the rendition styles, timewise segments or sections of performances, etc. For example, the following are seven major types of rendition style modules thus classified in the instant embodiment:
It should be appreciated here that the classification into the above seven rendition style module types is just illustrative, and the classification of the rendition style modules may of course be made in any other suitable manner; for example, the rendition style modules may be classified into more than seven types. Further, needless to say, the rendition style modules may also be classified per original tone source, such as the human player, type of musical instrument or performance genre.
Further, in the instant embodiment, each set of rendition style waveform data, corresponding to one rendition style module, is stored in a database as a data set of a plurality of waveform-constituting factors or elements, rather than being stored merely as originally input; each of the waveform-constituting elements will hereinafter be called a vector. As an example, each rendition style module includes the following vectors. Note that “harmonic” and “nonharmonic” components are defined here by separating an original rendition style waveform in question into a waveform segment having a pitch-harmonic component (harmonic component) and the remaining waveform segment having a non-pitch-harmonic component (nonharmonic component).
The rendition style waveform data of the rendition style module may include one or more other types of vectors, such as a time vector indicative of a time-axial progression of the waveform, although not specifically described here.
For synthesis of a rendition style waveform, waveforms or envelopes corresponding to various constituent elements of the rendition style waveform are constructed along a reproduction time axis of a performance tone by applying appropriate processing to these vector data in accordance with control data and arranging or allotting the thus-processed vector data on or to the time axis and then carrying out a predetermined waveform synthesis process on the basis of the vector data allotted to the time axis. For example, in order to produce a desired performance tone waveform, i.e. a desired rendition style waveform exhibiting predetermined ultimate rendition style characteristics, a waveform segment of the harmonic component is produced by imparting a harmonic component's waveform shape vector with a pitch and time variation characteristic thereof corresponding to a harmonic component's pitch vector and an amplitude and time variation characteristic thereof corresponding to a harmonic component's amplitude vector, and a waveform segment of the nonharmonic component is produced by imparting a nonharmonic component's waveform shape vector with an amplitude and time variation characteristic thereof corresponding to a nonharmonic component's amplitude vector. Then, the desired performance tone waveform can be produced by additively synthesizing the thus-produced harmonic and nonharmonic components' waveform segments.
Each of the rendition style modules comprises data including rendition style waveform data as illustrated in
The electronic musical instrument shown in
In
Tone pitch difference (interval) limitation condition designation section J3 displays on the display 7 a “tone pitch difference condition input screen” (not shown) etc. in response to operation of the tone pitch limitation condition input switches, and accepts entry of a tone pitch difference that is a musical condition or criterion to be used in determining the applicability of a designated rendition style. The designated rendition style for which the applicability is determined, is either a rendition style designated in response to operation, by the human player, of rendition style designation switches, or a rendition style designated in response to execution of the “automatic rendition style determination processing” by the automatic rendition style determination section J2. The ultimate rendition style determination section J4 performs the “rendition style determination processing” (see
On the basis of the rendition style received from the rendition style determination section J4, the tone synthesis section 6 reads out, from a rendition style waveform storage section (waveform memory) J5, waveform data for realizing the determined rendition style to thereby synthesize a tone and outputs the thus-synthesized tone. Namely, the tone synthesis section J6 synthesizes a tone of an entire note (or tones of successive notes) by combining, in accordance with the determined rendition style, a head-related (or head-type) rendition style module, body-related (or body-type) rendition style module and tail-related (tail-type) or joint-related (joint-type) rendition style module. Thus, in the case where the tone generator 8 is one having a rendition-style-capable function, such as an AEM tone generator, it is possible to achieve a high-quality rendition style expression by passing the determined rendition style to the tone generator 8. If the tone generator 8 is one having no such rendition-style-capable function, a rendition style expression may of course be realized by appropriately switching between waveforms or passing to the tone generator tone generator control information designating an appropriate envelope shape and other shape, etc.
Next, a description will be given about the tone pitch difference limitation condition.
Now, the “rendition style determination processing” will be described with reference to
If the current note partially overlaps the immediately-preceding node as determined at step S2 above, i.e. if, before turning-off of the immediately-preceding (i.e., first) note, a note-on event signal has been input for the current note (i.e., second note) (YES determination at step S2), a further determination is made, at step S4, as to whether any joint-related rendition style designating event has already been generated. If answered in the affirmative (YES determination) at step S4, the processing goes to step S5, where a further determination is made, on the basis of the tone pitch difference limitation condition, as to whether the tone pitch difference between the current note and the immediately-preceding note is within the tone pitch difference limitation range of the designated rendition style. With an affirmative (YES) determination at step S5, the designated rendition style is determined to be applicable and ultimately determined as a rendition style to be imparted, at step S6. If no joint-related rendition style designating event has been generated (NO determination at step S4) or if the tone pitch difference between the current note and the immediately-preceding note is not within the tone pitch difference limitation range of the designated rendition style (NO determination at step S5), a further determination is made, at step S7, as to whether the tone pitch difference is within the tone pitch difference limitation range of the preset default legato rendition style. With an affirmative determination at step S7, the default legato rendition style is determined as a rendition style to be imparted at step S8. If, on the other hand, the tone pitch difference is not within the tone pitch difference limitation range of the preset default legato rendition style (NO determination at step S7), the default legato rendition style is determined to be non-applicable, so that a tonguing rendition style is determined as a head-related rendition style to be imparted (step S9).
Now, with reference to
If the tone pitch difference between the current note and the immediately-preceding note is within the tone pitch difference limitation range, then the designated Shake Joint rendition style is determined to be applicable as-is and output as an ultimately-determined rendition style (see step S6 in
Where two successive notes do not overlap, on the other hand, another head-related rendition style is determined as a head-related rendition style of the current note (see step S3 in
As set forth above, during a real-time performance or automatic performance in the first embodiment, a tone pitch difference between a current note, for which a rendition style to be imparted has been designated, and an immediately-preceding note is acquired, and the thus-acquired tone pitch difference is compared to the corresponding tone pitch difference limitation range to thereby determine whether the designated rendition style is to be applied or not. Then, the designated rendition style or other suitable rendition style is determined as a rendition style to be imparted, in accordance with the result of the applicability determination. In this manner, the instant embodiment can avoid a rendition style from being undesirably applied in relation to a tone pitch difference that is actually impossible because of the specific construction of the musical instrument or characteristics of the rendition style, and thus, it can avoid an unnatural performance, without changing the nuance of a designated rendition style, by applying a standard rendition style. As a consequence, the instant embodiment permits a performance with an increased reality. Further, because the “rendition style determination processing” is arranged as separate processing from the “automatic rendition style determination processing” etc. directed to designation of a rendition style, the “rendition style determination processing” can also be advantageously applied to the conventionally-known apparatus with a considerable ease.
The first embodiment has been described above as being designed to determine a to-be-imparted rendition style in accordance with the applicability determination based on the tone pitch limitation condition, for both the rendition style designation by the human player via the rendition style designation switches and the automatic rendition style based on characteristics of performance data sequentially supplied in performance progression order. However, the present invention is not so limited, and the above-mentioned applicability determination based on the tone pitch limitation condition may be made for only one of the rendition style designation by the human player and the automatic rendition style designation based on the performance data.
Note that, where all tone pitch differences between successive notes fall within the tone pitch difference limitation ranges, rendition styles to be imparted may be determined in a collective manner.
The following paragraphs describe a second embodiment of the present invention, with reference to
The second embodiment uses a total of ten types of rendition style modules, namely, the seven types described above in relation to the first embodiment and the following three types;
“Bend Head” (abbreviated BH): This is a head-related rendition style module representative of (and hence applicable to) a rise portion of a tone realizing a bend rendition style (bend-up or bend-down) that is a special rendition style different from a normal attack;
“Gliss Head” (abbreviated GH): This is a head-related rendition style module representative of (and hence applicable to) a rise portion of a tone realizing a glissando rendition style (gliss-up or gliss-down) that is a special rendition style different from a normal attack; and
“Fall Head” (abbreviated FT): This is a tail-related rendition style module representative of (and hence applicable to) a fall portion of a tone (to a silent state) realizing a fall rendition style that is a special rendition style different from a normal tail
Note that “bend-up” rendition style parameters may include parameters of an absolute tone pitch at the time of the end of the rendition style, initial bend depth value, time length from the start to end of sounding, tone volume immediate after the start of sounding, etc.
As in the first embodiment of
Pitch range limitation condition designation section J31 displays on the display 7 (
Here, the “pitch range limitation condition” is explained.
Next, the “rendition style determination processing” will be described below, with reference to
Next, with reference to
Now, with reference to
When the head-related rendition style has been designated and if the tone pitch of the current note, to be imparted with the designated rendition style, is within the pitch range limitation range, the designated bend head (BH) rendition style is determined to be applicable as-is and output as a determined rendition style. Thus, in this case, the current note is expressed as an independent tone waveform comprising a combination of the bend head (BH), normal body (NB) and normal tail (NT), as illustrated in an upper section of
When the tail-related rendition style has been designated and if the tone pitch of the current note, to be imparted with the designated rendition style, is within the pitch range limitation range, the designated fall tail head (FT) rendition style is determined to be applicable as-is and output as a determined rendition style. Thus, in this case, the current note is expressed as an independent tone waveform comprising a combination of a normal head (NH), normal body (NB) and fall tail (FT), as illustrated in an upper section of
When the joint-related rendition style has been designated and if the tone pitches of the current note and immediately-preceding note, to be imparted with the designated rendition style, are both within the pitch range limitation range, the designated shake joint (SJ) rendition style is determined to be applicable as-is and output as a determined rendition style. Thus, in this case, the immediately-preceding note and current note, each of which normally comprises a combination of a normal head (NH), normal body (NB) and normal tail (NT), are expressed as an independent tone waveform with the normal tail of the immediately-preceding note and normal head of the succeeding or current note replaced with the shake joint (SJ) rendition style module. If the tone pitches of the current note and immediately-preceding note are not both within the pitch range limitation range, the designated fall tail (FT) rendition style is determined to be non-applicable, so that a default rendition style is output as a determined rendition style. Thus, in this case, the immediately-preceding note is expressed as an independent tone waveform comprising a conventional combination of a normal head (NH), normal body (NB) and normal tail (NT) while the succeeding or current note is expressed as an independent tone waveform comprising a combination of a joint head (NH), normal body (NB) and normal tail (NT) as illustrated in a lower section of FIG. 11C. Namely, the immediately-preceding note and current note are expressed in a waveform where the normal tail (NT) of the immediately-preceding note and the joint head (NH) of the current note overlap each other.
As set forth above, during a real-time performance or automatic performance in the second embodiment, a tone pitch of the current note (and tone pitch of the note immediately preceding the current note), for which a rendition style to be imparted has already been designated, is (are) acquired, and the thus-acquired tone pitch (or tone pitches) is (are) compared to the corresponding pitch range limitation range to thereby determine whether the designated rendition style is to be applied or not. Then, the designated rendition style or other suitable rendition style is determined as a rendition style to be imparted, in accordance with the result of the applicability determination. In this manner, the second embodiment can avoid a rendition style, which uses a tone pitch outside the practical pitch range and hence non-realizable with a natural musical instrument, from being undesirably applied as-is, and thus, it can avoid an unnatural performance, without changing the nuance of a designated rendition style, by applying a standard reference style instead of the rendition style using the tone pitch outside the practical pitch range. As a result, the instant embodiment permits a performance with an increased reality. Further, because the “rendition style determination processing” is arranged as separate processing from the “automatic rendition style determination processing” etc. directed to designation of a rendition style, the “rendition style determination processing” can also be advantageously applied to the conventionally-known apparatus with a considerable ease.
The above-described rendition style applicability determination based on the pitch range limitations may also be carried out in accordance with pitch range limitations in a case a body-related rendition style has been designated, without being restricted to the cases where any of head-, tail- and joint-related rendition styles has been designated.
The second embodiment has been described above as designed to determine a to-be-imparted rendition style in accordance with the applicability determination based on the pitch range limitations, for both the rendition style designation by the human player via the rendition style designation switches and the automatic rendition style designation based on characteristics of performance data sequentially supplied in performance progression order. However, the present invention is not so limited, and the above-mentioned applicability determination based on the pitch range limitations may be carried out for only one of the rendition style designation by the human player and the automatic rendition style designation based on the performance data.
Further, whereas each of the embodiments has been described above in relation to a monophonic mode where a software tone generator sounds a single note at a time, it may be applied to a polyphonic mode where a software tone generator sounds a plurality of single notes at a time. Furthermore, performance data constructed in the polyphonic mode may be broken down to a plurality of monophonic sequences, and these monophonic sequences may be processed by a plurality of rendition style determination functions. In this case, it will be convenient if the results of the performance data breakdown are displayed on the display 7 so that the user can ascertain and modify the breakdown results.
It should also be appreciated that the waveform data employed in the present invention may be other than those constructed using rendition style modules as described above, such as waveform data sampled using the PCM, DPCM, ADPCM or other scheme. Namely, the tone generator 8 may employ any of the known tone signal generation techniques such as: the memory readout method where tone waveform sample value data stored in a waveform memory are sequentially read out in accordance with address data varying in response to the pitch of a tone to be generated; the FM method where tone waveform sample value data are acquired by performing predetermined frequency modulation operations using the above-mentioned address data as phase angle parameter data; and the AM method where tone waveform sample value data are acquired by performing predetermined amplitude modulation operations using the above-mentioned address data as phase angle parameter data. Other than the above-mentioned, the tone generator 8 may use the physical model method, harmonics synthesis method, format synthesis method, analog synthesizer method using VCO, VCF and VCA, analog simulation method, or the like. Further, instead of constructing the tone generator 8 using dedicated hardware, tone generator circuitry 8 may be constructed using a combination of the DSP and microprograms or a combination of the CPU and software. Furthermore, a plurality of tone generation channels may be implemented either by using a single circuit on a time-divisional basis or by providing a separate circuit for each of the channels. Therefore, the information designating a rendition style may be other than the rendition style designating event information, such as information arranged in accordance with the above-mentioned tone signal generation technique employed in the tone generator 8.
Furthermore, in the case where the above-described rendition style determination apparatus is applied to an electronic musical instrument, the electronic musical instrument may be of any type other than the keyboard-type instrument, such as a stringed, wind or percussion instrument. In such a case, the present invention is of course applicable not only to such an electronic musical instrument where all of the performance operator unit, display, tone generator, etc. are incorporated together as a unit within the electronic musical instrument, but also to another type of electronic musical instrument where the above-mentioned components are provided separately and interconnected via communication facilities such as a MIDI interface, various networks and the like. Further, the rendition style determination apparatus of the present invention may comprise a combination of a personal computer and application software, in which case various processing programs may be supplied to the rendition style determination apparatus from a storage medium, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk or semiconductor memory, or via a communication network. Furthermore, the rendition style determination apparatus of the present invention may be applied to automatic performance apparatus, such as karaoke apparatus and player pianos, game apparatus, and portable communication terminals, such as portable telephones. Further, in the case where the rendition style determination apparatus of the present invention is applied to a portable communication terminal, part of the functions of the portable communication terminal may be performed by a server computer so that the necessary functions can be performed cooperatively by the portable communication terminal and server computer. Namely, the rendition style determination apparatus of the present invention may be arranged in any desired manner as long as it can use predetermined software or hardware, based on the basic principles of the present invention, to effectively avoid application of a rendition style in relation to a tone pitch difference that is actually impossible because of a specific construction of a musical instrument or characteristics of the rendition style.
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