Claims
- 1. A musical instrument having a plurality of strings each individually tuned to a frequency, a signal circuit for each string and an output circuit connected to the signal circuits, wherein each signal circuit comprising:
- a transducer adjacent a string;
- an equalizer connecting the transducer to the output circuit; and
- the equalizer being set to a frequency range of the tuned string to emphasize, within a signal from the transducer, one or more of
- (a) the fundamental of the tuned string,
- (b) one of the harmonics above the fundamental of the tuned string, and
- (c) two of the harmonics above the fundamental of the tuned string.
- 2. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer for a higher frequency tuned string is tuned to a frequency range including the fundamental and a second harmonic of the tuned string and the equalizer for a lower frequency tuned string is tuned to a frequency range including the second harmonic of the tuned string.
- 3. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer de-emphasizes low end frequencies below the fundamental of the tuned string.
- 4. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer also de-emphasizes an inherent resonance signal produced by the transducer at a characteristic frequency of the transducer.
- 5. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer includes a filter to de-emphasize an inherent resonance signal produced by the transducer at a characteristic frequency of the transducer.
- 6. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer includes a low end filter which de-emphasizes the low end frequencies and a high end filter which de-emphasizes the high end frequencies.
- 7. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer modifies mid-range frequencies to emulate acoustic musical string instruments.
- 8. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the musical instrument is a guitar having at least six strings each string having a tuned fundamental frequency in a range from an open string's frequency to a fretted string's frequency and including six signal circuits whose equalizer emphasizes only the fundamental frequency within the fundamental frequency range of the respective tuned string.
- 9. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the fundamental frequency range of the equalizers is one octave of the tuned string.
- 10. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the musical instrument is from the group of guitar, bass, mandolin, violin, cello, piano and harp.
- 11. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the equalizer includes a digital signal processor which determines the frequency of the string and emphasizing one or more of the determined frequency and one or more of its harmonics.
- 12. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the transducer is a piezoelectric transducer.
- 13. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the transducer includes an inductor.
- 14. A musical instrument having a plurality of strings each individually tuned to a frequency, a signal circuit for each string and an output circuit connected to the signal circuits, wherein each signal circuit comprising:
- a transducer adjacent a string;
- an equalizer connecting the transducer to the output circuit; and
- the equalizer being set to a frequency range of one octave of the tuned string to emphasize, within a signal from the transducer, at least one harmonic of the tuned string.
- 15. A musical instrument having a plurality of strings each string being individually tuned in frequency, a signal circuit for each string and an output circuit connected to the signal circuits, wherein each signal circuit comprising:
- a transducer adjacent a string;
- an equalizer connecting the transducer to the output circuit; and
- the equalizer being set to a frequency range of the tuned string to emphasize, within a signal from the transducer, signals present in the frequency range and de-emphasize at least the low end frequencies below a fundamental of the string.
- 16. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the output circuit provides a mono output of the combined signal circuits.
- 17. A musical instrument according to claim 16, including a common filter to de-emphasize an inherent resonance signal produced by the transducer at a characteristic frequency of the transducer connecting all the equalizers to the mono output.
- 18. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the output circuit provides a stereo output of the combined signal circuits.
- 19. A musical instrument according to claim 18, including a pair of filters to de-emphasize an inherent resonance signal produced by the transducer at a characteristic frequency of the transducer connecting the equalizers to the stereo outputs.
- 20. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the output circuit provides an individual output for each of the signal circuits.
- 21. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the instrument includes a bridge supporting the strings and the transducers for the strings are on the bridge.
- 22. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the equalizer is tuned to a frequency range including the fundamental frequency of the tuned string.
- 23. A musical instrument according to claim 15, wherein the equalizer is tuned to a frequency range including one or more harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the tuned string.
- 24. A method of emphasizing a fundamental frequency of each string of a stringed instrument relative to its harmonic frequencies, the method comprising:
- providing a piezoelectric transducer on a bridge of the musical instrument for each string;
- emphasizing within a signal from the transducers a specific frequency range of each string within a first octave of the string separately; and
- combining the signals for each string after emphasizing.
- 25. A method according to claim 24, including de-emphasizing frequencies below 50 hertz and notch filtering signal at 8000 hertz in the combined signals.
- 26. A method of emphasizing a harmonic frequencies of each string of a stringed instrument relative to other harmonic frequencies, the method comprising:
- providing a piezoelectric transducer on a bridge of the musical instrument for each string;
- emphasizing within a signal from the transducers a specific frequency range of each string within a second octave of the string separately; and
- combining the signals for each string after emphasizing.
- 27. A method according to claim 26, including de-emphasizing frequencies below 50 hertz and notch filtering signal at 8000 hertz in the combined signals.
CROSS-REFERENCE
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/092,224 filed Jul. 9, 1998 which is incorporated herein by reference.
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Entry |
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