JP3105132B2 - Tone generator for electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tone generator for an electronic musical instrument such as an electronic piano, an electronic organ, a synthesizer, an electronic keyboard and the like, and more particularly, to controlling the output from each speaker using a plurality of speakers having different frequency characteristics. The present invention relates to a timbre generator for an electronic musical instrument in which the timbre can be changed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic musical instruments having various functions have become widespread and generally used. Such electronic musical instruments store various types of tone color control information, and can generate musical tones with various tone colors according to the preference of the operator.

[0003] Generally, tone color data in conventional electronic musical instruments holds tone colors corresponding to musical instrument sounds for each tone range. For example, tone data for generating a tone of a piano is held for each octave, and when a key is pressed, tone data of the octave including the pressed key is read and sounded.

Further, conventional electronic musical instruments have waveform synthesis
A signal obtained by reading a CM waveform is subjected to level and filtering to express a change in timbre, and a reproduction system (amplifier or speaker) merely aims to amplify the signal thus formed, as shown in FIG. Was used in

For this reason, the tone change of the conventional electronic musical instrument is as follows.
The waveforms are stored in advance, for example, the filtering is changed according to the strength of the touch, the waveform is cut, or another waveform is switched, so that a complicated device is required and the price tends to be expensive. Was.

In addition, as another means for changing the atmosphere of the entire timbre, there is known a method for calculating timbre data for each timbre by using a function. This method has the advantage that the atmosphere of the entire timbre can be changed by changing the value given to the function.

However, there is a problem that the operation time is enormous because a function operation including multiplication or the like is performed every time the sound is generated, and it takes time from the sounding instruction to the sounding. Further, in order to realize a desired timbre, it is necessary to prepare various kinds of functions, so that there is a problem that timbre data increases as a whole.

On the other hand, there is a demand from users for an electronic musical instrument that can be produced at various prices at low cost, and the timbre data held in the electronic musical instrument is enormous. Therefore, while efficiently retaining tone data,
There is a demand for a timbre control device that can support a wide range of timbres.

[0009]

The timbre change of a conventional electronic musical instrument is the above-described method. In order to reproduce a dynamic change of a timbre, a realistic movement of a sound image, etc. It required advanced signal processing and a large waveform memory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a tone generator for an electronic musical instrument capable of reducing the burden of the previous stage of the reproduction system and easily changing the atmosphere of the entire tone. With the goal.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a tone generator for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of speakers having different frequency characteristics, a sound emission sequence corresponding to each of the plurality of speakers, and information indicating the strength of a performance operation or information indicating an operation state of each operation element are stored. Detecting means for detecting, first storing means for storing a plurality of timbre control information, reading means for reading timbre control information corresponding to an output of the detecting means from the first storing means; Second storage means provided for each of the series, each of which stores a plurality of control values; and processing means provided for each of the sound emission series, wherein Processing means for reading a control value corresponding to the timbre control information read by the means from the second storage means, and controlling a tone level of a corresponding sound emission sequence based on the read control value. Generator Configured as.

[0013]

[0014]

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the information detected by the detection means 2 includes a keyboard touch speed, a keyboard after touch, a detected value of a breath controller, a damper pedal, a soft pedal, a sostenuto pedal, It is configured to be one or more of the detected value of the expression pedal, the set value of the wheel, the slider, the lever, and the volume.

[0016]

In general, when the instrument is played strongly, a lot of sounds in the high range are output, and when played weakly, a lot of sounds in the low range are output.
In this way, a bright sound can be expressed by distributing a large amount of sound to a high-range speaker without particularly changing the tone, and a sweet sound can be achieved by distributing a large amount of sound to a high-range sound-prone speaker.

Thus, for example, even if the signal before the reproduction system has a constant tone, the signal can be changed according to the touch or the operation of the operation element.
If the output level of the speaker changes, the timbre and the sound image can be drastically changed according to the frequency characteristics, and the timbre can be changed only by controlling the output to the speaker.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to this point. When the same waveform is read out, when an electronic musical instrument is strongly played, a large amount of sound is distributed to a loudspeaker for a high frequency range, thereby producing a bright sound. When the sound is played softly, a large amount of sound is distributed to a low-range speaker to output a sweet sound.

For this reason, according to the present invention, in an electronic musical instrument having a plurality of speakers having different frequency characteristics, a keyboard touch and an operation of an operating element (wheel, lever, etc.) 1 are detected by a detecting means 2.
And controls the output balance to each speaker according to the detected value.

That is, the input means 15 and other operating elements 1
The detecting means 2 detects the manner of operation (e.g., touch speed) and the setting positions of wheels, levers, and the like, and the reading means 11 refers to the first storage means 12 to determine a tone control signal based on the detected values. Then, this is sent to the processing means 7.

The processing means 7 obtains a control value of each sound emission system with reference to the second storage means 3 based on the tone color control signal sent from the CPU 10, and inputs the control value to each sound emission system with this control value. By controlling the original sound to be transmitted, the distribution of the sound to each speaker is changed to enable a subtle tone expression.

As described above, according to the present invention, the reproduction system is also provided with the tone color changing ability, so that the range of expression can be greatly expanded and the load of signal processing before the reproduction system can be reduced. it can.

Furthermore, there is an advantage that the sound image can be controlled by the number and arrangement of the speakers used. Further, the operation of changing the atmosphere of the entire tone is facilitated, and the operability is excellent.

[0024]

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention. An embodiment of a tone generator for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 15a is a keyboard, and 15b is a breath. The input sound signal is input through the keyboard 15a or the breath 15b.

The pressure 1a, the wheel 1b, and the pedal 1c as operating elements are used to input various performance conditions such as reverberation.

The pressure 1a is for inputting aftertouch of the keyboard 15a, the wheel 1b is for inputting timbre, reverberation effect and the like, and a plurality of these operators 1 may be provided.

In this embodiment, the case where the wheel 1b is used is illustrated, but a slider, a lever, a volume, or the like may be used.

The pedal 1c as an operator is provided with a timbre, a volume,
It controls reverberation and the like, and includes a soft pedal, a sostenuto pedal, an expression pedal, and the like, and may be provided as needed.

Reference numerals 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e denote sensors 2 as detecting means for detecting touch speed, after touch, reverberation, etc., and a keyboard 15a as input means.
Sensors suitable for the functions such as pressure, breath 15b, pressure 1a and wheel 1b as the operator 1 are used.

The CPU 10 controls each section of the electronic musical instrument according to a control program stored in a program memory section of the ROM 4.

The reading of the tone color control signal of the present invention
The reading unit 11 of the CPU 10 detects the sensors 2a, 2a
b, 2c, 2d, and 2e.
Read from the tone setting table 12 provided above,
The data is sent to each of the scalers 7a, 7b, 7c.

The ROM 4 stores, in addition to the program for operating the CPU 10 described above, various data such as a tone color control signal. The tone setting table 12 used in the present invention is stored in a predetermined area of the ROM 4.

The RAM 5 has a work area for the CPU 10, various registers for controlling the audio equipment, a counter,
In addition to flags and the like, data necessary for sound emission corresponding to the setting states of switches and the like of the panel unit are set in a data area where necessary data stored in the ROM 4 is temporarily transferred and stored. ing.

The set values of the keyboard 15a and the controls 1a, 1b, 1c, etc., which are directly related to the present invention, are stored in predetermined areas on the RAM 5.

The sound source 6 generates a desired musical tone based on an input sound signal input from the keyboard 15a or the breath 15b. The sound source 6 includes a plurality of DCOs (digital control oscillators) and includes a waveform memory (not shown) and an envelope waveform memory (not shown). It is connected.

The scalers 7a, 7b, 7c are provided for each sound emitting system, and generate control values for the amplifiers 8a, 8b, 8c based on the tone control signal sent from the CPU 10.

The scalers 7a, 7b, 7c have control value setting tables 3a, 3b, 3c, respectively. The control values of the multipliers 16a, 16b, 16c are determined by the CPUs 10a, 7b, 7c. It is determined by referring to the control value setting tables 3a, 3b, 3c based on, for example, key touch data sent from the controller.

The multipliers 16a, 16b and 16c are provided for each sound emitting system, and each of the scalers 7a,
Based on the control values given by 7b and 7c, the output level of the sound signal given from the sound source is converted for each sound emission system.

The D / A converters 17a, 17b, 17c are:
Each multiplier 16 is provided for each sound emitting system.
The digital signal converted to a predetermined output level at a, 16b, and 16c is converted to an analog signal.

The amplifiers 8a, 8b and 8c are provided for each of the speakers 9a, 9b and 9c having different frequency characteristics, and the analog signals inputted according to the set values of the keyboard 15a and the controls 1a, 1b and 1c are provided. The tone signal is amplified and output with a predetermined gain. These amplifiers 8a, 8b, 8c
Are supplied to the respective speakers 9a, 9b, 9c.

The speakers 9a, 9b and 9c are connected to the respective amplifiers 8
A, 8b, and 8c convert the analog tone signal as an electrical signal sent from 8c into an acoustic signal.

In this configuration, the performer plays the keyboard 15a
In addition to inputting a tone signal from input means such as a sound source and a breath 15b, operating conditions such as a wheel 1b and a pedal 1c are operated before or during the performance to input performance conditions.

The inputted input sound signal is sent to a sound source under the control of the CPU 10 to generate a musical sound, and, for example, a signal of the sensor 2a detecting aftertouch of the keyboard 15a and a depth of the wheel 1b detected by the sensor 2c. Performance conditions such as A / D conversion by an A / D converter (not shown)
It is converted and sent to the CPU 10.

The reading section 11 of the CPU 10 receives the signal and searches the tone color setting table 12 in the ROM 4 and
And the like, and sends the tone color control signal to each of the scalers 7a, 7b, 7c.

Each of the scalers 7a, 7b, and 7c, based on the timbre control signal, controls the respective scalers 7a, 7b, and 7c.
b, control information tables 3a, 3 provided in 7c
b, 3c, each multiplier 16a, 16b, 16c
, And the control value is calculated by each of the multipliers 16a, 16b,
Send to 16c.

Each of the multipliers 16a, 16b, and 16c receives a tone signal from the sound source 6 and
a, 7b, 7c, the output level of the tone signal is converted based on the control value sent thereto, converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 17, and amplified to a predetermined gain by an amplifier. This is sent to each speaker 9a, 9b, 9c. Thereby, each speaker 9a, 9b, 9c emits a sound with a desired tone.

In the present embodiment, the tone color setting table 12 and the control tables 3a, 3a, 3
The case where the control values are determined using tables such as b and 3c has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a function may be used, or a configuration may be used in which a program has data. May be.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

When the power is turned on, first, an initialization process is performed (step S11). This initialization process sets the internal state of the sound source 6 to the initial state to prevent unnecessary sounds from being generated when the power is turned on, clears the work area of the RAM 5, resets the registers and flags to the initial state. Is a process to be set.

The settings of the sensors 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, and 2e directly related to the present invention before the start of performance are determined by a predetermined value of the buffer 13 provided on the RAM 5 at the stage of the initialization processing. The area is stored in the OLD buffer and the NEW buffer, respectively.

Next, when the performance is started, it is first checked whether or not the key is turned on (step S12). This is a process for checking whether the sound switch has been operated, and is performed by checking the sensor of the keyboard 15a or the breath 15b.

If it is determined in step S12 that the key is not turned on, there is no need to perform a tone generation process.
Returning to step 12, the loop processing is repeated, and the process waits until a sound signal is input.

On the other hand, if the key-on is detected in step S12, each sensor 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e
The setting state of each operation element 1a, 1b, 1c and the keyboard 1
The state such as the touch speed and after touch of 5a is detected (step S13).

Then, the detected value is compared with the value stored in the OLD buffer of each operator 1 provided on the RAM 5 (step S14). If the values are equal, the operator 1 has not been operated, and the process directly branches to step S17.

On the other hand, if the detected value is not equal to the value stored in the OLD buffer of the control 1, the control stored in the buffer 13 is updated because the control is being operated during this time. That is, the value currently stored in the NEW buffer is stored in the OLD buffer, and the OLD buffer is updated (step S15).

This is because the OLD buffer stores the set value of the control at the time of the previous sound generation, and the NEW buffer stores the set value of the control at the time of the current sound generation. .

Next, the set value of the operator detected this time is stored in the NEW buffer (step S16). In this way, the latest setting value of the operator is always stored in the NEW buffer.

Next, each of the sensors 2a, 2b, 2c, 2
It is checked whether the detection has been completed for all of d, 2e, and all (step S17). This is a process for checking whether or not the detection of all the sensors has been completed, since the reading of the performance conditions is performed by sequentially detecting the set values of the respective controls and the keyboard 15a and storing the set values in the buffer.

If it is determined in step S17 that the detection has not been completed for all the sensors, the process returns to step S13, and the same processing is repeated until the detection is completed for all the sensors.

On the other hand, when the detection for all the sensors is completed, the reading unit 11 of the CPU 10 sets the N
The information stored in the EW buffer is sequentially read, and based on the information, the tone color setting table 12 of the corresponding operator 1 stored in the ROM 4 is referred to, and each multiplier 1
A tone color control signal for controlling 6a, 16b, 16c is determined and sent to each of the scalers 7a, 7b, 7c (step S18).

Each of the scalers 7a receiving the tone control signal,
7b, 7c reads the control tables 3a, 3b, 3c stored in the storage units of the scalers 7a, 7b, 7c, and outputs the sound emitting type multipliers 16a, 16 to which the scalers belong.
The control values of b and 16c are determined and stored in the storage unit of each scaler (step S19).

Next, the multiplier 16 is used for all the sound emitting systems.
It is checked whether the control values a, 16b, and 16c have been set (step S20). If the setting of the control values for all the sound emitting systems has not been completed, the process returns to step S19, and the processing is repeated until the setting of all the amplifiers 8a, 8b, 8c is completed.

When the setting of the control values for all the sound emitting systems is completed, all the sound emitting systems read the control values of the scalers 7a, 7b and 7c in accordance with the instruction of the CPU 10, and based on the control values, each multiplier 16a , 16b and 16c are controlled to convert to a predetermined output level.

Next, the digital signal converted to a predetermined output level is converted to an analog signal by the D / A converter 17, amplified to a predetermined gain by the amplifier 8, and emitted by each speaker 9 (step S21). When the sound emission ends, step S
The process returns to step 12 and waits until the next sounding timing.

The generation of the timbre under the control of the multiplier of the present invention is performed in such a procedure. Thus, the tone can be controlled by controlling the amplification factor of the amplifier with a simple structure, and the cost can be reduced.

Elements for controlling the timbre detected by the sensor include the touch speed (velocity) of the keyboard as an input means and the after touch (pressure). There are tone, reverberation, sound volume, mute processing speed, and the like set by a wheel, a slider, a lever, a volume, a damper, a soft pedal, a sostenuto pedal, an expression pedal, and the like as operators.

The timbre control element of the present invention may be a combination of any one or more of the above elements, and the selection of the element may be determined according to the characteristics, scale, performance, etc. of the musical instrument.

[0069]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Since the timbre is changed according to the characteristics of the speaker and its output level, it is possible to provide a timbre control device for an electronic musical instrument capable of automatically and easily changing the atmosphere of the entire timbre even with the same tone signal.

Further, according to the present invention, depending on the number and arrangement of the speakers, it is possible to obtain a timbre change including dynamic and spatial localization.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of the electronic musical instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the electronic musical instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional electronic musical instrument.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Operator 1a Pressure 1b Wheel 1c Pedal 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d. 2e Sensor (detection means) 3, 3a, 3b, 3c Control table (second storage means) 4 ROM 5 RAM 6 Sound source 7, 7a, 7b, 7c Scaler (processing means) 8, 8a, 8b, 8c Amplifier 9, 9a, 9b, 9c Speaker 10 CPU 11 Reading unit 12 Tone setting table (first storage unit) 13 Buffer 15 Input unit 15a Keyboard 15b Breath 16, 16a, 16b, 16c Multiplier 17, 17a, 17b, 17c D / A converter

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G10H 1/00 G10H 1/02 1/16 H04R 3/00-3/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of speakers having different frequency characteristics;
A first means for storing a sound emission sequence corresponding to each of the plurality of speakers, detection means for detecting information indicating the strength of the performance operation or information indicating the operation state of each operating element, and a plurality of tone color control information; Storage means, reading means for reading timbre control information corresponding to the output of the detection means from the first storage means, and second storage means provided for each of the sound emission sequences. And a processing unit provided for each of the sound emission sequences, each of which stores a control value corresponding to tone color control information read by the reading unit in the second storage unit. Read from the means,
Processing means for controlling a tone level of a corresponding sound emission sequence based on the read control value. 2. The information detected by the detecting means includes a keyboard touch speed, a keyboard after touch, a detected value of a breath controller, a detected value of a damper pedal, a soft pedal, a sostenuto pedal, and a detected value of an expression pedal.
2. The tone generator for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the set value is at least one of a wheel, a slider, a lever, and a volume.