JP3206040B2 - Electronic string instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic stringed musical instrument, and more particularly, to a case where a plurality of effects are added to a sound of a picked string and outputted, at least an effect given to a specific sound and other effects are added. The present invention relates to an electronic stringed instrument that can differ from an effect given to sound.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic stringed musical instrument (for example, an electronic guitar) or the like, a picked-up string is converted into an electric signal by a pickup, and an effect adding circuit is connected to play a sound different from the original sound. You can do it. An example of such a conventional device is an electric guitar. In an electric guitar, a string signal is converted into an electric signal by an electromagnetic pickup, and an effect is added to the converted string vibration signal by an effect adding circuit. are doing. However, when string vibration is converted to an electric signal by an electromagnetic pickup, when a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, a plurality of string vibrations are mixed (mixed) in the process of converting to an electric signal. Only one effect can be added to the mix sound of all the picked strings, but different effects cannot be added to each of a plurality of strings. Therefore, conventionally, a string vibration of each string is independently converted into an electric signal using a hex (HEX) pickup or the like, and a different effect is added to each string vibration signal converted into the electric signal by an effect adding circuit. Electronic stringed instruments have been devised. As shown in FIG. 11, the conventional electronic string musical instrument converts the string vibration of each string into an electric signal by each of the pickups P1 to P6, and applies an effect adding circuit EF to each of the pickups P1 to P6.
1 to EF6 can be connected. Each pickup P1
The effect adding circuits EF1 to EF6 connected to .about.P6 are connected by the player prior to the performance, and are fixedly connected during the performance.

[0003]

In such a conventional electronic string instrument, however, it is possible to connect a different effect adding circuit for each string prior to performance, but once it is connected, it is fixedly connected. This not only limited the range of music that could be played, but was also inconvenient in performance. That is, since the effect adding circuit set for each string before the performance is fixedly connected, it is necessary to draw the connected string of the effect adding circuit in order to add a desired effect. For example, if a distortion effect adding circuit is connected to the first string for solo performance and a chorus effect adding circuit is connected to another string for backing performance, these effect adding circuits are Once connected, the connection is fixed, so it is necessary to always perform with the first string in order to perform a solo performance, which not only limits the width of the music that can be played, but is also inconvenient in performance. In view of the above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, a predetermined effect is automatically added to a plurality of musical tones generated in response to the string vibration of each string, and the width of music that can be played is increased. The purpose is to expand and improve the convenience of performance.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a string vibration detecting means for detecting a string vibration independently for each string, and a tone signal generated in response to the string vibration detected by the string vibration detecting means. Pitch specifying means for specifying a pitch, first and second effect adding means for adding first and second effects to the generated tone signal, and a sound specified by the pitch specifying means. code detecting means for detecting a chord from a high, relative to the musical tone signal corresponding to the root tone chord detected by the code detecting means, adding the first effect by the first effect adding means, said chord And control means for controlling the second effect adding means to add a second effect to a tone signal which does not correspond to the root tone .

[0005]

According to the present invention, the string vibration detecting means independently detects the string vibration of each string, and the first effect adding means applies the first effect to the tone signal generated based on the string vibration. Further, the second effect is added by the second effect adding means. In this case, each effect is added to each musical tone generated based on the type of constituent sounds of the chord to be generated. That is, chords are detected by the chord detection means,
The control means controls the first effect on the root sound in the constituent sound.
The first effect is added by the result adding means , while the other
The control means causes the second effect adding means to add the second effect to the sound . Here, the first effect adding means and the second effect adding means
The effect adding means adds effects different from each other. For example, the first effect is the distortion effect,
A chorus effect is added as an effect. The chord is detected by the chord detecting means by, for example, extracting a vibration period from each string vibration detected by the string vibration detecting means, or detecting each fret position where the fret operation is performed. Therefore, when a chord is played, the first effect is applied to the root sound and the other constituent sounds are applied to the root sound among the constituent sounds of the chord composed of the musical tones generated in response to the string vibration detecting means. On the other hand, the second effect can be automatically added. As a result, the root sound and other constituent sounds can be generated in a form acoustically distinguished.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments. FIGS. 1 to 7 are views showing a first embodiment of an electronic stringed instrument of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electronic stringed musical instrument 1 of the present invention. The electronic stringed musical instrument 1 includes six strings, not shown. Electronic stringed instrument 1 has pickups 2
7, pitch extraction circuit 8, level detection circuit 9, control unit 1
0, switches 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, mix amplifiers 17, 18, effect circuits 19, 20, output amplifier 21, speaker 22, and the like.

The electronic stringed instrument 1 has a plurality of strings, in this embodiment six strings, and the pickups 2 to 7 detect the string vibration of each string. Now, the pickup 2 is on the first string, the pickup 3 is on the second string, and the pickup 4 is
The pickup 5 is provided on the fourth string, the pickup 6 is provided on the fifth string, and the pickup 7 is provided on the sixth string. The pickups 2 to 7 independently detect the string vibrations of the corresponding strings, convert the strings into electric signals, and output the electric signals to the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9 as string vibration signals. 16 is output. Therefore, the pickups 2 to 7 function as string vibration detecting means for independently detecting the string vibration of each string.

The pitch extracting circuit 8 is composed of, for example, a high-pass filter or a low-pass filter. The pitch extracting circuit 8 extracts the pitch of each string vibration signal from the string vibration signals input from each of the pickups 2 to 7, and outputs the pitch to the control unit 10. Output.

The level detection circuit 9 is provided for each of the pickups 2 to
The amplitude level of the string vibration signal input from 7 is detected and output to the control unit 10. The level detection circuit 9 compares, for example, the detected amplitude level of each string vibration signal with a preset threshold level, and when the amplitude level of the string vibration signal exceeds the threshold level, sets the level to “high”. When the amplitude level of the string vibration signal is equal to or lower than the threshold level, the control section 10 outputs a “low” level signal.

Therefore, the pitch extracting circuit 8 functions as a pitch specifying means for specifying the pitch of a musical tone to be generated.

The control unit 10 has a CPU (Central Processi
ng Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Ran
The ROM stores a program as the electronic stringed musical instrument 1, a selection process of the effect circuits 19 and 20 based on musical tone characteristics described later, various system data, and the like. The control unit 10 includes the CPU
Uses the RAM as a work area to control each part of the electronic stringed musical instrument 1 in accordance with the program in the ROM, to operate the electronic stringed musical instrument 1, and to operate the switch 11
16 are switched based on the detection results of the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9 to perform an effect addition selection process described later. The control unit 10
Determines a code based on the detection result of the pitch extraction circuit 8, controls the switches 11 to 16 based on the code, and performs an effect addition selection process. Therefore, the control unit 1
0 selects the effect circuits 19 and 20 to which the string vibration signals of the respective strings detected by the pickups 2 to 7 are to be inputted based on the detection results of the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9 and selects the effectors 19 and 20. It functions as control means for controlling the operation.

As described above, the string vibration signals from the pickups 2 to 7 are input to the switches 11 to 16, and the switches 11 to 16 operate under the control of the control unit 10 to The string vibration signals input from 2 to 7 are selectively switched to a mix amplifier 17 and a mix amplifier 18 and output.

The mix amplifier 17 includes switches 11 to 16
Are mixed (mixed) and output to the effect circuit 19. Similarly, the mix amplifier 18 mixes the respective string vibration signals input through the switches 11 to 16. And outputs it to the effect circuit 20. Therefore, the mix amplifiers 17 and 18 output the input string vibration signals to the effect circuits 19 and 20 when there is one input string vibration signal, and when the input string vibration signals are two or more, these input strings are input. Circuit 1 that mixes string vibration signals
Output to 9 and 20.

The effect circuits 19 and 20 add a predetermined effect to the string vibration signal or the mix signal input from the mix amplifiers 17 and 18 and output the resultant signal to the output amplifier 21. The effects to be added by the effect circuits 19 and 20 can be appropriately selected by a key operation or the like of a key operation unit (selection instructing means) (not shown). The effects that can be added include, for example, distortion, chorus, Various effects such as echo and reverb are possible. As the effect circuits 19 and 20, conventionally known ones can be used. For example, an A / D converter, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor: Digital Signal Processor) can be used.
or), and by performing digital signal processing, it is possible to easily add many kinds of effects at low cost.

The output amplifier 21 includes an effect circuit 19,
The signal added with the effect output from 20 is amplified and output to the speaker 22, and the speaker 22 emits the amplified signal to the outside.

Next, the operation will be described. Electronic stringed instrument 1
When the power is turned on and the strings are picked, as shown in FIG. 2, the pickups 2 to 7 detect the string vibration of the picked strings (step S1), and
7 converts the detected string vibration into an electric signal, and outputs the signal to the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9 as a string vibration signal, and outputs it to the switches 11 to 16.

The pitch extraction circuit 8 performs pitch extraction from the input string vibration signal, and outputs the extraction result to the control unit 10. The level detection circuit 9 detects the level of the input string vibration signal and outputs the detection result to the control unit 9.

The control unit 10 determines the tone characteristics of the picked string vibration based on the extraction result of the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the detection result of the level detection circuit 9 and switches 11 to 16 based on the determined tone characteristics. Control.

If a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, the control unit 10 selects the highest tone from the string vibration signals of the plurality of picked strings (step S).
2) The switches 11 to 16 connected to the pickups 2 to 7 corresponding to the picked strings of the highest pitch are connected to the mix amplifier 17 and the pickups 2 to 7 corresponding to the other strings are picked up.
7 are connected to the mix amplifiers 18.
(Step S3).

Further, the control section 10 can determine a chord based on the detection result of the pitch extraction circuit 8, and when a chord is played, can select an effect to be added based on the chord. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, assuming that the D-code, the A-code, and the D-code are played in this order, the operation of the strings and frets is performed by the D-code in FIG.
The frets 5 and 7 are operated as shown in
The third to fifth strings indicated by the marks are picked. Ma
In the A-code, as shown in FIG. 5 , the fret 5, the fret 6, and the fret 7 are operated, and the first to fourth strings indicated by a mark are picked. In addition, the cross mark in FIG. 4 indicates that the finger is actually lightly touched to mute ,
5 indicate open strings.

As described above, when the D chord, the A chord, and the D chord are played, as shown in FIG. 6 , the third chord becomes the highest note in the D chord, and the first chord and the second chord in the A chord. Are the same strings, the first string and the second string have the highest pitch.
Therefore, in the D code, the tone signal corresponding to the third string is supplied to the mix amplifier 17, and in the A code, the first string and the second
A tone signal corresponding to a string is output to a mix amplifier 17, and a tone signal corresponding to another string is output to a mix amplifier 18. Here, the distortion effect circuit 19, a chorus effect circuit 20, when so as to respectively added, as shown in FIG. 6, the D code, distortion in the sound corresponding to the third string is a fourth
The sound corresponding to the strings and the fifth string chorus is added, A
The code disc <br/> torsion to sound corresponding to the first string and second string is, so that the code <br/> Ras is added to the sound corresponding to the third string and the fourth string .

When a chord is played, an effect to be added can be selected depending on whether or not the chord is a root note. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, pitch extraction of each string is performed by the pitch extraction circuit 8 (step Q1), and chord discrimination is performed by the control unit 10 from the extraction result (step Q2). Based on the result of the chord determination, it is checked whether or not the root note is present (step Q3). If the root note is present, the switches 11 to 16 are controlled to input the result to the effect circuit 19 via the mix amplifier 17; , The switches 11 to 16 to control the effect circuit 2 via the mix amplifier 18.
0 is input. Therefore, when a chord is played,
The effect to be added can be selected depending on whether it is a root note or not.

The sound selected to add a different effect is not limited to the highest sound. For example, the second sound from the lowest sound is determined from the string vibrations of a plurality of picked strings. The switches 11 to 16 connected to the pickups 2 to 7 corresponding to the string from which the second lowest sound is picked are connected to the mix amplifier 17 and connected to the pickups 2 to 7 corresponding to the other strings. Switch 11-
16 may be output to the mix amplifier 18.

The string vibration signal output to mix amplifier 17 is output to effect circuit 19, and the string vibration signal output to mix amplifier 18 is output to effect circuit 20. Now, as described above, the mix amplifier 17
Is supplied with one string vibration signal, and the mix amplifier 18
Assuming that several other string vibration signals are input to
The mix amplifier 17 outputs the input string vibration signal to the effect circuit 19 as it is,
Mixes a plurality of input string vibration signals and outputs the result to the effect circuit 20.

Here, if the effect circuit 19 and the effect circuit 20 are set to give different effects, the string vibration signal input to the effect circuit 19 and the string vibration signal input to the effect circuit 20 will be different. , Different effects can be added.

For example, a distortion is set in the effect circuit 19, a chorus is set in the effect circuit 20, a string vibration signal of the highest sound is input to the effect circuit 19, and a string vibration signal of another sound is input to the effect circuit 20. Then, distortion can be added to the string vibration signal of the highest sound, and chorus can be added to the string vibration signals of other sounds. Needless to say, the effect to be added is not limited to distortion or chorus.

The signals to which the effects have been added by the effect circuits 19 and 20 are amplified by an output amplifier 21 and emitted through a speaker 22. Therefore, when a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, the effect to be added to the string vibration of each picked string can be appropriately selected based on the musical tone characteristics of the picked string vibration, and the width of the music that can be played. Can be expanded, and the convenience in performance can be improved. In particular, as mentioned above,
If a signal is set to add a specific effect to the signal related to the highest string of the picked strings, or to the signal related to the second note from the lowest string of the picked strings, a specific string is set. Restrictions on performance such as allocation for solo performance can be eliminated, and convenience in performance can be further improved.

Further, what kind of sound is to be given what kind of effect can be arbitrarily set by an operation unit (selection instructing means: not shown) of the electronic stringed musical instrument 1.
6, a tone characteristic to be input to a particular effect circuit 19 or effect circuit 20 can be designated, and an arbitrary effect can be added to a signal having an arbitrary tone characteristic. As a result, a more musical performance can be performed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, different effects are given to musical tones generated by using a musical tone generator. Components similar to those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. The description is omitted.

In FIG. 8, string vibration signals output from the respective pickups 2 to 7 of the electronic stringed musical instrument 30 are switched by switches 11 to 11.
The signal is not input to 16 but is input only to the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9.

As described above, the pitch extraction circuit 8 extracts the pitch from the string vibration signal and outputs the result of the extraction to the control unit 32. The level detection circuit 9 detects the level of the string vibration signal, The detection result is output to the control unit 32.

The control section 32 has the same configuration as that of the control section 10, but can perform control processing of the tone generator 31. The control section 32 controls the tone generator 31 to generate a tone corresponding to the picked string based on signals from the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9. That is, the control unit 32 determines the pitch and the like of the picked string based on the signals input from the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9, and outputs pitch data and the like to the musical tone generator 31 to output the string data. A musical tone having a pitch corresponding to the vibration period (pitch) is instructed to be generated in a tone color such as a piano sound selected by an operation unit or the like. The tone generator 31 operates under the control of the control unit 32, and generates a tone signal of a designated tone such as a guitar tone, a piano tone, or an organ tone based on the scale data and tone color data input from the control unit 32. Output to the switches 11 to 16 corresponding to the picked strings. The control unit 32
Determines the string vibration characteristics of the picked string based on the signals from the pitch extraction circuit 8 and the level detection circuit 9 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. To 16 to selectively output the tone signals output from the tone generator 31 to the respective switches 11 to 16 to the mix amplifiers 17 and 18.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, when a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, the strings of each picked string are picked up based on the musical tone characteristics of the picked string vibration. The effect added to the vibration can be appropriately selected, the range of music that can be played can be widened, and the convenience in playing can be improved. Further, in the present embodiment, the tone generator 3
For example, a piano sound or the like can be appropriately set as the sound generated in step 1, and the range of music that can be played can be further expanded.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the picking string is detected by the picking detecting section, the fret position is detected by the fret detecting section, the pitch and the level are detected by the picking string and the fret position, and the chord is detected from the detection result. The same components as those in the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 9, the electronic stringed musical instrument 40 detects picking of each string by a picking detecting section (picking detecting means).
The picking detection section 41 detects the picking of each string and outputs it to the control section 43. The fret position of each string is detected by a fret detection unit (fret position detection means) 42, and the fret position detection unit 42 outputs a detection result to the control unit 43. This fret detector 4
2 includes, for example, a fret position detection switch provided at each string fret position (on the fingerboard), and the fret position detection unit 42 synchronizes with each of the fret detection switches in synchronization with a key scanning signal input from the control unit 43. The detected fret position is output to the control unit 43 as detection data.

The control unit 43 determines the picked string and its fret position based on the detection results of the picking detection unit 41 and the fret position detection unit 42. Judge the tone characteristics. The control unit 43 controls the tone generator 31 based on the determination result to generate a tone, and controls the switches 11 to 16 to convert the tone signal output from the tone generator 31 into the mix amplifier 17 and the The signal is selectively input to the mix amplifier 18. Therefore, the control unit 43 functions as a characteristic detecting unit that detects the vibration characteristic of each string vibration from the detection result of the picking detection unit 41 and / or the fret detection unit 42, and based on these detection results, It functions as a control means for selecting the effect circuits 19 and 20 to which the tone signal output from 31 is to be input and controlling the operation of the switches 11 to 16.

When picking or fret operation is performed in this manner, the electronic stringed musical instrument 40 detects each fret position where fret operation has been performed in synchronization with a key scanning signal from the control unit 43, as shown in FIG. Output to the control unit 43 (step P1). Picked strings (operation strings)
Is detected by the picking detection section 41 and output to the control section 43 (step P2). The control unit 43 determines the highest tone based on these detection results (step P3), and controls the switches 11 to 16 to correspond to the highest tone among the tone signals output from the tone generator 31. A tone signal is output to the mix amplifier 17 and a tone signal corresponding to another pitch is output to the mix amplifier 18. These mix amplifiers 17, 18
The tone signal corresponding to the highest tone is output to the effect circuit 19 via the, and tone signals corresponding to other sounds are output to the effect circuit 29. Each effect circuit 19, 2
0 adds different effects, for example, distortion and chorus, to the speaker 2 via the output amplifier 21.
2 is emitted (step P4).

Therefore, in this embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, when a plurality of strings are picked at the same time, each string is added to each tone signal of each pitch corresponding to the fret position where each fret is operated. Effect can be appropriately selected, the range of music that can be played can be widened, and the convenience of performance can be improved. In the second and third embodiments, the tone generator 31 is used.
The sound of a piano or the like can be appropriately set as the sound to be generated in the step (1), and the range of music that can be played can be further expanded. Further, the control unit 10 as a code determining unit can determine the chord, and can determine a specific sound, for example, a root sound, and add a specific effect to this. As a result, the range of music that can be played can be further expanded.

[0039]

[0040]

According to the present invention, the code detecting means
Detect chords and control the roots of their constituent tones
The means adds the first effect by the first effect adding means , while the control means applies the second effect to sounds other than the root sound.
Since the second effect is added by the adding means, when a chord is played, of the chords composed of the tones to be generated, the first tone is assigned to the root tone. An effect (for example, a distortion effect) and a second effect (for example, a chorus effect) can be automatically added to other constituent sounds. As a result, it is possible to automatically generate the root note and other constituent sounds in an acoustically distinct manner while playing the chord without requiring any special operation for effect switching. The created melody can be emphasized from other constituent sounds.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of an electronic stringed instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an effect addition selection process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a musical score to be played.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a chord system on an electronic stringed instrument.

FIG. 5 The figure which shows the chord system on an electronic stringed instrument.

FIG. 6 An example of an effect added by the processing of FIG. 2 is shown.
FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an effect addition selection process based on code discrimination.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the electronic stringed instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the electronic stringed instrument of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an effect addition selection process according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of a conventional electronic string instrument.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 30, 40 Electronic stringed musical instrument 2-7 Pickup 8 Pitch extraction circuit 9 Level detection circuit 10, 32, 43 Control unit 11-16 Switcher 17, 18 Mix amplifier 19, 20 Effect circuit 21 Output amplifier 22 Speaker 31 Musical sound generator 41 Picking detection unit 42 Fret position detection unit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G10H 3/18 G10H 1/00-1/46

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A string vibration detecting means for detecting a string vibration independently of each string, and a pitch specifying means for specifying a pitch of a tone signal generated in response to the string vibration detected by the string vibration detecting means. First and second effect adding means for adding first and second effects to the generated tone signal; and code detection for detecting a chord from a pitch designated by the pitch designating means. Means , corresponding to the root of a chord detected by the chord detection means
The first effect adding means for the tone signal
The first effect is added Te for easy <br/> sound signal not corresponding to the root sound of the chord, first by the second effect adding means 2
Control means for controlling so as to add the effect of (1), and an electronic stringed instrument.