JPS5822759B2 - Portamento device for electronic musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portamento device for an electronic musical instrument.

In recent years, with the rapid development of electronic technology, a variety of electronic musical instruments have been developed. For example, electronic musical instruments such as synthesizers use voltage-controlled oscillators (hereinafter referred to as CO), as shown in Figure 1. (hereinafter referred to as CF) 1, voltage controlled filter (hereinafter referred to as CF) 2, and voltage controlled amplifier (hereinafter referred to as VO)
A) 13, a control waveform generator (hereinafter abbreviated as EG) 4, which controls the VOF2 and VOA3, respectively.
5, a control voltage generation circuit 6 that generates a plurality of control voltages to control them, and a keyboard circuit 7 that generates a tone pitch voltage KV and a key press signal KON in response to a key press.

Then, the tone high voltage KV corresponding to the key depression from the keyboard circuit 7
Depending on the oscillation frequency of vco'i only or at the same time, VC! In addition to controlling the band characteristics of F2 to obtain a sound source signal with a pitch corresponding to the pressed key, timbre formation, envelope formation, etc. are controlled by the control waveform generated from EG4.5 in response to the key pressed signal KON. Then, a musical tone signal is outputted to the output terminal 8.

This music signal is generated by a speaker (not shown) via an amplifier (not shown).

In order to impart a portamento effect to such an electronic musical instrument, conventionally, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, a parallel circuit of variable resistor VR and portamento switch S, and capacitor C for voltage storage.

As a result, when the portamento switch S is in the on state, the pitch voltage KV generated when a key is pressed is instantly stored in the capacitor C and applied to the VCOI, so the portamento effect is not imparted and the performance is normal. When the switch S is off, the pitch voltage KV is charged to the capacitor C with a time constant determined by the variable resistor VR and the capacitor C, and the oscillation frequency of the vcoi is controlled by the terminal voltage, so the oscillation frequency of the vcoi is controlled according to the charging time constant. Adds portamento effect.

After the key is released, the gate element 9 is turned off, so the charged voltage of the capacitor C is memorized and retained, and the next time the key is pressed, the pitch changes continuously from the previous key press to the next key press. It's about to change.

In this case, the speed of change in pitch, that is, the portamento speed, is controlled by adjusting the variable resistor VR.

However, such portamento devices cannot be directly applied to the type of electronic musical instruments that have been adopted in recent years, in which pitch is controlled by digitally coded key information, and the curve of pitch change is determined by variable resistor VR and capacitor. Since the charging characteristic is determined by the time constant with C, it is monotonous and periodic.

Moreover, it was not possible to impart a complex portamento effect with aperiodic changes.

This invention was made in view of the above points, and
Digital information can be used to impart a portamento effect, as well as periodic or

The present invention provides a portamento device for an electronic musical instrument that is capable of imparting a complex portamento effect that changes non-periodically.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 11 is a keyboard circuit that emits a key signal KS that is selectively turned on by key depression and a key depression signal KON that is common to each key. , 12 is an encoder that constitutes a key information generating section together with the keyboard circuit 11, and has a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of output terminals, and when a signal is applied to one input terminal, the encoder The encoder is an encoder in which a signal appears at a combination of output terminals corresponding to a key, and receives a key signal KS from a keyboard circuit 11 and generates digitally encoded key information B in accordance with a pitch corresponding to a pressed key.

This key information B is retained as is until the next key press even if the key is released.

A comparator 13 compares the key information B with the key information A from the previous key press stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 as described later, and when B>A, 11" is displayed on the line X, and B< A
``1'' on line Y when .

When B=A, 11" is output to line Z, respectively.

14 is an arithmetic unit which performs an arithmetic operation based on data α as a predetermined value set in advance every time a pulse of the timing signal generated from the timing signal generation circuit 16 arrives;
The information stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 is updated based on the calculation output.

Therefore, the key information A stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 is always input to this arithmetic unit, and when the line When is ``1'', the calculation is stopped.

Therefore, the key information A stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 is repeatedly added or subtracted by α by the calculator 14 until it matches the key information B caused by the current key press. is held until the next key press.

This becomes key information A based on the previous key press for the next key press.

That is, the comparator 13, the arithmetic unit 14, and the temporary storage circuit 15 constitute a key information conversion section.

The calculation speed at which the data α is added to or subtracted from the key information by the calculation unit 14 of the key information conversion section changes depending on the pulse interval, that is, the frequency, of the timing signal generated from the timing signal generation circuit 16.

For example, as shown in the figure, the timing signal generation circuit 16 is provided with ■C018 that generates a pulse train whose frequency is variable depending on the control voltage, and the power supply voltage +■ is connected to a variable resistor ■R1.
When the voltage is divided by and applied as a control voltage to ■C018 via series resistor R1, the pulse interval or frequency of the timing signal (pulse train) generated from ■C018 is changed by variable resistor VR1, and the calculation speed is controlled. can do.

Furthermore, a periodic/aperiodic signal source 1 is connected via a series resistor R2.
By superimposing the signal from 7 on this DC control voltage, the frequency of the timing signal generated from 0018 is changed periodically or non-periodically, and the calculation speed is changed in a complicated manner accordingly. becomes possible.

As shown in the figure, the periodic/aperiodic signal source 17 includes, for example, a sine wave oscillator 19, a triangular wave oscillator 20, a rectifying detector 22 for rectifying and detecting random noise output from a noise generator 21, and switching. The configuration may be such that one of these outputs is selected by the switch SW to output a signal whose amplitude changes periodically or a signal whose amplitude changes non-periodically.

23 is a D/A that converts digital information into analog information.
A converter, which converts the key information stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 into a pitch voltage, and generates
01's oscillation frequency, thereby controlling the sound source signal generated from vcoi as VC! F2, VC! Although it forms part of a musical tone generating section that generates musical tones whose pitches change sequentially over time through A3 and the like, the other configuration of the musical tone generating section is shown in FIG.

Since it is similar to the conventional example, illustration is omitted in FIG.

Note that since the key data stored in the temporary storage circuit 15 is changed step by step by the arithmetic unit 14, it is smoothed via the time constant circuit 24 as necessary.

It may also be possible to supply the voltage to VCOl after that.

Note that the timing signal generation circuit 16 is shown as 16' in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the DC control voltage by the variable resistor R1 is modulated by the output signal of the periodic/non-periodic signal source 17 via the VCA 25.

The oscillation frequency of ■C018 may be controlled by its output.

By configuring as in this embodiment, the J digital coded key information B corresponding to the pitch of the pressed key output from the encoder 12 via the keyboard circuit 11 of the key information generating section is converted into key information. The comparator 13 compares the input key information A with the previous key press stored in the temporary storage circuit 15, and the calculator 1
4, preset predetermined data α is repeatedly added or subtracted at the timing of the timing signal generated by the timing signal generation circuit 16, and the stored information in the temporary storage circuit 15 is updated by the calculation output. Since the key information is output as sequentially changing key information, the key information output from the temporary storage circuit 15 is used to control the VCol of the musical tone generating section via the D/A converter 23 to change the frequency of the generated sound source signal to the previous one. The pitch can be changed continuously from the pitch at the time of key depression to the pitch corresponding to the current key depression, and a portamento effect can be easily imparted using digital information.

Note that the portamento device according to the present invention is not limited to a synthesizer, but also uses a waveform memory etc. to digitally generate sound sources (
The present invention can also be applied to electronic musical instruments that generate musical tone signals, in which case the D/A converter 23 becomes unnecessary.

Furthermore, the timing signal generation circuit 16 is connected to a variable resistor R1.
The portamento speed can be variably adjusted by controlling the output voltage of the timing signal generating circuit 16 to change the frequency of the generated timing signal and changing the arithmetic speed of the arithmetic unit 14. By simultaneously applying the output of the periodic/non-periodic signal source 17 along with the output voltage of the VR, a complex portamento effect with periodic or non-periodic changes can be imparted.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to impart a portamento effect with complex change characteristics that are pleasing to the ear even to electronic musical instruments of the type that control pitch using digitally coded key information. It is.

Furthermore, since the key information is digitally processed in this invention, there is an advantage that it is easy to integrate when incorporating it into an electronic musical instrument.

□Brief explanation of the drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic musical instrument having a conventional portamento device, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an electronic musical instrument having a conventional portamento device. FIG. 7 is a block configuration diagram showing another example of the timing signal generation circuit.

1... Voltage controlled oscillator (VOO), 2...
...Voltage controlled filter (VCF), 3...
Voltage controlled amplifier (VOA), 4, 5... control waveform generator (EG), 6... control voltage generation circuit, 7, 11... keyboard circuit, 12...
Encoder, 13... Comparator, 14...
・Arithmetic unit, 15...Temporary memory circuit, 16...
... timing signal generation circuit, 17 ... periodic/non-periodic signal source, 19 ... sine wave oscillator,
20... Triangular wave oscillator, 21... Noise generator, 22... Rectifier detector, 23...
...D/A converter, 24...Time constant circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 (a) a key information generating section that generates digitally coded key information corresponding to the pitch of a pressed key; (b) a frequency that changes periodically or non-periodically; (c) repeatedly adding a predetermined value to the key information generated from the key information generating section at the timing of the timing signal generated from the timing signal generating circuit; a key information converter that outputs key information that sequentially changes by subtraction; (a) a musical tone generator that generates a musical tone whose pitch changes sequentially in time based on the key information output from the key information converter; A portamento device for an electronic musical instrument comprising: 2. The key information conversion unit includes: a calculation unit that performs addition or subtraction calculation processing; a temporary storage circuit that stores key information output from the calculation unit; and a temporary storage circuit that stores the key information output from the key information generation unit and the and a comparator that compares the key information output from the temporary storage circuit to determine the magnitude relationship thereof, and in the arithmetic unit,
The key information output from the temporary storage circuit at the timing of the timing signal is configured to perform arithmetic processing of repeatedly adding or subtracting a predetermined value according to the comparison result of the comparator. A portamento device for an electronic musical instrument according to claim 1.