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US 11,823,653 B1Granted
Mouth-controlled electronic musical instrument
OwnerKeith M. Baxterinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic musical instrument is tonally controlled by the configuration of a user's mouth and lips. The present invention uses a generated frequency signal to excite a first frequency signal from the user's mouth and lips. The present invention then adjusts the generated frequency signal using a phase-locked loop controller to achieve a close match to the natural frequency of the user's mouth and lips. The generated frequency signal is then played back after processing.
Claims15
A musical instrument comprising:
- a speaker for receiving a first electrical signal to produce a corresponding audio output;
- a microphone for receiving an audio input to produce a corresponding second electrical signal;
- a mouthpiece adapted to provide an acoustic coupling between a user's oral cavity and the speaker and microphone;
- and
- an electronic circuit communicating with the speaker and microphone to:
- (a) measure an acoustic resonant frequency of the oral cavity to produce a frequency signal having a constant value for a given acoustic resonant frequency;
- and
- (b) provide a musical output based on the frequency signal;
- wherein the musical output is provided by an oscillator structurally independent of the speaker and microphone.
6 more elements
A musical instrument comprising:
- a speaker for receiving a first electrical signal to produce a corresponding audio output;
- a microphone for receiving an audio input to produce a corresponding second electrical signal;
- a mouthpiece adapted to provide an acoustic coupling between a user's oral cavity and the speaker and microphone;
- and
- an electronic circuit communicating with the speaker and microphone to:
- (a) measure an acoustic resonant frequency of the oral cavity to produce a frequency signal having a constant value for a given acoustic resonant frequency;
- and
- (b) provide a musical output based on the frequency signal wherein the musical output is quantized to discrete separated values of note frequencies in a standard musical scale;
- wherein the quantization is such that a change in frequency of the musical output from a current frequency to a next frequency requires a larger difference between the next frequency and the acoustic resonant frequency of the oral cavity than between the current frequency and the acoustic resonant frequency of the oral cavity.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.