Electronic music keyboard
OwnerSandro Gabrielli, Stefano Bondiinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic music keyboard having a plurality of keys, a number of magnetic sensors equal to the number of keys, a magnet disposed in each key, an A/D converter connected to each magnetic sensor, a microcontroller connected to the A/D converters and configured to receive digital values indicative of the key position and convert them into key position values and select useful key position values at which to emit sounds, a digital signal processor (DSP) connected to the microcontroller and configured to receive the useful key position values and accordingly emit at least one sound signal and an electroacoustic transducer connected to the DSP and configured to receive at least one sound signal and accordingly generate a music sound.
Claims11
An electronic music keyboard comprising:
- a plurality of keys;
- a plurality of magnetic sensors equal in number to a number of said plurality of keys;
- a permanent magnet disposed in each key of said plurality of keys, said permanent magnet having a magnetic pole facing a respective magnetic sensor of said plurality of magnetic sensors so as to move closer to or away from the magnetic sensor in relation to a movement of the key, each magnetic sensor of said plurality of magnetic sensors being configured to output an analog voltage signal inversely proportional to a distance between the magnetic and the magnetic sensor;
- an analog-to-digital converter connected to each magnetic sensor of said plurality of magnetic sensors so as to digitize the analog voltage signal generated by the magnetic sensor and to output a plurality of digital values indicative of a position of the key;
- a microcontroller connected to said analog-to-digital converter and configured to receive the plurality of digital values indicative of the position of the key and to convert the plurality of digital values into key position values;
- a digital signal processor connected to said microcontroller so as to generate at least one sound signal;
- and
- an electroacoustic transducer connected to said digital signal processor and configured to receive the at least one sound signal and to generate a musical sound, wherein said analog-to-digital converter is at least an 8-bit converter adapted to provide at least 256 digital values indicative of the position of the key, said microcontroller being configured to convert the at least 256 digital values from said analog-to-digital converter into the at least 256 key position values respectively varying from a rest position to an end stroke position, wherein said microcontroller has a selector, the selector corresponding to a type of musical instrument to emulate, the selector being configured to select a plurality of useful key position values from the 256 key position values associated with respective sound signals of the at least one sound signal in relation to the type of musical instrument to emulate, said microcontroller being configured to output a useful key position value corresponding to the key position when using the electronic music keyboard, wherein said digital signal processor is configured to receive the useful key position value emitted by said microcontroller and to emit the sound signal corresponding to the useful key position value to said electroacoustic transducer emitting the musical sound.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.