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AssigneeElectronic Music Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey J. Murray, Jeffrey L. Bachiochi, Norman L. Milliard
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An electronic music system includes a voltage controlled tone generator, or synthesizer, and an input device, in the form of a guitar or other fretted stringed instrument and associated electronic circuitry, for sequentially providing voltage signals, selected from a set of discretely different voltage levels each analogously related to a musical tone, for driving the tone generator. Each string-fret pair of the stringed instrument is assigned a given musical tone, preferably in accordance with normal tuning of the instrument, and means are provided for producing a corresponding voltage when a string-fret pair is closed by pressing the string against the fret. When two or more string-fret pairs are simultaneously closed, the output voltage corresponding to the highest frequency musical tone associated with the closed string-fret pairs is produced. In particular, different electrical voltages are applied to the instrument frets so as to apply such voltages to the strings when the strings are pressed into contact with the frets. A multiplexing system repetitively samples the string voltages, adds to each string voltage an offset voltage compensating for the musical intervals between the open strings, and processes the highest summed voltage for output to the tone generator.
An electronic music system comprising a voltage controlled tone generator, a stringed instrument having at least one string and a plurality of frets spaced from one another along the length of said string with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, and means responsive to said string being pressed into contact with any one of said frets for producing and supplying to said voltage controlled tone generator, as the driving input signal for said tone generator, a voltage signal having a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the musical tone assigned to the contacting string-fret pair, said voltage controlled tone generator including means for producing an intermediate signal having a frequency related to said input voltage signal, an amplifier having a voltage controlled gain for varying the amplitude of said intermediate signal, an envelope generator for providing a voltage waveform controlling the gain of said amplifier, and means for turning said envelope generator on to initiate the production of a new voltage waveform therefrom in response to said at least one string being brought into contact with any one of said frets.
An electronic music system comprising a voltage controlled tone generator, a stringed instrument having a plurality of spaced parallel strings located over a fret board having a plurality of frets extending transversely of said strings and spaced one from another along the length of said fret board with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, and means responsive of any one of said strings being pressed into contact with any one of said frets for producing and supplying to said voltage controlled tone generator, as the driving input for said tone generator, a voltage signal having a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the musical tone represented by the contacting string-fret pair.
An electronic music system comprising a voltage controlled tone generator, a stringed instrument having a plurality of spaced parallel strings and a plurality of frets spaced from one another along the length of said strings and each extending transversely across all of said strings with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, and means responsive to any one or more of said strings being pressed into contact with any one or more of said frets for producing and supplying to said voltage controlled tone generator, as the driving input signal for said tone generator, a voltage signal having a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the highest musical tone represented by the contacting string-fret pair or pairs.
An electronic music system comprising a voltage controlled tone generator, a stringed instrument having a plurality of spaced parallel electrically conductive strings and a plurality of electrically conductive frets spaced from one another along the length of said strings and each extending transversely across all of said strings with each string-fret pair representing an assigned musical tone, and means responsive to any one of strings being pressed into contact with any one of said frets for producing and supplying to said voltage controlled tone generator, as the driving input signal for said tone generator, a voltage signal having a voltage value analogously related to the frequency of the contacting string-fret pair, said means for producing a voltage signal including means for applying a discrete fret voltage to each of said frets and which discrete voltage is different from that applied to the other of said frets, an offset voltage source providing a plurality of offset voltages each assigned to a respective one of said strings and each of which offset voltages is different from the other of said offset voltages, a multiplexer means for sequentially and cyclicly sampling the voltages appearing on said strings, means for adding each sampled string voltage to its corresponding offset voltage to produce a resultant voltage, means for detecting and temporarily storing the peak resultant voltage obtained during each sampling cycle, and means utilizing said peak resultant voltage as said voltage signal supplied to said voltage controlled tone generator.
A means for providing voltage signals for driving a voltage controlled tone generator in an electronic music producing system, said means comprising:
A means for providing voltage signals for driving a voltage controlled tone generator in an electronic music producing system said means comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.