Electronic musical instrument

#This invention relates to an electronic musical instrument of the type wherein such various characteristics of the musical tones generated as the color, volume and effect are controlled by the manipulation of a plurality of volume adjusting members, switches or the like mounted on the surface of a control panel, and more particularly an electronic musical instrument which can be readily played or performed by a novice player by making inoperative some one of a plurality of operating members, if desired, or by enabling a control based on preset information.

#In a prior art electronic musical instruments, for example an organ, only tone levers (tone volumes) were provided to control tone color and footage for each keyboard but in a modern electronic musical instrument, as a result of developments in digital techniques such performances as automatic rhythm, automatic bass/chord, automatic arpeggio, etc. are added and switches, volume adjusting members or the like are also mounted on the surface of the control panel in addition to the tone levers. For this reason, the number of the operating members mounted on the panel surface has been increased to 100 or more so that such a high grade electronic musical instrument is difficult to play for an unskilled player.

#Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide an improved electronic musical instrument which can be readily played even by an unskilled player.

#In the accompanying drawings:

#FIG. 1 is a front view of an electronic musical instrument embodying the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the construction of a blind unit shown in FIG. 1;

#As shown in FIG. 1, one embodiment of the electronic musical instrument of this invention comprises a main body 10, a lower stage panel 11, a middle stage panel 12 and an upper stage panel 13.

#A lower keyboard (LK) 14 is mounted on the lower stage panel 11 and an upper keyboard (UK) 15 is mounted on the middle stage panel 12. In addition, a plurality of operating members are mounted on these panels. More particularly, on the right hand portion of the lower panel 11 are mounted a source switch 16 and a U(UK)/L(LK) manual balancing variable resistor 17, whereas on the left hand portion of the lower panel 11 are mounted a tempo adjusting variable resistor 18 of an automatic rhythm performance (auto-rhythm), three rhythm selection switches 19 for selecting such extremely simple (small) variation rhythm patterns as two beats or double meter, three beats or tripe meter, four beats or quadruple meter and the like, a switch 20 for instructing starting of an auto-rhythm, a switch 21 for designating preset automatic bass/chord (ABC) of a simple form, and a switch 22 for designating a preset automatic arpeggio arpeges (ARP) of a simple form. On the left hand of the middle step panel 12 is mounted a blind unit 23 containing a plurality of operating members 24 through 42 which are not used for an ordinary performance except in a special case, and a preset release switch 43. The construction of the blind unit 23 may be of any well known type so long as it can "blind" or conceal the parts contained therein. For example, it may comprise a hinged lid, a slidable lid, or a rotatable triangular or square pillar on which switches and volume control members are mounted. For the sake of brevity, in FIG. 1 the blind unit 23 is shown as bounded by dash lines. One example of the hinged lid type is shown in FIG. 2 in which a flat panel 12 is formed with a recess 500, and a plurality of operating members and switches 510 described above are disposed at the bottom of the recess 500. The upper opening of the recess 500 is normally closed by a cover 520 which has a letter L cross-sectional configuration and can be opened to a dotted line position by pulling a handle in a direction shown by an arrow so as to enable the manipulation of switches contained in the recess. Arms 530 and 531 are connected to both corners on the side opposite to the handle 520a of the cover 520, the opposite ends of these arms being pivotally connected to frames or other suitable supporting members 533 and 534 extending the parallel therewith and secured to the panel 12 (arm 531 and member 534 are not shown because they are positioned in front of the sheet of drawing). In this example the operating members and switches 510 are mounted on a base plate 535 extending between the frames 533 and 534 on the back of the recess 500.

#FIG. 3 shows one example of a slidable lid in which a blind unit 23 includes recess 550 formed in an inclined panel 12 and the operating members and the switches 560 are secured to the bottom of the recess. In the flat opposing side surfaces of the upper openings of the recess are formed a pair of guide grooves 565 and 566 extending in the direction of width of the recess to slidably receive a lid or cover 563. A pair of pins 568 and 569 extending from the panel or frame are received in the guide grooves (since groove 566 and pin 569 are disposed on the rear side of the sheet of drawing they are not shown). The cover 563 is normally in the closed position shown by solid lines. To open the recess, the cover 563 is swung to the dotted line position to enable manipulation of the switches 560.