Fill note generation system for microcomputer controlled organ

An electronic keyboard musical instrument comprising:

• a keyboard having a plurality of playing keys actuating respective keyswitches and comprising a solo manual customarily played by the right hand and an accompaniment manual customarily played by the left hand, each of the keys of said solo and accompaniment manuals corresponding to at least one note having a particular pitch and octave value,
• multiplexer means for scanning the key switches of the solo manual and generating on an output a serial time division multiplexed solo data stream comprising a plurality of time slots corresponding to the keys of the solo manual and keydown signals in time slots corresponding to actuated ones of the keys of the solo manual,
• a plurality of independently controllable accompaniment tone generator-keyer means each capable of independently generating any one of a plurality of tones corresponding to the keys of the accompaniment manual, there being fewer accompaniment tone generator-keyer means than keys of the accompaniment manual, said tone generator-keyer means each comprising a control input and being responsive to a frequency determining control signal thereon to produce a corresponding tone, said control signal including data relating to the pitch and octave values of the tone that is produced,
• assignment means interposed between the accompaniment manual and said plurality of tone generator-keyer means and responsive to the actuation of keys on the accompaniment manual for capturing one or more tone generator-keyer means and generating and placing on the control inputs thereof respective said frequency determining control signals corresponding to the actuated key or keys of the accompaniment manual to cause the tone generator-keyer means to produce tones having pitch and octave values corresponding to the respective control signals,
• fill note generator means responsive to the pitch data in said frequency determining control signals and responsive to the occurrence in the solo data stream of a keydown signal corresponding to the first scanned actuated key on the solo manual for inserting keydown signals in time slots of the solo data stream corresponding to the respective pitches of tones produced by at least some of the captured tone generator-keyer means and lying within an octave following the time slot of said first scanned actuated key and tone producing means responsive to the solo data stream for producing tones corresponding to the keydown signals in the solo data stream.

In an electronic keyboard musical instrument including a keyboard having a plurality of playing keys comprising a solo manual customarily played by the right hand and an accompaniment manual customarily played by the left hand, each of the keys corresponding to at least one note having a particular pitch and octave value, a plurality of independently controllable tone generator-keyer units capable of independently generating any one of a plurality of tones, the method of generating musical fill notes comprising:

• cyclically scanning the keys of the solo manual to produce a serial time division multiplexed solo data stream which comprises time slots corresponding to the keys of the solo manual and keydown signals in time slots thereof corresponding to depressed keys of the solo manual,
• capturing individual ones of the tone generator-keyer units in response to the solo data stream and transmitting to the captured tone generator-keyer units respective solo frequency codes corresponding to the depressed keys of the solo manual corresponding to the captured tone generator-keyer units to generate tones corresponding to the frequency codes transmitted thereto,
• capturing individual other tone generator-keyer units in response to the depression of one or more keys of the accompaniment manual and transmitting to the captured other tone generator-keyer units respective accompaniment frequency codes corresponding to the depressed key or keys of the accompaniment manual and causing the captured other tone generator-keyer units to generate tones corresponding to the accompaniment frequency codes;
• the accompaniment frequency codes containing the pitch value of the pertaining accompaniment keys,
• in response to the capturing of the tone generator-keyer units producing tones corresponding to the depressed keys of the accompaniment manual and in response to the appearance in the solo data stream of the first keydown pulse for the current scan of the manual, inserting fill note keydown signals in time slots of the solo data stream corresponding to the pitch values of at least some of the accompaniment frequency codes wherein the time slots in which the keydown signals are inserted are within a predetermined number of time slots immediately following said first keydown signal,
• the solo tone generator-keyer units being captured in response both to keydown signals in the solo data stream resulting from depressed keys on the solo manual and to the inserted fill note keydown signals.

An electronic keyboard musical instrument comprising:

• a keyboard having a plurality of playing keys actuating respective keyswitches and comprising a solo portion customarily played by the right hand and an accompaniment portion customarily played by the left hand, each of the keys of said keyboard corresponding to at least one note having a particular pitch and octave value,
• multiplexer means for scanning the keyswitches of the solo portion of the keyboard and generating on an output a serial time division multiplexed solo data stream comprising a plurality of time slots corresponding to the keys of the solo portion of the keyboard and keydown signals in time slots corresponding to depressed ones of the keys of the solo portion,
• a plurality of independently controllable accompaniment tone generator-keyer means each capable of independently generating any one of a plurality of tones corresponding to the keys of the accompaniment portion of the keyboard, there being fewer accompaniment tone generator-keyer means than keys of the accompaniment portion of the keyboard,
• assignment means interposed between the accompaniment portion of said keyboard and said plurality of accompaniment tone generator-keyer means and responsive to the actuation of keys on the accompaniment portion of the keyboard for capturing one or more of said tone generator-keyer means and transmitting a control signal to assign said captured tone generator-keyer means to generate respective tones corresponding to the notes associated with an actuated key or keys on the accompaniment portion of the keyboard, and
• fill note generator means responsive to the tone assignments of the captured accompaniment tone generator-keyer means by said assignment means and responsive to the occurrence in the solo data stream of a keydown signal corresponding to the first scanned actuated key in the solo portion of the keyboard for inserting keydown signals in time slots of the solo data stream corresponding to the respective pitches of tones produced by at least some of the assigned accompaniment tone generator-keyer means and lying within the next octave following the time slot of said first scanned actuated key, and
• a plurality of solo tone generator-keyer means each capable of independently generating any one of a plurality of tones corresponding to the keys of the solo portion of the keyboard, there being fewer solo tone generator-keyer means than keys of the solo portion of the keyboard, said solo tone generator-keyer means each comprising a control input and being responsive to a solo frequency determining signal thereon to produce a corresponding tone;
• said assignment means being interposed between the solo portion of the keyboard and said plurality of solo tone generator-keyer means and responsive to the solo data stream for capturing solo tone generator-keyer means and generating and placing on the control inputs of said captured solo tone generator-keyer means respective said solo frequency determining signals corresponding to at least some of the keydown signals in said solo data stream.