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US 5,210,366 AGranted
Method and device for detecting and separating voices in a complex musical composition
OwnerRichard O. Sykes, Jr.inventor
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OwnerRichard O. Sykes, Jr.inventor
Estimating the term…
A system and method for detecting, separating and recording the individual voices in a musical composition performed by a plurality of instruments. The electrical waveform signal for the multi-voiced musical composition is fed to a waveform signal converter to convert the waveform signal to a frequency spectrum representation. The frequency spectrum representation is fed to a frequency spectrum comparator where it is compared to predetermined steady-state frequency spectrum representations for a particular musical instrument. Upon detecting the presence of a frequency spectrum representation corresponding to a predetermined steady-state frequency spectrum representation, the detected frequency spectrum representation and measured growth and decay frequency spectrum representations are fed to a waveform envelope comparator and compared to predetermined waveform envelopes, i.e. frequency spectrum representations during the growth, steady-state and decay periods of the waveform signal. Upon detecting the presence of a waveform envelope corresponding to a predetermined waveform envelope, the steady-state and transient properties of the detected frequency spectrum representation are recorded and converted to an electrical waveform signal for output as music data for an individual voice.
A sound signal analyzer for automatic detection and separation of a single voice in a complex musical composition comprising
A sound signal analyzer as in claim 10 further including clock means for sequentially cuing the complex frequency spectrum representations derived by the waveform signal conversion means and filtered by said filtering means.
A voice detection and separation system for detecting and separating a single voice in a complex musical composition comprising
A voice detection and separation system for detecting and separating a voice in a complex musical composition comprising
A voice detecting and separation system for detecting and separating a single voice in a complex musical composition comprising
A sound signal analyzer for detecting and separating individual voices in a composition electrical waveform signal corresponding to a tonal structure of a complex musical composition, said sound signal analyzer comprising
A method of detecting and separating individual voices in a complex musical composition comprising the steps of
A method for automatically detecting and separating a single voice in a complex musical composition comprising
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Using mechanical resonant generators, e.g. strings or percussive instruments, the tones of which are picked up by electromechanical transducers,…:…
Details of electrophonic musical instruments: recording/reproducing or transmission of music for electrophonic musical instruments
Circuits for establishing the harmonic content of tones , or other arrangements for changing the tone colour: by filtering complex waveforms
Musical analysis, i.e. isolation, extraction or identification of musical elements or musical parameters from a raw acoustic signal or from an…:…
Term ended 10 Jun 2011 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
The present invention generally relates to sound signal analyzers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a "front end" sound signal analyzer for detecting and separating individual voices in a complex musical composition.
The term "complex musical composition" as used in the present disclosure should be understood to mean a multi-voiced musical composition, i.e. musical sounds simultaneously played by more than one instrument. The "voices" or sounds of the instruments may be generated by a natural or conventional instrument, including the human voice.
Devices for recognizing aspects of sound waves, for example the fundamental frequency component of a complex sound wave, are disclosed in the prior art. These prior art devices are generally limited to the analysis of a single instrument or vocalist. To the Applicant's knowledge no prior art device discloses means to detect and separate the sounds of an individual instrument from the sounds of a plurality of instruments simultaneously played.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a voice detection and separation system in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the sound signal analyzer of the present invention. 1 FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate steady-state frequency spectrum representations for respective single voices.
FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate single-voice frequency spectrum representations during the growth, steady-state and decay periods.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the general components of a voice detection and separation system 10 constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. The sound waves of a complex musical composition 1, for example a live performance by a string quartet, are converted into an electrical waveform signal by means of a sound wave converter 20. Sound wave converter 20 may comprise any conventional, commercially-available microphone for picking up sound waves and converting the sound waves into an electrical signal having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the sound wave. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the complex musical composition 1 may also be stored on a cassette tape, a laser disk recording, or other storage medium without departing from the invention of the present disclosure. Therefore, more generally, sound wave converter 20 comprises any suitable means known in the art to produce from a live or stored complex musical composition 1 an electrical waveform signal having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the audible sound wave of the complex musical composition 1.
The electrical waveform signal outputted from sound wave converter 20 is preferably amplified by means of amplifier 30. The amplified electrical waveform signal is supplied to a sound signal analyzer 40. Sound signal analyzer 40 outputs single-voice music data 50, i.e. data representing the music played by a single instrument in the complex musical composition 1.
The novelty of the voice detection and separation system 10 of the present invention resides primarily in the sound signal analyzer 40. The construction and operation of sound signal analyzer 40 are more fully described hereinafter. In general, sound signal analyzer 40 comprises means to detect a single-voice electrical waveform signal, i.e. an electrical waveform signal depicting a single, particular instrument; means to separate the detected, single-voice waveform signal from the complex waveform signal, i.e. the waveform signal depicting the complex musical composition 1; and means to record the separated, single-voice waveform signal for output as music data 50.