# US 5,350,880 A · Apparatus for varying the sound of music as it is automatically played

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- Number: US 5,350,880 A
- Document ID: US5350880A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 07/960,666
- Filed: 1992-10-14
- Granted: 1994-09-27
- Earliest claimed: 1990-10-18
- Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
- Inventors: Takehisa Sato
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5350880A

## CPC

- G10H 1/26: for automatically producing a series of tones
- Y10S 84/12: Side; rhythm and percussion devices
- G10H: ELECTROPHONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; INSTRUMENTS IN WHICH THE TONES ARE GENERATED BY ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS OR ELECTRONIC GENERATORS, OR IN WHICH THE TONES ARE SYNTHESISED FROM A DATA STORE
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

An automatic playing apparatus which reads tone information from a ROM piece by piece to play a demonstration. The tone information stored in the ROM includes note data for generation of a musical tone as well as data for changing the parameters of music corresponding to the note data. When a demonstration is played, the note data and the data for changing the music parameters stored in the ROM are read out piece by piece, and the associated musical tones are generated accordingly. In this way, the musical piece being automatically played changes with each repetition, so that listeners hear a different version of the piece each time it is re-played.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus for automatically playing musical pieces, comprising:
automatic means for replaying a musical piece more than two times;
automatic means for varying said musical piece each time it is replayed so that a player's intervention is not required to cause a variation in each relay;
said automatic means for varying said musical piece each time it is replayed including a plurality of storage means for storing tone information, said tone information including note information for reproducing a musical tone and parameter information for varying said musical tone each time it is reproduced;
said parameter information including a plurality of differing parameters;
each storage means of said plurality of storage means having differing parameter information so that each automatic playback of a musical piece varies from other automatic playbacks thereof; and
control means for sequentially reading out said tone information from said plurality of storage means and subjecting said read-out tone information to a tone-ON process to thereby automatically play a musical piece in a different form each time it is replayed.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parameter information is a quantize number.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parameter information is envelope data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parameter information is timbre information.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parameter information is rhythm information.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tone information is sequentially read out in a predetermined order from beginning to end, and after a final piece of tone information is read out to generate a musical tone, reading of said tone information is repeated from the beginning.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

An automatic playing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising counting means for counting the number of times said tone information is read out.