Electronic musical instrument having multiple performance functions

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a plurality of touch-sensitive operators each having a plurality of designatable play positions;
• tone pitch designation means for generating tone pitch information corresponding to a designated one of the plurality of play positions of each of said plurality of operators while simultaneously detecting touch of each of said plurality of operators;
• tone generation designation means, provided for each of the plurality of touch-sensitive operators, for generating tone generation designation information for each of said plurality of operators in response to a tone generation designation operation, the tone generation designation means being operative independently of the tone pitch designation means and the plurality of touch-sensitive operators;
• and
• tone generation means for generating a tone signal for each of said operators in response to the tone generation designation information provided by said tone generation designation means, wherein each tone signal is generated in accordance with respective tone pitch information corresponding to each of said plurality of operators provided by said tone pitch designation means, and wherein said tone generation designation means comprises a plurality of tone generation designation operators each of which generates tone generation designation information in accordance with a tone generation designation operation.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a plurality of operators each having at least one designatable play position;
• tone pitch designation means for generating tone pitch information corresponding to a designated play position of each of said plurality of operators;
• tone generation designation means for generating tone generation designation information for each of said plurality of operators in response to a tone generation designation operation;
• and
• tone generation means for generating a tone signal for each of said operators in response to the tone generation designation information provided by said tone generation designation means, wherein each tone signal is generated in accordance with respective tone pitch information corresponding to each of said plurality of operators provided by said tone pitch designation means, wherein said tone pitch designation means generates predetermined tone pitch information for each of said plurality of operators when said operators are not operated.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a plurality of operators each having at least one designatable play position, wherein operation of each of said plurality of operators produces a respective plurality of position signals indicative of the at least one designatable play position of each of said plurality of operators;
• tone pitch designation means for generating tone pitch information corresponding to a designated play position of each of said plurality of operators;
• tone generation designation means for generating tone generation designation information for each of said plurality of operators in response to a tone generation designation operation;
• tone generation means for generating a tone signal for each of said operators in response to the tone generation designation information provided by said tone generation designation means, wherein each tone signal is generated in accordance with respective tone pitch information corresponding to each of said plurality of operators provided by said tone pitch designation means;
• converting means for converting the plurality of position signals into a corresponding plurality of note interval difference signals,
• adding means for respectively adding the note interval difference signals to a predetermined offset signal to produce a plurality of tone generation signals, and
• a tone generator responsive to each of the plurality of tone generation signals for producing a corresponding plurality of tones.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• a plurality of touch-sensitive operators each having at least one designatable play position, each of the plurality of operators respectively producing, in response to a touch of the operator by a performer, a first signal indicative of a play position and a second signal indicative of an applied pressure;
• tone pitch designation means, responsive to the respective first signals produced by the plurality of operators, for generating tone pitch information for each of the plurality of operators while simultaneously detecting touch of each of said plurality of operators;
• tone designation means for generating tone designation information for each of said plurality of operators;
• tone color selecting means, responsive to the respective second signals, for selecting a respective tone color for each of the plurality of operators and generating tone color signals indicative of the selected tone colors;
• and
• tone generation means for generating a tone signal for each of said operators in response to the tone designation information generated by said tone designation means, the respective tone pitch information corresponding to each of the plurality of operators and the tone color signals generated by the tone color selecting means, wherein said tone generation designation means comprises a plurality of tone generation designation operators each of which generates tone generation designation information in accordance with a tone generation designation operation.

An electronic musical instrument comprising:

• at least one touch-sensitive operator providing a position signal indicating a position of the operator;
• a tone pitch designator responsive to each of the at least one operators generating tone pitch information based upon the position signal while simultaneously detecting touch of each of the at least one operator;
• a tone generation designator providing for each of operator tone generation designation information for each of the at least one operators in accordance with a tone generation designation operation, the tone generation designator being operative independently of the tone pitch designator and the at least one touch-sensitive operator;
• and
• a tone generator responsive to each of the tone pitch information and the tone generation designation.

A method of producing a tone in response to position information, the method comprising:

• generating position information using at least one touch-sensitive operator;
• generating tone pitch designation information based upon the position information and simultaneous detection of touch of the at least one operator;
• generating in accordance with a tone generation operation tone designation information using a tone generation designator which operates independently of the generation of tone pitch designation information and the at least one touch-sensitive operator;
• and
• producing for each operator a tone based upon the tone pitch designation information and the tone designation information.