Keyboard musical instrument equipped with small simple economical key touch generator
AssigneeYamaha Corporation
InventorShigeru Muramatsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic keyboard musical instrument includes a plurality of keys turnable between a rest position and an end position, an electronic sound generating system responsive to the motion of the key so as to generate an electronic sound and a key touch generator for offering resistance against the motion of the key, and the key touch generator has a magnetic plate attached to a side surface of each key, a stationary electromagnetic actuator generating electromagnetic force so as to attract the magnetic plate thereto and a controller responsive to a key position signal representative of a current key position so as to change the magnitude of a driving signal supplied to the electromagnetic actuator, thereby varying the resistance like the key of an acoustic piano.
Claims19
A keyboard musical instrument for generating a sound, comprising:
- a movable member supported by a stationary member, and manipulated by a player for specifying an attribute of said sound;
- a sound generating system responsive to a motion of said movable member so as to produce said sound with said attribute;
- and
- a touch generating system including
- a braking unit having a first member fixed to said movable member, a second member stationary with respect to said stationary member and an actuator pressing said first member and said second member to each other so as to produce a friction therebetween, and
- a controller causing said actuator to vary the friction so as to offer a resistance against said motion of said movable member.
A resistance generator provided for a mechanism having a first member movable with respect to a second member, comprising:
- a third member fixed to said first member;
- a fourth member stationary with respect to said second member;
- a sensor monitoring said first member, and producing a piece of status information representative of current status of said first member;
- an actuator responsive to an instruction representative of a force for pressing said third member and said fourth member to each other so as to vary a friction therebetween;
- and
- a controller responsive to said piece of status information so as to change said force represented by said instruction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.