Electronic wind instrument capable of diversified performance expression

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a mouth operator that approximates a player's blow for controlling generation of a tone;
• a plurality of keys that are operated to designate a pitch;
• a plurality of sensors each of which detects an operated amount of a different one of said keys;
• a pitch determination section that identifies respective ON/OFF states of said keys on the basis of output values from said sensors and determines a designated pitch on the basis of the respective ON/OFF states of said keys;
• and
• a tone control signal generation section that generates a tone control signal on the basis of the output value from said sensor corresponding to a predetermined one of said keys determined by said pitch determination section to be in the ON state,
• wherein a pitch of the tone controlled by said mouth operator is determined by said pitch determination section, the tone is controlled by the tone control signal, and when two or more of said keys are determined to be in the ON state, one of said keys in the ON state which is located most remotely from said mouth operator is selected as said predetermined key.

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a mouth operator that approximates a player's blow for controlling generation of a tone;
• a plurality of keys that are operated to designate a pitch, said plurality of keys including at least one predetermined key operable as a multifunctional key;
• a mode selection section that selectively places a function of said predetermined key in one of pitch-designating and tone-controlling modes;
• a pitch determination section that determines a designated pitch on the basis of respective ON/OFF states of all of said keys, including the predetermined key, when the predetermined key is placed in the pitch-designating mode, said pitch determination section determining the pitch on the basis of the ON/OFF states of said keys, excluding the predetermined key, when the predetermined key is placed in the tone-controlling mode;
• and
• a tone control parameter generation section that, when the predetermined key is placed in the tone-controlling mode, generates a tone control parameter on the basis of an output of the predetermined key,
• wherein a pitch of the tone controlled by said mouth operator is determined by said pitch determination section and the tone is controlled by the tone control parameter.

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a mouth operator that approximates a player's blow for controlling generation of a tone;
• a plurality of keys that are operated to designate a pitch;
• a pitch determination section that determines a pitch on the basis of a combination of respective operating states of said keys;
• an octave control operator that is operated to modify, by the octave, the pitch determined by said pitch determination section;
• a mode selection section that selectively places a function of said octave control operator in one of octave-controlling and tone-controlling modes, only octave control corresponding to the operating state of said octave control operator being executed when said octave control operator is in the octave-controlling mode, tone control corresponding to the operating state of said octave control operator being permitted when said octave control operator is in the tone-controlling mode;
• and
• a tone control parameter generation section that, when said octave control operator is in the tone-controlling mode, generates a tone control parameter in accordance with the operating state of said octave control operator.

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a mouth operator that approximates a player's blow for controlling generation of a tone;
• a plurality of keys that are operated to designate a pitch;
• a pitch determination section that determines a pitch on the basis of a combination of respective operating states of said keys;
• an octave control operator that is operated to modify, by the octave, the pitch determined by said pitch determination section;
• a mode selection section that selectively places a function of said octave control operator in one of octave-controlling and tone-controlling modes, only octave control corresponding to the operating state of said octave control operator being executed when said octave control operator is in the octave-controlling mode, tone control corresponding to the operating state of said octave control operator being permitted when said octave control operator is in the tone-controlling mode;
• and
• a tone control parameter generation section that, when said octave control operator is in the tone-controlling mode, generates a tone control parameter in accordance with the operating state of said octave control operator,
• wherein said octave control operator includes a plurality of control keys, and wherein said octave control operator in the octave-controlling mode is capable of executing any one of different forms of the octave control depending on a combination of said control keys, while said octave control operator in the tone-controlling mode permits a selection between execution of the octave control and generation of the tone control parameter depending on a combination of said control keys.

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a plurality of note-performing keys;
• a note determination section that determines a performed note on the basis of a combination of respective operating states of said keys, said note determination section being capable of determining a specific note on the basis of a predetermined combination of the operating states of said keys corresponding to basic fingering for the specific note and also on the basis of a predetermined combination of the operating states of said keys corresponding to predetermined alternate fingering for said specific note;
• and
• a control section that, when the predetermined alternate fingering is executed, newly issues note-on information corresponding to the predetermined alternate fingering, said control section instructing that a tone corresponding to the note determined by said note determination section be generated with attack characteristics in response to issuance of the note-on information.

An electronic wind instrument comprising:

• a plurality of note-performing keys;
• a note determination section that determines a performed note on the basis of a combination of respective operating states of said keys, said note determination section being capable of determining a specific note on the basis of a predetermined combination of the operating states of said keys corresponding to basic fingering for the specific note and also on the basis of a predetermined combination of the operating states of said keys corresponding to predetermined alternate fingering for said specific note;
• and
• a control section that, when the predetermined alternate fingering is executed, newly issues note-on information corresponding to the predetermined alternate fingering, said control section instructing that a tone corresponding to the note determined by said note determination section be generated with attack characteristics in response to issuance of the note-on information,
• wherein when the predetermined alternate fingering is executed, said control section newly issues note-on information designating a note differing, by a semitone, from the specific note corresponding to the basic fingering and also generates pitch control information instructing that the note designated by the note-on information be shifted in pitch toward the specific note by a predetermined number of cents.

A method of designating an intermediate pitch between designatable notes in an electronic musical instrument which includes a plurality of keys for being operated to designate a note and a plurality of sensors each for detecting an operating state of a different one of said keys, said method comprising:

• a first step of identifying respective ON/OFF states of said keys on the basis of output values from said sensors and determining a note on the basis of the respective ON/OFF states of said keys;
• a second step of, when the output value from said sensor, corresponding to a particular one of said keys determined to be in the ON or OFF state, presents a predetermined intermediate value, determining another pitch on the basis of predetermined assumptive ON/OFF states of said keys, said assumptive ON/OFF states being similar to the ON/OFF states of said keys identified by said first step section except that the ON or OFF state of said particular key is inverted to the OFF or ON state;
• and
• a third step of, when said other pitch is determined by said second step, generating information designating an intermediate pitch between said other pitch and said pitch determined by said first step.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a program for executing a method of designating an intermediate pitch between designatable notes in an electronic musical instrument which includes a plurality of keys for being operated to designate a desired note and a plurality of sensors each for detecting an operating state of a different one of said keys, said program comprising:

• a first step of identifying respective ON/OFF states of said keys on the basis of output values from said sensors and determining a note on the basis of the respective ON/OFF states of said keys;
• a second step of, when the output value from said sensor, corresponding to a particular one of said keys determined to be in the ON or OFF state, presents a predetermined intermediate value, determining another pitch on the basis of predetermined assumptive ON/OFF states of said keys, said assumptive ON/OFF states being similar to the ON/OFF states of said keys identified by said first step section except that the ON or OFF state of said particular key is inverted to the OFF or ON state;
• and
• a third step of, when said other pitch is determined by said second step, generating information designating an intermediate pitch between said other pitch and said pitch determined by said first step.