Tone data making method and device and recording medium

A tone data making method comprising the steps of:

• sampling a tone having one or more types of articulation;
• dividing the tone, sampled by said step of sampling, into a plurality of time sections of variable lengths in accordance with characteristics of the one or more types of articulation, to extract waveform data of each of the time sections as an articulation element;
• analyzing the waveform data of each of the articulation elements, extracted by said step of dividing, in terms of a plurality of predetermined tonal factors and generating tonal factor characteristic data indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors in the articulation element;
• and
• storing in a data base the tonal factor characteristic data corresponding to the extracted articulation elements.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a storage section that stores therein tonal factor characteristic data relating to predetermined tonal factors of partial tone waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements;
• a designating section that designates a tone performance to be executed, by a time-serial combination of a plurality of the articulation elements;
• a readout section that reads out, from said storage section, tonal factor characteristic data, indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors, corresponding to the articulation elements designated by said designating section;
• a synthesizing section that synthesizes partial waveform data corresponding to the designated articulation elements, on the basis of each of the tonal factor characteristic data read out from said storage section;
• and
• a section that sequentially connects together the partial waveform data, synthesized for individual ones of the designated articulation elements, to thereby generate a succession of performance tones comprising the time-serial combination of the articulation elements.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for synthesizing tone waveform data by accessing a data base storing therein tonal factor characteristic data relating to predetermined tonal factors of partial tone waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements, said program comprising the steps of:

• designating a tone performance to be executed, by a time-serial combination of a plurality of the articulation elements;
• reading out, from said data base, tonal factor characteristic data, indicative of respective characteristics of the tone factors, corresponding to the articulation elements designated by said step of designating;
• synthesizing partial waveform data corresponding to the designated articulation elements, on the basis of each of the tonal factor characteristic data read out from said data base;
• and
• sequentially connecting together the partial waveform data, synthesized for individual ones of the designated articulation elements, to thereby generate a succession of performance tones comprising the time-serial combination of the articulation elements.

A tone data making device comprising:

• a sampling section that samples a performance of a single or a plurality of tones;
• a dividing section that divides the performance, sampled by said sampling section, into a plurality of time sections of variable lengths in accordance with characteristics of performance expression therein, to extract waveform data of each of the time sections as an articulation element;
• a section that analyzes the waveform data of each of the articulation elements, extracted by said dividing section, in terms of a plurality of predetermined tonal factors and generating tonal characteristic data indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors in the articulation element;
• and
• a section that stores in a data base the tonal characteristic data corresponding to the extracted articulation elements.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for making tone data, said program comprising the steps of:

• sampling a performance of a single or a plurality of tones;
• dividing the performance, sampled by said step of sampling, into a plurality of time sections of variable lengths in accordance with characteristics of performance expression therein, to extract waveform data of each of the time sections as an articulation element;
• analyzing the waveform data of each of the articulation elements, extracted by said step of dividing, in terms of a plurality of predetermined tonal factors and generating tonal characteristic data indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors in the articulation element;
• and
• storing in a data base the tonal characteristic data corresponding to the extracted articulation elements.

A tone synthesizing method comprising the steps of:

• designating a tone performance to be executed, by a time-serial combination of a plurality of articulation elements, said articulation elements being organized hierarchically into a plurality of different levels, such as levels of a succession of tones, one of the tones and a partial tone in one of the tones, the tone performance to be executed being designatable by any of the levels;
• reading out, from a data base, tone-forming data corresponding to the articulation elements designated by said step of designating;
• synthesizing waveform data corresponding to the designated articulation elements, on the basis of the tone forming data read out from said data base;
• and
• sequentially connecting together the waveform data, synthesized for individual ones of the designated articulation elements, to thereby generate a succession of performance tones comprising the time-serial combination of the articulation elements.

A tone synthesizing method comprising:

• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying element data indicative of a tonal characteristic for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired element data from among a plurality of element data stored in a data base and replacing the element data of the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected element data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the element data by said third step.

A tone synthesizing method comprising:

• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying variation data indicative of respective variations of a plurality of tonal factors for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired variation data from among a plurality of variation data of a predetermined tonal factor stored in a data base and replacing the variation data of said predetermined tonal factor for the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected variation data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the variation data of the plurality of tonal factors in said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the variation data by said third step.

A tone synthesizing method comprising:

• a first step of sequentially generating a plurality of instruction data corresponding to a plurality of tonal factors, for each of successive time sections;
• a second step of generating respective control waveform data of the plurality of tonal factors, in response to the instruction data generated by said first step;
• and
• a third step of synthesizing a tone waveform in said time section, on the basis of the respective control waveform data of the plurality of tonal factors generated by said second step.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a first section that divides one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplies element data indicative of a tonal characteristic for each of the time elements;
• a second section that selects a particular one of the time elements;
• a third section that selects desired element data from among a plurality of element data stored in a data base and replaces the element data of the particular time element, selected by said second section, with the selected element data;
• and
• a fourth section that generates a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth section and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the element data by said third section.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a first section that divides one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying variation data indicative of respective variations of a plurality of tonal factors for each of the time elements;
• a second section that selects a particular one of the time elements;
• a third section that selects desired variation data from among a plurality of variation data of a predetermined tonal factor stored in a data base and replacing the variation data of said predetermined tonal factor in the particular time element, selected by said second section, with the selected variation data;
• and
• a fourth section that generates a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth section and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the variation data by said third section.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a first section that sequentially generates a plurality of instruction data corresponding to a plurality of tonal factors, for each of successive time sections;
• a second section that generates respective control waveform data of the tonal factors, in response to the instruction data generated by said first section;
• and
• a third section that synthesizes a tone waveform in said time section, on the basis of the respective control waveform data of the tonal factors generated by said second section.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for synthesizing a tone, said program comprising:

• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying element data indicative of a tonal characteristic for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired element data from among a plurality of element data stored in a data base and replacing the element data of the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected element data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the element data by said third step.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for synthesizing a tone, said program comprising:

• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying variation data indicative of respective variations of a plurality of tonal factors for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired variation data from among a plurality of variation data of a predetermined tonal factor stored in a data base and replacing the variation data of said predetermined tonal factor in the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected variation data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the variation data by said third step.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for synthesizing a tone, said program comprising:

• a first step of sequentially generating a plurality of instruction data corresponding to a plurality of tonal factors, for each of successive time sections;
• a second step of generating respective control waveform data of the plurality of tonal factors, in response to the instruction data generated by said first step;
• and
• a third step of synthesizing a tone waveform in said time section, on the basis of the respective control waveform data of the plurality of tonal factors generated by said second step.

A recording medium containing data for generating a tone waveform, said recording medium comprising:

• a first storage section that divides one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and thereby stores therein, for each of the time elements, a plurality of instruction data corresponding to a plurality of tonal factors;
• and
• a second storage section that stores therein a plurality of control waveform data corresponding to the plurality of tonal factors,
• wherein said instruction data designates one of the control waveform data that is to be read out from said second storage section.

A sound synthesizing device comprising:

• a storage section that stores therein a number of partial sound data corresponding to partial time sections of a sound;
• a selecting section that, in response to designation of a desired style of rendition from among various predetermined styles of rendition, selects one or more of the partial sound data corresponding to the designated desired style of rendition;
• and
• a waveform generating section that generates a partial sound waveform for each of the partial time sections on the basis of the one or more partial sound data selected by said selecting section and then generates a performance sound corresponding to the designated desired style of rendition by connecting together the partial sound waveforms generated for individual ones of the partial time sections.

A sound synthesizing device comprising:

• a first data base section that, for each of a plurality of musically-possible styles of rendition comprising one or more continuous sounds, divides the one or more continuous sounds, constituting the style of rendition, into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein style-of-rendition element sequence data sequentially designating style-of-rendition elements for individual ones of the partial time sections;
• a second data base section that stores therein data specifically describing partial sound waveforms corresponding to a variety of style-of-rendition elements;
• and
• a waveform generating section that selects one of the style-of-rendition element sequence data in response to designation of a desired style of rendition, reads out the selected style-of-rendition element sequence data from said first data base section and then reads out, from said second data base section, the data specifically describing partial sound waveforms in accordance with the selected style-of-rendition element sequence data read out from said first data base section, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the style-of-rendition elements for the individual partial time sections.

An interactive music performance device comprising:

• a storage section that divides waveform data, obtained by sampling a succession of music performance sounds, into a plurality of variable time sections and stores therein information indicative of respective waveform data for individual ones of the time sections:
• an editing section that executes editing to modify, replace or delete a component of the waveform data in an optionally selected one of the time sections in response to operation by an user;
• and
• a waveform generating section that sequentially generate waveform data for the individual time sections, to thereby reproduce the succession of music performance sounds,
• wherein the user is allowed to process the succession of music performance sounds in a desired manner individually for each of the time sections.

A method of executing a music performance by use of a storage section that divides waveform data, obtained by sampling a succession of music performance sounds, into a plurality of variable time sections and stores therein information indicative of respective waveform data for individual ones of the time sections, said method comprising the steps of:

• executing editing to modify, replace or delete a component of the waveform data in an optionally selected one of the time sections in response to operation by an user;
• and
• sequentially generating waveform data for the individual time sections, to thereby reproduce the succession of music performance sounds,
• wherein the user is allowed to process the succession of music performance sounds in a desired manner individually for each of the time sections.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for executing a music performance by use of a storage section which divides waveform data, obtained by sampling a succession of music performance sounds, into a plurality of variable time sections and stores therein information indicative of respective waveform data for individual ones of the time sections, said program comprising the steps of:

• executing editing to modify, replace or delete a component of the waveform data in an optionally selected one of the time sections in response to operation by an user;
• and
• sequentially generating waveform data for the individual time sections, to thereby reproduce the succession of music performance sounds,
• wherein the user is allowed to process the succession of music performance sounds in a desired manner individually for each of the time sections.

A method of executing a sound performance by use of a data base storing therein template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements, said method comprising:

• a first step of designating a combination of a plurality of pieces of articulation attribute information indicative of respective characteristics of performance expression in a plurality of partial time sections of a sound, to thereby instruct a substantially continuous sound performance over a succession of the time sections;
• a second step of generating index data indicative of articulation elements corresponding to the combination of the articulation attribute information designated by said first step;
• and
• a third step of, on the basis of the index data, reading out from said data base the template data descriptive of the partial sound waveforms corresponding to predetermined ones of the articulation elements, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the designated articulation attribute information.

A method of executing a sound performance by use of a data base, said data base including a first data base section for, each of a plurality of performance phrases with musical articulation, dividing one or more sounds constituting the performance phrase into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein articulation element sequences each sequentially designating articulation elements for individual ones of the partial time sections and a second data base section for storing therein template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements, said method comprising:

• a first step of designating a combination of a plurality of pieces of articulation attribute information indicative of respective characteristics of performance expression in a plurality of partial time sections of a sound, to thereby instruct a substantially continuous sound performance over a succession of the time sections;
• a second step of selecting one of the articulation element sequences stored in said first data base section, on the basis of the combination of a plurality of pieces of articulation attribute information designated by said first step;
• and
• a third step of reading out from said first data base section the articulation element sequence selected by said second step and, in accordance with the read-out articulation element sequence, reading out from said second data base section the template data descriptive of the partial sound waveforms, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the articulation elements for the individual partial time sections.

A sound performance device comprising:

• a data base that stores therein template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements;
• a first section that designates a combination of a plurality of pieces of articulation attribute information indicative of respective characteristics of performance expression in a plurality of partial time sections of a sound, to thereby instruct a substantially continuous sound performance over a succession of the time sections;
• a second section that generates index data indicative of articulation elements corresponding to the combination of the articulation attribute information designated by said first section;
• and
• a third section that, on the basis of the index data, reads out from said data base the template data descriptive of the partial sound waveforms corresponding to predetermined ones of the articulation elements, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the designated combination of the articulation attribute information.

An automatic performance device comprising:

• a storage section that sequentially stores therein style-of-rendition sequence data for a plurality of performance phrases in a predetermined order of performance thereof, each of the style-of-rendition sequence data describing one of the performance phrases in a time-serial sequence of a plurality of articulation elements;
• a reading section that reads out the style-of-rendition sequence data from said storage section;
• and
• a waveform generating section that, in accordance with the style-of-rendition sequence data read out by said reading section, sequentially generate waveform data corresponding to the articulation elements constituting a style-of-rendition sequence specified by the read-out style-of-rendition sequence data.

An automatic performance device comprising:

• a storage section that sequentially stores therein style-of-rendition sequence data for a plurality of performance phrases in a predetermined order of performance thereof, each of the style-of-rendition sequence data describing one of the performance phrases in a time-serial sequence of a plurality of articulation elements, said storage section also storing therein note performance information in predetermined codes;
• a reading section that, in accordance with passage of time, reads out the style-of-rendition sequence data and the note performance information from said storage section;
• a waveform generating section that, in accordance with the style-of-rendition sequence data read out by said reading section, sequentially generate waveform data corresponding to the articulation elements constituting a style-of-rendition sequence specified by the read-out style-of-rendition sequence data;
• and
• a note sound generating section that generates a tone signal of each note designated in accordance with the note performance information read out by said reading section.

A recording medium containing data for generating a sound waveform, said recording medium comprising:

• a first storage section that divides one or more continuous sounds into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein waveform sequence data designating respective waveform data for individual ones of the partial time sections;
• and
• a second storage section that stores therein a number of waveform data,
• wherein the waveform data to be read out from said second storage section are sequentially designated by the waveform sequence data.

A data editing method for a tone data base including a first data base section for, each of a plurality of performance phrases with musical articulation, dividing one or more sounds constituting the performance phrase into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein an articulation element sequence sequentially designating articulation elements for individual ones of the partial time sections and a second data base section for storing therein template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements, said data editing method comprising:

• a first step of designating a desired style of rendition;
• and
• a second step of searching through said first data base section for the articulation element sequence corresponding to the style of rendition designated by said first step,
• whereby it can be determined whether or not a desired style of rendition is available from said tone data base.

A tone data editing device comprising:

• a tone data base section that, for each of a plurality of performance phrases with musical articulation, divides one or more sounds constituting the performance phrase into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein an articulation element sequence sequentially designating articulation elements for individual ones of the partial time sections;
• a first section that designates a desired style of rendition;
• and
• a second section that searches through said data base section for the articulation element sequence corresponding to the style of rendition designated by said first section,
• whereby it can be determined whether or not a desired style of rendition is available from said tone data base section.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for editing data in a data base section which, for each of a plurality of performance phrases with musical articulation, divides one or more sounds constituting the performance phrase into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein an articulation element sequence sequentially designating articulation elements for individual ones of the partial time sections, said program comprising:

• a first step of designating a desired style of rendition;
• and
• a second step of searching through said data base section for the articulation element sequence corresponding to the style of rendition designated by said first step,
• whereby it can be determined whether or not a desired style of rendition is available from said tone data base.

A sound waveform generating device comprising:

• a storage section that stores therein template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to partial time sections of a sound;
• a reading section that, in accordance with passage of time, reads out the template data descriptive of a plurality of the partial sound waveforms;
• a connection processing section that, for each particular one of the template data read out by said reading section from said storage section, defines a manner of connecting the particular template data and other template data adjoining the particular template data, and connects together an adjoining pair of the template data, read out by said reading section, in accordance with the defined manner of connecting;
• and
• a waveform generating section that generates partial sound waveform data on the basis of the template data connected by said connection processing section.

A method of generating a sound waveform on the basis of template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to partial time sections of a sound, said method comprising the steps of:

• setting a unique connecting rule for every connecting region between an adjoining pair of the template data;
• connecting together an adjoining pair of the template data in accordance with the connecting rule set by said step of setting, for each of the connecting regions;
• and
• generating partial sound waveform data on the basis of the template data connected together by said step of connecting.

A machine-readable recording medium containing a group of instructions of a program to be executed by a computer for generating a sound waveform on the basis of template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to partial time sections of a sound, said program comprising the steps of:

• setting a unique connecting rule for each connecting region between an adjoining pair of the template data;
• connecting together an adjoining pair of the template data in accordance with the connecting rule set by said step of setting, for each of the connecting regions;
• and
• generating partial sound waveform data on the basis of the template data connected together by said step of connecting.

A vibrato sound generating device comprising:

• a storage section that stores therein a plurality of sporadic waveform data sets for a plurality of vibrato periods;
• a setting section that variable sets a desired readout order in which the waveform data sets are to be read out over a plurality of vibrato periods, by rearranging respective locations, in one vibrato period, of individual ones of the waveform data sets while still maintaining relative locations of the individual waveform data sets in the one vibrato period;
• and
• a reading section that repetitively reading out predetermined part of one of the waveform data sets from said storage section while sequentially switching the waveform data set to be read out in accordance with the readout order set by said setting section, to thereby provide a vibrato over a plurality of vibrato periods.

A vibrato sound generating method comprising the steps of:

• extracting and storing in a memory a plurality of sporadic waveform data sets for a plurality of vibrato periods;
• variably setting a desired readout order in which the waveform data sets are to be read out over a plurality of vibrato periods, by rearranging respective locations, in one vibrato period, of individual ones of the waveform data sets while still maintaining relative locations of the individual waveform data sets in the one vibrato period;
• and
• repetitively reading out predetermined part of one of the waveform data sets from the memory while sequentially switching the waveform data set to be read out in accordance with the readout order set by said step of variably setting, to thereby provide a vibrato over a plurality of vibrato periods.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to said processor, the storage device adapted to store tonal factor characteristic data relating to predetermined tonal factors of partial tone waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• designating a tone performance to be executed, by a time-serial combination of a plurality of the articulation elements;
• reading out, from said storage device, tonal factor characteristic data, indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors, corresponding to the articulation elements designated by said designating step;
• synthesizing partial waveform data corresponding to the designated articulation elements, on the basis of each of the tonal factor characteristic data read out from said storage device;
• and
• sequentially connecting together the partial waveform data, synthesized for individual ones of the designated articulation elements, to thereby generate a succession of performance tones comprising the time-serial combination of the articulation elements.

A tone data making device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone data making process comprising the steps of:
• sampling a performance of a single or a plurality of tones;
• dividing the performance, sampled by said sampling step, into a plurality of time sections of variable lengths in accordance with characteristics of performance expression therein, to extract waveform data of each of the time sections as an articulation element;
• analyzing the waveform data of each of the articulation elements, extracted by said dividing step, in terms of a plurality of predetermined tonal factors and generating tonal characteristic data indicative of respective characteristics of the tonal factors in the articulation element;
• and
• storing in a data base the tonal characteristic data corresponding to the extracted articulation elements.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying element data indicative of a tonal characteristic for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired element data from among a plurality of element data stored in a data base and replacing the element data of the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected element data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the element data by said third step.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of dividing one or more continuous tones into a plurality of time elements and supplying variation data indicative of respective variations of a plurality of tonal factors for each of the time elements;
• a second step of selecting a particular one of the time elements;
• a third step of selecting desired variation data from among a plurality of variation data of a predetermined tonal factor stored in a data base and replacing the variation data of said predetermined tonal factor in the particular time element, selected by said second step, with the selected variation data;
• and
• a fourth step of generating a tone waveform for each of the time elements on the basis of the element data for said time element,
• wherein the one or more continuous tones are synthesized by sequentially connecting together the tone waveforms of individual ones of the time elements generated by said fourth step and the synthesized one or more continuous tones have tonal characteristics having been variably controlled in accordance with replacement of the variation data by said third step.

A tone synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of sequentially generating a plurality of instruction data corresponding to a plurality of tonal factors, for each of successive time sections;
• a second step of generating respective control waveform data of the tonal factors, in response to the instruction data generated by said first step;
• and
• a third step of synthesizing a tone waveform in said time section, on the basis of the respective control waveform data of the tonal factors generated by said second step.

A sound synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to said processor adapted to store a number of partial sound data corresponding to partial time sections of a sound;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a sound synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• selecting, in response to designation of a desired style of rendition from among various predetermined styles of rendition, one or more of the partial sound data corresponding to the designated desired style of rendition;
• and
• generating a partial sound waveform for each of the partial time sections on the basis of the one or more partial sound data selected by said selecting step and then generating a performance sound corresponding to the designated desired style of rendition by connecting together the partial sound waveforms generated for individual ones of the partial time sections.

A sound synthesizing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a sound synthesizing process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of dividing, for each of a plurality of musically-possible styles of rendition comprising one or more continuous sounds, the one or more continuous sounds, constituting the style of rendition, into a plurality of partial time sections and storing therein style-of-rendition element sequence data sequentially designating style-of-rendition elements for individual ones of the partial time sections;
• a second step of storing data specifically describing partial sound waveforms corresponding to a variety of style-of-rendition elements;
• and
• a third step of selecting one of the style-of-rendition element sequence data in response to designation of a desired style of rendition, reading out the selected style-of-rendition element sequence data from said first step and then reading out, from said second step, the data specifically describing partial sound waveforms in accordance with the selected style-of-rendition element sequence data read out from said first step, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the style-of-rendition elements for the individual partial time sections.

An interactive music performance device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to said processor adapted to divide waveform data, obtained by sampling a succession of music performance sounds, into a plurality of variable time sections and adapted to store therein information indicative of respective waveform data for individual ones of the time sections;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a music performance, said program comprising the steps of:
• executing editing to modify, replace or delete a component of the waveform data in an optionally selected one of the time sections in response to operation by a user;
• and
• sequentially generating waveform data for the individual time sections, to thereby reproduce the succession of music performance sounds,
• wherein the user is allowed to process the succession of music performance sounds in a desired manner individually for each of the time sections.

A sound performance device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a sound performance process comprising the steps of:
• storing template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to various articulation elements;
• designating a combination of a plurality of pieces of articulation attribute information indicative of respective characteristics of performance expression in a plurality of partial time sections of a sound, to thereby instruct a substantially continuous sound performance over a succession of the time sections;
• generating index data indicative of articulation elements corresponding to the combination of the articulation attribute information designated by said designating step;
• and
• reading out, on the basis of the index data, from said storing step the template data descriptive of the partial sound waveforms corresponding to predetermined ones of the articulation elements, to thereby sequentially generate partial sound waveforms corresponding to the designated combination of the articulation attribute information.

An automatic performance device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device adapted to sequentially store therein style-of-rendition sequence data for a plurality of performance phrases in a predetermined order of performance thereof, each of the style-of-rendition sequence data describing one of the performance phrases in a time-serial sequence of a plurality of articulation elements;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute an automatic performance process comprising the steps of:
• reading out the style-of-rendition sequence data from said storage device;
• and
• in accordance with the style-of-rendition sequence data read out by said reading out step, sequentially generating waveform data corresponding to the articulation elements constituting a style-of-rendition sequence specified by the read-out style-of-rendition sequence data.

An automatic performance device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device adapted to sequentially store therein style-of-rendition sequence data for a plurality of performance phrases in a predetermined order of performance thereof, each of the style-of-rendition sequence data describing one of the performance phrases in a time-serial sequence of a plurality of articulation elements, said storage device also adapted to store therein note performance information in predetermined codes;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute an automatic performance process comprising the steps of:
• in accordance with passage of time, reading out the style-of-rendition sequence data and the note performance information from said storage device;
• in accordance with the style-of-rendition sequence data read out by said reading out step, sequentially generating waveform data corresponding to the articulation elements constituting a style-of-rendition sequence specified by the read-out style-of-rendition sequence data;
• and
• generating a tone signal of each note designated in accordance with the note performance information read out by said reading out step.

A tone data editing device comprising:

• a processor;
• a data base storage device adapted to store a tone data base that, for each of a plurality of performance phrases with musical articulation, divides one or more sounds constituting the performance phrase into a plurality of partial time sections and stores therein an articulation element sequence sequentially designating articulation elements for individual ones of the partial time sections;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a tone data editing process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of designating a desired style of rendition;
• and
• a second step of searching through said data base storage device for the articulation element sequence corresponding to the style of rendition designated by said first step,
• whereby it can be determined whether or not a desired style of rendition is available from said tone data base storing device.

A sound waveform generating device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a sound waveform generating process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of storing template data descriptive of partial sound waveforms corresponding to partial time sections of a sound;
• a second step of reading out, in accordance with passage of time, the template data descriptive of a plurality of the partial sound waveforms;
• a third step of, for each particular one of the template data read out by said second step from said first step of storing template data, defining a manner of connecting the particular template data and other template data adjoining the particular template data, and connecting together an adjoining pair of the template data, read out by said second step, in accordance with the defined manner of connecting;
• and
• a fourth step of generating partial sound waveform data on the basis of the template data connected by said third step.

A device for connecting together first and second sound waveforms having respective predetermined time lengths, said device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a process for connecting together first and second sound waveforms having respective predetermined time lengths, said process comprising the steps of:
• a first step of connecting together said first and second sound waveforms in accordance with a predetermined connecting rule and thereby providing a synthesized waveform having a time length prolonged or shortened relative to a total time length of said first and second sound waveforms;
• and
• a second step of executing an operation to stretch or compress the time length of the synthesized waveform provided by said first step, by approximately a same length as the prolonged or shortened time length of the synthesized waveform provided by said first step.

A vibrato sound generating device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device adapted to store therein a plurality of waveform data sets, each of said waveform data sets having been sporadically extracted from an original vibrato-imparted waveform;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a vibrato sound generating process comprising the steps of:
• repetitively reading out one of the waveform data sets while sequentially switching the waveform data set to be read out and thereby executing a waveform data readout sequence corresponding to a predetermined vibrato period, said repetitively reading out step repeating the waveform data readout sequence to thereby provide a vibrato over a plurality of vibrato periods.

A vibrato sound generating device comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device adapted to store therein a plurality of sporadic waveform data sets for a plurality of vibrato periods;
• and
• a program memory storing instructions for causing the processor to execute a vibrato sound generating process comprising the steps of:
• variably setting a desired readout order in which the waveform data sets are to be read out over a plurality of vibrato periods, by rearranging respective locations, in one vibrato period, of individual ones of the waveform data sets while still maintaining relative locations of the individual waveform data sets in the one vibrato period;
• and
• repetitively reading out a predetermined part of one of the waveform data sets from said storage device while sequentially switching the waveform data set to be read out in accordance with the readout order set by said variably setting step, to thereby provide a vibrato over a plurality of vibrato periods.