Automatic player exactly bringing pedal to half point, musical instrument equipped therewith and method used therein

A musical instrument for producing tones, comprising:

• plural manipulators selectively moved from respective rest position to respective end positions for specifying the pitch of said tones;
• a tone generator connected to said plural manipulators, and responsive to the manipulators moved toward said end positions for producing the tones at the specified pitch;
• at least one manipulator moved between a rest position and an end position through a rest section, a half section and an end section, and imparting an effect to said tones in said end section and another effect to said tones in said half section;
• and
• an automatic player including
• plural actuators associated with said plural manipulators and selectively energized for moving said plural manipulators between said rest positions and said end positions,
• an actuator associated with said at least one manipulator and energized for moving said at least one manipulator into said end section in the presence of a piece of music data representative of said effect and into said half section in the presence of another piece of music data representative of said another effect,
• a sensor producing pieces of control data representative of an actual position of said at least one manipulator on a trajectory between said rest position and said end position, and
• a controller connected to said plural actuators, said actuator and said sensor and responsive to pieces of music data representative of a music passage for selectively energizing said plural actuators and said actuator,
• said controller being further responsive to pieces of test data representative of a simulative trajectory for moving said at least one manipulator along said simulative trajectory overlapped with at least a part of said rest section, said half section and a part of said end section for gathering said pieces of control data respectively paired with pieces of driving data representative of load on said actuator,
• said controller analyzing said pieces of control data respectively paired with said pieces of driving data so as to determine a mathematically unique point in said half section through arithmetic operations, whereby said controller brings said at least one manipulator to said mathematically unique point for imparting said another effect to said tones.

A method for seeking a mathematically unique point for at least one manipulator different from plural manipulators used in a music performance for specifying the pitch of tones, comprising the steps of:

• a) determining a simulative trajectory containing a part of a rest section, a half section and a part of an end section for said at least one manipulator of a musical instrument on the basis of pieces of test data;
• b) moving said at least one manipulator along said simulative trajectory by means of an actuator so as to gather pieces of control data representative of an actual position of said at least one manipulator respectively paired with pieces of driving data representative of a load on said actuator;
• and
• c) analyzing said pieces of control data respectively paired with said pieces of driving data so as to determine a mathematically unique point in said half section through arithmetic operations so that said at least one manipulator is brought into said mathematically unique point for imparting an effect to said tones.