U.S. patent number 3,557,295 [Application Number 04/791,316] was granted by the patent office on 1971-01-19 for wind instrument sound producing system for electronic musical instruments.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha. Invention is credited to Takeshi Adachi.
United States Patent |
3,557,295 |
|
January 19, 1971 |
WIND INSTRUMENT SOUND PRODUCING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS
Abstract
The system comprises means to cause signal having clarinet voice
to have a predetermined envelope, means to cause a second tone
signal having trumpet voice to have a predetermined envelope, means
to cause a noise tone signal to have a predetermined envelope, and
means to generate a sound simulating that of saxophone voice after
the outputs of all of said means are mixed and amplified.
Inventors: |
Takeshi Adachi (Hamamatsu-shi,
JP) |
Assignee: |
Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki
Kaisha (Hamamatsu-shi, JP)
|
Family
ID: |
11539259 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/791,316 |
Filed: |
January 15, 1969 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 18, 1968 [JP] |
|
|
43/2794 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
84/699; 84/702;
984/328 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G10H
1/14 (20130101); G10H 2230/221 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G10H
1/06 (20060101); G10H 1/14 (20060101); G10h
001/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;84/1.01,1.03,1.11,1.12,1.13,1.17,1.19,12,12--26,LSR,1.18 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: D. F. Duggan
Attorney, Agent or Firm: George B. Oujevolk
Claims
1. A wind instrument sound producing system for an electronic
musical instrument comprising means for generating a first tone
signal having a clarinet-type tone color, means for generating a
second tone signal having a trumpet-type tone color, means for
generating a third noise tone signal, a first envelope circuit for
controlling said first tone signal to cause said first tone signal
to have an envelope having a slow rise time and which is
successively sustained, a second envelope circuit for controlling
said second tone signal to cause the second tone signal to have an
envelope having a moderate rise time and which successively rapidly
decays to represent a faintly sustained sound, a third envelope
circuit for controlling said third tone signal to cause the third
tone signal to have an envelope having a rapid rise time and which
rapidly decays to represent a sustained sound weaker than said
faintly sustained sound, and an extracting means for converting a
sound signal obtained by mixing the outputs from said first, second
and third envelope circuits into a musical
2. The system according to claim 1 wherein said first tone signal
generating means comprises a tone generating a tone signal, a first
keying switch receiving said tone signal and responsive to a
keyboard, and a first tone coloring circuit for causing an output
signal from said first keying switch to have a clarinet-type sound,
said second tone signal generating means comprises a second tone
coloring circuit for causing the tone signal generated by said tone
generator and supplied thereto through said first keying switch to
have a trumpet-type sound, and said third tone signal generating
means comprises a noise tone generator for generating a noise tone
signal, a second keying switch for receiving said noise tone signal
and operated in response to the keyboard, and a band-pass filter
to
3. The system according to claim 2 wherein said first envelope
circuit comprises a first time constant setting circuit energized
by a DC power supply through a switch, a first lamp lit by an
output voltage derived from said first time constant setting
circuit and which has a waveform of the same pattern as an envelope
required in said first envelope circuit, and a first
photoconductive element to which said first tone signal derived
from said first tone coloring circuit is fed and which is radiated
by said first lamp to vary a conductivity in response to the
intensity of radiation of said first lamp, said second envelope
circuit comprises a second time constant setting circuit energized
by a DC power supply through said switch, a second lamp lit by a
voltage derived from said second time constant setting circuit and
which has a waveform of the same pattern as an envelope required in
said second envelope circuit, and a second photoconductive element
to which said first tone signal derived from said second tone
coloring circuit is fed and which is radiated by said second lamp
to vary a conductivity in response to the intensity of radiation of
said second lamp, and said third envelope circuit comprises a third
time constant setting circuit energized by a DC power supply
through said switch, a third lamp lit by a voltage derived from
said third time constant setting circuit and which has a waveform
of the same pattern as an envelope required in said third envelope
circuit, and a third photoconductive element to which said third
tone signal derived from said third tone coloring circuit is fed
and which is radiated by said third lamp to vary a conductivity in
response to the intensity of radiation of
4. The system according to claim 2 wherein said first envelope
circuit comprises a cascade connection of a first integrator
connected to a switch to represent make contacts and a first
envelope regulating circuit including a first field effect
transistor having a drain to which said first tone signal is
applied from said first tone coloring circuit and a gate to which
an output from said first integrator is supplied and controlling
the envelope of said first tone signal by the gate signal obtained,
said second envelope circuit comprises a cascade connection of a
pulse shaper connected to said switch, a first monostable
multivibrator, a second integrator and a second envelope regulating
circuit including a second field effect transistor having a drain
to which said second tone signal is supplied from said second
coloring circuit and a gate to which an output from said second
integrator is supplied and controlling the envelope of said second
tone signal by the gate signal obtained; and said third envelope
circuit comprises a cascade connection of said pulse shaper
connected to said switch, a second monostable multivibrator, a
third integrator and a third envelope regulating circuit including
a third field effect transistor having a drain to which said third
tone signal is supplied from said band-pass filter and a gate to
which an output from said third integrator is supplied and
controlling the envelope of said
5. A circuit device comprising a first time constant circuit from
which a first signal is derived, said first signal having an
envelope which has a slow rise time, reaches a peak point in 500
ms. after the beginning of the signal and later stands at a
constant level, a second time constant circuit from which a second
signal is derived, said second signal having an envelope which has
a moderate rise time, reaches a peak point in 40 ms. after the
beginning of the signal, has a moderate decaying time and later
stands at a constant level to represent a faintly sustained sound;
and a third time constant circuit from which a third signal is
derived, said third signal having an envelope which has a rapid
rise time reaches a peak point in 20 ms. after the beginning of the
signal, has a rapid decaying time and later stands at a constant
level to represent a sustained sound weaker than said faintly
sustained sound.
Description
This invention relates to a wind instrument sound producing system
for an electronic musical instrument capable of producing a
composite sound having an envelope representing the sound of a wind
instrument such as, in particular, a saxophone.
When a sound simulating that of a natural musical instrument is to
be produced by a conventional electronic musical instrument, a
composite sound has been produced in such a manner that it
simulates only the formant of the playing sound of a corresponding
musical instrument. The sound of a natural wind instrument having
its general characteristic in the envelope of sound or, in
particular, in such part of the envelope that corresponds to the
sound to be produced at the beginning of the play can not be
faithfully simulated by an electronic musical instrument.
Especially where the characteristic of sound is in the beginning
part of sound production as in a wind instrument such as a
saxophone, such characteristic in the beginning part of sound
production plays an important role in identifying each musical
instrument.
An object of this invention is to provide a wind instrument sound
producing system for an electronic musical instrument, which
faithfully composes the sound of wind instrument, such as, a
saxophone.
Another object of this invention is to provide a wind instrument
sound producing system for an electronic musical instrument, such
as a saxophone, which composes a sound having an envelope in the
beginning of sound production, which simulates that of the natural
musical instrument.
This invention thus provides a system for producing the sound of a
wind instrument, wherein a first tone signal having a clarinet
voice, a second tone signal having a trumpet voice, and a third
noise tone signal are caused to have predetermined envelopes, and
wherein said signals are mixed to generate a sound signal which is
supplied to a speaker through a usual amplifier system.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram embodying the system in accordance with
this invention;
FIGS. 2A to 2C show charts indicating the envelopes of a composite
sound to be produced, to explain the function of the system of this
invention;
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram embodying an envelope circuit employed
in the system;
FIGS. 4A to 4C are charts showing the variation of voltage of lamps
used in a control system in FIG. 3; and
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a modification of the envelope
circuit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention will be described in connection with the production
of a tone signal simulating the sound of a saxophone. In FIG. 1,
the reference numeral 11 represents a tone generator circuit for
generating a tone signal which is fed to a keying circuit 13 which
is operated and controlled in response to the operation of a
keyboard 12 and from which a tone signal corresponding to an
operated key is derived. The tone signal is divided into signal
components which then are introduced into first and second tone
coloring circuits 14 and 15, whereby a signal representing a tone
color of clarinet voice is obtained from the first tone coloring
circuit 14 and consists of odd harmonics, and a signal representing
a tone color of trumpet voice is derived from the second tone
coloring circuit 15 and has a formant in range of 1KH.sub.2 to
2KH.sub.2. These two tone signals are respectively supplied to
first and second envelope circuits 16 and 17 from which two tone
signals each having a regulated tone color and envelope are
respectively derived. Namely, from the envelope circuit 16 is
derived a signal of a slow rise time and a successive sustenance,
namely, of the envelope as shown in FIG. 2A. This signal derived
from the envelope circuit 16 simulates clarinet voice which has a
tone of stepped pipe or a mellow tone. From the second envelope
circuit 17 is similarly derived a signal having the envelope of a
rapid rise time and a rapid decay with a weak sustaining tone, as
shown in FIG. 2B. This signal derived from the envelope circuit 17
simulates trumpet voice which has a brilliant tone.
In addition to the tone generator circuit 11 is provided a noise
generator 18. The signal produced by the noise generator 18 is
supplied to a band-pass filter 20 corresponding to an operated key,
through a keying circuit 19 controlled similarly by the keyboard
12. The band-pass filter 20 has narrow pass bands about such
frequencies of the notes that correspond to the respective keys and
converts the signal from the noise generator 18 into a white noise
signal having respective pitch sensations, whose envelope is then
regulated by a third envelope circuit 21. From the third envelope
circuit 21 is thus derived a signal having such an envelope that
represents a tone of a rapid rise time and a rapid decay with a
successively sustained weak tone, as shown in FIG. 2C. The clarinet
signal, trumpet signal and the noise signal respectively passed
through the first, second and third envelope circuits 16, 17 and 21
are combined and fed to a third tone coloring circuit 22 to produce
a sound signal output simulating the sound of a saxophone. Since
the tone coloring circuit 22 is auxiliary, it may be omitted.
In the electronic musical instrument of the arrangement described
above, when the keyboard is operated, a noise signal is first
raised through the keying circuit 19 and the third envelope
circuit, thereby to produce a noise tone simulating a blow of
breath which appears in playing on wind instruments. Following
this, a trumpet sound is rapidly raised through the second envelope
circuit 17. Thus, a combination of the noise signal and the trumpet
signal expresses a sound of the initial blowing stage of a
saxophone, which includes a sound of breath at initial blowing and
a successive loud sound during the initial stage of the play.
Thereafter, the clarinet signal obtained through the first envelope
circuit 16 is continuously sounded together with the trumpet signal
and the noise signal which both are sustained faintly, whereby a
tonal effect substantially equivalent to that of the saxophone can
be obtained by the operation of the keyboard. In this case, the
saxophone effect is more conspicuously expressed owing particularly
to the faintly sustained noise tone signal.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of the envelope
circuit arrangement in the electronic musical instrument including
the construction above described. The first, second and third
envelope circuits 16, -7 and 21 are respectively formed mainly of
first, second and third photoconductive elements 31, 32 and 33. The
clarinet, trumpet and noise tone signals from terminals 34, 35 and
36 connected respectively to the tone coloring circuits 14 and 15
and the band-pass filter 20 in FIG. 1 are combined through a series
connection of said photoconductive elements 31, 32 and 33 and are
introduced into an amplifier circuit formed, for example, of a
transistor 38, via a tone color filter 37 comprising a resistor and
a capacitor, said tone color filter 37 and said transistor 38
constituting the third tone coloring circuit 22 of FIG. 1.
The photoconductive elements 31, 32 and 33 are respectively
radiated by first, second and third lamps 39, 40 and 41, so that
the conductivity of the photoconductive elements 31, 32 and 33 are
variably controlled in proportion with the intensity of radiation
of the lamps 39, 40 and 41, and hence with the magnitude of the
voltage impressed across the both ends of the lamp, thereby
regulating the envelope of the signal passing through these
photoconductive elements.
Namely, a switch 49 represents make contacts disposed on the
keyboard. When the switch 49 is closed, the first lamp 39 is
impressed by a voltage of +39 volts through a first time constant
setting circuit formed of a T-network consisting of a capacitor 42
and resistors 43 and 44. Similarly, the lamps 40 and 41 are
impressed by a voltage of 36 volts, respectively through a second
time constant setting circuit consisting of a parallel connected
capacitor 45, serially connected resistors 46 and 47 and a
capacitor 48 connected in parallel with said resistor 47, and
through a third time constant setting circuit consisting of a
capacitor 50 connected in parallel with the lamp 41, serially
connected resistors 51 and 52 and a capacitor 53 parallel connected
with said resistor 52.
The value of each of the capacitors 42 and 45, is 100 .mu.F, and
that of each of the capacitors 48, 50 and 53 is 50 .mu.F, and those
of the resistors 43, 44, 46, 47, 51 and 52 are 2.5 K.OMEGA., 200
.OMEGA., 5 K.OMEGA., 200 .OMEGA., 200.OMEGA. and 5 K.OMEGA.,
respectively. With the impression of a voltage of +36 volts as just
described, the amount of the voltage impressed across each of the
lamp 39, 40 and 41 upon the closing of the switch responsive to the
operation of the keyboard is as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, in which
the voltage characteristics are approximately equal to the
envelopes of the respective tone signal components for producing a
composite saxophone sound as shown in FIG. 2. The clarinet and
trumpet tone signals and the noise tone signal are thus controlled
to have predetermined envelopes by causing the lamps 39, 40 and 41
to radiate the photoconductive elements 31, 32 and 33 serially
inserted in the signal circuit.
FIG. 5 shows a modification of the envelope circuit, which is
capable of accurately obtaining predetermined envelopes from the
envelope circuits shown in FIG. 3 without the aid of lamps. The
first envelope circuit 16 is formed of a cascade connection of an
integrator 60 connected to the switch 61 representing the make
contacts and a first envelope regulating circuit 62. The second
envelope circuit 17 is formed of a cascade connection of a pulse
shaper 63 connected to said switch 61, a monostable multivibrator
64, an integrator 65 and a second envelope regulating circuit 66.
The third envelope circuit 21 is formed of a cascade connection of
a pulse shaper 63 connected to said switch 61, a monostable
multivibrator 67, an integrator 68 and a third envelope regulating
circuit 69.
The output voltage of said integrator 60 is supplied to the gate of
a field effect transistor 70 constituting a first envelope
regulating circuit 62 to cause its gate signal to control the
clarinet tone signal supplied from the first tone coloring circuit
4 (shown in FIG. 1) to the drain of the field effect transistor 70
so as to have the envelope as shown in FIG. 2A. The output voltage
of said integrator 65 is supplied to the gate of a field effect
transistor 71 constituting a second envelope regulating circuit 66
to cause its gate signal to control the trumpet tone signal
supplied from the second tone coloring circuit 15 (shown in FIG. 1)
to the drain of the field effect transistor 71 so as to have the
envelope as shown in FIG. 2B. The output voltage of said integrator
68 is supplied to the gate of a field effect transistor 72
constituting a third envelope regulating circuit 69 to cause its
gate signal to control the noise signal supplied from the band-pass
filter 20 (shown in FIG. 1) to the drain of the field effect
transistor 72 so as to have the envelope as shown in FIG. 2C.
Outputs of said envelope regulating circuits 62, 66 and 69 are
combined and fed to the third tone coloring circuit 22. From the
output terminal of the third tone coloring circuit 22 is obtained
the saxophone tone signal simulating the sound of a saxophone and
which has such an envelope that is resulted from a mixture of the
tone signals having three different envelopes as shown in FIGS. 2A
to 2C.
As has been stated according to this invention, a variation in a
tone color and a tone envelope which are the characteristics of the
sound of a wind instrument, in particular, a saxophone, can be
expressed by an electronic musical instrument. Further, a sound
representing the initial breathing out, characteristic of the
playing sound of this type of musical instrument can be excellently
produced. Thus, a musical sound simulating that of a wind
instrument, which has heretofore been difficult to produce, can be
produced by means of an electronic musical instrument.
* * * * *