Electronic musical instrument, method of controlling sound generation, and computer readable recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9564114-B2
Application number	US-201514660615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2015
Priority date	May 29, 2014
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

An electronic musical instrument is provided with a voice sensor for detecting a voice uttered by a user, when the user blows into the musical instrument with a voice, a breath sensor for detecting at least one of a blow pressure and a blow volume in a body of the musical instrument, when the user blows into the musical instrument with a voice, and a musical tone controlling unit for controlling generation of a musical tone based on at least one of outputs of the voice sensor and the breath sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:
a voice sensor which detects a human voice uttered by a user, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice;
a breath sensor which detects at least one of a blow pressure and a blow volume in a body of the musical instrument, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice; and
a processor which is configured to:
output data of a musical tone, based on at least one of an output of the voice sensor and an output of the breath sensor; and
judge whether or not an envelope of the voice detected by the voice sensor has exceeded a boundary value,

wherein:
the processor outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data of a first musical tone which is a normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including voice data, when it is judged that the envelope of the voice has not exceeded the boundary value; and
the processor outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data of a second musical tone which is a combination of (i) voice data and (ii) the normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including the voice data, when it is judged that the envelope of the voice has exceeded the boundary value.

2. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the boundary value is set based on the output of the breath sensor.

3. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
control a volume of the first musical tone based on an output of the breath sensor, when the data of the first musical tone is outputted, and
control a volume of the second musical tone based on outputs of the breath sensor and the voice sensor, when the data of the second musical tone is output.

4. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
mix, at a rate determined based on an envelope of the voice detected by the voice sensor, (i) the voice data and (ii) the normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including the voice data, and
output the mixed musical tone as the data of the second musical tone.

5. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a waveform memory which stores musical-tone waveform data produced by sampling a tone generated in accordance with a specific-performance technique, and
wherein the processor is further configured to read the musical-tone waveform data from the waveform memory and output the read data as the second musical tone, when it is judged that the envelope of the voice has exceeded the boundary value.

6. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , further comprising:
plural first band-pass filters which receive the first musical tone, allowing frequency components within different ranges to pass through, respectively; and
plural second band-pass filters which receive an output of the voice sensor, allowing frequency components within different ranges to pass through, respectively, and
wherein the processor is further configured to control plural outputs of the plural first band-pass filters based on plural outputs of the plural second band-pass filters, respectively, and to add the controlled outputs of the first band-pass filters together to be output as the second musical tone.

7. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to control a volume of the musical tone based on the output of the breath sensor and the output of the voice sensor, when outputting the data of the musical tone.

8. The electronic musical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the data of the second musical tone comprises data of a growling tone.

9. A method of controlling generation of a tone, in an electronic musical instrument having a breath sensor and a voice sensor, the method comprising:
detecting a human voice uttered by a user by a voice sensor, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice;
detecting at least one of a blow pressure and a blow volume in a body of the musical instrument by a breath sensor, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice;
judging whether or not an envelope of the voice detected by the voice sensor has exceeded a boundary value; and
outputting data of a musical tone based on at least one of an output of the voice sensor and an output of the breath sensor,
wherein:
the outputting outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data which is a normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including voice data, when the judging judges that the envelope of the voice has not exceeded the boundary value; and
the outputting outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data which is a combination of (i) voice data and (ii) the normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including the voice data, when the judging judges that the envelope of the voice has exceeded the boundary value.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having an executable program stored thereon and being mounted on an electronic musical instrument having a breath sensor, a voice sensor, and a computer, wherein the program instructs the computer to perform processes comprising:
a voice detecting process of detecting a human voice of a user by a voice sensor, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice;
a blow characteristic detecting process of detecting at least one of a blow pressure and a blow volume in a body of the musical instrument by a breath sensor, when the user blows into the musical instrument while uttering the voice;
a judging process of judging whether or not an envelope of the voice detected by the voice sensor has exceeded a boundary value; and
a data output process of outputting data of a musical tone based on at least one of an output of the voice sensor and an output of the breath sensor,
wherein:
the data output process outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data which is a normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including voice data, when the judging process judges that the envelope of the voice has not exceeded the boundary value; and
the data output process outputs, as the data of the musical tone, data which is a combination of (i) voice data and (ii) the normal tone of the electronic musical instrument not including the voice data, when the judging process judges that the envelope of the voice has exceeded the boundary value.

Assignees

• Casio Computer Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakae Tetsuichi

Classifications

• G10H3/182

  using two or more pick-up means for each string · CPC title

• G10H2220/361

  Mouth control in general, i.e. breath, mouth, teeth, tongue or lip-controlled input devices or sensors detecting, e.g. lip position, lip vibration, air pressure, air velocity, air flow or air jet angle · CPC title

• G10H1/0008 Primary

  Associated control or indicating means · CPC title

• G10H2220/211

  for microphones, i.e. control of musical parameters either directly from microphone signals or by physically associated peripherals, e.g. karaoke control switches or rhythm sensing accelerometer within the microphone casing · CPC title

• G10H3/18

  using a string, e.g. electric guitar {(mechanical features G10D1/085)} · CPC title