Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-28
2001-11-20
Witkowski, Stanley J. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06320111
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 11-185470, filed Jun. 30, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated hereinto by this reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for playing back music pieces from music data and for composing a playback list therefor, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for playing back a chain of songs automatically and an apparatus and a method for composing a data set of a song chain list for such an automatic playback. The term “song” in this context means a piece of music comprised of a time progression of tones, whether vocal or instrumental, whether with words or without words, as long as not otherwise defined specifically in the description. The present invention also relates to a computer readable medium containing a computer program to configure and operate the above apparatuses and methods using a computer and the associated circuits and devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have conventionally been known in the art some types of electronic musical apparatuses such as electronic musical instruments which are incorporated with a function called “song chain function” with which a plurality of songs (i.e. music pieces) can be played back automatically according to the designated order of the songs stored in the form of musical data representing a progression of tones. Further, in the conventionally known art, there are automatic song playback apparatuses in which the stored song data are delivered to a tone generator device having a plurality of tone generation channels assigned to respective performance parts (e.g. a piano part, a string part, a wood wind part, a brass part, etc.) to play back a song and in which the properties of the generated tones are selectively determined by collectively setting performance property data including tone color parameters, tone effect parameters, etc. for each tone generation channel, thereby enabling a variety of performance arrangements in the played-back song. With such a musical apparatus, in order to alter the setting of the performance property data synchronously with the change of the songs from one to another during the song chain playback operation, the user should select intended performance properties manually at the very time of the change of the songs or such performance property parameters for the tone generator channels should be previously inserted in the respective song data to be played back.
However, in the conventional apparatus having a song chain playback function, the previously prepared songs can be played back only in the designated order, and a variety of sequences of the chained playback can not be obtained at a one-time setting. In order to increase the number of songs (music pieces) to play back, the increased number of songs should be stored in the apparatus, but this approach is disadvantageous in that the free space in the storage device will be suppressed accordingly.
On the other hand, the use of performance property data with the song data may modify the musical arrangement in the played-back performance to increase the variety, but the manual changes of the performance property data at the time of the change of the songs would be a burdensome hard job for the user. Further, the operation for previously inserting the setting parameters into the song data means to insert the data respectively necessary for introducing musical arrangements at the intended points in the song data using a conventional song data editing apparatus, and such an operation will be a hard and troublesome job especially for the beginners.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks involved in such conventional apparatuses or methods for playing back a chain of songs, and to provide an improved song chain playback apparatus and method and an improved song chain list composing apparatus and method which are capable of sequentially playing back songs including a variety of modifications in the musical arrangements and of composing a data set of a song chain list, in a simplified operation for the user.
In order to accomplish the object of the present invention, the invention provides a song chain playing-back apparatus comprising: a first data storage area which stores a plurality of song data sets, each having a song identification number and representing a song as a time progression of musical tones defined by pitches and times; a second data storage area which stores a plurality of performance property data sets, each having a property identification number and representing a set of performance properties defining tone properties such as tone colors and tone effects of the musical tones when performed; a third data storage area which stores a chain list data set containing a list of the song identification numbers indicative of song data sets to be played back from among the plurality of song data sets in the order for playback and a list of the property identification numbers indicative of performance property data sets to be employed from among the plurality of performance property data sets in the order for employment; a chain list reading module which reads out the song identification numbers in the order for playback and the property identification numbers in the order for employment; a song data reading module which reads out the song data sets as identified by the read-out song identification numbers; a property data reading module which reads out the performance property data sets as identified by the read-out property identification numbers; and a tone generating module which generates tones with tone pitches and at times defined by the read-out song data set and in tone properties defined by the read-out performance property data set.
According to the above mentioned structure of a song chain playing-back apparatus, a song chain list represents plural songs to be played back in the designated order and plural performance property sets to define tone colors, tone effects, etc. to be employed for the playback of the songs in the designated order, and the songs are automatically played back in a chain according to the order designated by the song chain list, while the tone properties for the respective songs are also determined automatically according to the order designated by the song chain list, namely in the corresponding relationship between the songs and the tone properties according to the designated orders. Therefore, a plurality of songs can be automatically played back with varieties of tone properties from one song to another, i.e. with different arrangements from one song to another.
In another aspect of the present invention, a song chain playing-back apparatus further comprises: an individual song designating module which is selectively operative and is capable of designating individual song data set from among the plurality of song data sets; and wherein the song data set includes data regarding tone pitches and times for the musical tones in the song and further includes data regarding tone properties for the musical tones in the song; and when the individual song designating module is selected operative, the song data reading module reads out, according to the individual designation, the song data set including data regarding tone pitches, times and tone properties, and the tone generating module generates tones with tone pitches, at times and in tone properties as defined by the individually designated song data set; and when the individual song designating module is selected non-operative, the song data reading module reads out the song data set including data regarding tone pitches and times but disregarding tone properties, and the tone generating module generates tones with tone pitches and at times defined by the read-out song data set and in tone properties defined by the read-out performance property data set. Accordingly, the
Rossi & Associates
Witkowski Stanley J.
Yamaha Corporation
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