Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Patent
1996-04-11
1998-10-20
Macdonald, Allen R.
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
84653, 84726, 84731, 706 20, G10H 318
Patent
active
058249370
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a signal analysis device having at least one stretched string whose oscillatory length can be varied by resting it on at least one fret, having a pickup and having an evaluation device connected to the pickup.
A signal analysis device of this type can also be briefly designated as a "guitar synthesizer."
In the modern pop and rock music, there is an increasing trend no longer to use musical instruments directly for the production of notes or sounds, but just to produce or analyze and convert electric signals, which are further processed by computers or other circuits. For this purpose, there are standardized interfaces of which the MIDI interface has become relatively well known. relatively few difficulties in the case of keyboard musical instruments, since in this case each key has assigned to it precisely one pitch and the volume can, if appropriate, be determined via the speed of attack of the key, signal analysis in the case of stringed instruments, for example guitars, presents considerable difficulties. In the case of stringed instruments of this type, although each string has a fundamental note assigned to it, by pressing down the string on various pick-offs or frets, the pitch of a plucked, struck or otherwise excited string can be varied. In order to determine the correct pitch, it is necessary firstly to wait for the formation of such a note and then to measure the frequency or duration of at least one, but preferably more than one, period, in order to be able to discover the pitch with the necessary reliability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,667 therefore shows a signal analysis device as an electronic musical instrument which is actuated in the manner of a guitar, in which a frequency analyzer which determines the frequency of the excited string is provided. However, a procedure of this type leads to problems in relation to time. In the case of a normal guitar, the lowest note has a frequency of about 80 Hz (exactly: 82 Hz), so that one complete oscillation needs a time of about 12.5 ms. Since, for reasons of certainty, it is normally desired to measure two oscillations in order to draw reliable conclusions, the time which is necessary already adds up to 25 ms. In this case, it has not yet been taken into account that the string still needs a certain time after the excitation, for example by means of plucking or striking, to pass into the steady state. For this purpose, as a rule a non-negligible interval is likewise to be added, which may well amount to twice a period length, so that the desired pitch information is available only after 50 ms. A time delay of 50 ms, however, is already distinctly noticeable to a musician. It corresponds to the setting up of the loudspeaker box at a distance of approximately 15 m.
As an alternative possible solution for this problem, therefore, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,119 there are provided on the neck of the guitar switches which are activated when the corresponding string is pressed down onto the desired fret. However, precisely as in the case of a keyboard instrument, the pitch information is no longer obtained by the string oscillation but by pressing down a switch. This makes playing considerably more difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is based on the object of being able to obtain the pitch information more rapidly in the case of a guitar synthesizer.
This object is achieved in the case of a signal analysis device of the type mentioned at the outset in that the evaluation device registers pulses or groups of pulses which run on the string past the pickup after an excitation of the string and, on the basis of the time sequence of the pulses or of the groups of pulses, produces a signal which represents a pitch.
One therefore no longer waits until an oscillation has been built up on the string and is then measured, but rather evaluates so-called "plucking transients", that is to say pulses or pulse trains which result from the excitation of
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Blue Chip Music GmbH
MacDonald Allen R.
Rhodes Jason W.
Yamaha Corporation
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