Electronic stringed instrument with digital sampling function

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic stringed instrument, comprising:

a plurality of strings;

a plurality of pick up means provided for respective ones of said plurality of strings, each of said pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations having a time varying amplitude into a corresponding analog picked-up signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog picked-up signals from said plurality of pick up means to corresponding digital picked-up signals in a multiplexed operation;

storing means for successively and time divisionally storing said respective digital picked-up signals from said analog to digital converter means;

reading means for successively and time divisionally reading stored digital picked-up signals from said storing means in synchronism with the storing operation of said storing means;

digital-to-analog converter means for successively converting read-out digital picked-up signals from said reading means to analog audio signals;

sound output means for outputting analog audio signals from said digital-to-analog converter means as sounds;

amplitude level detecting means for successively detecting respective amplitude levels of said analog picked-up signals from said plurality of pick up means and for finding a respective maximum amplitude level of said analog picked-up signals in said detected amplitude levels to thereby obtain numerical data for each of the strings corresponding to said maximum amplitude level and indicative of strength of said string vibrations; and

control means for controlling respective characteristics of the sounds to be outputted by said sound output means for each of the strings, based on the corresponding numerical data from said amplitude level detecting means.

2. The electronic stringed instrument of claim 1 further comprising interpolator means for interpolating a required digital picked-up signal between read-out digital picked-up signal samples from said reading means and for supplying said required digital picked-up signal to said digital-to-analog converter means.

3. The electronic stringed instrument of claim 1 wherein said control means controls envelope, tone timbre, pitch or volume of said sounds to be outputted by said sound output means based on said respective numerical data from said amplitude level detecting means.

4. An electronic stringed instrument, comprising:

a plurality of strings;

a plurality of pick up means provided for respective ones of said plurality of strings, each of said pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations having an unknown and time-variable pitch into a corresponding analog picked-up signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog picked-up signals from said plurality of pick up means to corresponding digital picked-up signals in a multiplexed operation;

storing means for successively and time divisionally storing said respective digital picked-up signals from said analog-to-digital converter means;

reading means for successively and time divisionally reading stored digital picked-up signals from said storing means in synchronism with the storing operation of said storing means;

digital-to-analog converter means for successively converting read-out digital picked-up signals from said reading means to analog audio signals;

sound output means for outputting said analog audio signals from said digital-to-analog converter means as sounds;

pitch extracting and tracking means for extracting and tracking respective pitches of said analog picked-up signal from said plurality of pick up means by successively measuring fundamental periods of said respective analog picked-up signals to thereby obtain numerical data for each of the strings identifying a current pitch of said string vibrations;

pitch change detecting means for detecting respective pitch changes of said string vibrations by comparing respective new and old values of said numerical data from said pitch extracting and tracking means; and

control means responsive to said pitch change detecting means for controlling respective characteristics of the sounds to be outputted by said sound output means for each of the strings based on a new value of said numerical data from said pitch extracting and tracking means each time when an individual pitch change of said string vibrations is detected.

5. The electronic stringed instrument of claim 4 further comprising interpolator means for interpolating a required digital picked-up signal between read-out digital picked-up signal samples from said reading means and for supplying said required digital picked-up signal to said digital-to-analog converter means.

6. The electronic stringed instrument of claim 1 wherein said control means controls envelope, tone timbre, pitch or volume of said sounds to be outputted by said sound output means based on said respective numerical data from said pitch extracting means.

7. An electronic musical instrument, comprising:

a plurality of strings;

a plurality of pick up means provided for respective ones of said plurality of strings, each of said pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations having a time varying amplitude into a corresponding analog input signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog input signals from said plurality of pick up means to corresponding digital signals;

storing means for successively storing said digital signals from said analog-to-digital converter means;

reading means for successively reading stored digital signals from said storing means;

digital-to-analog converter means for successively converting read-out digital signals from said reading means to analog audio signals;

sound output means for outputting said analog audio signals from said digital-to-analog converter means as sounds;

simultaneous recording and playback means for controlling operation timings of said analog-to-digital converter means, said storing means, said reading means and said digital-to-analog converter means in accordance with time-division-multiplexing such that a recording operation of said analog-to-digital converter means and said storing means is performed simultaneously with playback operation of said reading means, said digital-to-analog converter means and said sound output means;

amplitude level detecting means for successively detecting respective amplitude levels of said analog input signals and for finding respective maximum amplitude levels in said detected amplitude levels to thereby obtain numerical data for each of the strings corresponding to said maximum amplitude level; and

control means for controlling respective characteristics of the sounds to be outputted by said sound output means for each of the strings based on the corresponding numerical data from said amplitude level detecting means.

8. An electronic musical instrument, comprising:

a plurality of strings;

a plurality of pick up means provided for respective ones of said plurality of strings, each of said plurality of pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations having an unknown and time-variable pitch into a corresponding analog input signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog input signals from said plurality of pick up means to corresponding digital signals;

storing means for successively storing said digital signals from said analog-to-digital converter means;

reading means for successively reading stored digital signals from said storing means;

digital-to-analog converter means for successively converting read-out digital signals from said reading means to analog audio signals;

sound output means for outputting said analog audio signals from said digital-to-analog converter means as sounds;

simultaneous recording and playback means for controlling operation timings of said analog-to-digital converter means, said storing means, said reading means and said digital-to-analog converter means in accordance with time-division-multiplexing such that recording operation of said analog-to-digital converter means and said storing means is performed simultaneously with playback operation of said reading means, said digital-to-analog converter means and said sound output means;

pitch extracting and tracking means for extracting and tracking respective pitches of said analog input signals by successively measuring fundamental periods of said respective analog input signals to thereby obtain numerical data for each of the plurality of strings identifying a current pitch of said analog input signal;

pitch change detecting means for detecting respective pitch changes of said analog input signal by comparing respective new and old values of said numerical data from said pitch extracting and tracking means; and

control means responsive to said pitch change means for controlling respective characteristics of the sounds to be outputted by said sound output means for each of the strings based on a new value of said numerical data from said pitch extracting means and tracking each time when an individual pitch change of said analog input signal is detected.

9. An electronic musical instrument, comprising:

recording means for sampling and digitally recording a plurality of analog audio input signals on a storage medium in a time multiplexed operation; and

sound-effects-controllable playback means for digitally reading data from said storage medium and for playing back sound generating signals in synchronism with the recording operation of said recording means while controlling sound-effects of said sound generating signals based on corresponding parameters of said analog audio input signals;

wherein said recording means comprises:

input means for inputting said plurality of analog audio input signals, said input means including a plurality of strings and a plurality of pick up means provided for respective strings, each of said pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations into a corresponding analog audio input signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog audio input signals from said input means to corresponding digital signals; and

writing means for successively and time divisionally writing said respective digital signals into said storage medium in a predetermined direction; and

wherein said sound-effects-controllable playback means comprises:

parameter deriving means coupled to said input means for deriving said parameter of said analog audio input signals;

reading means for successively reading a stored digital signal from said storage medium in the same direction as said predetermined direction to thereby provide said sound generating signals;

processing means for processing said sound generating signals; and

sound-effects controlling means for controlling said processing means based on said parameter of said analog audio input signals from said parameter deriving means such that sound-effects of said sound generating signals vary as a function of corresponding parameters of said analog audio input signals for each of the plurality of strings.

10. An electronic musical instrument, comprising:

recording means for sampling and digitally recording a plurality of analog audio input signals on a storage medium in a time multiplexed operation; and

sound-effects-controllable playback means for digitally reading data from said storage medium and for playing back sound generating signals in synchronism with the recording operation of said recording means while controlling sound-effects of said sound generating signals based on corresponding parameters of said analog audio input signals;

wherein said recording means comprises:

input means for inputting said plurality of analog audio input signals, said input means including a plurality of strings and a plurality of pick up means provided for respective strings, each converting mechanical string vibrations into a corresponding analog audio input signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog audio input signals from said input means to corresponding digital signals; and

writing means for successively and time divisionally writing said respective digital signals into said storage medium in a predetermined direction;

wherein said sound-effects-controllable playback means comprises:

parameter deriving means coupled to said input means for deriving said parameter of said analog audio input signals;

multiplexed playback means operative on a time division multiplexed basis for providing a plurality of playback channels corresponding to the plurality of strings in which each channel includes:

(a) reading means for successively reading a stored digital signal from said storage medium in the same direction as said predetermined direction to thereby provide a channel playback signal as a component of said sound generating signal;

(b) processing means for processing said channel playback signal; and

(c) sound-effects controlling means for controlling said processing means based on said parameter of said analog audio input signal from said parameter deriving means in a manner unique to each of said plurality of playback channels whereby said plurality of playback channels produce a plurality of channel playback signals, sound effects of which are different from each other.

11. An electronic musical instrument, comprising:

recording means for sampling and digitally recording a plurality of analog audio input signals on a storage medium in a time multiplexed operation; and

sound-effects-controllable playback means for digitally reading data from said storage medium and for playing back sound generating signals in synchronism with the recording operation of said recording means while controlling sound-effects of said sound generating signals based on corresponding parameters of said analog audio input signals;

wherein said recording means comprises:

input means for inputting said plurality of analog audio input signals, said input means including a plurality of strings and a plurality of pick up means provided for respective strings, each of said pick up means converting mechanical string vibrations into a corresponding analog audio input signal;

analog-to-digital converter means for successively converting respective analog audio input signals from said input means to corresponding digital signals; and

writing means for successively and time divisionally writing said respective digital signals into said storage medium in a predetermined direction; and

wherein said sound-effects-controllable playback means comprises:

parameter deriving means coupled to said input means for deriving said parameter of said analog audio input signals;

reading means for successively reading stored digital signals from said storage medium in the same direction as said predetermined direction to thereby provide said sound generating signals; and

reading velocity control means for controlling velocity of reading by said reading means as a function of said parameter of said analog audio input signals such that said sound generating signals are played back with modified pitches different from those of said analog audio input signals to achieve said sound effects for each of the plurality of strings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to electronic stringed instruments applicable to musical instruments such as electronic guitar and violin, and particularly to an electronically operated stringed instrument with sampling function.

2. Description of the Prior Art

An electronic stringed instrument which pickes up string vibrations, extracts level (amplitude) and fundamental period (pitch) of the string vibrations from the picked-up signal and controls an internal or external electronic tone generator based on the extracted results to produce a synthesized sound is known as guitar synthesizer. Despite such electronic function guitar players often prefer guitar sound (direct sound) caused by vibrations of strings themselves. Accordingly, many guitar synthesizers are designed to provide both synthesized and direct sounds.

However, simultaneous sounding and playing of synthesized and direct sounds is rare in practice; play is usually performed selecting and using either synthesized sound or direct sound presumably because of the difference in sound quality between the synthesized sound and the direct sound, and limited controllability of the synthesized sound.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems.

Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an electronic stringed instrument capable of controlling a direct sound which meets guitar player's liking and a processed sound which best fits the direct sound, in accordance with player's string operations such as plucking and fingering.

Another object of the invention is to provide an electronic stringed instrument capable of controlling a characteristic of a sound to be outputted in accordance with player's string operations.

Further object of the invention is to provide an electronic musical instrument capable of controlling a sound to be produced from an externally supplied analog signal in accordance with the amplitude level and/or pitch of the analog signal.

To successively achieve the objects, an embodiment of the invention provides an electronic stringed instrument which comprises: pick up means for producing a picked-up signal corresponding to string vibrations; direct sound output means for outputting a picked-up signal from said pick up means as direct sound without any substantial processing; processed sound output means for processing a picked-up signal from said pick up means and for outputting a processed picked-up signal as processed sound concurrently with said direct sound; amplitude level detecting means for detecting amplitude level of a picked-up signal from said pick up means; and control means for controlling a characteristic of said processed sound to be outputted by said processed sound output means based on a detected amplitude level from said amplitude level detecting means.

Another embodiment of the invention provides an electronic stringed instrument comprising: pick up means for producing a picked-up signal corresponding to string vibration; direct sound output means for outputting a picked-up signal from said pick up means as direct sound without any substantial processing; processed sound output means for processing a picked-up signal from said pick up means and for outputting a processed picked-up signal as processed sound concurrently with said direct sound; pitch extracting means for extracting a pitch of said string vibrations from a picked-up signal from said pick up means; and control means for controlling a characteristic of said processed sound to be outputted by said processed sound output means based on an extracted pitch from said pitch extracting means.

In each arrangement, it is a processed sound from the processed sound output means that is combined with the direct sound. The processed sound originates from the same source as that of the direct sound and comprises a picked-up signal corresponding to string vibrations. This assures suitability between the direct sound and the processed sound. Further, concurrent outputting of both the direct sound and the processed sound results in a composite and rich sound with various timbres since the processed sound output means modifies the original picked-up signal to produce the processed sound.

Moreover, each arrangement above serves to control a characteristic of the processed sound based on a parameter of the string vibrations.

More specifically, the former arrangement includes the control means which controls a characteristic of the processed sound based on a detected amplitude level of string vibrations from the amplitude level detecting means. The detected amplitude level may be used to modulate, for example, a pitch of the processed sound. This provides a detune sound effect between the pitch modulated processed sound and pitch unmodulated direct sound.

The latter arrangement includes the control means which controls a characteristic of the processed sound based on an extracted pitch of the string vibrations from the pitch extracting means. The extracted pitch may be used to control, for example, timbre, volume and/or pitch characteristic of the processed sound.

Another embodiment of the invention provides an electronic stringed instrument which comprises: pick up means for producing a picked-up signal corresponding to string vibrations; direct sound output means for outputting a picked-up signal from said pick up means as direct sound without any substantial processing; processed sound output means for processing a picked-up signal from said pick up means and for outputting a processed picked-up signal as processed sound concurrently with said direct sound; amplitude level detecting means for detecting amplitude level of a picked-up signal from said pick up means; and mixing proportion control means for controlling mixing proportion of said direct sound and said processed sound to be outputted by said direct sound output means and said processed sound output means, respectively, based on a detected amplitude level from said amplitude level detecting means.

Still another embodiment of the invention provides an electronic stringed instrument comprising: pick up means for producting a picked-up signal corresponding to string vibrations; direct sound output means for outputting a picked-up signal from said pick up means as direct sound without any substantial processing; processed sound output means for processing a picked-up signal from said pick up means and for outputting a processed picked-up signal as processed sound concurrently with said direct sound; pitch extracting means for extracting a pitch of said string vibrations from a picked-up signal from said pick up means; and mixing proportion control means for controlling mixing proportion of said direct sound and said processed sound to be outputted by said direct sound output means and said processed sound output means, respectively, based on an extracted pitch from said pitch extracting means.

Each of these arrangements can pro