• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

US 20090314157A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2009/0314157 A1 Sullivan (43) Pub. Date: Dec. 24, 2009 (54) MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Publication Classi?cation _ _ _ (51) Int. Cl. (75) Inventor: Daniel E. Sullivan, ShoreV1eW, MN G 10H 1/18 (200601) (Us) (52) us. Cl. ........................................................ .. 84/646 Correspondence Address: (57) ABSTRACT SCHWEGMAN1 LUNDBERG & WOESSNER’ A musical device is disclosed that performs a Variety of user P-A- de?ned or user controlled activities. These activities include P-O- BOX 2938 but are not limited to producing musical notes, determining, MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402 (Us) in?uencing or changing the sound, quality, Voice, Volume or other characteristics of a note, activating and coordinating the (73) Assignee; ZiviX LLC, Minneapolis, MN (Us) replay of stored loops, recording, editing and playing user created pieces previously produced and controlling periph (21) APPL NO; 12/548,849 eral devices such as lighting. The musical device uses a com bination of strings and frets to locate notes on a ?ngerboard (22) F 11 e d: Aug 27, 2009 that a user may activate. As a result, the invention includes a system to generate a sound correspondmg to a note selected . and activated according to preselected parameters such as the Related U's' Apphcatlon Data Voice (e.g., trumpet, Violin).A user’s intent to play a particular (63) Continuation of application No. 11/498,996, ?led on 11016 0811 be COn?I‘med by a system Of SenSOrS COrreSpOnding Aug. 4, 2006, noW Pat. No. 7,598,449. to each note position. Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 1 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 2 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 Al E. .UEN on 8N" mu mu umum 2 2. Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 3 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 FIG.3 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 4 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 16 14 FIG.4 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 5 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 FIG.5 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 6 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 20 FIG.6 / / \8 // 1// Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 8 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 i. FIG.8 34/ Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 9 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 as no sum N uww 01 o u .0E0a m QN)! l l i Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 10 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 3434 55 FIG.10 36363636 85883885 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 11 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 .0E2. _ _ _ EN323mm [Inn95wm_|_ l/ _ FLIFIFEwk E2.2238 “mm323% 8323mmH __||+Va“5% ums 9...:F0 _ILIFUCI3~.22"_ 32.3mm_. 2E".kN2 @3322“ YA" wow Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 12 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 Al .UEN_. mm Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 13 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 54 O1 IE U C Q) m 2 gh a 2 QIII¢III§ m I _l 1 gd) ‘g G, (5 030*‘ 2 ° " = E. 5 a |_ III [I E E E Volume Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 14 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 mu an \C Q\ 3 3 \CJ muflmmm 3$4 BSDUN.“ c .QE3 DU8BS \rf 3a 88 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 15 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 Patent Application Publication Dec. 24, 2009 Sheet 17 0f 17 US 2009/0314157 A1 .GE2. A ou US 2009/0314157 A1 Dec. 24, 2009 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT ducing musical notes and Without limitation, to determine, in?uence or change the sound, quality, voice, volume or other CLAIM OF PRIORITY characteristics of a note, activate and coordinate the replay of stored loops, record, edit and play user created pieces previ [0001] This application is a continuation of US. applica ously produced and control peripheral devices such as light tion Ser. No. 11/498,996, ?led Aug. 4, 2006, Which is incor ing all in a manner that is useful in a performance setting or in porated herein by reference in its entirety. a manner that mimics or is compatible With the actions a musician takes to make or perform music and that simulta BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION neously alloWs the user to add expressiveness to the notes that [0002] 1. Field of Invention they are playing. [0003] This invention relates to a musical instrument and [0007] There are many examples of MIDI controllers that more speci?cally relates to a device that in one embodiment either adapt a conventional instrument or model the shape and generates digital commands that in turn are interpreted by performance of one. Generally, these controllers suffer in something else to generate a sound With speci?c parameters comparison to the original instrument in terms of expressive or to control musical expression or other control functions ness or have technical limitations. For example, guitar-to that are useful in a performance setting and in another MIDI converters must spend a ?nite amount of time in cal embodiment generates note tones itself. culating the incoming note and this introduces a delay [0004] 2. PriorArt betWeen the played note and the sound produced. [0005] Until the advent of an electronic means to generate [0008] There is another category of MIDI controllers that sound, all musical instruments Were designed to create sound are not bound to the model of existing instruments. This by means of mechanical vibrations. This requirement con category can in turn be divided into tWo main classi?cations. strains the physical interface of the instrument and imposes The ?rst are de?ned as devices that are used to in?uence the certain requirements on the musician (i.e, a louder note sound of notes that are generated independently. The second requires harder key presses or more breath pressure). The classi?cation can be de?ned as devices that are used to gen generation of music electronically opens up many more pos erate the note tones. Sometimes these tWo functions are com sibilities for musical expression, and since the invention of bined into one device but most commonly are separate. standard control interfaces such as the MIDI format, there [0009] The Midi interface standard alloWs for a great deal noW exists a neW category of electronic musical instruments of ?exibility in that messages from a keyboard can be used to that are used to generate digital information regarding musi control the playing of musical notes or can be used to control cal notes and expression. MIDI is by far the predominant a variety of other functions. For example, a certain key on a format in this medium, but MIDI Was primarily devised With musical instrument can be used to generate a musical note the human interface of a keyboard and music synthesiZer in such as middle C, or can be “mapped” to instead trigger a mind. The piano-like keys of a typical synthesiZer are used as pre-stored sequence of musical notes for accompaniment. sWitches to activate and silence note commands and the This pre-stored sequence is often referred to as a loop since it velocity of the keystroke can be measured to determine the is typically a short musical or percussion sequence that con loudness of the note. tinuously loops. [0006] The MIDI control language alloWs for other com [0010] There exist a number of softWare programs that are mands for the purposes of musical expression With a common typically executed on personal computers that make it pos one being a spring-centered slider Wheel that is used to con sible to manage this key mapping. In the example just given, trol pitch bend. This feature adds a level of expression to a the program Will normally play the middle C note When the keyboard that cannot be achieved With a piano, and there are associated key is pressed, but this key can instead be assigned other Ways to in?uence the sound created by a keypress. to trigger a loop that is under control of the program. This These other controls are typically in the form of sliders and alloWs for a range of keys to be assigned to trigger back knobs mounted on the keyboard. But there are other innova ground patterns While the unassigned keys play accompany tive means to control the sound generated, such as the use of ing notes. The problem With this method is that Whenever a Hall effect sWitches in a guitar-like musical instrument (US. key is assigned to a function other than note playing, that key Pat. No. 4,658,690 issued to Aitken et al. entitled “Electronic is then unavailable for playing notes. Musical Instrument”), the combination of piano-like keys [0011] With just a feW keys assigned to other functions, With a guitar-like synthesiZer (US. Pat. No. 4,794,838 issued there is not a big problem since these keys can be at the to James F. Corrigau, III entitled “Constantly Changing Poly extreme loWer or upper range of a keyboard Where notes are phonic Pitch Controller”), electrically resistive elements in a seldom played. HoWever, it is often desirable to be able to guitar-like synthesiZer With strings to detect sideWays de?ec trigger a Wide range of loops, and this becomes impossible as tion ofthe string (US. Pat. No. 4,748,887 issued to Steven C. the number of practically available keys is exceeded. Marshall entitled “Electric Musical String Instruments and [0012] This proliferation of music in digital form along Frets Therefore”) and infrared beams in a guitar controller for With the ubiquitous presence of personal computers has a music synthesiZer Where the infrared beams are re?ected off established the PC as a familiarWay to manipulate music ?les.

Load more

  31

Copy Link