1132results about "Percussion musical instruments" patented technology

A pedal board for releasably retaining a plurality of foot pedal operated sound effect generators used in conjunction with musical instruments, such as guitars. The pedal board comprises an upper plate having a surface constructed to releasably hold a plurality of foot pedal operated sound effect generators. The pedal board is provided with an internal wiring harness and external jacks for connection of the sound effect generators in a desired array and which enable connection to the musical instrument as well as to an auxiliary sound generating component used with the musical instrument.

A percussion controller comprises an instrumented striker including devices for obtaining inertial measurements and a wireless transmitter, a sensor-enabled striking surface that receives an impact from the instrumented striker, and a data processing system that receives the inertial measurements and predicts at least one of the force or location of impact of the instrumented striker on the sensor-enabled striking surface before impact actually occurs.

An electroacoustically-amplified drum assembly consists of a hollow drum shell with a drumhead closing one or both end thereof and an acoustical air vent in the wall thereof. An acoustical microphone is positioned in the drum shell spaced from and free from any connection to the drumhead and has leads for connection through the acoustical vent to an external amplifier and speaker. An adjustable mount is secured on the interior surface of the drum shell without any break in the wall of the drum shell for supporting the microphone. The adjustable mount may be adjusted and set to establish a position for the microphone for minimizing microphone interference and optimizing proximity effect and sound quality. The drum may have air vent hardware positioned in the acoustical air vent opening and including electrical connections for connection to the external speaker and amplifier. The microphone mount may be supported by nuts on the inner ends of lug bolts extending through the drum shell wall for supporting the head tensioning lugs on the outer surface of the drum shell. An alternative embodiment uses magnets one the outer surface of the drum shell cooperating with magnets inside the drum to support the mount adjustably on the drum shell.

An electronic percussion instrument that allows for a performance sensation that is similar to that of an acoustic HiHat cymbal. A sliding mechanism of a top cymbal pad section and a bottom cymbal pad section of an electronic HiHat cymbal where the top cymbal pad section and the bottom cymbal pad section are both fixed so that they can swing together when the top cymbal pad section is struck. Even when the first cymbal pad is struck and swings coming into contact with the second cymbal pad, the gliding contact between the first pad and the second pad is carried out smoothly and allows for a natural striking sensation comparable to that of an acoustic HiHat cymbal.

A portable electronic drumhead includes a sensor responsive to drumstick impacts in producing electrical signal pulses input to headphones to thereby simulate sounds of an acoustic drumhead. The sensor includes a Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) lamination coated with an electrically conductive polymer ink, a spacer lamination, and a flexible electrode lamination having on an inner surface thereof a pair of interdigitated electrodes, the electrode lamination elastically contacting the FSR lamination in response to drumstick impacts on the outer surface of the electrode lamination or FSR lamination to thus momentarily reduce electrical resistance between the electrodes. Resilient batter pads overlying the laminations muffle sounds produced by drumstick impacts. Optionally, the sensor may have an annular ring shape which may be placed concentrically on the head of an acoustic drum, the sensor having an upwardly protruding resilient bumper strikable to produce electronically synthesized rim shot sounds.

An adjustable drum beating device, comprising at least one rotor operable to rotate a drum beater, a foot pedal driven flexible driver having a path of engagement with the rotor and operable to rotate the rotor, the driver having adjustable connection to the rotor to effectively adjust the position of the foot pedal relative to the rotor, and there being adjustably relatively movable parts associated with at least one rotor to adjust the configuration of the path of engagement of the flexible driver with the rotor.

The present invention includes an electronic cymbal assembly including a hi-hat clutch for mounting a hi-hat to a hi-hat stand post; a top cymbal; a self dampening trigger system attached to the underside of the top cymbal; a bottom cymbal; an input jack box mounted to the underside of the bottom cymbal; and a hi-hat cymbal mounting post. The cymbal assembly may be mounted using a magnetic ring configuration or a threaded pole configuration.

An electronic synthesized steelpan drum resembling a conventional steelpan drum and featuring the same shallow cylindrical shape with a sunken concave playing surface. The steelpan drum includes a central processor chip and associated memory chips for providing a variety of synthesized steelpan and a full range of musical, orchestral, and symphonic instrumental sounds, including tenor, double-seconds, guitar, cello, quadraphonic, tenor-bass, and bass steel drums. The concave playing surface is comprised of a series of rubber striking pad areas, which can be arranged in a conventional or other unique pattern typical of a tenor pan. The striking pad areas will be played with a pair of pansticks. Attached under each pad is a pressure sensor, which will detect the amount of force applied when a pannist strikes a pad and provide a signal to the central processor for controlling the synthesized sound. The steelpan has various control functions including speakers, volume control, function selection buttons, and a control display panel.

An object of the present invention is to provide a percussion detecting apparatus, which is excellent in percussion feeling, and the percussion sounds of which are very small, in electronic percussion instrumental system. The percussion detecting apparatus is provided with a head prepared from a net-like raw material composed of a first net and a second net, the net-like raw material being obtained by such a manner that both the nets having been woven in accordance with plane weaving manner wherein the longitudinal and transverse fibers cross at right angles are laminated in such a way that the weave pattern directions thereof intersect obliquely with each other; and a head sensor which is in contact with the center position of the under side in the head and detects percussion with respect to the head as electric signal.

The invention concerns a tip structure for a support leg for a stand. The stand may be used for supporting a musical instrument. The support leg has a main part with a bottom end. A bar receiving opening opens into the bottom end of the main support. An elongated hole is formed in the side of the support leg and communicates into the bar receiving opening. An end cap is fitted over the bottom end of the leg. The cap has a bottom opening that is aligned with the bar receiving opening at the bottom of the support leg. The cap has an adjustment groove along the side of the cap which overlies the elongated hole in the leg. A tip bar is inserted in the bar receiving opening in the leg and is projectable through the opening in the cap. A clamping screw extends through the adjustment groove in the side of the cap and through the elongated hole in the side of the leg and into the bar receiving opening inside the leg for being tightenable to clamp the bar at a selected position beyond the end of the cap and loosenable to permit adjustment of the clamping of the bar with respect to the cap. The musical instrument stand may include two of the support legs supported on a support for the musical instrument, which may be a cymbal.

A snare drum strainer mountable to the shell of a drum comprises a piston and an actuator. The piston has an axis and a surface curved about an axis generally parallel to the piston axis, and the piston is operatively connected to snares. The actuator and the curved surface rotate one with respect to the other about an axis generally parallel to the piston axis to reciprocate the piston and to tension and untension the snares. In another embodiment, the piston includes a generally cylindrical surface with a generally helical groove, the piston is operatively connected to snares, and the actuator includes a follower insertable into the generally helical groove. The follower and the generally cylindrical surface rotate one with respect to the other to reciprocate the piston and tension and untension the snares.

A musical effects pedal retaining unit comprising a retaining body, a retaining means affixed to said retaining body by retaining means connectors and an attachment surface fixed to said retaining body. This pedal retaining unit is preferably used with a pedal board system to secure at least one musical effect pedal while simultaneously preserving the effects pedal.

A combination guitar arm rest and leg rest for attachment to a portion of a body of a guitar and holding the guitar away from a guitar player's arm or elbow and above the player's leg. The combination includes an arm rest pad and a leg rest pad. The arm rest pad and the leg rest pad are pivotally attached to a tang. The tang is pivotally mounted on a yoke. The yoke is pivotally attached to one end of a pair of struts. An opposite end of the struts is pivotally mounted on a suction cup pivot pin. Opposite ends of the pivot pin are attached to a pair of suction cups. The suction cups are adapted for releasable attachment to the body of the guitar. The tang, the yoke and the struts allow the arm rest pad and the leg rest pad to be pivoted in an “XY” vertical plane, a “YZ” vertical plane and a “XZ” horizontal plane for infinite adjustments by the guitar player.

A sound pickup device, which is arranged in proximity to a percussion instrument (e.g., a bass drum), comprises a diaphragm stretched under tension over an opening of a shell having a cylindrical shape, and an electroacoustic transducer arranged inside of the shell. The electroacoustic transducer comprises a magnetic transducer or a speaker unit. Herein, the percussion instrument is played to produce the low-pitch sound, which is transmitted to the diaphragm to vibrate so that the electroacoustic transducer is activated to convert the low-pitch sound into an electric signal, based on which the low-pitch sound is reproduced by a sound system with a high fidelity to the original sound.

A pedal board extension provides a pedal board with a platform for additional effects and/or over-sized effects. One or more U-shaped members are arranged along one edge of the extension. When the extension is mated to the pedal board, the U-shaped members engage with an end rail of the pedal board, thus securely joining the extension to the pedal board.

The invention relates to a drum hoop holding device for a drum pedal, and the drum pedal includes a pivotal pedal plate. The holding device includes a hoop clamp body with a front part that supports a jaw that clamps the drum hoop against a support base of the pedal. The support base includes an inclined elastic material surface against which the hoop is clamped. The clamp body is oriented so that the front part is below the pedal while the rear part is laterally out from under the pedal. The clamp body has a hole through it, a spring that pushes the clamp body up, a bolt that passes through the hole with a seat atop the clamp body that receives the tightening nut and the curvature of the seat in the top of the clamp body cooperates with the curvature of the surface of the nut to permit orientation of the clamp body according to the thickness of the drum hoop to the clamp. A tightening bolt at the rear of the clamp body tightens the jaw at the front of the clamp body against the drum hoop.

A removable electronic drum head for an acoustic drum is disclosed. The electronic drum head includes an elastic strike layer, a rigid plate centered below the elastic strike layer. A first sensor is attached to a bottom surface of the rigid plate. A structural body supports the elastic strike layer, rigid plate and first sensor. The structural body is further adapted to attach to an acoustic drum. Other optional foam layers may be included above and below the rigid plate.

Various embodiments of a detachable electronic drum are described. In one aspect, an electronic drum includes a main support base having a central portion and a periphery surrounding the central portion, a striking unit disposed on the central portion of the main support base, an annular top cover disposed over and around the striking unit such that the striking unit is disposed between the main support base and the annular top cover, and an annular elastic collar coupled to the periphery of the main support base. The annular elastic collar is configured to hook to a drum hoop of a conventional drum when the electronic drum is attached to the conventional drum and disposed over a drumhead of the conventional drum such that no other portion of the electronic drum is in contact with the conventional drum.

A tunable drum is shown having a hollow drum shell, and imperforate drumheads closing the ends of said drum shell. One or more opening extend through the drum shell for acoustic venting, and valves are provided for adjusting the size of the openings to vary the amount of acoustic venting, and consequently the volume, pitch, tone, timbre and stick response of said drum. The valves may be slide valves movable, e.g., slidable or pivotable, between an open and a closed position. A preferred valve consists of a ring member positioned for rotation inside said drum and slidable endwise of the drum to cover or uncover said drum openings, or the ring member may have openings that match the drum openings and operable to cover or uncover the openings or rotation. A handle for rotation of the ring member extends outside the shell for movement by the drummer.

A removable muting device for drums, cymbals, and the like, including a new and innovative layered combination formed of a pad of sponge rubber material having a top portion and a bottom portion, the bottom portion having a layer thereon of TYCO Adhesive No. 1724D which is a removable Acrylic adhesive having low peel, low tack, high shear and non-residue properties to allow the entire combination to be adhesively and removably affixed by pressure to a surface such as the drumstick-struck portions of drums and cymbals to mute the sound thereof when struck by a drumstick or the like.

Drum pedal assemblies are disclosed which can include one or more adjustment feature and/or interlocking feature. Adjustment features which can be included in embodiments of the invention can include spring tension adjustment features, pedal incline adjustment features, lever length adjustment features, and/or beater stem angle adjustment features. Drum pedal assemblies are also disclosed which can include slot-and-tab connections between assembly pieces, which can reduce or eliminate certain undesired pedal movements.

An electronic percussion instrument includes input means and musical tone generation control means. The input means allows for a vibration level of a vibration of an operator and position information that conforms to a position of the operator to be input. The musical tone generation control means in one in which whether or not the generation of a musical tone based on the vibration level and the position information is instructed is controlled in those cases where the vibration level has been input by the input means.

A practice drumming provides generally quieter, silent drumming practice for a drummer in combination with a realistic drumkit depiction for better visual cuing and development of muscle memory. The drum pad is constructed of shock absorbing material to dampen the impact of drumsticks and reduce the corresponding noise generated thereby. The drum pad has a non-skid bottom in order to hold it in place on any generally available surface. A realistic depiction of a drumkit or the like is provided on the top of the drum pad. This realistic depiction allows the student to concentrate on playing different drums thereby developing the thought processes necessary for dynamic drumming as well as the muscle memory involved for such dynamic drumming. A pair of drumsticks may accompany the drum pad of the present invention. Additionally, recording media such as an audio CD can provide melodic or rhythmic "grooves" that may be practiced by the student in order to achieve drumming facility. In an alternative embodiment, the drum pad of the present invention may be circular so that it may be placed, with its realistic depiction of a drumkit, upon a single snare drum. This alternative embodiment dampens the impact of drumsticks while allowing the student to practice upon a real drum. In a second alternative embodiment, a snare drum adapter may be used in conjunction with a square or rectangular drum pad to achieve generally the same effect.

A drum and drum stand coupler comprises a first coupler and a second coupler that respectively surround the circumference of a drum shell at an upper side and a lower side. The first and second couplers have respectively an adjustment slot on the left and right sides run through by a transverse fastener to couple to a longitudinal fastener of a drum. The coupler also includes a distance adjustment means to couple longitudinally the first and second couplers. The distance adjustment means includes a first guiding member and a second guiding member that are coupled in an up and down manner and staggered on the outer side and inner side, and run through by at least one fastening element to be fastened together. Thus multiple drums with varying heights can mate drum shells with different specifications. The distance adjustment means also has a fixture to couple with a drum stand.

An adjustment mechanism for selectively tightening the snare wires of a snare drum, having a camming mechanism cooperatively formed by two concentric members with an inherent level of friction that allows it to be reliably set at either extreme position of adjustment of the tightness of the snare wires or at any desired intermediate position of adjustment, thus allowing the musician a full range of choice of the musical tones or effects to be produced by the snare wires.

A body-supportable musical-instrument carrier featuring a rigid frame, a belly plate, and first and second mounting members is provided. The frame includes a substantially U-shaped intermediate section and end sections at opposite ends of the intermediate section. The intermediate section substantially conforms to shoulder and upper back regions of a user for resting on the shoulder regions and extending across the upper back region of the user in use. The end sections extend substantially parallel to one another for resting in front of a front torso region of the user in use. The first mounting members are mountable on the belly plate and engageable with the end sections, respectively, for securing the belly plate to the frame. The second mounting members are mountable on the belly plate and engageable with a musical instrument for securing the musical instrument to the carrier.

A hybrid drum as described combines the characteristics of both acoustic and electronic percussion apparatus enabling a musician to have a single instrument and have either acoustic or electronic output. A hybrid drum includes a multilayer drum head with a built-in FSR sensor such that the FSR drum head replaces the drum head of the acoustic drum and can be used to perform acoustically and or electronically. The FSR sensor is built into a double layer, double-head acoustic drum head, wherein one layer of the double head system has the FSR element printed on it, while the other layer of the double layer head has the inter-digiting conductive fingers printed on it and facing the FSR element. A conductive tail extends from one of the drum head layers and is operably connected to an electronic module secured to the drum shell.

An adjustable tripod stand having independently adjustable legs includes an upright member for supporting an object, such as a drum, at its upper end. A pair of independently movable collar members are slidably mounted on the upright member and longitudinally adjustable relative to and past one another and to an upright portion for selective positioning thereon. A releasable fastener on the collars secures them to the upright member at selected positions. Three movable leg members are connected at their upper ends, two to one of the collar members and one to the other collar member. Movement of the collar members permits the stand to be erected in limited or confined areas. The stand preferably includes a leg extender member slidably mounted on the exterior one of the leg members, which is movable a selected distance permitting the stand to be positioned on different levels, such as stairs. An embodiment for supporting bass drums has a collar member fitting the upright member having four equally spaced radially extending lugs. Four legs are pivotally supported on the lugs and movable toward and away the upright member to provide a cradle for receiving and supporting a bass drum. Another embodiment for supporting a conga drum has three independently movable legs, two sets of collar members slidably mounted on the legs, a central pivot member for each set of collar members, and upper and lower leg extender members slidably positioned on the legs. Support plates on the upper ends of the upper leg extender members are movable therewith to an upper position defining a base for supporting a conga drum. When one of the lower leg extender members is extended a support is provided for the tripod on different levels.

Disclosed is a tuned harmonic bell musical instrument. The harmonic bell consists of a thin walled circular base, and a contiguous dome. The base is open at the bottom. The dome has a plurality of tongues cut into the surface thereof, thereby enabling notes with bell like harmonics to be generated when the tongues are struck with a mallet or other device.

An ensemble of acoustic steelpan musical instruments, being an innovation which significantly improves upon traditional acoustic steelpan prior art. Said improvements include an extension of note range across the assemblage of G-Pans, a substantial reduction in the number of steelpans required to effectively cover the steelpan musical range, the use of a compound design whereby individual component parts of the instrument, specifically the playing surface, chime, rear attachment, or skirt and the playing stick or mallet, are optimized for their specific function, the application of a variety of techniques for eliminating or reducing, non-musical sympathetic vibrations and the inclusion of a variety of mechanical and acoustic resonator designs, to enhance optimally, the sound projection of the aforementioned instrument.