Musical sound control device for keyboard instrument

Abstract

A musical sound control device for a keyboard instrument includes: a plurality of swingable keys; a plurality of string striking machines that perform a predetermined operation in response to the key pressing; a plurality of hammers that rotate upward via the action in response to the key being pressed; a plurality of damper levers driven to rotate upward by a rear end portion of the key in response to the key being pressed; a plurality of hammer head sensors for detecting the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer heads; a plurality of damper sensors for detecting a height of a predetermined portion of the damper lever as a damper height; and a musical sound controller that controls output of musical sound to be emitted, in which the musical sound controller controls output of musical sound corresponding to the pressed key based on detection results of each of the hammer sensors and each of the damper sensors.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument, which is suitable for a keyboard musical instrument (such as an electronic piano) and can achieve sound emission similar to the sound emission when playing a grand piano by controlling the output of the musical tone to be emitted while ensuring a touch similar to that of the keyboard of a grand piano. Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, the electronic piano described in JP 5-158467A, for example, is known as an electronic piano having an action similar to that of an acoustic grand piano. This electronic piano includes: keys, each extending in the front-to-back direction and capable of swinging about a fulcrum near the center of its longitudinal direction; actions, each positioned on the rear portion of the upper surface of a corresponding key and performing a predetermined operation in response to a key depression; hammers, which rotate upward via the actions in response to a key depression; pseudo damper levers, each positioned near the rear end of a corresponding key; and a damper pedal, which is stepped on to push the pseudo damper lever upward. The electronic piano also includes a plurality of sensors and a control unit that controls the musical tones emitted from the electronic piano based on the sensor detection results.

[0003] The multiple sensors include hammer sensors that detect the rotational speed of hammers, key sensors that detect the depressed keys and their descending speed, and damper pedal sensors that detect depression of the damper pedal. In the electronic piano described above, when a key is depressed during a performance, the control unit performs a predetermined process and generates a drive signal based on the detection results of the hammer sensors, key sensors, damper pedal sensors, and the like. The generated drive signal is then output to the soundboard drive unit, thereby producing a musical tone corresponding to the depressed key. Citation List Patent Literature

[0004] Patent Document 1: JP 5-158467A Summary of the Invention

[0005] Since the electronic piano described above includes an action and pseudo-damper levers similar to those of a grand piano, a touch similar to that of playing a grand piano can be achieved. However, in this electronic piano, problems may occur in sound production, or a portion of the sound produced may differ from that produced by a grand piano.

[0006] For example, when a hammer bounces on the return lever of the action during a key depression with a soft strike, the hammer sensor mistakenly detects that the string has been struck, causing an unintended sound to be emitted. As a result, a so-called double strike due to a soft strike may occur, in which the depressed key produces a sound twice. Furthermore, when a hammer rotates upward with force during a key depression with a hard strike and strikes a stopper, and then excessively rotates downward as a reaction, the hammer sensor mistakenly detects that the key has been released, causing a so-called sound stop due to a hard strike, in which the emitted sound stops immediately and unintentionally.

[0007] Generally speaking, in a grand piano, when a key is pressed, the damper lever is raised to release the string, and the released string is struck from below by the hammer, causing the string to vibrate and produce a musical sound. Then, when the depressed key is released, the damper that has released the string descends and presses the string, thereby stopping the generated musical sound. In this case, depending on the positional relationship of the damper relative to the string, specifically, the degree to which the string is pressed by the damper, various types of attenuation can be obtained when the musical sound stops. On the other hand, in the electronic piano described above, the depressed state of the damper pedal of the damper is detected, but in a state in which the damper pedal is not pressed, the sound stop control for stopping the produced musical sound becomes unified.

[0008] Furthermore, in a grand piano, as described above, the string corresponding to the depressed key vibrates to produce a musical tone. In this case, the string corresponding to another key, which has a string resonance with the vibrating string, resonates, and the musical tone caused by this string is produced as a resonance sound. As a result, the pitch of the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key becomes richer. On the other hand, in an electronic piano, a resonance sound is produced when the damper pedal is depressed, but no resonance sound is produced when the damper pedal is not depressed.

[0009] As described above, in conventional electronic pianos, musical tones similar to those of a grand piano cannot be obtained, and in particular, in terms of stopping musical tones or resonance of musical tones, rich tonality or vibration of natural musical tones cannot be obtained as in the case of playing a grand piano.

[0010] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument that can achieve sound emission similar to that when playing a grand piano while ensuring a touch similar to that of a grand piano keyboard.

[0011] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention as in technical solution 1 is characterized in that a musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument is provided, which includes: a plurality of keys, each of which extends in the front-to-rear direction and can swing with the vicinity of the center in the length direction as a fulcrum; a plurality of string actions, each of which is placed on the rear portion of a corresponding one of the keys and performs a predetermined operation in response to key depression; a plurality of hammers, each of which is driven to rotate upward via a corresponding one of the string actions in response to the depression of a corresponding one of the keys; a plurality of damper levers, each of which is rotatable behind a corresponding one of the keys and is driven by the corresponding one of the keys in response to the depression of the key a plurality of hammer sensors, each of which is configured to detect a rotational position and a rotational speed of a corresponding one of the hammers, the hammer sensors being respectively provided for the hammers; a plurality of damper sensors, each of which is configured to detect a height of a predetermined portion of a corresponding one of the damper levers as a damper height, the damper sensors being respectively provided for the damper levers; and a musical tone control unit configured to control output of a musical tone to be emitted in response to key depression, wherein the musical tone control unit controls output of a musical tone corresponding to the depressed key based on a detection result of each of the hammer sensors and each of the damper sensors.

[0012] With this configuration, when one of the keys is depressed during a key depression, the action corresponding to the depressed key performs a predetermined operation, causing the hammer to be driven to rotate upward, and the damper lever to be driven to rotate upward by the rear end portion of the key. A hammer sensor detects the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer, and a damper sensor detects the damper height of the damper lever, which is the height of a predetermined portion of the damper lever. The tone control unit then controls the output of a musical tone in response to the key depression based on the detection results of the hammer and damper sensors.

[0013] The keyboard instrument described above includes multiple keys, actions, hammers, and damper levers, similar to those found in a grand piano. Therefore, when a key of the keyboard instrument is pressed, a tactile sensation similar to that of a grand piano keyboard is ensured. Furthermore, a hammer sensor detects the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer corresponding to the pressed key, and the tone control unit controls the output of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key based on the detection results. Specifically, the timing and volume of the musical tone are controlled. Furthermore, a damper sensor detects the height of the damper lever caused by the damper corresponding to the pressed key, and the tone control unit controls the output of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key based on the detection results and the operation of the dampers of a grand piano. With this configuration, the keyboard instrument can achieve sound production similar to that produced when playing a grand piano equipped with dampers.

[0014] The present invention as in Technical Solution 2 is characterized in that, in a musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to Technical Solution 1, the musical tone control unit controls the attenuation of the musical tone when the musical tone is stopped by releasing the pressed key based on the detection result of the damper sensor, and the output of a resonance sound, which is a musical tone that has a string resonance with the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key and corresponds to another key that has been pressed earlier than the pressed key.

[0015] With this configuration, the musical tone control unit controls the attenuation of the musical tone when the depressed key is released, based on the detection results of the damper sensor. The damper sensor can detect the damper height corresponding to the position of the damper relative to the strings of a grand piano by detecting the operation of the damper lever. Therefore, by controlling the attenuation of the musical tone as described above, a similar attenuation of the musical tone to be stopped by the release of the depressed key can be achieved, similar to the attenuation achieved when playing a grand piano. Furthermore, the musical tone control unit controls the output of a resonance sound based on the detection results of the damper sensor. This resonance sound is a musical sound corresponding to a key that was pressed earlier than the depressed key, and has string resonance with the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key. As a result, when a key is depressed, a resonance sound of the musical tone is produced in addition to the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key, enabling the production of a musical tone and its resonance sound similar to the musical tone achieved when playing a grand piano.

[0016] The present invention as in claim 3 is characterized in that, in the musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to claim 2 , each of the plurality of damper sensors is configured to be capable of detecting the damper height in predetermined multiple stages or continuously.

[0017] With this configuration, each of the damper sensors is configured to detect the damper height in predetermined multiple steps or continuously, thereby enabling fine control of the output of the musical tone of the depressed key and its resonant sound. Consequently, it is possible to achieve a rich tonality and vibration similar to that of the natural musical tone when playing a grand piano.

[0018] The present invention as in Technical Solution 4 is characterized in that the musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to Technical Solution 2 or 3 also includes a key sensor for detecting the height of a predetermined part of a corresponding key in a key during the pressing or releasing of the corresponding key as a key height to replace at least one of the multiple damper sensors.

[0019] With this configuration, a key sensor is used instead of at least one of the plurality of damper sensors to detect the key height of the corresponding key when the key is depressed and released. By using the key sensor and performing control similar to that in the case of using the damper sensor described above based on the detection result as described above, a musical tone similar to that when playing a grand piano, the attenuation of the musical tone when the sound is stopped, and the resonance sound of the musical tone can be obtained, as well as the attenuation of the musical tone when the sound is stopped, and the resonance sound of the musical tone.

[0020] The present invention as in claim 5 is characterized in that, in the musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , the keyboard musical instrument does not include strings for generating sounds by being struck with hammers and dampers for holding the strings.

[0021] With this configuration, by applying the musical tone control device according to the present invention to a keyboard instrument not provided with strings and dampers generally provided in a grand piano, the keyboard instrument itself can be made compact compared to a grand piano provided with strings and dampers. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a side view illustrating a keyboard device of an electronic piano to which the musical tone control device according to the present invention is applied; Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a musical tone controller; Figure 3A and Figure 3B It is a graphic and Figure 1 A side view of a grand piano keyboard device corresponding to the electronic piano keyboard device; Figure 4A and Figure 4B is a diagram for describing the operation of the keyboard device of the electronic piano, and illustrates a state in which the keys are depressed to the lowest position and the virtual dampers release the strings; Figure 5A and Figure 5B is used to describe Figure 4A and Figure 4B A diagram of the operation of the keyboard device thereafter, and illustrating a state in which the virtual dampers are located at the semi-mute positions when a depressed key is released; Figure 6A and Figure 6B is used to describe Figure 5A and Figure 5B A diagram illustrating the operation of the keyboard device thereafter, and illustrating a state in which the virtual dampers are located at sound stop positions when a depressed key is released; Figure 7A and Figure 7B is used to describe Figure 6A and Figure 6BA diagram of the operation of the keyboard device thereafter, and illustrating a state in which a depressed key is completely released and the virtual dampers are located at original initial positions; Figure 8A and Figure 8B is a diagram illustrating the envelope of a musical tone produced in response to a key depression, wherein Figure 8A illustrates the envelope of a pressed key when it is released at a predetermined speed, and Figure 8B illustrating envelopes of a key when it is pressed at a speed higher than a predetermined speed and when it is released at a speed lower than a predetermined speed; Figure 9A and Figure 9B is a diagram illustrating an envelope of a musical tone corresponding to a depressed key and an envelope of a resonance sound which is a musical tone having string resonance with the musical tone and corresponding to another key depressed earlier, wherein Figure 9A A state in which the damper height caused by the damper lever corresponding to the other key is higher than the semi-quiet position is illustrated as an envelope of the resonance sound, and, Figure 9B illustrating a range of change in damper height caused by a damper lever corresponding to the other key as an envelope of the resonance sound; and Figure 10 This diagram illustrates the detection results of the hammer sensor and damper sensor, whether a musical sound is emitted, the volume of the resonant sound, the length of the sound emitted when the key is released, and the status of the virtual damper for each change sequence from key depression to key release in the keyboard device of an electronic piano. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 1 is a side view of a keyboard device 2 of an electronic piano 1 to which a musical tone control device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. The electronic piano 1 has an action similar to that of an acoustic grand piano, but unlike a grand piano, the electronic piano 1 does not have strings. In the following description, the front side ( Figure 1 The right side in the middle) is called the "front", and the dorsal side ( Figure 1 The left side in the figure is referred to as the “rear”, and the left and right sides are referred to as the “left” and “right”.

[0024] like Figure 1 As shown in FIG, the keyboard device 2 includes, for example: a large number of keys 3 (in Figure 1Only one white key is shown in the figure), which are arranged in the left-right direction; a plurality of hammers 4, each of which is placed on the rear part of the upper surface of the corresponding key 3 via a capstan screw 3a, and performs a predetermined operation in response to the key being pressed; a plurality of hammers 5, which are placed on the corresponding hammers 4; a plurality of damper levers 6, each of which is rotatably arranged behind the corresponding key 3; a plurality of hammer sensors 7, which are respectively provided for the hammers 5, and each of which is configured to detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the corresponding hammer 5; a plurality of damper sensors 8, which are respectively provided for the damper levers 6, and each of which is configured to detect the damper height of the corresponding damper lever 6 to be described later; and a musical tone controller 9 (musical tone control unit), which controls the output of the musical tone to be emitted based on the detection results of the hammer sensors 7 and the damper sensors 8. In addition to the key 3, Figure 1 Only one action 4 , one hammer 5 , one damper lever 6 , one hammer sensor 7 , and one damper sensor 8 are shown.

[0025] The keyboard device 2 is mounted on a horizontal keybed 12 via a keyframe 11 having a flat, grid-like shape. The keys 3 extend a predetermined length in the front-to-back direction and are configured to swing with a balancing pin 13 serving as a fulcrum. The balancing pin 13 is vertically positioned on the middle portion 11a of the keyframe 11 and positioned near the center of the key 3 along its length. A backcheck 15 is provided at a predetermined position at the rear of the key 3 via an upwardly extending wire 14. Furthermore, a pad 16 is attached to the upper surface of the key 3 at the rear end.

[0026] The action 4 includes, for example: a link 21, which is rotatably supported and placed on the rear portion of the key 3; a return lever 22, which is rotatably attached to the upper end portion of the link 21; a top rod 23, which is rotatably attached to the front end portion of the link 21 and causes the upper end portion to engage with the return lever 22; a return spring 24, which biases the return lever 22 and the top rod 23 to rotate in a predetermined direction; and a return screw 25 and an adjustment button 26, which are used to adjust the rotation of the return lever 22 and the top rod 23, respectively.

[0027] The hammers 5 include a hammer shank 31 extending a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction, a hammer head 32 extending a predetermined length in the vertical direction and attached to the rear end portion of the hammer shank 31, and a shank roller 33 attached at the front end portion to the lower surface of the hammer shank 31. Each of the hammers 5 is supported at the front end portion of the hammer shank 31 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction by a hammer shank shaft bracket 35 attached to a hammer shank stop 34 extending in the left-to-right direction.

[0028] The damper lever 6 includes: a lever body 6a extending in the front-rear direction by a predetermined length; and a plurality of (at Figure 1 (four) counterweight plates 6b, which are attached to the front half of the upper surface of the lever body 6a. The damper lever screw 6c is screwed from below to a predetermined position on the lower surface of the lever body 6a. Each of the damper levers 6 is supported so as to be able to rotate vertically by a damper lever shaft frame 42 attached to a damper lever rail 41 extending in the left-right direction at the rear end portion of the lever body 6a, and is placed on a lifting rail 43 via the damper lever screw 6c. The lifting rail 43 is configured to be movable upward and downward, and can be moved upward by utilizing an operation of pressing a pedal (not shown) or the like to thereby rotate all the damper levers 6 upward.

[0029] In such Figure 1 As shown in the figure, in the key release state before the key 3 is pressed, the front end portion of the damper lever 6 faces the upper surface (pad 16) of the key 3 at the rear end portion with a predetermined gap in the vertical direction and is maintained in a substantially horizontal posture.

[0030] A hammer stopper rail 51 extending in the left-right direction over the entire keyboard device 2 is provided at a predetermined position above the hammers 5. Hammer stoppers 52 made of a material having a cushioning property are attached to the lower surface of the hammer stopper rail 51. When the hammers 5 rotate upward in response to key depression, their hammer shanks contact the hammer stoppers 52 from below, preventing further rotation of the hammers 5.

[0031] The hammer stopper 51 is provided with hammer sensors 7. Each of the hammer sensors 7 is configured to detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the corresponding hammer 5. Specifically, the hammer sensor 7 is formed, for example, of a rubber switch having two contact points spaced apart at a predetermined interval in the front-to-rear direction. The two contact points are sequentially pressed against the hammer shank 31 of the upwardly rotating hammer 5 immediately before the hammer shank 31 contacts the hammer stopper 52, causing each of the contact points to be turned on. The detection signals of the hammer sensors 7 are then output to the musical tone controller 9, and the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5 immediately before the hammer 5 reaches top dead center are detected.

[0032] Note that the hammer sensor 7 is not limited to the rubber switch described above, and, for example, two shutters spaced at a predetermined interval in the front-to-rear direction may be provided at predetermined positions on the hammer shank 31, two sets of optical sensors each including a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element as a set may be provided above the hammer shank 31, and when the hammer 5 rotates, light from the light-emitting element of each optical sensor may be blocked by the corresponding shutter. These optical sensors can also detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5 as with the rubber switch described above.

[0033] A damper lever stopper 61 extending in the left-right direction over all the damper levers 6 is provided at a predetermined position above the damper lever 6. The damper lever stopper 61 is supported from behind by a plurality of stopper support members 62 spaced apart from each other at predetermined distances in the left-right direction.

[0034] The damper sensor 8 is provided at a predetermined position above the damper lever 6 between the stopper support members 62 and 62 adjacent to each other. Each of the damper sensors 8 is a reflective optical sensor and is configured to be able to detect the damper height, which is defined as the height of a predetermined position of the upper surface of the damper lever 6, continuously or in a predetermined plurality of stages. Figure 3A and Figure 3B In the grand piano 1G described in , the damper height corresponds to the height of the dampers 93 relative to the strings 90 .

[0035] Note that, instead of at least one of the multiple damper sensors 8, a key sensor capable of detecting the key height continuously or in a predetermined plurality of stages may be used, the key height being defined as the height of a predetermined position of the corresponding key 3 when the key is pressed and released, for example, the height of the upper surface of the key 3 at the front end portion.

[0036] Figure 2 The diagram shows a circuit configuration of the tone controller 9. In the tone controller 9, detection signals of the hammer sensor 7 and the damper sensor 8 of each key 3 are input to the I / O interface 71 and transmitted to the CPU 73 via the system bus 72.

[0037] The ROM 74 stores control programs to be executed by the CPU 73, various types of data used for operations by the CPU 73, and the like. The RAM 75 temporarily stores status information indicating the operating status of the electronic piano 1 and the like, and is used as a work area for the CPU 73. The ROM 74 and the RAM 75 are accessed by the CPU 73 via the system bus 72.

[0038] The CPU 73 controls each unit of the electronic piano 1 , calculates information on musical tones to be emitted according to the detection signals of the hammer sensors 7 and the damper sensors 8 in accordance with a control program, and outputs a control signal to the sound source circuit 76 etc. based on the calculation result.

[0039] The sound source circuit 76 reads the sound source waveform data and envelope data from the waveform memory 77 according to the control signal from the CPU 73, and adds the envelope data to the read sound source waveform data to generate a musical tone signal to be the original sound. The musical tone to be emitted is added with a predetermined acoustic effect, and is subjected to filtering processing by the digital signal processor (DSP) 78, converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 79, and then amplified by the amplifier 80 and sent to the speaker 81. Then, the musical tone is emitted from the speaker 81.

[0040] Here, we will refer to Figure 3A and Figure 3B The keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1 described above is described Figure 3A The difference between the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G shown in FIG. Figure 3A and Figure 3B Components identical to those of the electronic piano 1 described above are denoted by the same reference numerals. Figure 3B , the state of the strings 90 and the dampers 93 as viewed from the front is enlarged in the one-dot chain circle.

[0041] like Figure 3A and Figure 3B As shown in FIG, the keyboard device 2G includes keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, and damper levers 6, similar to the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1. Similar to the actions of the keyboard device 2, each of the actions 4 of the keyboard device 2G includes a link 21, a return lever 22, a jack 23, and a return spring 24. Furthermore, each of the hammers 5 of the keyboard device 2G has a hammer shank 31 and a shank roller 33 similar to those of the keyboard device 2. Unlike the keyboard device 2, each of the hammers 5 of the keyboard device 2G has a hammer head 32 formed into a predetermined shape using felt or the like, and when the hammers 5 rotate upward, the hammer heads 32 strike the strings 90 from below.

[0042] The damper lever 6 of the keyboard device 2G is formed into an arm shape extending a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction and is supported by a damper lever shaft bracket 42 fixed to a damper lever rail 41 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction at its rear end portion. The damper lever 6 is placed on a lift rail 43, with a damper lever screw 6c screwed into a predetermined position on the lower surface of the damper lever 6. A damper upper push rod 44 extending in the vertical direction is provided below the lift rail 43.

[0043] Furthermore, the damper lever 6 of the keyboard device 2G is provided with a damper wire shaft bracket 91 extending vertically immediately in front of the damper lever screw 6c. The damper wire shaft bracket 91 is rotatable in the front-to-rear direction at its lower end. A damper wire 92 extending vertically to a predetermined length is provided upright on the damper wire shaft bracket 91, and a damper 93 is attached to the upper end of the damper wire 92.

[0044] The damper 93 includes a block-shaped damper head 93a made of wood or the like, the damper head 93a extending in the front-to-rear direction and having a side surface formed in a mountain shape; and two front and rear damper felts 93b and 93b attached to the bottom surface of the damper head. The damper wire 92 is supported by a damper guide (not shown) so as to move in the vertical direction, and thus when the damper lever 6 rotates in the vertical direction, the damper 93 moves upward and downward relative to the strings 90. Figure 3A and Figure 3B In the key-release state illustrated in , the damper 93 is located at the lowest position, with both the damper felts 93 b, 93 b contacting the string 90 from above to strongly depress the string 90 .

[0045] Here, we will refer to Figure 1 and Figures 4A to 7B The operation of the keyboard device 2 when a key is pressed and the operation of the keyboard device 2 when the pressed key 3 is released will be described with reference to FIG. Figures 8A to 10 The control of the output of the musical tone and resonance sound produced in response to the key depression is described. Figure 3B , Figure 4B 、 Figure 5B 、 Figure 6B as well as Figure 7B The figure illustrates the positional relationship between the dampers 93 and the strings 90 corresponding to the operation of the damper levers 6 of the keyboard device 2. Unlike the grand piano 1G, the electronic piano 1 does not include the dampers 93 and the strings 90. Therefore, when describing the positional relationship between the dampers 93 and the strings 90 in the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1, the dampers 93 and the strings 90 are referred to as "virtual dampers 93" and "virtual strings 90," respectively.

[0046] First, when Figure 1 In the key release state shown in FIG, when the front end portion of the key 3 is pressed, the key 3 swings downward around the balance pin 13, causing the front end portion to drop, thereby pushing the link 21 of the action 4 upward via the capstan screw 3a at the rear portion, and pushing the front end portion of the damper lever 6 upward via the pad 16 at the rear portion. In this case, as Figure 4A As illustrated in FIG, by the action 4 performing a predetermined operation, the hammer 5 is rotated upward, and the damper lever 6 is rotated upward through the rear end portion of the key 3 .

[0047] Note that the predetermined operation of the action 4 is similar to the operation of the action 4 in the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G, and will be briefly described below.

[0048] The coupler 21 of the action 4 rotates upward due to the key being depressed, and as a result, the return lever 22 and the jack 23 also rotate upward. In conjunction with this, the return lever 22 first pushes the hammer 5 upward via the shank roller 33 while sliding the shank roller 33, causing the hammer 5 to rotate upward. Next, the return lever 22 contacts and is held by the return screw 25, whereupon the jack 23 pushes the hammer 5 upward via the shank roller 33. Then, when the hammer shank 31 of the hammer 5 rotates until it contacts the upper hammer stopper 52, the jack 23 engages with the regulating button 26 and disengages (disengages) from the shank roller 33. Note that in the action 4 of the keyboard device 2G in the grand piano 1G, the jack 23 disengages from the shank roller 33 when the hammer 5 rotates to a point immediately before striking the strings 90 stretched above.

[0049] Then, due to the detachment of the jack 23 as described above, the hammer 5 is disconnected from the action 4 and key 3 and rotates upward while freely rotating, and the hammer shank 31 comes into contact with the hammer stopper 52. In this state, the hammer sensor 7 detects the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5, and the damper sensor 8 detects the damper height caused by the damper lever 6. Then, based on the rotational speed immediately before the hammer shank 31 of the hammer 5 comes into contact with the hammer stopper 52, an envelope is determined as a transition in the volume of the musical tone to be emitted, and a sound is emitted based on this envelope.

[0050] Note that, in the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G, due to the disengagement of the jack 23, the hammers 5 rotate upward in the same manner as described above, and the dampers 93 that have depressed the strings 90 move upward and separate from the strings 90. The hammers 5 then strike the strings 90 to produce sounds.

[0051] Furthermore, during the disengagement of the top rod 23, a click feeling is generated due to the change in the touch weight of the key 3 (specifically, a rapid increase in the touch weight and a rapid decrease immediately after the rapid increase), so that a so-called let-off feeling is obtained in the tactile feeling when the player presses the key.

[0052] like Figure 4A As illustrated in FIG, in a state in which the front end portion of the key 3 is depressed to the lowest position when the key is depressed, after the hammer shank 31 contacts the hammer stopper 52, the hammer 5 slightly returns to the key-released state, and the damper lever 6 is in a posture rotated upward by a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal. In this case, the damper lever 6 corresponds to the position in which the key 3 is depressed to the lowest position. Figure 4B As shown in FIG, the virtual damper 93 moves upward and is separated from the virtual string 90. Therefore, at this damper height, even when the virtual string 90 is as shown in FIG. Figure 4B When vibrating as indicated by the double-headed arrow in FIG. 1 , the virtual string 90 is also not in contact with the virtual damper 93 .

[0053] Figure 8A and Figure 8B The envelope of the musical tone produced in response to a key press is shown, wherein Figure 8A The figure shows the envelope when the depressed key 3 is released at a typical key release speed. Specifically, in envelope E1, the "attack" from time t0 to time t1 represents the rise of the sound from the start of the sound corresponding to the depressed key 3 until the sound reaches its maximum volume. The "decay" from time t1 to time t2 represents a state in which the sound, having reached its maximum volume, gradually weakens. The "sustain" from time t2 to time t3 represents a state in which the sound continues at a constant volume. The "release" from time t3 to time t4 represents a state in which the sound stops while weakening.

[0054] Figure 10 The detection results of the hammer sensors 7 and the damper sensors 8, whether or not a musical sound is emitted, the volume of the resonance sound, the length of the sound emitted at the time of release, and the state of the virtual dampers 93 are shown for each change sequence from key depression to key release in the keyboard device 2. Figure 10 In the hammer sensor field, HS1 and HS2 indicate the states of the two contact points of the rubber switch described above, with "○" indicating an on state and "×" indicating an off state. In the damper sensor field, "1" indicates that the damper height is detected, and the greater the number of "1s," the higher the damper height. In the sound emission field, "●" indicates that the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3 is emitted. In the string resonance volume field, "a" indicates that a resonant sound is emitted. This resonant sound is a musical tone that has string resonance with the tone corresponding to the depressed key 3 and corresponds to another key 3 that was depressed earlier than the depressed key 3. The greater the number of "a"s, the louder the volume. In the length of the sound emitted upon release field, "b" indicates that the sound is emitted upon release, and the greater the number of "b"s, the longer the emitted sound.

[0055] exist Figure 10, the field of the state of the virtual dampers shows the state of the virtual dampers 93 in predetermined change sequence numbers. Specifically, the virtual dampers 93 start with change sequence number 2, and from change sequence number 6 to number 12, the virtual dampers 93 are fully opened, that is, the virtual dampers 93 are separated from the virtual strings 90, and at change sequence number 16, the virtual dampers 93 are stopped.

[0056] from Figure 1 to the state in which the front end portion of the key 3 is pressed to the lowest position due to the pressing of the key 3. Figure 4A and Figure 4B The state shown in the figure, Figure 10 The order of changes in the number 1 to the number 12 is sequentially advanced, and in Figure 8A In the envelope E1 shown in FIG, time sequentially advances from time t0 to time t3. In this case, the musical sound controller 9 generates a musical sound corresponding to the depressed key 3 based on the sound emission timing and volume controlled according to the detection result of the damper sensor 7.

[0057] Figure 5A The following figure shows the state: When the key 3 is pressed, Figure 4A When the state shown in FIG is released, the front end portion of the key 3 returns slightly upward. In this case, the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponds to the state in which the virtual damper 93 is located as shown in FIG. Figure 5B The state at the semi-quiet position (second height) shown in FIG. At the semi-quiet position, from Figure 4B The virtual dampers 93 that have descended in the state of being in a ... Figure 8A and Figure 8B Time t3, Figure 10 The change sequence number in 13).

[0058] Figure 6A The front end of the key 3 is shown in the figure. Figure 5A In this case, the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponds to the state in which the virtual damper 93 is located as shown in FIG. Figure 6B The state at the sound stop position (first height) shown in FIG. At the sound stop position, from Figure 5B The virtual damper 93 lowered to the semi-silent position shown in FIG. 1 is in contact with the virtual string 90. Therefore, when the damper sensor 8 detects that the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 has reached the sound stop position from the semi-silent position, the generated musical sound is stopped ( Figure 8A and Figure 8B Time t4, Figure 10 The change sequence number in 16).

[0059] Described above Figure 8A t3 to t4), the musical tone controller 9 controls the attenuation of the musical tone when the musical tone stops by the release of the depressed key 3 in the manner described below. That is, the attenuation of the musical tone is controlled based on the damper height detected by the damper sensor 8. As described above, the damper height corresponds to the height of the damper 93 relative to the strings 90 of the grand piano 1G, and thus can appropriately reflect the contact state of the damper 93 with the strings 90. In addition, the attenuation of the musical tone is controlled so that when the virtual damper 93 is moved from the semi-mute position (see Figure 5B ) changes to the sound stop position (see Figure 6B ), when the rate of change of the damper height is higher, and when the damper height is lower, the musical tone decays faster.

[0060] Figure 8B The diagram is relative to Figure 8A The envelope E1 shown in FIG. 1 is an envelope E2 when the pressed key 3 is released at a high speed and an envelope E3 when the key is released at a low speed. Figure 8B As indicated by the envelope E2 in FIG, when the key 3 is released at high speed, the emitted musical tone decays more quickly, and as a result, the sound stop moment (time t4a) comes earlier. Figure 8B As indicated by the envelope E3 in FIG, when the key 3 is released at a low speed, the emitted musical tone decays more slowly, and as a result, the sound stop moment (time t4b) comes later. Figure 8B As indicated by the white arrow in FIG, the decay of the musical sound corresponding to the key 3 when it stops is controlled between the envelope E2 and the envelope E3 according to the key release speed of the depressed key 3.

[0061] Generally speaking, when a depressed key 3 is released on the grand piano 1G, the lowering speed of the damper 93 is higher when the key is released faster, and the damper 93 comes into contact with the string 90 more strongly when the height of the damper 93 is lower. In these cases, the musical tone decays more quickly, and as a result, the sound stops earlier. The rate of change in the damper height corresponds to the lowering speed of the damper 93 on the grand piano 1G, and the damper height corresponds to the height of the damper 93 on the grand piano 1G. Therefore, by causing the musical tone to decay more quickly when the rate of change in the damper height is higher or when the damper height is lower, as described above, it is possible to achieve a similar decay and stop timing of the musical tone to that when playing the grand piano 1G.

[0062] Figure 7A The front end of the key 3 is shown in the figure. Figure 6A The state shown in FIG is returned further upward and the key 3 is completely released. In this case, the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponds to the state in which the virtual damper 93 is located as shown in FIG. Figure 7B The state at the initial position shown in FIG. At this initial position, from Figure 6B The virtual damper 93 whose sound stop position is lowered as shown in FIG. 1 is in strong contact with the virtual string 90 ( Figure 10 The change order in numbers 1 and 17).

[0063] Figure 9A The diagram shows an envelope E1 of a musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3 and an envelope R1 of a resonance sound having string resonance with the musical tone and corresponding to another key 3 depressed earlier. In the following description, the other key 3 is denoted by reference numeral "3R" to distinguish it from the key 3.

[0064] In the case where the musical tone corresponding to key 3 is, for example, "C", the musical tone having string resonance with the musical tone is a harmonic of "C", for example, "C" in the higher octave or "G" which is a full fifth higher than "C" in the higher octave.

[0065] The output of the resonance sound as the musical tone corresponding to the other key 3R is controlled by the musical tone controller 9 based on the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R. Figure 9A The envelope R1 of the resonance sound illustrated in FIG. 1 indicates that the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is higher than the semi-mute position described above (see FIG. 2 ). Figure 5B That is, in this case, the virtual string 90 corresponding to the other key 3R is released from the virtual damper 93, and thus, the envelope R1 of the resonance sound is controlled to have a maximum level preset as the volume of the resonance sound.

[0066] In addition, in addition to Figure 9A In addition to the two envelopes E1 and R1 shown in the figure, Figure 9B Also shown is an envelope R2 which is a resonance sound of the musical tone corresponding to the other key 3R and has a minimum volume. The envelope R2 of the resonance sound indicates the position where the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is the sound stop position described above (see Figure 6B In the electronic piano 1, when the damper height caused by the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is between the semi-mute position and the sound stop position described above, the volume of the resonance sound is controlled to be between Figure 9B The range indicated by the white arrow is higher when the damper height is higher.

[0067] Generally speaking, in the case where a musical tone (resonance sound) corresponding to the other key 3R is produced as a resonance sound in the grand piano 1G, when the degree of contact between the damper 93 corresponding to the other key 3R and the string 90 is lower, that is, when the height of the damper 93 is higher, the resonance of the string 90 increases, and as a result, the volume of the resonance sound increases. Since the damper height corresponds to the height of the damper 93 in the grand piano 1G, by increasing the volume of the resonance sound when the damper height is higher as described above, a resonance sound similar to the resonance sound when the grand piano 1G is played can be obtained.

[0068] As described in detail above, according to this embodiment, the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1 includes a plurality of keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, and damper levers 6, similar to those of the grand piano 1G. Consequently, when a key of the electronic piano 1 is depressed, a tactile sensation similar to that of the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G can be ensured. Furthermore, the hammer sensors 7 detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammers 5 corresponding to the depressed key 3. Based on the detection results, the musical tone controller 9 controls the output of the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3, specifically, the timing and volume of the tone. Furthermore, the damper sensors 8 detect the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the depressed key 3. Based on the detection results, the musical tone controller 9 controls the output of the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3 in accordance with the operation of the dampers 93 of the grand piano 1G. This allows for sound production similar to that produced when the grand piano 1G is played, reflecting the operation of the dampers 93.

[0069] Furthermore, the musical tone controller 9 controls the damping of the musical tone when the depressed key 3 is released to stop the musical tone based on the detection results of the damper sensor 8. The damper sensor 8 can detect the height of the damper 93 relative to the strings 90 of the grand piano 1G by detecting the operation of the damper lever 6. Therefore, by controlling the damping of the musical tone as described above, a damping of the musical tone to be stopped by releasing the depressed key 3 can be achieved similar to the damping achieved when the grand piano 1G is played. Furthermore, the musical tone controller 9 controls the output of a resonance sound based on the detection results of the damper sensor 8. This resonance sound is a musical tone that has string resonance similar to the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3 and corresponds to another key 3R that was depressed earlier than the depressed key. As a result, when a key is depressed, a resonance sound of the musical tone is produced in addition to the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key 3, enabling a musical tone and its resonance sound similar to the musical tone achieved when the grand piano 1G is played.

[0070] Furthermore, each damper sensor 8 is configured to detect the damper height in predetermined multiple steps or continuously, thereby enabling fine control of the output of the musical tone and its resonant sound of the depressed key 3. Consequently, it is possible to achieve a rich tonality and vibration similar to the natural musical tone produced when playing the grand piano 1G. Furthermore, by using the key sensor described above in place of at least one of the multiple damper sensors 8 and performing control similar to that performed using the damper sensor 8 described above based on the detection results, it is possible to achieve a musical tone similar to the musical tone produced when playing the grand piano 1G, as well as the attenuation of the musical tone and the resonant sound of the musical tone when the sound is stopped, and the attenuation of the musical tone and the resonant sound of the musical tone when the sound is stopped.

[0071] Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and can be implemented in various modes. For example, the embodiments described above describe a case where the present invention is applied to the keyboard instrument 2 of the electronic piano 1, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a silent piano having stoppers between the strings and the hammers that strike the strings in response to key depression.

[0072] In addition, the detailed configurations of the keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, damper levers 6, hammer sensors 7, damper sensors 8 and tone controllers 9 described in the embodiments are merely examples and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

Claims

1. A musical tone control device for a keyboard instrument, comprising: a plurality of keys, each of which extends in the front-rear direction and is capable of swinging with the vicinity of the center in the longitudinal direction as a fulcrum; a plurality of actions, each of which is placed on a rear portion of a corresponding one of the keys and performs a predetermined operation in response to key depression; a plurality of hammers, each of which is driven to rotate upward via a corresponding one of the actions in response to depression of a corresponding one of the keys; a plurality of damper levers, each of which is rotatable behind a corresponding one of the keys and is driven to rotate upward by a rear end portion of the corresponding one of the keys in response to key depression; a plurality of hammer sensors, each of which is configured to detect a rotational position and a rotational speed of a corresponding one of the hammers, the hammer sensors being respectively provided for the hammers; a plurality of damper sensors each provided for detecting a height of a predetermined portion of a corresponding one of the damper levers as a damper height, the damper sensors being provided for the damper levers, respectively; and a musical tone control unit configured to control output of a musical tone to be emitted in response to a key depression, wherein The musical tone control unit controls output of the musical tone corresponding to the depressed key based on a detection result of each of the hammer sensors and each of the damper sensors.

2. The musical tone control device for a keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein The musical sound control unit controls, based on the detection result of the damper sensor, the attenuation of the musical sound when the musical sound is stopped by releasing the depressed key, and the output of a resonance sound, which is a musical sound having string resonance with the musical sound corresponding to the depressed key and corresponding to another key that has been depressed earlier than the depressed key.

3. The musical tone control device for a keyboard instrument according to claim 2, wherein: Each of the plurality of damper sensors is configured to be capable of detecting the damper height in predetermined stages or continuously.

4. The musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a key sensor for detecting the height of a predetermined portion of a corresponding key among the keys during depression or release of the corresponding key as a key height instead of at least one of the plurality of damper sensors.

5. The musical tone control device for a keyboard musical instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The keyboard musical instrument does not include strings for generating sounds by being struck by the hammers and dampers for holding the strings.

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