Musical sound control method for keyboard instrument

Abstract

To provide a musical sound control method for a keyboard instrument, which enables sound generation equivalent to that during performance of a grand piano, and particularly allows favorable control of sound attenuation when the produced musical sound is damped.SOLUTION: A musical sound control method for a keyboard instrument 1 performs controlling output of musical sound corresponding to a depressed key 3 on the basis of the rotational position and rotational speed of a hammer 5 which rotates in response to key depression, and the damper height which is a height of a predetermined portion of a damper lever 6 that rotates in response to key depression. The musical sound control method performs, while controlling the output of the musical sound on the basis of the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5, controlling attenuation of the musical sound by having the depressed key 3 released on the basis of the damper height.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for controlling musical tones of keyboard instruments such as electronic pianos, which controls the output of musical tones to be generated to realize tones similar to those generated when playing a grand piano, and in particular, controls the attenuation of the generated musical tones when they stop. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional electronic piano equipped with an action similar to that of an acoustic grand piano is known, for example, from the one described in Patent Document 1. This electronic piano includes keys that extend in the front-to-rear direction and can swing around a fulcrum near the center of their length, actions placed on the rear top surfaces of the keys and performing a predetermined operation in response to key depression, hammers that are driven to rotate upward via the actions when the keys are depressed, pseudo-damper levers provided near the rear ends of the keys, and a damper pedal that is depressed to push up the pseudo-damper lever. The electronic piano also includes multiple sensors and a control unit that controls the musical tones produced by the electronic piano based on the detection results of the sensors.

[0003] The multiple sensors include a hammer sensor that detects the rotation speed of the hammer, a key sensor that detects the pressed key and its descending speed, and a damper pedal sensor that detects the damper pedal being depressed. In the electronic piano, when a key is pressed during performance, the control unit executes a predetermined process and generates a drive signal based on the detection results of the hammer sensor, key sensor, and damper pedal sensor. The generated drive signal is then output to a soundboard drive unit, which produces a musical tone corresponding to the pressed key. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-158467 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The above-mentioned electronic pianos are equipped with the same action and pseudo-damper lever as a grand piano, so it is possible to obtain a touch similar to that of a grand piano. However, with these electronic pianos, there may be problems with the sound produced, or some of the sound produced may differ from that of a grand piano.

[0006] For example, if the hammer bounces on the repetition lever of the action when a key is struck softly, the hammer sensor may mistakenly detect it as a struck string, resulting in an unintentional sound being produced, causing the key to sound twice (a soft double strike). Also, if the hammer swings upward forcefully when a key is struck hard, hitting the stopper and then swinging downward too far in reaction, the hammer sensor may mistakenly detect it as a key release, causing the sound to be immediately and unintentionally cut off (a hard hit cut).

[0007] On a grand piano, when a key is pressed, the damper lever raises the damper, releasing the string, and a hammer strikes the string from below, causing it to vibrate and produce a musical tone. When the pressed key is released, the damper, which had been releasing the string, descends and presses down, thereby stopping the tone. Depending on the position of the damper relative to the string—specifically, the degree to which the damper presses down—variable attenuation can be achieved when the tone stops. In contrast, while the above-mentioned electronic pianos are designed to detect the damper pedal depression state, tone stopping control is uniform when the damper pedal is not depressed.

[0008] Furthermore, as described above, in a grand piano, musical tones are generated by the vibration of the string corresponding to the pressed key. In this case, strings corresponding to other keys that have a string resonance relationship with the vibrating string resonate, generating musical tones from those strings. This enriches the tone of the musical tones corresponding to the pressed key. In contrast, in the above-mentioned electronic piano, while a resonance tone is generated when the damper pedal is depressed, a resonance tone is not generated when the damper pedal is not depressed.

[0009] As described above, conventional electronic pianos are unable to produce musical tones similar to those of a grand piano, and in particular, when it comes to stopping musical tones, they are unable to produce the rich, natural tone and resonance that can be achieved when playing a grand piano.

[0010] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a method for controlling musical tones of a keyboard instrument that can realize sounds similar to those produced when playing a grand piano, and in particular, can effectively control the attenuation of sounds when they stop. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a musical tone control method for a keyboard instrument that controls the output of a musical tone corresponding to a pressed key based on the rotational position and rotational speed of a hammer that rotates in response to a key being pressed, and the damper height, which is the height of a predetermined part of a damper lever that rotates in response to a key being pressed. The method is characterized in that it controls the output of the musical tone based on the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer, and controls the attenuation of the musical tone when the pressed key is released and the tone stops, based on the damper height.

[0012] According to this configuration, the output of a musical tone corresponding to a pressed key is controlled based on the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer, which rotates in response to key depression. Specifically, the timing and volume of the tone are controlled. Furthermore, the damper height, which is the height of a predetermined portion of the damper lever, which rotates in response to key depression, controls the attenuation of the tone when the pressed key is released and the tone stops. The damper height corresponds to the height of the damper relative to the strings of a grand piano, and therefore appropriately reflects the contact state of the damper with the strings. Therefore, by controlling the musical tone corresponding to a pressed key based on the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer and the damper height, it is possible to achieve tone generation similar to that achieved when a grand piano is played. In particular, the attenuation of the tone when the pressed key is released and the tone stops can be achieved similar to that achieved when a grand piano is played.

[0013] The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the method for controlling musical tones of a keyboard instrument described in claim 1, the damper heights are set to a first height corresponding to the height at which the damper engages the string, and a second height higher than the first height and corresponding to the height at which the damper begins to contact the string, and when the damper height reaches the second height from a state higher than the second height, damping to stop the musical tone begins.

[0014] According to this configuration, when the damper height reaches the second height from a state higher than the second height, damping to stop the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key begins. Generally, in a grand piano, when a musical tone is stopped by releasing a pressed key, the damper corresponding to the pressed key abuts from above against the string that is vibrating when the hammer strikes the string, thereby stopping the musical tone. The second height corresponds to the height at which the damper begins to contact the string. Therefore, by starting damping to stop the musical tone that is being produced when the damper height reaches the second height, as described above, the timing at which the damper starts to damp when the pressed key is released and the tone is stopped can be made the same as that of a grand piano.

[0015] The invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the method for controlling musical tones of a keyboard instrument described in claim 2, when the damper height changes from the second height to the first height, the faster the rate of change of the damper height and / or the lower the damper height, the faster the attenuation of the musical tone.

[0016] Generally, when a pressed key on a grand piano is released, the faster the key is released, the faster the damper descends, and the lower the damper height, the stronger the damper contacts the string. In these cases, the musical tone decays faster, and as a result, the timing of the tone stopping also becomes earlier. The above-mentioned rate of change in damper height corresponds to the rate of damper descending in a grand piano, and the above-mentioned damper height corresponds to the damper height in a grand piano. Therefore, by increasing the rate of change in damper height or decreasing the damper height, the musical tone decays more quickly, thereby achieving the same tone decay and tone stopping timing as when playing a grand piano. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a side view showing a keyboard device of an electronic piano to which the musical tone control method of the present invention is applied; [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a musical tone control unit. [Figure 3] 2 is a side view showing a keyboard device of a grand piano corresponding to the keyboard device of the electronic piano of FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the keyboard device of the electronic piano, showing the state in which the key is pressed down to the lowest position and the virtual damper releases the string. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the keyboard device following FIG. 4, showing the state in which the virtual damper is positioned at the half mute position when the pressed key is released. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the keyboard device following FIG. 5, showing the state in which the virtual damper is positioned at the sound stopping position when the pressed key is released. [Figure 7]FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the keyboard device following FIG. 6, showing the state in which the depressed key is completely released and the virtual damper is returned to its original initial position. [Figure 8] 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the envelopes of musical tones generated when a key is pressed, in which (a) is the envelope when the pressed key is released at a predetermined speed, and (b) is the envelope when the pressed key is released at a speed faster than the predetermined speed and at a speed slower than the predetermined speed. [Figure 9] 1A and 1B show the envelope of a musical tone corresponding to a pressed key, and the envelope of a resonant tone, which is a musical tone that has a string resonance relationship with the pressed musical tone and corresponds to another key that was pressed earlier. FIG. 1A shows the envelope of the resonant tone when the damper height set by the damper lever corresponding to the other key is higher than the half-mute position. FIG. 1B shows the range of change of the envelope of the resonant tone depending on the damper height set by the damper lever corresponding to the other key. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the detection results of the hammer sensor and damper sensor, whether or not a musical tone is produced, the volume of the resonance sound, the duration of the tone produced at the time of release, and the state of the virtual damper for each sequence of changes from key depression to key release in the keyboard device of an electronic piano. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a side view of a keyboard device 2 of an electronic piano 1 to which a musical tone control method according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied. This electronic piano 1 has an action similar to that of an acoustic grand piano, but unlike the above-mentioned grand piano, it does not have strings. In the following description, the front side (the right side in Fig. 1) when viewed from the player's side of the electronic piano 1 will be referred to as the "front," the back side (the left side in Fig. 1) will be referred to as the "rear," and the left and right sides will be referred to as the "left" and "right," respectively.

[0019] As shown in Fig. 1, the keyboard device 2 includes a number of keys 3 (only one white key is shown in Fig. 1) lined up in the left-right direction, a plurality of actions 4 mounted on the rear of the top surface of each key 3 via capstan screws 3a and performing a predetermined operation when the key is pressed, a plurality of hammers 5 mounted on each action 4, a plurality of damper levers 6 rotatably arranged on the rear of each key 3, a plurality of hammer sensors 7 provided for each hammer 5 to detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the corresponding hammer 5, a plurality of damper sensors 8 provided for each damper lever 6 to detect the damper height (described later) of the corresponding damper lever 6, and a musical tone control unit 9 that controls the output of musical tones to be produced based on the detection results of the hammer sensors 7 and damper sensors 8. Note that Fig. 1 shows only one of each of the above-mentioned keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, damper levers 6, hammer sensors 7, and damper sensors 8.

[0020] The keyboard device 2 is placed on a horizontal shelf 12 via a reed 11, which has a planar shape resembling a grid. The keys 3 extend a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction and are configured to swing freely around balance pins 13, which are erected on the center reed 11a of the reed 11 and located near the center of the keys 3 in the longitudinal direction. A back check 15 is attached to a predetermined position at the rear of the keys 3, via a wire 14 extending upward. A cushion 16 is also attached to the top surface of the rear end of the keys 3.

[0021] The action 4 includes a wippen 21 that is rotatably supported and placed on the rear of the key 3, a repetition lever 22 that is rotatably attached to the upper end of the wippen 21, a jack 23 that is rotatably attached to the front end of the wippen 21 and whose upper end engages with the repetition lever 22, a repetition spring 24 that urges the repetition lever 22 and jack 23 to rotate in a predetermined direction, and a repetition screw 25 and a regulating button 26 that regulate the rotation of the repetition lever 22 and jack 23, respectively.

[0022] The hammer 5 comprises a hammer shank 31 extending a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction, a hammer head 32 extending a predetermined length in the up-down direction and attached to the rear end of the hammer shank 31, and a shank crawler 33 attached to the front end of the underside of the hammer shank 31. Each hammer 5 is supported at the front end of the hammer shank 31 so as to be rotatable in the up-down direction by a hammer shank flange 35 attached to a hammer shank rail 34 extending in the left-to-right direction.

[0023] The damper lever 6 has a lever body 6a extending a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction and multiple (four in FIG. 1) weight plates 6b attached to the front half of the upper surface of the lever body 6a. A damper lever screw 6c is screwed into a predetermined position on the underside of the lever body 6a from below. Each damper lever 6 is supported at the rear end of the lever body 6a by a damper lever flange 42 attached to a damper lever rail 41 extending in the left-to-right direction so that it can rotate up and down, and is placed on a lifting rail 43 via the damper lever screw 6c. The lifting rail 43 is configured to be movable up and down, and can be raised by depressing a pedal (not shown), allowing all of the damper levers 6 to rotate upward.

[0024] As shown in Figure 1, in the key-release state before the key 3 is pressed, the front end of the damper lever 6 faces the upper surface (cushion 16) of the rear end of the key 3 with a predetermined gap in the vertical direction, and is maintained in an approximately horizontal position.

[0025] A hammer stopper rail 51 is provided at a predetermined position above the hammer 5, extending in the left-right direction across the entire keyboard device 2. A hammer stopper 52 made of a cushioning material is attached to the underside of this hammer stopper rail 51. When the hammer 5 rotates upward in response to a key depression, the hammer shank abuts against the hammer stopper 52 from below, preventing the hammer 5 from rotating further.

[0026] The hammer stopper rail 51 is also provided with the hammer sensor 7. This hammer sensor 7 is configured to be able to detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5. Specifically, the hammer sensor 7 is configured, for example, as a rubber switch having two contacts spaced a predetermined distance from each other in the front-to-rear direction, and these two contacts are turned ON when pressed in sequence by the hammer shank 31 of the hammer 5 as it rotates upward and just before it abuts against the hammer stopper 52. A detection signal from this hammer sensor 7 is then output to the musical tone control unit 9, which detects the rotational position of the hammer 5 and the rotational speed just before the hammer 5 reaches top dead center.

[0027] The hammer sensor 7 is not limited to the rubber switch described above, and may be, for example, provided with two shutters spaced a predetermined distance in the front-to-rear direction at predetermined positions on the hammer shank 31, and two optical sensors, each consisting of a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element, may be used above the hammer shank 31, so that when the hammer 5 rotates, the light from the light-emitting element of each optical sensor is blocked by the corresponding shutter. Similar to the rubber switch described above, these optical sensors can also detect the rotational position and rotational speed of the hammer 5.

[0028] A damper lever stopper 61 extending in the left-right direction across all of the damper levers 6 is provided at a predetermined position above the damper levers 6. This damper lever stopper 61 is supported from the rear by a plurality of stopper support members 62 arranged at predetermined distances from each other in the left-right direction.

[0029] Furthermore, the damper sensor 8 is provided at a predetermined position above the damper lever 6 between the adjacent stopper support members 62, 62. This damper sensor 8 is a reflective optical sensor, and is configured to be able to detect the height of a predetermined part on the top surface of the damper lever 6 as the damper height, either in predetermined multiple steps or continuously. The damper height corresponds to the height of a damper 93 relative to the string 90 in a grand piano 1G shown in FIG. 3, which will be described later.

[0030] In addition, instead of at least one of the multiple damper sensors 8, a key sensor may be used that can detect the height of a predetermined part of the corresponding key 3 when it is pressed and released, for example, the height of the front end of the top surface of the key 3, as the key height in predetermined multiple steps or continuously.

[0031] 2 shows the circuit configuration of the musical tone control unit 9. In this musical tone control unit 9, detection signals from the hammer sensor 7 and damper sensor 8 of each key 3 are input to an I / O interface 71 and sent to a CPU 73 via a system bus 72.

[0032] The ROM 74 stores control programs executed by the CPU 73 and various data used in calculations by the CPU 73. The RAM 75 temporarily stores status information indicating the operating state of the electronic piano 1 and is used as a work area for the CPU 73. The ROM 74 and RAM 75 are accessed by the CPU 73 via the system bus 72.

[0033] The CPU 73 controls each part of the electronic piano 1, and in response to the detection signals of the hammer sensor 7 and the damper sensor 8, calculates information regarding the musical tone to be produced in accordance with a control program, and outputs a control signal based on the calculation results to the sound source circuit 76, etc.

[0034] The tone generator circuit 76 reads tone generator waveform data and envelope data from a waveform memory 77 in accordance with a control signal from the CPU 73, and generates a musical tone signal that becomes the original sound by adding the envelope data to the tone generator waveform data that has been read. The musical tone to be generated is subjected to predetermined sound effects and filtering processing by a DSP (digital signal processor) 78, converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 79, amplified by an amplifier 80, and sent to a speaker 81. The musical tone is then generated from the speaker 81.

[0035] Here, with reference to Fig. 3, the differences between the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1 described above and the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G shown in Fig. 3(a) will be explained. Note that in Fig. 3, the same components as those in the electronic piano 1 described above are given the same reference numerals. Also, Fig. 3(b) shows an enlarged view of the strings 90 and dampers 93 as seen from the front within the dashed-dotted circle.

[0036] 3, this keyboard device 2G, like the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1, has keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, and damper levers 6. Like that of the keyboard device 2, the action 4 of the keyboard device 2G has a wippen 21, a repetition lever 22, a jack 23, and a repetition spring 24. Furthermore, the hammers 5 of the keyboard device 2G have hammer shanks 31 and shank rollers 33 similar to those of the keyboard device 2, but unlike the keyboard device 2, have hammer heads 32 formed into a predetermined shape from felt or the like, and which strike the strings 90 from below when the hammers 5 rotate upward.

[0037] The damper lever 6 of the keyboard device 2G is formed in the shape of an arm extending a predetermined length in the front-to-rear direction, and its rear end is supported so as to be freely rotatable in the vertical direction by a damper lever flange 42 fixed to a damper lever rail 41. A damper lever screw 6c is screwed into a predetermined position on the underside of the damper lever 6, and the damper lever 6 is placed on a lifting rail 43 via the damper lever screw 6c. A damper push-up rod 44 extending in the vertical direction is provided at the bottom of the lifting rail 43.

[0038] Furthermore, a damper wire flange 91 extending vertically is attached to the damper lever 6 of the keyboard device 2G at its lower end just in front of the damper lever screw 6c so as to be freely rotatable in the front-to-rear direction. A damper wire 92 extending a predetermined length vertically stands on the damper wire flange 91, and a damper 93 is attached to the upper end of the damper wire 92.

[0039] The damper 93 extends in the front-to-rear direction, has a mountain-shaped side profile, and is made of wood or other material, and has a block-shaped damper head 93a, and two damper felts 93b, 93b attached to the bottom of the damper head 93a. The damper wire 92 is supported by a damper guide (not shown) so that it can move up and down. Therefore, as the damper lever 6 rotates up and down, the damper 93 moves up and down relative to the string 90. In the key-released state shown in Figure 3, the damper 93 is in its lowest position, with both damper felts 93b, 93b abutting the string 90 from above and firmly pressing down on the string 90.

[0040] Here, with reference to Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 to Fig. 7, the operation of the keyboard device 2 when a key 3 is pressed and when the pressed key 3 is released will be described, and with reference to Fig. 8 to Fig. 10, the control of the output of musical tones and resonance sounds generated in response to a key being pressed will be described. Fig. 4 to Fig. 7(b) are similar to Fig. 3(b) and show the positional relationship between the damper 93 and the string 90 corresponding to the operation of the damper lever 6 of the keyboard device 2. Note that, unlike the grand piano 1G, the electronic piano 1 does not have the damper 93 and string 90. Therefore, when describing the positional relationship between the damper 93 and the string 90 in the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1, the damper 93 and the string 90 will be referred to as the "virtual damper 93" and the "virtual string 90," respectively.

[0041] First, when the front end of the key 3 is depressed in the released state shown in Figure 1, the key 3 swings downward around the balance pin 13, pushing up the wippen 21 of the action 4 via the capstan screw 3a at the rear, and also pushing up the front end of the damper lever 6 via the cushion 16 at the rear end. In this case, as shown in Figure 4(a), the action 4 performs a predetermined operation, which rotates the hammer 5 upward, and the rear end of the key 3 also rotates the damper lever 6 upward.

[0042] The above-described 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 explained below.

[0043] When a key is pressed, the wippen 21 of the action 4 rotates upward, which in turn rotates the repetition lever 22 and the jack 23 upward. As a result, the repetition lever 22 slides the shank roller 33, pushing the hammer 5 upward and rotating it upward. Next, the repetition lever 22 engages with the repetition screw 25 and is locked, causing the jack 23 to thrust the hammer 5 upward via the shank roller 33. When the hammer 5 rotates until the hammer shank 31 is about to abut against the upper hammer stopper 52, the jack 23 engages with the regulating button 26 and disengages from the shank roller 33 (escapement). In the action 4 of the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G, the jack 23 disengages from the shank roller 33 when the hammer 5 rotates until it is about to strike the string 90 stretched above.

[0044] Then, with the escapement of the jack 23 as described above, the hammer 5 is released from the connection with the action 4 and the key 3 and rotates upward in a free-rotating state, with the hammer shank 31 coming into contact with the hammer stopper 52. In this case, the hammer sensor 7 detects the rotation position and rotation speed of the hammer 5, and the damper sensor 8 detects the damper height set by the damper lever 6. Then, based on the rotation speed just before the hammer shank 31 of the hammer 5 comes into contact with the hammer stopper 52, an envelope, which is the transition in the volume of the musical tone to be sounded, is determined, and the tone is sounded based on that envelope.

[0045] In the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G, the escapement of the jack 23 causes the hammer 5 to rotate upward in the same manner as above, and the damper 93 that had been pressing the string 90 rises and separates from the string 90. The hammer 5 then strikes the string 90, producing sound.

[0046] Furthermore, when the jack 23 escapes, the touch weight of the key 3 changes, specifically, a sudden increase in the touch weight followed immediately by a sudden decrease causes a clicking sensation, which gives the player a so-called let-off feeling when pressing the key.

[0047] As shown in Figure 4(a), when the front end of the key 3 is depressed to its lowest position, the hammer 5 returns slightly to its released position after the hammer shank 31 abuts against the hammer stopper 52, while the damper lever 6 assumes a position where it has rotated upward by a predetermined angle relative to the horizontal. In this case, the damper lever 6 corresponds to the damper height in which the virtual damper 93 has risen and is separated from the virtual string 90, as shown in Figure 4(b). Therefore, at this damper height, even if the virtual string 90 vibrates, it will not come into contact with the virtual damper 93, as indicated by the up and down arrows in Figure 4(b).

[0048] FIG. 8 shows the envelope of a musical tone generated when a key is pressed, and FIG. 8(a) shows the envelope when a pressed key 3 is released at a normal key-release speed. Specifically, in this envelope E1, the "attack" from time t0 to t1 represents the rise of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3, from when it first begins to be generated until it reaches its maximum volume. The "decay" from time t1 to t2 represents the state in which the musical tone attenuates slightly after reaching its maximum volume. The "sustain" from time t2 to t3 represents the state in which the musical tone continues at a constant volume. Finally, the "release" from time t3 to t4 represents the state in which the musical tone decays and stops.

[0049] FIG. 10 also shows the detection results of the hammer sensor 7 and damper sensor 8, whether or not a musical tone is generated, the volume of the resonance sound, the duration of the sound generated at the time of release, and the state of the virtual damper 93 for each key change sequence from key depression to key release on the keyboard device 2. In FIG. 10, HS1 and HS2 in the Hammer Sensor column indicate the states of the two contacts of the rubber switch, with "◯" representing the ON state and "X" representing the OFF state. A "1" in the Damper Sensor column indicates that the damper height is detected; the more "1"s, the higher the damper height. A "●" in the Sound Generation column indicates that a musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3 is generated. An "a" in the String Resonance Volume column indicates that a resonance sound, which is a musical tone that has a string resonance relationship with the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3 and corresponds to another key 3 that was pressed before the pressed key 3, is generated. The more "a"s, the higher the volume. The "b" in the "length of pronunciation at release" column indicates that the sound is pronounced at the time of release, and the more "b" there are, the longer the pronunciation.

[0050] 10, the column for the virtual damper state shows the state of the virtual damper 93 at a given change order No. Specifically, at change order No. 2, the virtual damper 93 starts, at change order Nos. 6 to 12, the virtual damper 93 is fully open, i.e., the virtual damper 93 is separated from the virtual string 90, and at change order No. 16, the virtual damper 93 stops.

[0051] From the key-released state shown in Fig. 1 to the state shown in Fig. 4 when key 3 is pressed, i.e., when the front end of key 3 is pressed all the way down, the change sequences No. 1 to 12 in Fig. 10 proceed in order, and times t0 to t3 in envelope E1 shown in Fig. 8(a) proceed in order. In this case, the musical tone control unit 9 generates a musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3, with the sound generation timing and volume controlled in accordance with the detection result of the damper sensor 7.

[0052] FIG. 5(a) shows a state in which the front end of the key 3 is slightly returned upward when the depressed key 3 is released from the state shown in FIG. 4(a). The damper height set by the damper lever 6 in this case corresponds to a state in which the virtual damper 93 is at the half mute position (second height), as shown in FIG. 5(b). This half mute position is a state in which the virtual damper 93 descends from the state shown in FIG. 4(b) and lightly contacts the virtual string 90. Therefore, when the damper sensor 8 detects that the damper height set by the damper lever 6 has reached the half mute position from a state higher than the half mute position, the musical tone control unit 9 is controlled to start attenuation to stop the musical tone being sounded (time t3 in FIG. 8, change sequence No. 13 in FIG. 10).

[0053] FIG. 6(a) shows a state in which the front end of the key 3 has been returned further upward from the state shown in FIG. 5(a). The damper height set by the damper lever 6 in this case corresponds to a state in which the virtual damper 93 is at the stop position (first height), as shown in FIG. 6(b). This stop position is a state in which the virtual damper 93 is lower than the half-mute position shown in FIG. 5(b) and comes into contact with the virtual string 90. Therefore, when the damper sensor 8 detects that the damper height set by the damper lever 6 has reached the stop position from the half-mute position, the currently sounded musical note is stopped (time t4 in FIG. 8, change sequence No. 16 in FIG. 10).

[0054] During the release period (times t3 to t4) in FIG. 8(a) described above, the attenuation of the musical tone when the pressed key 3 is released to stop the tone is controlled by the musical tone control unit 9 as follows. 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 string 90 of the grand piano 1G, and therefore can appropriately reflect the contact state of the damper 93 relative to the string 90. Furthermore, when the virtual damper 93 changes from the half mute position (see FIG. 5(b)) to the tone stop position (see FIG. 6(b)), the attenuation of the musical tone is controlled so that the faster the rate of change of the damper height is and the lower the damper height is, the faster the attenuation becomes.

[0055] 8(b) shows, in relation to the envelope E1 shown in FIG. 8(a), an envelope E2 when the pressed key 3 is released at a fast speed, and an envelope E3 when the pressed key 3 is released at a slow speed. As shown by the envelope E2 in FIG. 8(b), when the key 3 is released at a fast speed, the decay of the sounded musical tone is fast, resulting in an earlier sound-stop timing (time t4a). On the other hand, as shown by the envelope E3 in FIG. 8(b), when the key 3 is released at a slow speed, the decay of the sounded musical tone is slow, resulting in a later sound-stop timing (time t4b). Therefore, in the electronic piano 1, the decay of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3 when it stops is controlled between the envelopes E2 and E3, as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 8(b), depending on the key-release speed of the pressed key 3.

[0056] Generally, when a pressed key 3 on a grand piano 1G is released, the faster the key is released, the faster the damper 93 descends, and the lower the height of the damper 93, the stronger the damper 93 comes into contact with the string 90. In these cases, the musical tone decays faster, and as a result, the timing of the tone stop also becomes earlier. The above-mentioned rate of change in damper height corresponds to the rate of descent of the damper 93 on the grand piano 1G, and the above-mentioned damper height corresponds to the height of the damper 93 on the grand piano 1G. Therefore, as described above, the faster the rate of change in damper height or the lower the damper height, the faster the musical tone decays, thereby achieving the same tone decay and tone stop timing as when the grand piano 1G is played.

[0057] Figure 7(a) shows the state in which the front end of the key 3 has been returned further upward from the state shown in Figure 6(a) above, and the key 3 has been completely released. The damper height set by the damper lever 6 in this case corresponds to the state in which the virtual damper 93 is in its initial position, as shown in Figure 7(b). This initial position is a state in which the virtual damper 93 is lower than the note-stop position shown in Figure 6(b) and is in strong contact with the virtual string 90 (changes No. 1 and 17 in Figure 10).

[0058] 9(a) shows the envelope E1 of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3, and the envelope R1 of the resonance tone, which is a musical tone that has a string resonance relationship with the pressed key 3 and corresponds to another key 3 that was pressed earlier. In the following explanation, to distinguish the above key 3 from the other key 3, the other key 3 will be given the symbol "3R."

[0059] If the musical note corresponding to key 3 is, for example, "C," then the musical notes that have a string resonance relationship with that musical note are harmonics of "C," such as "C" an octave above, or "G" a perfect fifth above the C above the octave above.

[0060] The output of the resonance tone, which is the musical tone corresponding to the other key 3R, is controlled by the musical tone control unit 9 based on the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R. The envelope R1 of the resonance tone shown in Figure 9(a) is the case when the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is higher than the half-mute position (see Figure 5(b)). In other words, in this case, the virtual string 90 corresponding to the other key 3R is released from the virtual damper 93, and therefore the envelope R1 of the resonance tone is controlled to be the maximum volume among the volumes previously set for the resonance tone.

[0061] 9(b) shows, in addition to the two envelopes E1 and R1 shown in FIG. 9(a), an envelope R2 of a resonance sound generated by a musical note corresponding to another key 3R, which has the lowest volume. The envelope R2 of this resonance sound occurs when the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is at the stop position described above (see FIG. 6(b)). In the electronic piano 1, when the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the other key 3R is between the half mute position and the stop position described above, the higher the damper height is, within the range indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 9(b), the greater the volume of the resonance sound is controlled.

[0062] Generally, when a musical tone (resonance) corresponding to another key 3R on a grand piano 1G is produced as a resonant tone, the lighter the force with which the damper 93 corresponding to the other key 3R contacts the string 90, i.e., the higher the height of the damper 93, the greater the resonance of the string 90, and as a result, the louder the volume of the resonant tone. The above damper height corresponds to the height of the damper 93 on the grand piano 1G, and so by increasing the volume of the resonant tone as described above, the higher the damper height, the more resonant tone can be obtained, similar to that produced when the grand piano 1G is played.

[0063] As described above, according to this embodiment, the keyboard device 2 of the electronic piano 1 has the same keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, and damper levers 6 as the grand piano 1G. Therefore, when a key on the electronic piano 1 is pressed, a touch similar to that of the keyboard device 2G of the grand piano 1G can be ensured. Furthermore, the hammer sensor 7 detects the rotation position and rotation speed of the hammer 5 corresponding to the pressed key 3. Based on this detection result, the musical tone control unit 9 controls the output of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3, specifically, the timing and volume of the musical tone. Furthermore, the damper sensor 8 detects the damper height of the damper lever 6 corresponding to the pressed key 3. Based on this detection result, the musical tone control unit 9 can control the output of the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3 in accordance with the operation of the damper 93 of the grand piano 1G. This allows the operation of the damper 93 to be reflected, resulting in a tone similar to that produced when the grand piano 1G is played.

[0064] Furthermore, the musical tone control unit 9 controls the attenuation of the musical tone when the pressed key 3 is released and the tone stops, based on the detection result of the damper sensor 8. The damper sensor 8 detects the operation of the damper lever 6 and can detect the height of the damper 93 relative to the strings 90 of the grand piano 1G. Therefore, by controlling the attenuation of the musical tone as described above, it is possible to obtain the same attenuation of the musical tone when the pressed key 3 is released and the tone stops, as when the grand piano 1G is being played. Furthermore, the musical tone control unit 9 controls the output of a resonance tone, which is a musical tone corresponding to another key 3R that has a string resonance relationship with the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3 and was pressed before the pressed key 3, based on the detection result of the damper sensor 8. As a result, when a key is pressed, in addition to the musical tone corresponding to the pressed key 3, a resonance tone of the musical tone is generated, thereby obtaining the same musical tone and resonance tone as when the grand piano 1G is being played.

[0065] Furthermore, because each damper sensor 8 is configured to be able to detect the damper height in predetermined multiple steps or continuously, it is possible to finely control the output of the musical tone of the pressed key 3 and its resonance, thereby obtaining the same rich, natural tone and resonance as when playing the grand piano 1G. Furthermore, by using the above-mentioned key sensor instead of at least one of the multiple damper sensors 8 and performing control similar to that when using the above-mentioned damper sensor 8 based on the detection results, it is possible to obtain the same musical tone, attenuation of the musical tone when the tone stops, and resonance as when playing the grand piano 1G.

[0066] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be embodied in various forms. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is described as being applied to the keyboard instrument 2 of the electronic piano 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to, for example, a silent piano in which a hammer strikes the strings when a key is pressed, and which has a stopper between the strings and the hammer.

[0067] Furthermore, the detailed configurations of the keys 3, actions 4, hammers 5, damper levers 6, hammer sensors 7, damper sensors 8, and musical tone control unit 9 shown in the embodiment are merely examples and can be modified as appropriate within the spirit and scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 1. Electronic piano (keyboard instrument) 1G Grand Piano 2 Keyboard device 2G Grand piano keyboard 3 keys 4 Actions 5 Hammer 6 Damper lever 7 Hammer Sensor 8 Damper Sensor 9. Musical tone control section 90 strings 93 Damper E1~E3 The envelope of the note corresponding to the pressed key R1 Resonance envelope R2 Resonance envelope

Claims

1. A method for controlling musical tones for a keyboard instrument, which controls the output of a musical tone corresponding to a pressed key based on the rotation position and rotation speed of a hammer that rotates in response to the key being pressed, and the damper height, which is the height of a predetermined portion of a damper lever that rotates in response to the key being pressed, comprising: A method for controlling musical tones for a keyboard instrument, comprising: controlling the output of the musical tone based on the rotation position and rotation speed of the hammer; and controlling the attenuation of the musical tone when the pressed key is released and the tone stops based on the damper height.

2. a first height corresponding to the height at which the damper engages the string, and a second height higher than the first height and corresponding to the height at which the damper begins to contact the string, 2. The method for controlling musical tones of a keyboard instrument according to claim 1, wherein when the damper height reaches the second height from a state higher than the second height, damping to stop the musical tone begins.

3. 3. The method for controlling musical tones of a keyboard instrument according to claim 2, wherein, when the damper height changes from the second height to the first height, the faster the rate of change of the damper height and / or the lower the damper height, the faster the attenuation of the musical tone.

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