4,273,017

43.75.Tv PIANO ACTION KEYBOARD WITH ROLLER

AND ELASTIC DIAPHRAGM TRANSDUCER

Philip V. W. Dodds and Mark L. Smith, assignors to ARP Instruments, Incorporated

16 June 1981 (Class 84/1.1); f'ded 27 February 1979

A companion patent 4,217,803 to the same inventor and as- signee, which was reviewed previously [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 890 (1981)], described in detail a simulated piano action for an otherwise all-electronic piano. The present patent describes the electrical switching mechanism used with the simulated piano ac- tion, which supplies to the electronic piano circuitry "electrical sig- nals indicative of the position of the key and velocity of key depres- sion." The mechanism uses membrane-type key switches of a type previously used in electronic calculators in which "a conductive pat- tern on a board overlaid with a polyester film contains holes which are overlaid by a conductive resilient sheet which can be pressed to penetrate under pressure and make contact with that portion of the conductive pattern underneath."-DWM

4,273,018 .

43.75.Tv NONLINEAR TONE GENERATION IN A

POLYPHONIC TONE SYNTHESIZER

Ralph Deutsch, assignor to Kawai Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company

16 June 1981 (Class 84/1.22); f'ded 2 June 1980

This patent describes computer apparatus for generating tones having variable spectral content in an electronic musical instru- ment, in which data words corresponding to waveform amplitudes at evenly spaced points along the abscissa are computed and trans- ferred sequentially to a digital-to-analog converter at rates propor- tional to the tone frequency. Control signals vary the harmonic amplitudes, and an independent formant control signal provides the time-variant spectral changes.-DWM

4,273,019

43.75.Tv ELECTRONIC TONE GENERATOR

Mitsuhiro Goto, assignor to Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha

16 June 1981 (Class 84/1.24); f'ded in Japan 11 July , 1978

This electronic tone generator consists of a pair of note produc- ing circuits 201 and 202 controlled by one or more oscillators 203, 209, in which the controlled relationship between the note signals can be either "a time lag between the outputs of the two note signal circuits or a small difference in frequency between the signal

outputs of the two note circuits. Additionally, each note signal cjz- cuit can output alternate notes of a continuing melody such as one note from one circuit may persist while the next note from the se- cond circuit is played." The fundamental "frequency of each note and the time between initiation of successive notes are stored in

memory units associated with each note-signal-producing circuit." The result is a programmable melodic music box.-DWM

4,278,000

43.75.Tv PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCER FOR ß

ELECTRICAL STRING INSTRUMENTS AND PICKUP

MEANS COMPRISING THE SAME

Shigeo Saito and Tsutomu Tsunooka, assignors to NGK Spark Plug Company

14 July 1981 (Class 84/1.16); f'ded in Japan 5 November 1978

Piezoelectric transducers located at the bridge end of the vibrat- ing segments of musical strings have been previously descried in patents to the reviewer among others. The present patent buries a

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flexible piezoelectric cable 1, buried within a long flat outer layer of flexible material Pt upon which shims R distribute the force of vi- brations from musical instrument string S.-DWM

4,279,185

43.75.Tv ELECTRONIC MUSIC SAMPLING

TECHNIQUES

Sydney A. Alonso, Strafford, Vermont 05072 21 July 1981 (Class 84/1.01); f'ded 7 June 1977

"The disclosure describes improved ap_•taratus for sampling a digitally-stored waveshape only at a rate 2" times the fundamental frequency of a note synthesized, where A/is an integer. The appara- tus includes a digital memory for storing a digital representation of

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1555 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 70(5), Nov. 1981- 0001 •1966/81/111555-02500.80; ¸ 1981 Acoust. Soc. Am ß Patent Reviews 1555

Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 146.189.194.69 On: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:12:20

the waveshape. A top octave synthesizer produces clock pulses at a rate 2 N times the fundamental frequency of a desired note. An oc- tave oscillator generates addresses for the digital memory in re- sponse to at least some of the clock pulses depending on the oc- tave in which the desired note is located. A digital-to-analog conver- ter converts the output from the digital memory into an analog sig- nal suitable for sound production."-DWM

4,280,388

43.75.Tv APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR

GENERATING CHORUS AND CELESTE TONES

J. Paul White, Hatfield, Pennsylvania 19440 28 July 1981 (Class 84/1.24); f'ded 29 May 1979

The output 7 of random low-frequency generator 19 is delayed in time by delay 11 to produce a first modulating signal 8 for modu- lating the amplitude of signals from tone signal generators 28 and 29. The random low-frequency generator output is also supplied to

4,279,186

43.75.Tv POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER OF PERIODIC

SIGNALS USING DIGITAL TECHNIQUES

Christian J. Defozeit, La Ville du Bois, France 21 July 1981 (Class 84/1.01); f'fled in France 21 November

1978

The polyphonic synthesizer consists of one or more independent synthesizers controlled by a microprocessor. Each independent syn- thesizer "behaves like an assembly of independent signal generators controlled from an assembly of memories each containing at least the amplitude of an outgoing signal. In reading each memory, the synthesizer carries out a digital-analog conversion to convert the amplit•ade data read and an instantaneous phase value into a positive or negative analog stage of voltage or current."-DWM

nonminimum phase shift •ter 10 through a function generator 12 to produce a second modulating signal 9 for varying the phase of the tone generator signals. The purpose is to generate a synthetic chorus tone signal.-DWM

4,279,187

43.75.Tv DIGITAL ARPEGGIO SYSTEM FOR

ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

Joseph L. Kappes, assignor to Baldwin Piano & Organ Company

21 July 1981 (Class 84/1.03); fried 9 January 1980

This is another system for enabling a chord of played notes on an electronic musical instrument to be converted into a strum se-

quence of corresponding tones; or to produce an arpeggio sequence of the played tones plus the corresponding tones in higher octaves of the scale. It uses a chain of shift registers, one corresponding to each note of the instrument. Closing a key switch enables its elec- tronic note gate to be triggered when its corresponding shift register is pulsed. A system clock causes the shift registers to scan in the up, down, or up and then down directions, depending upon the type of musical arpeggio desired.-DWM

4,267,552

43.88.Dv ELECTROMAGNETIC SOUND GENERATOR

FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES AND THE LIKE

Domenico Frigo, assignor to Fabbrica Italiana Accumula- tori Motocarri Montecchio

12 May 1981 (Class 340/388); fried in Italy 25 November 1977

The patent is concerned primarily with an improved method for fabricating automobile horns. However, the diaphragm mounting method described also results in more predictable performance and thus has acoustic implications. Those involved in production design of signal horns may find the patent of interest.-GLA

4,280,387

43.75.Tv FREQUENCY FOLLOWING CIRCUIT

Robert A. Moog, assignor to Nodin Music, Incorporated 28 July 1981 (Class 84/1.01); Fried 26 February 1979

In order to generate a control voltage proportional to the funda- mental frequency of a periodic complex waveform, this circuit uses several peak detection circuits connected in cascade which produce and store a voltage proportional to the time between successive sig- nal peaks.-DWM

4•73,968

43.88.Dv ELECTROACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER WITH

MAGNETIC FLUX DIRECTED SLANTLY ACROSS A

DIAPHRAGM

Hideo Suyama, assignor to Sony Corporation 16 June 1981 (Class 179/115.$ PV); f'ded in Japan 22

May 1978

Planar loudspeakers of the "printed circuit voice coil" variety require squashed-out magnetic fields, difficult to generate across the relatively large air gaps needed. This interesting variant has an al-

1556 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 70(5), Nov. 1981; 0001-4966/81/111556-02500.80; ¸ 1981 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Patent Reviews 1556

Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 146.189.194.69 On: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:12:20