A pickup transducer located at the point of contact with the drumhead provides electrical pulses on each drum beat. A circuit measures the time interval between successive beats, dividing the time interval into a minute, and visually indicates the number of beats per minute.--DWM

5,062,097

43.75.Tv AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT PLAYBACK FROM A DIGITAL MUSIC OR VIDEO SOURCE

Michiaki Kumaoka, assignor to Yamaha Corporation 29 October 1991 (Class 369/70); filed in Japan 3 February 1988

"A device for playing back a music or video source such as a digital audio tape recorder, Compact Disc, Laser Vision Disc, video tape recorder, television and FM broadcasting and analog records comprises means re- sponsive to control information supplied from a music or video source de-

lo R-DAT • IB

'• CONTROL

PCM DATA 'COD ' •[ DEVIL E ,J TA

RECORD S[GNAL

(AUDIO SIGNAL OF _--J AUOIO •20 MI[_•_] ' MUSZCAL ! i MUS OTHER SOURCE, I A M P [INSTRUMENT I INST;

VOCAL, NATURAL / 22 24

',CAL "1 IMENT I

14

vice for controlling an externally controllable electrical or electronic musi- cal instrument so as to perform the musical instrument automatically in synchronism with playback of the source device. An electrical or electronic musical instrument is performed automatically in synchronism with play- back of a source so that a reproduction atmosphere which cannot be ob- tained by mere playback of the source can be created."--DWM

5,070,759

43.75.Tv STRING VIBRATION SUSTAINING DEVICE

Alan A. Hoover and Gary T. Osborne, Indianapolis, IN 10 December 1991 (Class 84/726); filed 14 June 1989

The electronic system for this electric guitar has two proximity-type of magnetic pickups, one of which can also be switched into use as a magnetic string driver when connected to the amplified output of the other string pickup, in order to sustain the string vibration longer than usual.--DWM

4,980,873

43.88.Bs ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER WITH

TENSIONED DIAPHRAGM AND METHOD

W. C. Gross, D. D. Campbell, and J. N. Kniest, all of Washington 25 December 1990 (Class 367/181); filed 2 June 1989

An apparatus is described for applying tension to the flexible circular diaphragm of a capacitor-type transducer, and also for obviating the effects of diaphragm creep. Anyone interested in reading this patent should be forewarned that the write-up is an exercise in obfuscation; there are numer- ous and repeated references to tag numbers on the several drawings that, in fact, do not exist.--WT

4,993,072

43.88.Bs SHIELDED ELECTRET TRANSDUCER AND

METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME

Preston V. Murphy, assignor to Lectret S. A. 12 February 1991 (Class 381/113); filed 24 February 1989

Stray capacitance is a problem for conventional capacitance micro- phones and for more recent electret designs including structures using sili- con. The backplate 20 is silicon and supports insulation and electret charge

19 30

retention layers as well as the FET transistor and its biasing resistors. The backplate and the flexible diaphragm are supported within a two-piece met- al housing.--MDB

4,995,012

43.80.Sh METHOD OF GENERATING AN ELASTIC WAVE

Jacques Dory, assignor to EDAP International, France 19 February 1991 (Class 367/150); filed in France 28 August 1987

Mechanical filters that are nonlinear in both amplitude and sound speed are described. Their function is to eliminate the negative portion of an acoustic pulse generated by a lithotriptor. This modification of the signal thereby mitigates cavitation problems, increases the efficiency of the litho- triptor, and decreases treatment time for the patient.--WT

4,977,547

43.88.Fx METHOD OF DETECTING SOUND IN

WATER USING PIEZOELECTRIC-POLYMER COMPOSITES WITH 0-3 CONNECTIVITY

Jayne R. Giniewicz et aL, assignors to Hoechst Celanese Corporation 11 December 1990 (Class 367/157); filed 15 November 1988

The fabrication of a 0-3 piezoelectric polymer composite is described wherein the active phase is lead titanate, or a variant thereof, while the polymer phase can be one of a large set of materials. Very thin sheets of this composite are possible because of the very fine particle size of this particular piezoceramic powder. Such thin sheets can be easily polarized and display enhanced piezoelectric sensitivity compared to 0-3 composites with lead zirconate titanate piezoceramic.•WT

3089 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 91, No. 5, May 1992 Patent Reviews 3089

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