Musical device for automatically producing tone patterns

Claim 1

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: reference signal means for providing a plurality of reference signals having a distinctive voltage magnitude, each of said distinctive voltage magnitudes representing a corresponding tonic note and a related group of notes having a predetermined interval relationship; instrumentalist operated selection means connected to the reference signal means adapted upon operation to activate said reference signal means to provide a selected reference signal; driving means for producing selectable patterns of driving signals, each of said driving signals representing a note in the group of musical notes related to the selected tonic note; tone signal generating means connected to the reference signal means adapted to produce a plurality of tone signals at the times predetermined by said driving means in response to receipt of said driving signals and the selected reference signal, each of said tone signals having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of one musical note of the group of musical notes related to the selected tonic note, the pattern of production of said tone signals and hence the corresponding musical notes being dependent upon said driving signal; audio means adapted to receive said tone signals and convert said tone signals into audible musical notes, each of said musical notes being determined by the frequency of the corresponding tone signal.

Claim 2

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: reference signal means for providing a plurality of reference signals having a distinctive voltage magnitude, each of said distinctive voltage magnitudes representing a corresponding tonic note and a related group of notes having a predetermined interval relationship; instrumentalist operated selection means connected to the reference signal means adapted upon operation to activate said reference signal means to provide a selected reference signal; driving means for producing selectable patterns of driving signals, each of said driving signals representing a note in the group of musical notes related to the selected tonic note; tone signal generating means connected to the reference signal means adapted to produce a plurality of tone signals at the times predetermined by said driving means in response to receipt of said driving signals and the selected reference signal, each of said tone signals having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of one musical note of the group of musical notes related to the selected tonic note, the pattern of production of said tone signals and hence the corresponding musical notes being dependent upon said driving signal; audio means adapted to receive said tone signals and convert said tone signals into audible musical notes, each of said musical notes being determined by the frequency of the corresponding tone signal.

Claim 14

A device for producing selected musical tone patterns within a selected musical scale comprising: audio means for producing an audible musical tone corresponding to notes of the selected musical scale in response to receipt of corresponding tone signals; selection means adapted upon instrumentalist operation to provide a musical scale signal corresponding to the selected scale; driving means for providing triggering signals at predetermined times according to a selected musical tone pattern; and tone signal generator means connected to said selection means, to said driving means and to said audio means adapted to produce and transmit related tone signals to said audio means in response to receipt of said triggering signals, the frequency of said tone signals being responsive to said musical scale signal received from said selection means.

Claim 15

A device for producing selected musical tone patterns within a selected musical scale comprising: audio means for producing an audible musical tone corresponding to notes of the selected musical scale in response to receipt of corresponding tone signals; selection means adapted upon instrumentalist operation to provide a musical scale signal corresponding to the selected scale; driving means for providing triggering signals at predetermined times according to a selected musical tone pattern; and tone signal generator means connected to said selection means, to said driving means and to said audio means adapted to produce and transmit related tone signals to said audio means in response to receipt of said triggering signals, the frequency of said tone signals being responsive to said musical scale signal received from said selection means.

Claim 16

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: a voltage divider, said voltage divider comprising a reference circuit, plurality of resistors in series with said reference circuit, and a plurality of switching circuits connected in parallel between said resistors, so that said reference circuit will provide a plurality of reference voltages in response to actuation of one of said switching circuits, each of said reference voltages representing a selected tonic note; a plurality of selection switches, each of said selection switches corresponding to a tonic note and each of said switches connected to one of said switching circuits so that actuation of said switches actuates said switching circuits; pulse generating means for producing a plurality of driving signals at predetermined times; pattern switching means having a plurality of output terminals for receiving said driving signals and transmitting said driving signals to said output terminals in a predetermined pattern; a plurality of tone frequency generators, said tone frequency generators comprising: a plurality of unijunction transistor relaxation oscillator circuits connected to said reference circuit which produce output pulses at a frequency determined by the selected reference voltage received from said reference circuit, and a plurality of flip-flop circuits, each of said flip-flop circuits being operably connected to one of said relaxation oscillator circuits so that said flip-flop circuits are actuated by each output pulse of said relaxation oscillator circuit to produce a square wave output voltage having a frequency corresponding to one-half the frequency of the output pulses of said relaxation oscillator circuit, each of said relaxation oscillator circuits having a set frequency interval relationship to each other so that said reference voltage causes one of said relaxation oscillator circuits to produce pulses corresponding to the frequency of the selected tonic note and each of said other relaxation oscillator circuits to produce pulses corresponding to individual musical notes of frequencies in accordance with the frequency interval relationship; each of said tone frequency generators being connected to one of said output terminals of said pattern switching means so that receipt of a driving signal causes said tone frequency generator to produce a square wave output voltage the frequency of which is dependent upon the reference voltage and which of said tone generators receives said driving signal; audio means adapted to receive the square wave output voltage and convert the square wave output voltage to audible musical notes having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the square wave output voltage.

Claim 17

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: a voltage divider, said voltage divider comprising a reference circuit, plurality of resistors in series with said reference circuit, and a plurality of switching circuits connected in parallel between said resistors, so that said reference circuit will provide a plurality of reference voltages in response to actuation of one of said switching circuits, each of said reference voltages representing a selected tonic note; a plurality of selection switches, each of said selection switches corresponding to a tonic note and each of said switches connected to one of said switching circuits so that actuation of said switches actuates said switching circuits; pulse generating means for producing a plurality of driving signals at predetermined times; pattern switching means having a plurality of output terminals for receiving said driving signals and transmitting said driving signals to said output terminals in a predetermined pattern; a plurality of tone frequency generators, said tone frequency generators comprising: a plurality of unijunction transistor relaxation oscillator circuits connected to said reference circuit which produce output pulses at a frequency determined by the selected reference voltage received from said reference circuit, and a plurality of flip-flop circuits, each of said flip-flop circuits being operably connected to one of said relaxation oscillator circuits so that said flip-flop circuits are actuated by each output pulse of said relaxation oscillator circuit to produce a square wave output voltage having a frequency corresponding to one-half the frequency of the output pulses of said relaxation oscillator circuit, each of said relaxation oscillator circuits having a set frequency interval relationship to each other so that said reference voltage causes one of said relaxation oscillator circuits to produce pulses corresponding to the frequency of the selected tonic note and each of said other relaxation oscillator circuits to produce pulses corresponding to individual musical notes of frequencies in accordance with the frequency interval relationship; each of said tone frequency generators being connected to one of said output terminals of said pattern switching means so that receipt of a driving signal causes said tone frequency generator to produce a square wave output voltage the frequency of which is dependent upon the reference voltage and which of said tone generators receives said driving signal; audio means adapted to receive the square wave output voltage and convert the square wave output voltage to audible musical notes having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the square wave output voltage.

Claim 18

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: a voltage divider, said voltage divider comprising a reference circuit, plurality of resistors in series with said reference circuit, and a plurality of switching circuits connected in parallel between said resistors, so that said reference circuit will provide a plurality of reference voltages in response to actuation of one of said switching circuits, each of said reference voltages representing a selected tonic note; a plurality of selection switches, each of said selection switches corresponding to a tonic note and each of said switches connected to one of said switching circuits so that actuation of said switches actuates said switching circuits; pulse generating means for producing a plurality of driving signals at predetermined times; pattern switching means having a plurality of output terminals for receiving said driving signals and transmitting said driving signals to said output terminals in a predetermined pattern; a tone frequency generator comprising: a plurality of multiplex switch means, said multiplex switch means connected to said voltage divider to receive saId reference voltages and each of said multiplex switch means being connected to one of said output terminals of said pattern switching means so that receipt of said driving signals causes each of said multiplex switch means to produce a keying voltage, said keying voltage having a magnitude depending upon the magnitude of the reference voltage and depending upon which of said multiplex switch means produces said keying voltage; a unijunction transistor relaxation oscillator circuit connected to said multiplex switch means which produces output pulses at a frequency determined by the magnitude of the keying voltage; a flip-flop circuit operably connected to said relaxation oscillator circuit so that said flip-flop circuit is actuated by each output pulse of said relaxation oscillator circuit to produce a square wave output voltage having a frequency corresponding to one-half the frequency of the output pulses of said relaxation oscillator circuit; each of said multiplex switch means being interrelated so that each of said multiplex switch means produces a keying voltage of a magnitude related to the keying voltage produced by each of the other multiplex switch means so that the frequency of the corresponding square wave outputs of said flip-flop circuit for each of said keying voltages are related by a predetermined frequency interval relationship corresponding to a predetermined group of musical notes, said group of notes being based on said tonic note; audio means adapted to receive the square wave output voltage and convert the square wave output voltage to audible musical notes having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the square wave output voltage.

Claim 19

A device for producing musical tone patterns based on an instrumentalist selected tonic note comprising: a voltage divider, said voltage divider comprising a reference circuit, plurality of resistors in series with said reference circuit, and a plurality of switching circuits connected in parallel between said resistors, so that said reference circuit will provide a plurality of reference voltages in response to actuation of one of said switching circuits, each of said reference voltages representing a selected tonic note; a plurality of selection switches, each of said selection switches corresponding to a tonic note and each of said switches connected to one of said switching circuits so that actuation of said switches actuates said switching circuits; pulse generating means for producing a plurality of driving signals at predetermined times; pattern switching means having a plurality of output terminals for receiving said driving signals and transmitting said driving signals to said output terminals in a predetermined pattern; a tone frequency generator comprising: a plurality of multiplex switch means, said multiplex switch means connected to said voltage divider to receive saId reference voltages and each of said multiplex switch means being connected to one of said output terminals of said pattern switching means so that receipt of said driving signals causes each of said multiplex switch means to produce a keying voltage, said keying voltage having a magnitude depending upon the magnitude of the reference voltage and depending upon which of said multiplex switch means produces said keying voltage; a unijunction transistor relaxation oscillator circuit connected to said multiplex switch means which produces output pulses at a frequency determined by the magnitude of the keying voltage; a flip-flop circuit operably connected to said relaxation oscillator circuit so that said flip-flop circuit is actuated by each output pulse of said relaxation oscillator circuit to produce a square wave output voltage having a frequency corresponding to one-half the frequency of the output pulses of said relaxation oscillator circuit; each of said multiplex switch means being interrelated so that each of said multiplex switch means produces a keying voltage of a magnitude related to the keying voltage produced by each of the other multiplex switch means so that the frequency of the corresponding square wave outputs of said flip-flop circuit for each of said keying voltages are related by a predetermined frequency interval relationship corresponding to a predetermined group of musical notes, said group of notes being based on said tonic note; audio means adapted to receive the square wave output voltage and convert the square wave output voltage to audible musical notes having a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the square wave output voltage.