Electronic musical instrument having tone start prominence circuit

Claim 1

An electronic musical instrument comprising a music playing circuit arrangement having a tone signal passage through which a tone signal is conducted when the instrument is played, said tone signal passage being defined by and including serially interconnected tone generators, tone keyers, tone coloring filters, an amplifier, and a loudspeaker, said instrument further including an amplitude modulator means disposed between said tone coloring filters and amplifier for amplitude modulating a tone signal being played in accordance with a control signal, a detector means coupled to said tone signal passage between said keyers and said tone coloring filters for detecting said tone signal being played and for generating a detected signal representative of the envelope of said tone signal being played, and a wave form shaper means connected to said detector means for producing at an output thereof a percussive wave form control signal at the commencement of the leading edge of said detected signal, the output of said wave form shaper means being connected to said amplitude modulator means and defining the control signal therefor, whereby the level of the tone signal being played is enhanced according to said percussive wave form signal, and wherein the tone signal passage further includes a tone color modulator means connected to said amplitude modulator for modulating the tone color of the tone signal being played in accordance with a control signal, said output of said wave form shaper means being connected to said tone modulator means and defining the control signal therefor, whereby the harmonic components of the tone signal being played are also enhanced according to said percussive wave form signal.