Musical instrument employing time division multiplexing techniques to control a second musical instrument

Claim 2

In a combination comprising a guitar having strings with musical tones that are manually and selectably playable thereon, a second musical instrument having means for producing audible tones which are harmonically related to said musical tones, and a system for controlling the operation of the tones producing means in accord with the selected play of said musical tones on said strings, the improved control system comprising encoding means for detecting the play of said musical tones on said strings during each of successively occurring time frames and for generating a series of time multiplexed signals during each of said time frames, each of said time frames having a plurality of time slots, each of said musical tones being assigned to a respective one of said time slots, and each of said signals being generated in response to the detected play of a respective one of said musical tones on a string of the guitar and during the occurrence of the time slot assignment of said one tone; decoding means for decoding the time multiplexed signals and controlling the audible tones producing means to produce audible tones harmonically related to the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of said time multiplexed signals, means for transmitting said time multiplexed signals from said encoding means to said decoding means, and manually controllable means for sustaining the production of audible tones during subsequent time frames which are harmonically related to the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of the multiplexed signals generated during a time frame preceding said subsequent time frames.

Claim 3

The improved control system in accord with claim 1 where the sustaining means comprises storage means connected to receive the time multiplexed signals generated during said preceding time frame and manually controllable to thereafter generate an output signal during said subsequent time frames and during each occurrence of the time slot assignments of the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of the multiplexed signals received by the storage means during said preceding time frame, and where said transmitting means comprises means operating during each of the subsequent time frames to combine the time multiplexed and output signals generated during the time frame into a series of time multiplexed signals that are transmitted to said decoding means.

Claim 4

In a combination which comprises a guitar having strings with musical tones that are manually and selectably playable thereon, a second musical instrument having means for producing audible tones which are harmonicalLy related to said musical tones, and a system for controlling the operation of the audible tones producing means in accord with the selected play of said musical tones on said strings, the improved control system comprising encoding means for detecting the play of said musical tones on said strings during each of successively occurring time frames and for generating a series of time multiplexed signals during each of said time frames, each of said time frames having a plurality of time slots, each of said musical tones being assigned to a respective one of said time slots and in an order reflecting as assignment of tones of progressively changing pitch to successively occurring time slots, and each of said multiplexed signals being generated in response to the detected play of a respective one of said musical tones and during the occurrence of the time slot assignment of said one tone, decoding means for decoding the time multiplexed signals and controlling the audible tones producing means to produce audible tones harmonically related to the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of said time multiplexed signals, and means for transmitting said time multiplexed signals from said encoding means to said decoding means, said encoding means comprising means for generating a first control signal during each time frame, a section for detecting the selected play on one of said strings of the musical tone selections that are playable thereon, and means for generating said multiplexed signals and controlled by receipt of a second control signal to generate a multiplexed signal during the occurrence of the time slot assignment of a musical tone selection detected by the section as being played on said one string, said guitar having frets which are spaced apart and underlie said strings, said one string having keyed string tones which are playable thereon, each of said keyed string tones being playable on said one string by keying said one string into string keying contact with a respective one of said frets, said section having storage means operating in response to receipt of said first control signal to detect each fret in contact with said one string at the time of such response and to generate an output in response to the detected contact with the fret and in a time slot having a predetermined time offset from the time slot assignment of the musical tone selection playable by string keying contact with the fret, said one string being arranged when keyed into contact with said one fret to also contact another fret which is adjacent said one fret, and said section having means operating in dependency upon receipt of an output generated by the storage means during each of the successively occuring time slots for generating said second control signal.

Claim 5

In a combination which comprises a guitar having strings with musical tones that are manually and selectably playable thereon, a second musical instrument having means for producing audible tones which are harmonicalLy related to said musical tones, and a system for controlling the operation of the audible tones producing means in accord with the selected play of said musical tones on said strings, the improved control system comprising encoding means for detecting the play of said musical tones on said strings during each of successively occurring time frames and for generating a series of time multiplexed signals during each of said time frames, each of said time frames having a plurality of time slots, each of said musical tones being assigned to a respective one of said time slots and in an order reflecting as assignment of tones of progressively changing pitch to successively occurring time slots, and each of said multiplexed signals being generated in response to the detected play of a respective one of said musical tones and during the occurrence of the time slot assignment of said one tone, decoding means for decoding the time multiplexed signals and controlling the audible tones producing means to produce audible tones harmonically related to the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of said time multiplexed signals, and means for transmitting said time multiplexed signals from said encoding means to said decoding means, said encoding means comprising means for generating a first control signal during each time frame, a section for detecting the selected play on one of said strings of the musical tone selections that are playable thereon, and means for generating said multiplexed signals and controlled by receipt of a second control signal to generate a multiplexed signal during the occurrence of the time slot assignment of a musical tone selection detected by the section as being played on said one string, said guitar having frets which are spaced apart and underlie said strings, said one string having keyed string tones which are playable thereon, each of said keyed string tones being playable on said one string by keying said one string into string keying contact with a respective one of said frets, said section having storage means operating in response to receipt of said first control signal to detect each fret in contact with said one string at the time of such response and to generate an output in response to the detected contact with the fret and in a time slot having a predetermined time offset from the time slot assignment of the musical tone selection playable by string keying contact with the fret, said one string being arranged when keyed into contact with said one fret to also contact another fret which is adjacent said one fret, and said section having means operating in dependency upon receipt of an output generated by the storage means during each of the successively occuring time slots for generating said second control signal.

Claim 6

The improved control system in accord with claim 3 comprising manually controllable means for sustaining the production of audible tones, during subsequent time frames, which are harmonically related to the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of the multiplexed signals generated during a time frame preceding said subsequent time frames.

Claim 7

The improved control system in accord with claim 4 where the sustaining means comprises second storage means connected to receive the time multiplexed signals generated during said preceding time frame and manually controllable to thereafter generate an output signal during said subsequent time frames and during each occurrence of the time slot assignments of the musical tones assigned to the time slot occurrences of the multiplexed signals received by the second storage means during said preceding time frame, and where said transmitting means comprises means operating during each of the subsequent time frames to combine the time multiplexed and output signals generated during the time frame into a series of time multiplexed signals that are transmitted to said decoding means.