Electronic keyboard instrument with key displacement sensors

Claim 2

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation, and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; and tone control means for processing said displacement signal from each of said key displacement sensor means and for producing tone parameters on the basis of a processing operation on the displacement signal; and wherein said tone control means comprises: initial peak detection means for detecting when the displacement signal has reached a first peak during a key operation, said first peak being defined by a first portion of said displacement signal that indicates greater key displacement than any other portion of said displacement signal preceding said first portion and also indicates greater key displacement than a second portion of said displacement signal next succeeding said first portion so that the magnitude of said first peak carries information about a feature of key touch dynamics, wherein said initial peak detection means includes means for measuring the magnitude of said first peak; and note-on means responsive to said initial peak detection means for producing a note-on signal indicative of the start of a tone, said note-on signal including a tone control parameter corresponding to said first peak.

Claim 3

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1 wherein said tone control means comprises vibrato control means for controlling vibrato parameters on the basis operation on the processing of the displacement signal.

Claim 4

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of key displacement sensor means comprises: a sensor for producing an analog signal indicative of key displacement, and analog-to-digital converter means for digitizing said analog signal at a predetermined sampling rate to provide digital samples of the key displacement.

Claim 5

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1 wherein said tone control means comprises means for producing a tone parameter as a function of a current magnitude of the displacement signal.

Claim 6

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1 wherein said tone control means comprises means for producing a tone parameter as a function of a difference between the magnitudes of the any two successive digital samples of the displacement signal.

Claim 7

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1 further comprising tone generator means disposed within the instrument for generating tones in response to the tone parameters produced by said tone control means.

Claim 8

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 1, wherein said tone control parameter comprises an envelope parameter corresponding to said first peak and controlling the amplitude of a tone.

Claim 9

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; and tone control means for producing said displacement signal from each of said key displacement sensor means and for producing tone parameters on the basis of a processing operation on the displacement signal; and wherein each of said plurality of key displacement sensor means comprises: a sensor for producing an analog signal indicative of key displacement, and analog-to-digital converter means for digitizing said analog signal at a predetermined sampling rate to provide digital samples of said key displacement; and wherein said tone control means comprises: note-on means for producing a note-on signal indicative of the start of a tone; note-off means for producing a note-off signal indicative of the end of said tone; direction determining means operative after the production of said note-on signal and before the production of said note-off signal for determining a direction of key movement from a comparison of any two successive digital samples of the key displacement from said analog-to-digital converter means; and means responsive to said direction determining means for producing first tone parameters for controlling a first characteristic of said tone during its development when an associated key is moved downward and for producing second tone parameters for controlling a second characteristic of said tone during its development which is different from said first characteristic when the associated key is moved upward.

Claim 10

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; and tone control means for producing said displacement signal from each of said key displacement sensor means and for producing tone parameters on the basis of a processing operation on the displacement signal; and wherein each of said plurality of key displacement sensor means comprises: a sensor for producing an analog signal indicative of key displacement, and analog-to-digital converter means for digitizing said analog signal at a predetermined sampling rate to provide digital samples of said key displacement; and wherein said tone control means comprises: note-on means for producing a note-on signal indicative of the start of a tone; note-off means for producing a note-off signal indicative of the end of said tone; direction determining means operative after the production of said note-on signal and before the production of said note-off signal for determining a direction of key movement from a comparison of any two successive digital samples of the key displacement from said analog-to-digital converter means; and means responsive to said direction determining means for producing first tone parameters for controlling a first characteristic of said tone during its development when an associated key is moved downward and for producing second tone parameters for controlling a second characteristic of said tone during its development which is different from said first characteristic when the associated key is moved upward.

Claim 11

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by a key operation, and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; a plurality of selectively operative tone control means having tone control algorithms different from one another, for processing the displacement signal from said key displacement sensor means in manners different from one another to provide tone parameters; and manually operative selector means for selecting one of said plurality of tone control means as being operative during play of the instrument, so that the selected tone control means commonly applies its tone control algorithm to displacement signals from said plurality of displacement sensor means.

Claim 12

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by a key operation, and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; a plurality of selectively operative tone control means having tone control algorithms different from one another, for processing the displacement signal from said key displacement sensor means in manners different from one another to provide tone parameters; and manually operative selector means for selecting one of said plurality of tone control means as being operative during play of the instrument, so that the selected tone control means commonly applies its tone control algorithm to displacement signals from said plurality of displacement sensor means.

Claim 13

The electronic keyboard instrument recited in claim 9, wherein said plurality of tone control means comprise a microprocessor and a memory for storing a plurality of tone control algorithms, and said microprocessor includes means for executing a tone control algorithm selected by said selector means.

Claim 14

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation, and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; and tone control means for processing said displacement signal from each of said key displacement sensor means and for producing tone parameters on the basis of a processing operation on the displacement signal; and wherein said tone control means comprises: initial peak detection means for detecting when the displacement signal has reached a first peak during a key operation, said first peak being defined by a first portion of said displacement signal that indicates greater key displacement than any other portion of said displacement signal preceding said first portion and also indicates greater key displacement than a second portion of said displacement signal next succeeding said first portion so that the magnitude of said first peak carries information about a feature of key touch dynamics, wherein said initial peak detection means includes means for measuring the magnitude of said key peak; and note-on means responsive to said initial peak detection means for producing a note-on signal indicative of the start of a tone; and wherein said note-on means comprises means for producing a tone parameter as a function of said first peak from said initial peak detection means, so that a tone will be generated with an attack characteristic that is a function of said first peak.

Claim 15

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation, and for providing a corresponding displacement signal; and tone control means for processing said displacement signal from each of said key displacement sensor means and for producing tone parameters on the basis of a processing operation on the displacement signal; and wherein said tone control means comprises: initial peak detection means for detecting when the displacement signal has reached a first peak during a key operation, said first peak being defined by a first portion of said displacement signal that indicates greater key displacement than any other portion of said displacement signal preceding said first portion and also indicates greater key displacement than a second portion of said displacement signal next succeeding said first portion so that the magnitude of said first peak carries information about a feature of key touch dynamics, wherein said initial peak detection means includes means for measuring the magnitude of said key peak; and note-on means responsive to said initial peak detection means for producing a note-on signal indicative of the start of a tone; and wherein said note-on means comprises means for producing a tone parameter as a function of said first peak from said initial peak detection means, so that a tone will be generated with an attack characteristic that is a function of said first peak.

Claim 16

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising; a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation, and for providing digital samples of key displacement at a predetermined sampling rate; and tone control means for processing said digital samples of key displacement from each of said key displacement sensor means; and wherein said tone control means comprises: initial peak detection means for detecting when the digital samples have reached a first peak during a key operation; attack control means responsive to said initial peak detection means for controlling an attack characteristic of a tone in accordance with said first peak, said first peak being defined by a first portion of said displacement signal that indicates greater key displacement than any other portion of said displacement signal preceding said first portion and also indicates greater key displacement than a second portion of said displacement signal next succeeding said first portion so that the magnitude of said first peak carries information about a feature of key touch dynamics, wherein said initial peak detection means includes means for measuring the magnitude of said first peak; comparing means for comparing a digital sample at said first peak and a next digital sample, and for providing a corresponding comparison signal; and damp control means responsive to said comparing means for controlling a release characteristic of said tone in accordance with said comparison signal.

Claim 17

An electronic keyboard instrument, comprising; a keyboard having a plurality of keys; a plurality of key displacement sensor means each disposed in relation to a different one of said keys for detecting variable displacement of a key induced by key operation, and for providing digital samples of key displacement at a predetermined sampling rate; and tone control means for processing said digital samples of key displacement from each of said key displacement sensor means; and wherein said tone control means comprises: initial peak detection means for detecting when the digital samples have reached a first peak during a key operation; attack control means responsive to said initial peak detection means for controlling an attack characteristic of a tone in accordance with said first peak, said first peak being defined by a first portion of said displacement signal that indicates greater key displacement than any other portion of said displacement signal preceding said first portion and also indicates greater key displacement than a second portion of said displacement signal next succeeding said first portion so that the magnitude of said first peak carries information about a feature of key touch dynamics, wherein said initial peak detection means includes means for measuring the magnitude of said first peak; comparing means for comparing a digital sample at said first peak and a next digital sample, and for providing a corresponding comparison signal; and damp control means responsive to said comparing means for controlling a release characteristic of said tone in accordance with said comparison signal.