Wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument2010-02-25AbstractA wire clamping ligature for use with single reed musical instruments such as clarinets and saxophones which includes two retaining wires extending circumferentially around the mouthpiece and reed of the instrument to affix the reed to the mouthpiece and yet allow normal musical vibration thereof wherein the retaining wires are approximately thirty thousandths of an inch (0.030 inches) and including two drawbars each attached to the opposite ends of the two retaining wires with an adjustable clamp secured therebetween. The adjustable clamp can comprise one or two threaded screws rotatably mounted in one drawbar and threadedly engaged with respect to the other drawbar to urge the drawbars together for tightening of the two retaining wires about the reed and mouthpiece for detachably affixing them together.Claims
I claim:
1. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument comprising:
A. a first reed retaining wire means extending once around a mouthpiece and an adjacently positioned reed for retaining thereof together while allowing musical vibrational movement of the reed, said first reed retaining wire means being of a metallic material, said first reed retaining wire means having a diameter of less than 0.100 inches, said first reed retaining wire means including a first reed first end and a first reed second end;
B. a second reed retaining wire means extending once around the mouthpiece and the adjacently positioned reed at a position spatially disposed longitudinally along the reed from said first reed retaining wire means for retaining of the reed in adjacent abutment to the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement of the reed, said second reed retaining wire means being of a metallic material, said second reed retaining wire means having a diameter of less than 0.100 inches, said second reed retaining wire means including a second reed first end and a second reed second end;
C. a first drawbar attached to said first reed first end of said first reed retaining wire means and attached to said second reed first end of said second reed retaining wire means to facilitate retaining of the reed in abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement thereof;
D. a second drawbar attached to said first reed second end of said first reed retaining wire means and attached to said second reed second end of said second reed retaining wire means to facilitate retaining of the reed in abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement thereof; and
E. an adjustable clamping means operatively secured to said first drawbar and said second drawbar, said adjustable clamping means adapted to urge said first drawbar and said second drawbar together for tightening of said first reed retaining wire means and said second reed retaining means around the reed into abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing for musical vibrational movement thereof.
2. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said first reed retaining wire means is of stainless steel wire material.
3. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said second reed retaining wire means is of a stainless steel wire material.
4. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said first reed retaining wire means is made of steel wire of approximately 0.030 inches in diameter.
5. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said second reed retaining wire means is made of steel wire of approximately 0.030 inches in diameter.
6. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said adjustable clamping means includes:
A. a threaded bore defined within said second drawbar;
B. a clearance bore defined within said first drawbar; and
C. a threaded clamping screw means adapted to extend through said clearance bore to be freely rotatable therein and to, further extend into engagement with said threaded bore to facilitate adjustable clamping between said first drawbar and said second drawbar to facilitate attachment of the reed in abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing for musical vibrational movement thereof.
7. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 6 wherein said threaded clamping screw means includes a cap thereof to facilitate abutting engagement with respect to said first drawbar adjacent said clearance bore thereof.
8. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 6 wherein said threaded bore is defined in said second drawbar at a position intermediate between said first reed retaining wire means and said second reed retaining wire means attached with respect thereto.
9. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 6 wherein said clearance bore is defined in said first drawbar at a position intermediate between said first reed retaining wire means and said second reed retaining wire means attached with respect thereto.
10. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 6 wherein said threaded clamping screw means includes a thumbscrew tab to facilitate adjustable rotation of said threaded clamping screw means with respect to said first drawbar and said second drawbar.
11. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said adjustable clamping means includes:
A. a first clearance boss member affixed to said first drawbar adjacent said first reed retaining wire means and defining a first clearance bore extending therethrough;
B. a second clearance boss member affixed to said first drawbar adjacent said second reed retaining wire means and defining a second clearance bore extending therethrough;
C. a first engagement boss member affixed to said second drawbar adjacent said first reed retaining wire means and defining a first threaded bore extending therethrough, said first threaded bore being axially in registration with said first clearance bore;
D. a second engagement boss member affixed to said second drawbar adjacent said second reed retaining wire means and defining a second threaded bore extending therethrough, said second threaded bore being axially in registration with said second clearance bore;
E. a first threaded clamping screw means adapted to extend through said first clearance bore to be freely rotatable therein and to,further extend into engagement with respect to said first threaded bore to facilitate adjustable clamping between said first drawbar and said second drawbar to facilitate attachment of a reed in abutment with a mouthpiece while allowing for musical vibrational movement of the reed; and
F. a second threaded clamping screw means adapted to extend through said second clearance bore to be freely rotatable therein,and to further extend into engagement with respect to said second threaded bore to facilitate adjustable clamping between said first drawbar and said second drawbar to facilitate attachment of a reed in abutment with a mouthpiece while allowing for musical vibrational movement of the reed.
12. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said first threaded clamping screw means includes a first cap thereon to be in abutting engagement with respect to said first drawbar adjacent said first clearance bore defined therein to facilitate urging of said first drawbar and said second drawbar together.
13. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said second threaded clamping screw means includes a second cap thereon to be in abutting engagement with respect to said first drawbar adjacent said second clearance bore defined there to facilitate urging of said first drawbar and said second drawbar together.
14. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said first threaded clamping screw means includes a first thumbscrew tab to facilitate adjustable rotation of said first threaded clamping screw means with respect to said first drawbar and said second drawbar.
15. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said second threaded clamping screw means includes a second thumbscrew tab to facilitate adjustable rotation of said second threaded clamping screw means with respect to said first drawbar and said second drawbar.
16. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said first clearance boss member and said second clearance boss member are integrally formed with respect to said first drawbar.
17. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 11 wherein said first engagement boss member and said second engagement boss member are integrally formed with respect to said second drawbar.
18. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said first drawbar and said second drawbar are made of molded plastic.
19. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument as defined in claim 1 wherein said first drawbar and said second drawbar are made of die cast metal.
20. A wire clamping ligature for use with a single reed mouthpiece for a musical instrument comprising:
A. a first reed retaining wire means of stainless steel wire having a diameter of less than 0.100 inches extending once around a mouthpiece and an adjacently positioned reed for retaining thereof together while allowing musical vibrational movement of the reed, said first reed retaining wire means including a first reed first end and a first reed second end;
B. a second reed retaining wire means of stainless steel wire having a diameter of less than 0.100 inches extending once around the mouthpiece and the adjacently positioned reed at a position spatially disposed longitudinally along the reed from said first reed retaining wire means for retaining of the reed in adjacent abutment to the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement of the reed, said second reed retaining wire means including a second reed first end and a second reed second end;
C. a first drawbar attached to said first reed first end of said first reed retaining wire means and attached to said second reed first end of said second reed retaining wire means to facilitate retaining of the reed in abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement thereof, said first drawbar defining a clearance bore therein at a position intermediate between said first reed retaining wire means and said second reed retaining wire means attached with respect thereto;
D. a second drawbar attached to said first reed second end of said first reed retaining wire means and attached to said second reed second end of said second reed retaining wire means to facilitate retaining of the reed in abutment with the mouthpiece while allowing musical vibrational movement thereof, said second drawbar defining a threaded bore therein in axial alignment with respect to said clearance bore in said first drawbar, said threaded bore being defined in said second drawbar at a position intermediate between said first reed retaining wire means and said second reed retaining wire means attached with respect thereto;
E. an adjustable clamping means operatively secured to said first drawbar and said second drawbar, said adjustable clamping means adapted to urge said first...
Electronic musical instrument with automatic and semi-automatic playing apparatus2010-02-05AbstractWhen the action of key depression is paused in a semi-automatic play mode, the semi-automatic playing is switched to automatic playing. When the key depression is made in the automatic playing, the playing is shifted back to the semi-automatic playing. An electronic musical instrument includes a semi-automatic play timing controlling means responsive to a key-depression by a player for controlling the first timing for tone generation, and an automatic play timing controlling means responsive to a timing information contained in a musical playing data for controlling the second timing for tone generation. The automatic playing is enabled when the key depression is not detected within a predetermined duration of time in the semi-automatic playing with the first timing controlled by the semi-automatic play timing controlling means. In the semi-automatic playing, the key depression timing may be displayed at the second timing controlled by the automatic play timing controlling means for ease of the key depression by the player.Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electronic musical instrument for being selectively switched between automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to timing information and tone information contained in a playing data, and semi-automatic playing for carrying out musical tone generation according to the tone information, in response to key depression of a player, comprising:
key means for entering timing commands for tone generation;
key-depression detecting means for detecting the operation of the key means to produce a key-depression signal;
semi-automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the key-depression signal for controlling a first timing for tone generation in the semi-automatic playing;
automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the timing information for controlling a second timing for tone generation in the automatic playing;
pause detecting means for monitoring the key-depression signal in the semi-automatic playing, and when the key-depression signal is not issued for a first predetermined period of time, producing a semi-automatic playing pause signal;
play mode switching means responsive to the semi-automatic playing pause signal produced in the semi-automatic playing for switching from the semi-automatic playing to the automatic playing; and
a tone generating means responsive to a selected one of the semi-automatic play and the automatic playing for performing the tone generation according to a pitch information contained in the playing data at one of the first and the second tone generation timings.
2. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, further comprising a key-depression timing displaying means for producing a stimulation indicative of timing for key depression at the second tone generation timing controlled by the automatic play timing controlling means in the semi-automatic playing.
3. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the stimulation is at least one of a visible display, an audible sound and a mechanical vibration.
4. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the automatic playing upon being switched from the semi-automatic playing starts from a paused part of the playing data where the semi-automatic playing was paused.
5. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the automatic playing upon being switched from the semi-automatic playing starts from a part of the playing data which is earlier than an instant when the semi-automatic playing was paused.
6. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the automatic playing upon being switched from the semi-automatic playing starts from the front of the playing data for a piece to be played.
7. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the play mode switching means is responsive to the key-depression signal which is issued in the automatic playing that has been switched from the semi-automatic playing for switching back the automatic playing to the semi-automatic playing.
8. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein further comprising:
an automatic play request counter for updating its count value at intervals of a predetermined period in the automatic playing which has been switched from the semi-automatic playing;
a read timing counter responsive to the key-depression signal in the semi-automatic playing for updating its count until it coincides with a step time contained in the succeeding tone information;
a read timing counter updating means for adding a count, which corresponds to a time elapsed after a preceding key depression and calculated on the basis of the count of the automatic play request counter, to the count of the read timing counter; and
said tone generating means producing a musical sound when the count of the read timing counter coincides with the step time.
9. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the first predetermined period of time for detecting the pause in the playing is a time elapsed after an immediately preceding generation of the key-depression signal.
10. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, wherein the first predetermined period of time is adjustable.
11. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 9, wherein the first predetermined period of time is a sum of a time from generation of the preceding key-depression signal to the succeeding key-depression defined by the playing data and a second predetermined time.
12. An electronic musical instrument for being selectively switched between automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to timing information and tone information contained in a playing data, and semi-automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to the tone information, in response to key depression of a player, comprising:
key means for entering timing commands for tone generation;
key-depression detecting means for detecting the operation of the key means to produce a key-depression signal;
semi-automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the key-depression signal for controlling a first timing for tone generation in the semi-automatic playing;
automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the timing information for controlling a second timing for tone generation in the automatic playing; and
key-depression timing display means for generating a stimulation indicative of the timing for key depression in the semi-automatic playing, at the second tone generation timing controlled by the automatic play timing controlling means.
13. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 12, further comprising
a tone generating means responsive to a selected one of the semi-automatic play and the automatic playing for performing the tone generation according to a pitch information contained in the playing data at one of the first and the second tone generation timings.
14. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the stimulation is at least one of a visible display, an audible sound and a mechanical vibraton.
15. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the key-depression timing displaying means includes an automatic play timing counter updated at intervals of a predetermined period corresponding to a tempo of a piece of music to be played, an initial count of said automatic play timing counter being preset at a timing information of the first tone information of the playing data for the piece of music, then being caused to be updated in response to a first key-depression signal in the semi-automatic play, whereby the stimulation is produced each time the count of the automatic play timing counter coincides with successive timing information in the playing data.
16. An electronic musical instrument for being selectively switched between automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to timing information and tone information contained in a playing data, and semi-automatic playing for carrying out musical tone generation according to the tone information, in response to key depression of a player, comprising:
at least one key for entering timing commands for tone generation;
a key-depression detector for detecting the operation of the at least one key to produce a key-depression signal;
a semi-automatic play timing controller responsive to the key-depression signal for controlling a first timing for tone generation in the semi-automatic playing;
an automatic play timing controller responsive to the timing information for controlling a second timing for tone generation in the automatic playing;
a pause detector for monitoring the key-depression signal in the semi-automatic playing, and when the key-depression signal is not issued for a first predetermined period of time, producing a semi-automatic playing pause signal;
a play mode switcher responsive to the semi-automatic playing pause signal produced in the semi-automatic playing for switching from the semi-automatic playing to the automatic playing; and
a tone generator responsive to a selected one of the semi-automatic play and the automatic playing for performing the tone generation according to a pitch information contained in the playing data at one of the first and the second tone generation timings.
17. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 16 further comprising a key-depression timing display for generating a stimulation indicative of the timing for key depression in the semi-automatic playing, at the second tone generation timing controlled by the automatic play timing controller.
18. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 16 wherein the automatic playing upon being switched from the semi-automatic playing starts from a part of the playing data which is earlier than an instant when the semi-automatic playing was paused.
19. An electronic musical instrument for being selectively switched between automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to timing information and tone information contained in a playing data, and semi-automatic playing, for carrying out musical tone generation according to the tone information, in response to key depression of a player, comprising:
at least one key for entering timing commands for tone generation;
a key-depression detector for detecting the operation of the at least one key to produce a key-depression signal;
a semi-automatic play timing controller responsive to the key-depression signal for controlling a first timing for tone generation in the semi-automatic playing;
an automatic play timing controller responsive to the timing information for controlling a second timing for tone generation in the automatic playing; and
a key-depression timing display for generating a stimulation indicative of the timing for key depression in the semi-automatic playing, at the second tone generation timing controlled by the automatic play timing controller.Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument equipped with a full-automatic and a semi-automatic playing apparatus and particularly, an electronic musical instrument equipped with an automatic/semi-automatic playing switching apparatus which selects between full-automatic play function and semi-automatic play function subjected to the timing for tone generation given manually as well as an electronic musical instrument capable of displaying the timing of key depression for the semi-automatic playing according to a full-automatic play function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional electronic musical instrument such as an electronic piano or a synthesizer is equipped with a full-automatic playing apparatus which produces musical tone signals corresponding to the playing data saved in ROMs or entered by a player. Such an automatic playing apparatus performs in a normal mode a full-automatic play while timing the tone generation with a tempo clock generated therein and may be equipped with a semi-automatic playing function for producing, at the timing controlled by key depression, sounds with pitches determined by the playing data.
It is common for the semi-automatic playing function that semi-automatic playing can hardly be carried out when the timing of play or key depression is not known. The semi-automatic playing of a score should be commenced only after the score was previously played in automatic play mode to acknowledge its melody.
If a player has lost the timing for key depression during the playing of the score with the semi-automatic playing function, it may be recovered by switching back to the automatic play mode to replay the score for acknowledgment of its melody and then, returning to the semi-automatic playing to start again. This switching action is troublesome and will take an extra length of time for recalling even such a small part of the score.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object of the present invention to provide an electronic musical instrument equipped with a full-automatic/semi-automatic play switching apparatus which automatically switches to an automatic play mode when the action of key depression is paused longer than a predetermined time interval in a semi-automatic play mode and shifts back to the semi-automatic play mode when the key depression is made in the full-automatic play mode, whereby semi-automatic playing can be conducted without knowing a tune to be played.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide an electronic musical instrument for performing semi-automatic playing without knowing a tune to be played by displaying the timing for key depression in the semi-automatic play mode using the full-automatic playing function.
A first feature of the present invention is characterized by a semi-automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the key-depression by a player for controlling the timing for musical tone generation, an automatic play timing controlling means responsive to the timing information contained in a musical playing data for controlling the timing for musical tone generation, a playing pause detecting means for monitoring a key-depression signal and when the key-depression signal is not issued for a predetermined period of time, producing a semi-automatic playing pause signal, a play mode switching means responsive to the semi-automatic playing pause signal produced in the semi-automatic playing for switching from the semi-automatic playing to the automatic playing, and a tone generating means for tone generation according to the pitch information contained in the playing data at the tone generation timing. A second feature of the present invention is that the play mode switching means is responsive to the key depression in the automatic playing after being switched from the semi-automatic playing for switching from the automatic playing to the semi-automatic playing.
When the key depression is paused more than a predetermined length of time in the semi-automatic playing due to, e.g. a lapse of memory, the automatic playing starts as a sample playing from the point where the playing i...
