Granted Patent B2

US 12,334,039 · App. 18/443,097 · Granted Jun 17, 2025

Inventors: Paul Piscoi (Dumbrǎvit̨a, RO); Mark Moralez (Newhall, CA); Rich Sikra (Thousand Oaks, CA); Connor Lombardi (Camarillo, CA); Marcus Ryle (Santa Rosa Valley, CA)

Assignee: Drum Workshop, Inc.

G10D13/26G10D13/02G10H1/0008G10H1/32G10H1/348G10H3/10G10H2220/461

Abstract

Claims (36)

1. An electronic musical instrument system, comprising:

a hub; and

one or more musical instruments, each of said musical instruments comprising:

one or more sensors;

an electronic; and

a power source powering said electronic;

wherein each of said one or more sensors is configured to produce an impulse in response to an actuation of said musical instrument; and

wherein said electronic is configured to accept said impulse from each of said one or more sensors, convert said impulse from each of said one or more sensors into a signal comprising a MIDI note component and/or a MIDI velocity component, and wirelessly transmit said signal to said hub.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said electronic comprises a circuit board, and a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting said signal to said hub.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein upon acceptance of said impulse from said sensor, said electronic is configured to determine whether to transmit said signal by determining whether said impulse exceeds a minimum sending threshold, and upon making a determination to transmit said signal, to determine the contents of said signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said hub comprises a receiver, and wherein said hub is configured to, upon receipt by said receiver of said signal from a transmitting one of said musical instruments, send an acknowledgment signal to said transmitting one of said musical instruments.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein said transmitting one of said musical instruments is configured to resend said signal if an acknowledgment is not received within a set period of time.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said set period of time is 1 ms or less.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said one or more musical instruments comprises a plurality of said musical instruments.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of said musical instruments is configured to wirelessly transmit to said hub on a first frequency, said first frequency the same for each of said plurality of musical instruments.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein said hub is configured to respond to each of said musical instruments with an acknowledgment signal upon receipt of a signal from that musical instrument.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said hub is configured to wirelessly transmit said acknowledgment signals on a second frequency different than said first frequency.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of said musical instruments is configured to resend a respective signal if an acknowledgment from said hub is not received within a set period of time after sending said respective signal, and wherein said set period of time is different for each of said musical instruments.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein said plurality of musical instruments comprises at least one drum comprising an acoustic drum, and at least one cymbal instrument comprising an acoustic cymbal.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein said plurality of musical instruments is a drum set comprising a snare drum, a bass drum, a tom tom, a cymbal, and a hi-hat.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein said signal is 25 bytes or less.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein a message length of said signal is 250 us or less.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a computer, wherein said hub is connected to said computer.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a hardware-based sound module, wherein said hub is connected to said hardware-based sound module.

18. The system claim 1 , further comprising one or more speakers, wherein said hub is connected to said one or more speakers.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein said one or more musical instruments comprises a drum comprising an acoustic drum.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein said one or more musical instruments comprises a drum; wherein said sensor is a first sensor, and further comprising a second sensor;

wherein said first sensor is a piezoelectric sensor, and said impulse from said first sensor is produced upon actuation of a drumhead of said drum;

wherein said second sensor is an FS sensor, and said impulse from said second sensor is produced in response to pressure on said drumhead; and

wherein said electronic adjusts said signal based on the impulse from said FS sensor such that the signal is configured to produce a different sound than if no pressure were sensed.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein said signal comprises said MIDI note component and said MIDI velocity component.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein said one or more sensors comprises a plurality of sensors, and wherein said electronic is configured to receive said impulses from said plurality of sensors and convert said impulses from said plurality of sensors into said signal.

23. A method of operating an electronic musical instrument system comprising a hub and an electronic drum set comprising a plurality of percussion instruments, comprising:

in each of said percussion instruments, producing one or more sensor impulses, and receiving said one or more sensor impulses with a respective electronic in each of said percussion instruments;

in each of said percussion instruments, with said respective electronic, converting said one or more sensor impulses into one or more instrument signals comprising a MIDI note component and/or a MIDI velocity component, and wirelessly transmitting said one or more instrument signals from each of said percussion instruments to said hub.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein each of said one or more instrument signals comprises said MIDI note component and said MIDI velocity component.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (134)