Electronic supporting system for musicians and musical instrument equipped with the same
An automatic player piano is equipped with an electronic supporting system, which makes a player learn an optimum pedal stroke to a half pedal region; while the player is practicing a music tune on the piano, the electronic supporting system monitors the damper pedal; when the player starts to depress the damper pedal, the electronic supporting system exerts an assisting force on the damper pedal so as to make the player feel the damper pedal light; when the damper pedal reaches an entrance of the half pedal region, the electronic supporting system removes the assisting force from the damper pedal so that the player feels the damper pedal heavy, whereby the player learns the pedal stroke to the half pedal region through the change of load borne by the player.
1. An electronic supporting system for a human player who plays on a musical instrument equipped with at least one manipulator moved by said human player from a rest position to an end position through a track, comprising:
an actuator provided for said at least one manipulator, and responsive to a driving signal for exerting an assisting force on said at least one manipulator, thereby making load for moving said at least one manipulator on said track sharable between said human player and said actuator;
a sensor monitoring said at least one manipulator, and producing a detecting signal representative of an actual physical quantity expressing movements of said at least one manipulator on said track; and
a controller connected to said sensor and said actuator, checking said actual physical quantity to see whether said at least one manipulator reaches a target position on said track for producing an answer, and varying a magnitude of said driving signal depending upon said answer for removing said assisting force from said at least one manipulator at said target position.
2. The electronic supporting system as set forth in claim 1 , in which said controller has
a source of control variable producing a control variable expressing said magnitude, and
a signal regulator connected to said source of control variable and adjusting said driving signal to said magnitude expressed by said control variable.
3. The electronic supporting system as set forth in claim 2 , in which said target position is found at a boundary between a predetermined region of said track and another predetermined region of said track, wherein said source of control variable regulates said control variable to a finite value while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said predetermined region and to zero while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said another predetermined region.
4. An electronic supporting system for a human player who plays on a musical instrument equipped with at least one manipulator moved by said human player from a rest position through a predetermined region and another predetermined region to an end position through a track, comprising:
an actuator provided for said at least one manipulator, and responsive to a driving signal for exerting an assisting force on said at least one manipulator, thereby making load for moving said at least one manipulator on said track sharable between said human player and said actuator;
a sensor monitoring said at least one manipulator, and producing a detecting signal representative of an actual physical quantity expressing movements of said at least one manipulator on said track; and
a controller connected to said sensor and said actuator, checking said actual physical quantity to see whether said at least one manipulator reaches a target position on said track for producing an answer, and varying a magnitude of said driving signal depending upon said answer for changing a part of said load borne by said human player,
wherein said target portion is found at a boundary between said predetermined region of said track and said another predetermined region of said track, and
wherein said controller keeps said assisting force zero while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said predetermined region and increases said assisting force to a finite value while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said another predetermined region.
5. The electronic supporting system as set forth in claim 2 , in which said source of control variable has
a source of target physical quantity outputting a target physical quantity variable together with said actual physical quantity and a variable, and
a control variable generator connected to said source of target physical quantity and said sensor so as to determine a difference between said target physical quantity and said actual physical quantity, and determining said control variable on the basis of said difference and said variable.
6. The electronic supporting system as set forth in claim 5 , in which said source of target physical quantity adjusts said target physical quantity to a value of said actual physical quantity regardless of the value of said actual physical quantity, and adjusts said variable to a finite value until said target position and to zero at said target position.
7. The electronic supporting system as set forth in claim 5 , in which said source of target physical quantity adjusts said variable to zero regardless of said actual physical quantity, and adjusts said target physical quantity to a value different from the value of said actual physical quantity until said target position and to said value of said actual physical quantity at said target position.
8. A musical instrument for performing a music tune by a human player, comprising:
at least one manipulator moved by said human player from a rest position to an end position through a track for designating an attribute of tones;
a mechanical tone generating system connected to said at least one manipulator, and producing said tones having said attribute; and
an electronic supporting system including
an actuator provided for said at least one manipulator and responsive to a driving signal for exerting an assisting force on said at least one manipulator, thereby making load for moving said at least one manipulator on said track sharable between said human player and said actuator,
a sensor monitoring said at least one manipulator and producing a detecting signal representative of an actual physical quantity expressing movements of said at least one manipulator on said track, and
a controller connected to said sensor and said actuator, checking said actual physical quantity to see whether said at least one manipulator reaches a target position on said track for producing an answer and varying a magnitude of said driving signal depending upon said answer for removing said assisting force from said at least one manipulator at said target position.
9. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 8 , further comprising an automatic playing system for driving said at least one manipulator without any force exerted by said human player.
10. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 9 , in which said actuator, said sensor and said controller are shared between said electronic supporting system and said automatic playing system, and a part of a computer program and another part of said computer program are respectively assigned to said electronic supporting system and said automatic playing system.
11. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 8 , in which said at least one manipulator and said mechanical tone generator are a damper pedal and a combination of action units, hammers, strings, dampers incorporated in a piano.
12. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 11 , in which said target position is a certain pedal position at a boundary between a non-effective region where said tones are produced without any effect and a half pedal region where said tones are produced at a small value of loudness.
13. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 8 , in which said at least one manipulator and said mechanical tone generator are keys forming parts of a keyboard and a combination of action units, hammers, dampers and strings incorporated in a piano.
14. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 13 , in which said target position is certain key positions close to left-off points where said hammers start free rotation toward said strings.
15. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 8 , in which said controller has
a source of control variable producing a control variable expressing said magnitude, and
a signal regulator connected to said source of control variable and adjusting said driving signal to said magnitude expressed by said control variable.
16. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15 , in which said target position is found at a boundary between a predetermined region of said track and another predetermined region of said track, wherein said source of control variable regulates said control variable to a finite value while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said predetermined region and to zero while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said another predetermined region.
17. A musical instrument for performing a music tune by a human player, comprising:
at least one manipulator moved by said human player from a rest position through a predetermined region and another predetermined region to an end position through a track for designating an attribute of tones;
a mechanical tone generating system connected to said at least one manipulator, and producing said tones having said attribute; and
an electronic supporting system including
an actuator provided for said at least one manipulator and responsive to a driving signal for exerting an assisting force on said at least one manipulator, thereby making load for moving said at least one manipulator on said track sharable between said human player and said actuator,
a sensor monitoring said at least one manipulator and producing a detecting signal representative of an actual physical quantity expressing movements of said at least one manipulator on said track, and
a controller connected to said sensor and said actuator, checking said actual physical quantity to see whether said at least one manipulator reaches a target position on said track for producing an answer and varying a magnitude of said driving signal depending upon said answer,
wherein said target portion is found at a boundary between said predetermined region of said track and said another predetermined region of said track, and
wherein said controller keeps said assisting force zero while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said predetermined region and increases said assisting force to a finite value while said at least one manipulator is traveling in said another predetermined region.
18. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15 , in which said source of control variable has
a source of target physical quantity outputting a target physical quantity variable together with said actual physical quantity and a variable, and
a control variable generator connected to said source of target physical quantity and said sensor so as to determine a difference between said target physical quantity and said actual physical quantity, and determining said control variable on the basis of said difference and said variable.
19. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 18 , in which said source of target physical quantity adjusts said target physical quantity to a value of said actual physical quantity regardless of the value of said actual physical quantity, and adjusts said variable to a finite value until said target position and to zero at said target position.
20. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 18 , in which said source of target physical quantity adjusts said variable to zero regardless of said actual physical quantity, and adjusts said target physical quantity to a value different from the value of said actual physical quantity until said target position and to said value of said actual physical quantity at said target position.