4,158,978

43.75.Tv ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

CAPABLE OF PRODUCING "CHORD PYRAMID"

ARPEGGIO EFFECTS

Teruo Hiyoshi, Akira Nakada, Shigeru Yamada, Eiichiro Aoki, and Eiichi Yamaga, assignors to Nippon Gakki

26 June 1979 (Class 84/1.03); filed in Japan 2 July 1976

"Claim 1. In a polyphonic keyboard electronic musical instru- ment, the improvement for producing a random mode arpeggio effect, comprising, first means for establishing separate sets of repetitive tone production timing pulses, each set beginning upon depression of a corresponding one of a group of depressed keys designating the tones in an arpeggio chord, and second means for separately, repetitively enabling the production of each selected arpeggio tone in response to each occurrence of a tone production timing pulse in the set corre- sponding to the depressed key for that tone."-DWM

4,159,491

43.75. Tv QUADRABELL CARILLON INSTRUMENT

Ronald O. Beach, assignor to Schulmerich Carillons, Incorporated

26 June 1979 (Class 369/12); filed 9 December 1977

This musical instrument is really a playback system for magnetic tapes or magnetic disks on which the sounds of cast bells are recorded. There are four modules of continuous recording medium. A liturgi- cal module provides a choice among four different sound tracks of recorded swinging bells. A multi-play module provides a sequence of prerecorded hymns for churches or of popular music for commercial establishments. A Westminster module supplies Westminster chimes

TRACK

TRACK

TRACK

TRACK

J SILENCE

SILENCE SILENCE

sILENCE }. 3Min. _1_ 15 Sec.-q T

at the quarter hours and the striking sound of cast bells each hour. The owner of the system can substitute tapes of his choice in the fourth module. The single claim of the patent is concerned with the use of the silent period at the end of each recorded track of a multi- track module to signal the drive mechanism for that module to ad- vance the tape to the common starting point for all of the tracks. -DWM

tot plate. Depression of the key causes an overlapping plate condi- tion dependent upon the velocity of the key. A high-frequency sig- nal passes through the capacitor into a variable impedance input switching circuit where the current is rectified and stored. The magni- tude of the discharging stored potential actuates a tone keyer circuit to control the amplitude of the tone signal.-DWM

4,160,401

43.75.Tv STRING VIBRATION TRANSDUCER BRIDGE

FOR ELECTRIC STRINGED INSTRUMENTS

Michiaki Tomioka, assignor to Chushin Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha

10 July 1979 (Class 84/1.16); filed in Japan 29 December 1976

Each string 4 of this electric string instrument, such as a guitar, is provided with a separate piezoelectric transducer element 73 secured between the triangular portion 48 of string tension adjusting mechan- ism 15 and the upper end of screw $2C of pushing mechanism $2D.

25 48C

I 55

48 4 (

I

/' \ 52D 3,?..C 2..I I

The end of the string is grounded and secured at hole 74. Grounded plate 55 for electromagnetic shielding is perforated to provide access for pushing screw adjustment. The intention is to provide the player with two independent adjustment mechanisms for the vibration transducer of each individual string.-DWM

4,160,400

43.75.Tv TOUCH RESPONSIVE KEYING UNIT FOR

ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Ray B. Schrecongost, assignor to Marmon Company 10 July 1979 (Class 84/1.13); filed 29 September 1975

Each key of this keyboard electronic musical instrument has a touch responsive unit for imparting to the percussive tone envelope a peak amplitude, which is dependent upon the velocity with which the playing key is depressed. The key moves a U-shaped movable capa- citor plate, which in its rest position does not overlap a fixed capaci-

4,160,402

43.75. Tv MUSIC SIGNAL CONVERSION APPARATUS

Louis A. Schwartz, Derby, Connecticut 06418 10 July 1979 (Class 84/1.24); filed 19 December 1977

Previous Patent 4,003,285 to the same inventor [reviewed J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 1552 (1978)] showed circuitry for providing amplitude modulation to each individual percussive tone in a melodic sequence, which would reverse the apparent slope of the tone enve- lope, causing each tone to have a relatively slow rise time and relative- ly rapid decay time. The purpose was to make the tones sound as if

367 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 67(1 ), Jan. 1980; 0001-4966/80/010367-02500.80; ¸ 1980 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Patent Reviews 367

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