Patent · US Expired

Programmable sound synthesizer

US4164020A · kind A · utility

12Cited by
5References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 28, 1978
Grant dateAug 7, 1979
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 28, 1998

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F1/0328
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A programmable sound synthesizer, controlled by a microprocessor, can be fabricated according to the present invention to provide arbitrary programmability with respect to the waveform of an audible tone, frequency, amplitude, envelope shape of the wave train, including attack, sustain and the decay intervals of the envelope, rest or space intervals between notes as well as arbitrary selection of the note within an ordered sequence. A plurality of binary numbers, which in sequence are indicative of the waveform of the tone to be generated, can be read from a memory at a rate which defines the frequency of the waveform. The memory is read by an address generator whose repetition rate is controlled by an integrater. The rate of integration is in turn controlled by a tone number which is programmed into an appropriate register coupled to the integrater. Envelope and amplitude information may also be programmed into corresponding registers. The waveform memory, envelope register and amplitude register are each coupled to the central processor and read synchronously to generate the complex selected tone.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.