Patent · US Expired

Digital chord generation for electronic musical instruments

US4186636A · kind A · utility

4Cited by
17References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 19, 1977
Grant dateFeb 5, 1980
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 19, 1997

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S84/22
  • WIPO fieldOther consumer goods
  • WIPO sectorOther fields

Abstract

An electrical musical instrument having a digital circuit which automatically generates selected chordally related tone signals in response to manual selection of a root note. A root encoder provides a binary code representative of the root note in response to note selections, and an interval code generator automatically provides code signals having binary number values equal to the number of half steps from the root for a given interval. An adder arithmetically adds the root code and the interval code to generate a code for a chordally related note having both octave and note information corresponding to the automatically generated tone signal. In one mode of operation, the root code represents the root of the root-fifth pair of highest priority around the circle of fifths selected on a manual keyboard. In another mode, the root code is representative of a note selected on the pedal clavier.

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