When a harmony function is on state, a generator determines a chord based on one or more notes of depressed keys in a chord kea area, automatically generates one or more additional notes having pitches which harmonizes the pitch of the note of the depressed key in a performance key area according to the determined chord, and inputs the “note of the pressed key in the performance key area+additional notes” to an assignment controller. The assignment controller assigns plural parts (timbres) to the inputted notes, and sounds the notes in timbres of the plural parts according to the assignment. That is, tone generation assignment process is performed regarding not only notes according to performance operation by a user but also automatically generated additional notes.

Various embodiments provide techniques for generating real-time musical accompaniment for musical content included in an audio signal. A real-time musical accompaniment system receives the audio signal via an audio input device. The system extract, from the audio signal, musical information characterizing at least a portion of the musical content. The system generates musical information that has at least one of a rhythmic relationship and a harmonic relationship with the musical information. The system generates an output audio signal that is complementary to the musical information. The system transmits, substantially immediately after receiving the audio signal, the output audio signal to an audio output device.

Various embodiments provide techniques for generating real-time musical accompaniment for musical content included in an audio signal. A real-time musical accompaniment system receives the audio signal via an audio input device. The system extract, from the audio signal, musical information characterizing at least a portion of the musical content. The system generates musical information that has at least one of a rhythmic relationship and a harmonic relationship with the musical information. The system generates an output audio signal that is complementary to the musical information. The system transmits, substantially immediately after receiving the audio signal, the output audio signal to an audio output device.

Indicating what should be played in a piece of music with a music document, including: displaying a part of the music document when a user plays the piece; receiving a real-time audio signal of the playing; automatically determining a playing position within the piece of music based on the real-time audio signal; automatically scrolling the music document on a display depending on the playing position; estimating at least the following from the real-time audio signal: activity; tonality; and tempo used in automatically determining the playing position determined from playing speed of the user. The estimating of the activity includes detecting whether the user is producing any sounding notes. The estimating of the tonality is based on an array of chord models that represent different chords that appear in the music document and allow calculating the probability that the corresponding chord is being played in various real-time audio signal segments.

An input support method is provided for use in an input support apparatus that supports input of a music note. The method includes: controlling a display unit to display a pitch-time plane that includes a pitch-axis and a time-axis, a chord sequence that is associated with the time-axis of the pitch-time plane, and a pointer that indicates a position on the time-axis along the chord sequence; identifying constituent music notes that form a chord corresponding to a display position of the pointer along the chord sequence; and controlling the display unit to display areas on the pitch-time plane, each displayed area indicating a corresponding one of the identified constituent music notes, differently from other areas on the pitch-time plane.

Conventionally, an electronic musical user input, such as an electronic keyboard has pre-programmed pitches associated with each key. These pre-programmed pitches correspond to the pitches from their acoustic counterparts. While some methods do exist of remapping the keys in such a way that a user cannot make a so called ‘bad’ sound by playing a wrong 5 not, there is little freedom in the selection of the ‘good’ notes. Therefore, there is herein provided a method of adjusting the complexity of a chord which therein determines the actual set of pitches which can be assigned to a user input device in order to increase the flexibility of remapping systems.

Conventionally, an electronic musical user input, such as an electronic keyboard has pre-programmed pitches associated with each key. These pre-programmed pitches correspond to the pitches from their acoustic counterparts. While some methods do exist of remapping the keys in such a way that a user cannot make a so called ‘bad’ sound by playing a wrong 5 not, there is little freedom in the selection of the ‘good’ notes. Therefore, there is herein provided a method of adjusting the complexity of a chord which therein determines the actual set of pitches which can be assigned to a user input device in order to increase the flexibility of remapping systems.

A musical instrument with an improved interface for playing the instrument is provided. The musical instrument may be configured with a musical scale and a key. An input interface of the musical instrument may be configured based on the scale and key to allow a player of the instrument to easily play multiple collections of notes, or chords, in a simplified manner. For example, the improved interface allows a user to play a number of chords or other collection of notes without having to depress or engage a number of sound actuators at different locations along instrument.

The intelligent accompaniment generating system includes an input module, an analysis module, a generation module and a musical equipment. The input module is configured to receive a musical pattern signal derived from a raw signal. The analysis module is configured to analyze the musical pattern signal to extract a set of audio features, wherein the input module is configured to transmit the musical pattern signal to the analysis module. The generation module is configured to obtain a playing assistance information having an accompaniment pattern from the analysis module, wherein the accompaniment pattern has at least two parts having different onsets therebetween, and each onsets of the at least two parts is generated by an algorithm according to the set of audio features. The musical equipment includes a digital amplifier configured to output an accompaniment signal according to the accompaniment pattern.

An electronic musical instrument includes: a plurality of performance elements that specify pitch data; a sound source that produces musical sounds; and a processor configured to perform the following: when a user performance of the plurality of performance elements satisfies a prescribed condition, instructing the sound source to produce a sound of a first timbre and a sound of a second timbre, both corresponding to a pitch data specified by the user performance; and when the user performance of the plurality of performance elements does not satisfy the prescribed condition, instructing the sound source to produce the sound of the first timbre corresponding to the pitch data specified by the user performance and not instructing the sound source to produce the sound of the second timbre.