A controller, method, system, and computer-readable medium, for producing control signals. The controller comprises a pressure sensor, a hinged input mechanism configured to receive input forces and direct them towards the sensor, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive a signal from the pressure sensor indicating that the hinged input mechanism is being depressed or released and, based on the received signal, to determine, during a time interval, a rate of change of pressure detected at the sensor. The processor also generates a control signal associated with the hinged input mechanism, wherein the control signal comprises a velocity characteristic representing a speed at which the hinged input mechanism is depressed or released, and the velocity characteristic is based at least partly on the determined rate of change of pressure. In one example embodiment, the control signal is an audio control.

An electronic percussion instrument and a hitting detection method are provided. The electronic percussion instrument includes: a head of which an upper surface is formed as a hitting surface; a body part, which is cylindrical and has an opening at an upper end side, the opening is covered by the head; and a plurality of head sensors provided on an inner peripheral side of the body part and detects a hitting on the hitting surface. The plurality of head sensors are in contact with a lower surface of the head in an area in which a distance from a center of the hitting surface is 50% or more and 75% or less of a radius of the hitting surface.

A human interface device including a processor coupled to a memory. A plurality of switch banks, also coupled to the processor and a rotary dial and a slider, both coupled to control circuitry, said control circuitry operable to provide positional information from the dial and the slider to the processor. The rotary dial and slider are disposed on the human interface device to form an association with the switch bank, a drive transducer coupled to said processor, said drive transducer including a plurality of LED sources spatially positioned on a positioning ring, a set of non-transitory processor instructions operable to direct the processor to provide MIDI commands through a BLE port.

An keytar (1) includes a keyboard (2) on which a plurality of keys (2a) are arranged, a ribbon (5) in which a front surface panel (81) is arranged, and the degree of the same type of musical sound effect applied to each of tones (A-D) produced by the key (2a) is changed corresponding to detection positions in an X-direction in the front surface panel (81). Accordingly, because the degrees of the musical sound effects can be respectively changed for each of the tones (A-D) corresponding to the detection positions in the X-direction of the front surface panel (81), for the change of the same type of musical sound effect toward the tones (A-D), the monotony of this change can be suppressed and an expressive performance can be achieved.

Embodiments are directed to a musical instrument having buttons, where the buttons determine the magnitude of the interval by which the melody will jump from the last note played. With a small number of interval buttons and an up/down strum bar, embodiments can play almost any melody and more notes than a piano. One embodiment is directed to an interval-based guitar including fret buttons whose input signals are used to calculate the interval by which to change the pitch of the prior note. Providing input via a strum bar or a sensor, a new note is generated by adding or subtracting the interval to/from the prior note to generate a new note.

A musical instrument provides the ability to both automatically detect an initial note or chord played on a touchscreen, correct the initial note or chord to neutral tone or tones, as well as to slide the note or chord to a new location, providing a continuously variable and continuous pitch to the new location, thereby creating a new type of keyboard instrument. The keyboard is operative to initialize a series of pitch arrays, one for each key, where the pitch array value is computed to provide a lookup or translation from a pressed key into an output pitch with fine granularity which matches the granularity of resolution of the touchscreen.

A device for visualizing light effects on a string musical instrument, such as a bass or guitar, during a song execution, comprising a light device (1) provided with a plurality of RGB led lights and a controller (20) configured to control the switching on, the switching off and the color of each one of said led lights, characterized in that it comprises further remote control means (30), removably fastened to the instrument and configured to communicate with said controller (20) to allow the selection of a functioning mode of said LED lights between a plurality of pre-set functioning modes, and in that said pre-set modes of visual effects visualization comprise at least a mode whose lights switching on and off are functions of the music played by the instrument.

An electronic musical instrument including a musical instrument body which is supported by first finger of a hand of an instrument player and at least one finger other than the first finger, scale keys which are provided at positions that are contacted with fingers other than the first finger on one surface of the musical instrument body, and each of which specifies a scale of a musical sound, a touchpad which is provided in an area that is contacted with the first finger on an other surface of the musical instrument body, and includes a sensor that has a planar detection area for detecting a contact position of the first finger, and a processor which controls emission of the musical sound whose scale has been specified by the scale key in accordance with the contact position of the first finger detected by the touchpad.

Embodiments are directed to a musical instrument having buttons, where the buttons determine the magnitude of the interval by which the melody will jump from the last note played. With a small number of interval buttons and an up/down strum bar, embodiments can play almost any melody and more notes than a piano. One embodiment is directed to an interval-based guitar including fret buttons whose input signals are used to calculate the interval by which to change the pitch of the prior note. Providing input via a strum bar or a sensor, a new note is generated by adding or subtracting the interval to/from the prior note to generate a new note.

A button includes a button unit suspended vertically in Z direction in a frame and which has a button body with an upper actuating surface and at least one shaft extending vertically downwardly from the button body. An X-Y sensor unit is arranged vertically below the button body and fixed to the frame for detecting X-Y positions on the actuating surface. The X-Y sensor unit has one opening such that the shaft can vertically move therethrough. One transfer element is elastically suspended vertically below the shaft and moved vertically downwardly upon downward movement of the shaft. A Z sensor unit arranged vertically below the transfer element is fixed to the frame. The Z sensor unit has at least one detection element for detecting vertical downward movement of the transfer element. The X-Y sensor unit may include a capacitive sensor. The Z sensor unit may include an inductive sensor, a capacitive sensor, or a magnetic sensor. The button may be illuminated by the shaft, where the shaft and the extension include a translucent material to form a light guide connected to the button body. A light source is located vertically below the shaft, so the light of the light source leaves upwardly and enters the shaft from below. An optical device deflecting the light that entered the shaft from the light source in a horizontal direction is arranged in the vertical upper area of the light guide above the shaft.