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.

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.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is an electric violin comprising a sound bar having a first tang and a second tang. The central portion of the sound bar rests on a top plate of the violin, separated by a separator pad, and the first and second tangs protrude to an inner cavity of the violin through a first and a second plate hole of the top plate. A pickup assembly includes a first and a second pickup, where each of the pickups comprise a bobbin made of two plates separated by a plurality of magnetic polepieces and surrounded by a coil wire. Each of the pickups includes a compression mechanism including a height adjustment screw that holds the compression mechanism at a firm tension while the distance between the plurality of the magnetic polepieces of the pickup and the corresponding tang satisfies a tolerance gap.

A musical instrument, including: an acoustic portion configured to generate sounds in accordance with a vibration; a plurality of soundboard braces attached to a flat surface of the acoustic portion; a bracket supported by two of the plurality of soundboard braces; and an acoustic transducer supported by the bracket and configured to vibrate the acoustic portion based on an acoustic signal inputted thereto, wherein the bracket is disposed so as to bridge the two of the plurality of soundboard braces, and the acoustic transducer vibrates the acoustic portion at a position between the two of the plurality of soundboard braces.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can provide systems, methods, and computer-readable medium for implementing user interfaces for interacting with a virtual instrument. For example, a user interface for a virtual instrument may be presented on a display of a device. The user interface may have any suitable number of strings (or keys) associated with a physical instrument. Each string/key may correspond to an associated audio file. Touch input may be received at the user interface. In some embodiments, the touch input may include a location corresponding to a particular string. The associated audio file may be selected based on the location. The associated audio file may be presented (e.g., via a speaker of the device) at a volume that corresponds with the pressure at which the touch input was provided.

A stringless electric bowed musical instrument is disclosed in which sensors are provided to detect finger positions and bowing motions of the player. A touch-sensitive fingerboard surface is equipped with pitch sensors that detect finger positions. Use of a fingerboard surface that includes an interactive flexible touch screen display provides a plurality of illumination patterns to be displayed on the fingerboard and permits various operational modes that are useful for both students and artists. A bowing platform in contact with either the fingerboard or the body of the instrument provides an adjustable bowing surface for including bow sensors configured to detect vibrations in response to bow motion. The bow sensors may include piezo-ceramic elements. Optical pitch sensors may sense interruption of one or more laser beams that propagate above a top surface of the fingerboard.

Synthetic multi-string musical instruments have been developed for capturing and rendering musical performances on handheld or other portable devices in which a multi-touch sensitive display provides one of the input vectors for an expressive performance by a user or musician. Visual cues may be provided on the multi-touch sensitive display to guide the user in a performance based on a musical score. Alternatively, or in addition, uncued freestyle modes of operation may be provided. In either case, it is not the musical score that drives digital synthesis and audible rendering of the synthetic multi-string musical instrument. Rather, it is the stream of user gestures captured at least in part using the multi-touch sensitive display that drives the digital synthesis and audible rendering.

An onboard electronic system and associated method enables a player of an acoustic stringed instrument to control an electronic signal for modifying and amplifying sound while playing an instrument. The onboard electronic system is embedded in the tailpiece and/or the chinrest portions and/or shoulder-rest portion of the stringed instrument, and includes at least one pickup, a battery-powered amplification unit and at least one controller. The method includes steps for controlling sound amplification and tonal modification onboard an acoustic stringed instrument. The steps include sensing vibration from strings with a pickup, generating an electrical signal and transmitting the electrical signal to an amplification unit via an input cable, and modifying the electrical signal in response to one or more controllers located onboard the instrument.

A method and process to set the parameters of a Control Algorithm and to synthesize and generate a variety of sounds and vibration that are normally not available on a specific acoustic stringed instrument are disclosed. The technical problems of generating a different timbre, sound and vibration of a stringed acoustic instrument (Controlled Instrument) in real time are solved. The invention describes a process (Cloning Procedure) where specific set of parameters needed to imitate a target instrument are defined; The imitation of the Target Instrument's timbre on the Controlled Instrument is performed by the Control Algorithm which employs two digital Linear-Time-Invariant systems to drive the actuators based on by controlling the actuators with a couple of digital Linear-Time-Invariant systems that receive the vibration signal from the measurement apparatus. The process can be optionally deactivated, thus having the Controlled Instrument acting as a traditional acoustic instrument.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can provide systems, methods, and computer-readable medium for implementing user interfaces for interacting with a virtual instrument. For example, first touch input indicating a string location of a plurality of string locations within the note selection area. Audio output corresponding to the sting location may be presented on a speaker based at least in part on the first touch input. Second touch input corresponding to an ornamental interface element of the user interface may be received. In response to the first and second touch input, a series of two or more audio outputs may be presented on the speaker according to a predetermined pattern.