A percussion instrument, in particular electronic percussion instrument, includes at least one main attack element having at least one main attack surface and with a position detecting unit which is at least provided to detect an attack position of the main attack surface. The position detecting unit comprises at least two position detecting elements which are arranged decentrally with respect to the main attack surface, at least when the main attack surface is viewed perpendicularly.

A percussion instrument is adapted with a foam arrangement directly or indirectly in communication with its percussion surface. The foam arrangement reduces acoustic impact sounds when the instrument is struck, helps isolate vibrations from nearby percussion surfaces, and reduces or removes sound generation when air is released from the damper. To achieve these results, directly or indirectly secured to the percussion surface is an open-cell foam layer that is configured with a closed-cell foam layer positioned in a lateral side-by-side arrangement to create a spring and damper system. The open-cell foam may have one or more holes that extend entirely through its body, and inside those, one or more holes are closed-cell foam to provide additional spring-like functionality. The side-by-side dual-layer arrangement enables the closed- and open-cell foam layers to operate in tandem—the closed-cell layer operates as a spring, and the open-cell layer operates as a damper.

A handheld musical instrument for playing a variety of audio program, the handheld musical instrument comprising a body portion with one or more sensors and a handle portion coupled to said body part, wherein said handle portion includes one or more operational buttons to control the operation of said handheld musical instrument. The buttons being operated with a finger or thumb trigger.

A frame body fixed to a membrane 10 is divided into multiple long-side frame bodies 11 and a short-side frame body aligned in a peripheral direction of a frame 3. Tension is applied to the frame body 10 by pulling each frame body 11, 12. Accordingly, it is not necessary to make the shape of each frame body 11, 12 consistent with the frame 3 (support part 30) in a complicated polygonal shape, and the shape of each frame body 11, 12 can be formed as a linear shape. Therefore, the shape of each frame body 11, 12 hardly varies. In addition, even if the shape of each frame body 11, 12 varies, tension can be uniformly applied to the membrane 10, as it is configured that each frame body 11, 12 is pulled to apply tension to the membrane 10.

A new and improved Digital Musical Instrument includes a hardware segment that electronically detects the physical inputs of a musicians musical playing style or articulated intent; a Software segment that interprets and formulates the data output from the hardware segment, to be applied to any digitally modulated synthesizer or recording sampler; and an optional expanded method of sampling or digitally recording articulated sounds of acoustic instruments.

A sound pickup device includes: a housing; a mount portion via which the housing on an object constituting a portion of a musical instrument; a sound pickup including a plurality of the microphones respectively oriented in different directions; a first output configured to output a sound signal indicating a sound input to the sound pickup; and an installer configured to install the sound pickup on the housing such that each of the plurality of microphones is oriented away from the object when the housing is mounted on the object via the mount portion.

A sound pickup device includes: a housing; a mount portion via which the housing is mounted on an object; a sound pickup including a microphone; a first output configured to output a sound signal indicating a sound input to the sound pickup; an installer configured to install the sound pickup on the housing; a sensor configured to detect a vibration transmitted to the housing; and a second output configured to output a vibration signal indicating the vibration detected by the sensor.

A handheld musical instrument for generating percussion sounds, the handheld musical instrument includes a body part with one or more sensors, a set of control buttons to select a type of audio output to be generated by said handheld musical instrument, and a handle part coupled to said body part, the handle part including the set of control buttons and operable between a first position and a second position.

A handheld musical instrument for playing a variety of audio program, the handheld musical instrument includes a main body portion with one or more sensors, a handle portion engaged with said main body portion, wherein said handle portion includes one or more control buttons to select a type of program to be played by said handheld musical instrument and a gesture detection module for detecting gestures associated with said handheld musical instrument and controlling a tempo associated with said program played by said handheld musical instrument based on said detected gestures.

A polyphonic multi-dimensional controller (PMC) provides for independently expressing multiple concurrently sounding musical notes. The PMC includes rows and columns of force-sensing potentiometers (FSPs) that define an array of single-touch zones (STZs). Using a z-axis switch configuration, touches are detected and the forces associated with the touches are measured. For STZs for which a touch is detected, a fine x position and a fine y position are determined respectively using an x-axis switch configuration and a y-axis switch configuration. By repeatedly scanning the STZs, the x-axis position, the y-axis position, and the z-axis force can be tracked and translated into 3-axis note expression data. The PMC is multi-touch so that the 3-axis note expression data can be polyphonic.