An electronic synthesizer instrument incorporating four bass pedals which can be played either with the heel or the toe of the foot, so as to allow the playing of all twelve notes in a chromatic octave with just the four pedals. The apparatus is an improvement upon existing bass pedal devices which enables easier playing of the bass parts for musicians simultaneously playing other instruments. The assignment of the pitch to the pedals is selectable, but two of the easiest-to-play embodiments are described in detail. The four pedals rock on a central pivot, each giving two distinct notes. Half pitches between notes addressed by adjacent pedals can be accessed by holding both adjacent pedals down.

A method and corresponding system for providing a depressed state signal from a keyboard or button. The method comprises sensing movement of an actuator of the keyboard or button, determining, during depression of the actuator, a velocity of the actuator at a depression sense position of the actuator and at a first time, processing the determined velocity to predict when the actuator will reach a second depression sense position of the actuator at a later point during depression of the actuator, and generating the depressed state signal with a timing based on the prediction of when the actuator will reach the second depression sense position. A complementary method and system provides a released state signal.

A hammer assembly includes: a pivot member that pivots about a pivot axis; and a weight supported by the pivot member and including a plate portion. The plate portion has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The plate portion has: a first region with a thickness defined by a length between the first surface and the second surface in a pivot-axis direction at a portion farthest from the pivot axis; and a second region with a thickness greater than that in the first region. In a case where the areas of the first region and the second region on a projected plane when the first region and the second region are viewed in the pivot-axis direction are compared with each other, the area of the first region is less than the area of the second region.

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.

In a key switch (10), an inner dome (Din) starts to deform once a distal end portion (21) of the inner dome (Din) comes into contact with a base surface (93a) after an outer dome (Dout) starts to deform. A thick portion (25) extending straight and having a uniform wall thickness in a click generating portion (CL) has the thickness less than or equal to the minimum thickness of a thick portion (23) of an after stroke portion (AF). The degree of inclination of the thick portion (25) with respect to a center line (C0) (direction of pressing) is larger than that of the thick portion (23) with respect to the center line (C0) (c>a). Before the after stroke portion (AF) undergoes large deformation, the click generating portion (CL) undergoes buckling to cause a sudden decrease in a reaction force and generate a click feeling.

An audio foot pedal having an activation arrangement comprising a control button and a stationary part, the control button being secured to the stationary part for relative movement along a travel range, the activation arrangement providing a control signal in response to movement of said control button, the audio foot pedal further comprising at least one signal processing arrangement arranged to execute at least two different functional modes, wherein at least one of said functional modes, in response to said control signal, variably controls a signal processing of audio signals communicated to said at least one signal processing arrangement thereby producing an audio output signal to an audio output, and wherein said control signal also controls switching between said at least two functional modes.

An audio foot pedal having an activation arrangement comprising a control button and a stationary part, the control button being secured to the stationary part for relative movement along a travel range, the activation arrangement providing a control signal in response to movement of said control button, the audio foot pedal further comprising at least one signal processing arrangement arranged to execute at least two different functional modes, wherein at least one of said functional modes, in response to said control signal, variably controls a signal processing of audio signals communicated to said at least one signal processing arrangement thereby producing an audio output signal to an audio output, and wherein said control signal also controls switching between said at least two functional modes.

A detection device including n number of sensors arrayed in a direction, in which n is an integer of 3 or more and from which (n1) pairs of adjacent sensors are formed, and a processor which determines one specified position in the direction based on output values of the n number of sensors, in which the processor calculates (n1) sets of difference values each of which is a difference between two output values corresponding to each of the (n1) pairs of sensors, and determines the one specified position based on the (n1) sets of difference values and correlation positions corresponding to the (n1) sets of difference values and indicating positions correlated with array positions of each pair of sensors.

A musical instrument, for example, a keyboard guitar, includes a body, an elongated neck coupled to the body, neck keys disposed on the elongated neck, and an output for transmitting an electrical signal generated by the musical instrument. Activation of each neck key generates an electrical signal at the output representing a pitch associated with a musical note. The musical instrument may also include body keys disposed on the body, and a strum bar that generates an electrical signal at the output representing a pitch associated with a musical note based on which of the body keys are activated during activation of the strum bar. Further, the musical instrument may include a continuous graphic image spanning the front face of the body and the body keys, forming a continuous pattern that is unbroken across a transition between key surfaces of the body keys and the front face of the body.

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.