An electronic system that can be combined with a wind musical instrument with lateral holes comprising a tubular body defining, on the inside, an air column, comprises at least one device for emitting elastic mechanical waves in the body of the instrument, at least one device for receiving elastic mechanical waves positioned to receive the waves emitted by at least one emission device after their propagation in the material of the body of the instrument and designed to provide at least one reception signal characteristic of the waves received and a device for detecting and locating the disturbance induced by an action of closing at least one lateral hole of the instrument, configured to detect and identify a configuration of closing of the lateral holes of the instrument from the analysis of at least one reception signal, the detection and location device positioned removably inside the air column of the instrument.

A displacement amount detecting apparatus is provided and includes: transmission member, transmitting a displacement on one end side thereof to a displacement on the other end side thereof; a sensor, disposed to face the other end side of the transmission member, and configured to output a value according to a distance between the sensor and the other end side of the transmission member; a calculation device, calculating a value for indicating the distance based on the value output by the sensor and a reference value; and a correction device, correcting the reference value. When the one end side is displaced in a first direction, the other end side is displaced in a second direction opposite to the first direction and away from the sensor. The correction device is configured to correct the reference value based on the value for indicating the distance calculated by the calculation device.

With reference to FIG. 7a the present invention relates to transducer apparatus (200) for use with a reed instrument (201) having an air chamber (15) forming a resonant cavity whose resonance characteristics are controlled by opening and closing of tone holes (17A, 17B) connecting the air chamber to the exterior of the reed instrument. The transducer apparatus comprises attachment means (202) for releasably securing the transducer apparatus to a mouthpiece (201) of the reed instrument in place of a reed. A reed replacement section (203) has a housing with an abutment surface for abutting a surface part of the mouthpiece which would be abutted by a reed secured to the mouthpiece. An air passage extends through the housing of the reed replacement section (203) from an air inlet (211) through which a player of the instrument can blow to an air outlet (213) through which air blown by the player is delivered to atmosphere, without passing through the air chamber (15) within the reed instrument. A speaker (208) is supported by the housing and delivers sound to the air chamber (15). An air chamber microphone (209) is supported by the housing and receives sound in the air chamber (15). An electronic processing unit (204) has: an excitation unit (101) which produces an excitation signal for driving the speaker (208); a processor (102) for receiving a measurement signal produced by the microphone and for detecting from the measurement signal a musical note played by the instrument; a synthesizer (220) for generating an electronic signal embodying a musical note which corresponds to the detected musical note; and output means (103) for transmitting the musical note generated by the synthesizer to a receiver external of the transducer apparatus. The invention also relates to a system for representing the sounds of a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus, to an electronic system for determining a musical note played by a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus and to a method of practising playing of a reed instrument comprising use of the components of the transducer apparatus.

An electronic musical instrument includes an instrument body and a plurality of keys, each of which has an operation surface operated by a player's finger is provided on an external surface of the instrument body. Among the plurality of keys, at least two keys are disposed to be adjacent to each other, and the operation surfaces of the at least two keys are configured to be inclined to descend toward between the at least two keys when viewed from a left-right direction of the electronic musical instrument.

With reference to FIG. 7a the present invention relates to transducer apparatus (200) for use with a reed instrument (201) having an air chamber (15) forming a resonant cavity whose resonance characteristics are controlled by opening and closing of tone holes (17A, 17B) connecting the air chamber to the exterior of the reed instrument. The transducer apparatus comprises attachment means (202) for releasably securing the transducer apparatus to a mouthpiece (201) of the reed instrument in place of a reed. A reed replacement section (203) has a housing with an abutment surface for abutting a surface part of the mouthpiece which would be abutted by a reed secured to the mouthpiece. An air passage extends through the housing of the reed replacement section (203) from an air inlet (211) through which a player of the instrument can blow to an air outlet (213) through which air blown by the player is delivered to atmosphere, without passing through the air chamber (15) within the reed instrument. A speaker (208) is supported by the housing and delivers sound to the air chamber (15). An air chamber microphone (209) is supported by the housing and receives sound in the air chamber (15). An electronic processing unit (204) has: an excitation unit (101) which produces an excitation signal for driving the speaker (208); a processor (102) for receiving a measurement signal produced by the microphone and for detecting from the measurement signal a musical note played by the instrument; a synthesizer (220) for generating an electronic signal embodying a musical note which corresponds to the detected musical note; and output means (103) for transmitting the musical note generated by the synthesizer to a receiver external of the transducer apparatus. The invention also relates to a system for representing the sounds of a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus, to an electronic system for determining a musical note played by a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus and to a method of practising playing of a reed instrument comprising use of the components of the transducer apparatus.

An electronic wind instrument is provided, which is capable of representing a wide range of performances using a tonguing operation. The electronic wind instrument has at least one sensor, a sound source for generating a tone, and a controller. The controller controls a tonguing performance detecting process for detecting a tonguing performance played by the player based on the output value from the one sensor, and a tone muting process for muting the tone output from the speaker in accordance with the lip position of the player determined in the lip position determining process, while the tonguing performance is being detected in the tonguing performance detecting process.

An electronic wind instrument is provided, which is capable of representing a wide range of performances using a tonguing operation. The electronic wind instrument has at least one sensor, a sound source for generating a tone, and a controller. The controller controls a tonguing performance detecting process for detecting a tonguing performance played by the player based on the output value from the one sensor, and a tone muting process for muting the tone output from the speaker in accordance with the lip position of the player determined in the lip position determining process, while the tonguing performance is being detected in the tonguing performance detecting process.

With reference to FIG. 7a the present invention relates to transducer apparatus (200) for use with a reed instrument (201) having an air chamber (15) forming a resonant cavity whose resonance characteristics are controlled by opening and closing of tone holes (17A, 17B) connecting the air chamber to the exterior of the reed instrument. The transducer apparatus comprises attachment means (202) for releasably securing the transducer apparatus to a mouthpiece (201) of the reed instrument in place of a reed. A reed replacement section (203) has a housing with an abutment surface for abutting a surface part of the mouthpiece which would be abutted by a reed secured to the mouthpiece. An air passage extends through the housing of the reed replacement section (203) from an air inlet (211) through which a player of the instrument can blow to an air outlet (213) through which air blown by the player is delivered to atmosphere, without passing through the air chamber (15) within the reed instrument. A speaker (208) is supported by the housing and delivers sound to the air chamber (15). An air chamber microphone (209) is supported by the housing and receives sound in the air chamber (15). An electronic processing unit (204) has: an excitation unit (101) which produces an excitation signal for driving the speaker (208); a processor (102) for receiving a measurement signal produced by the microphone and for detecting from the measurement signal a musical note played by the instrument; a synthesizer (220) for generating an electronic signal embodying a musical note which corresponds to the detected musical note; and output means (103) for transmitting the musical note generated by the synthesizer to a receiver external of the transducer apparatus. The invention also relates to a system for representing the sounds of a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus, to an electronic system for determining a musical note played by a reed instrument having the components of the transducer apparatus and to a method of practising playing of a reed instrument comprising use of the components of the transducer apparatus.

An electronic system that can be combined with a wind musical instrument with lateral holes comprising a tubular body defining, on the inside, an air column, comprises at least one device for emitting elastic mechanical waves in the body of the instrument, at least one device for receiving elastic mechanical waves positioned to receive the waves emitted by at least one emission device after their propagation in the material of the body of the instrument and designed to provide at least one reception signal characteristic of the waves received and a device for detecting and locating the disturbance induced by an action of closing at least one lateral hole of the instrument, configured to detect and identify a configuration of closing of the lateral holes of the instrument from the analysis of at least one reception signal, the detection and location device positioned removably inside the air column of the instrument.

An electronic musical instrument uses a mouthpiece model that models a mouthpiece as a three-dimensional shape having one end at which the mouthpiece is to be held in a mouth of a performer being smaller than another end. A processor in the instrument calculates a reflection coefficient of a progressive wave and a regressive wave using the mouthpiece model by calculating a wave impedance for the progressive wave and calculating a wave impedance for the regressive wave, and generates a musical sound signal on the basis of the calculated reflection coefficient, which is then outputted to a sound generator for sound production.