An instrument playing apparatus has: a movable member configured to be displaced responsive to a playing operation of a user; a detection part formed from a magnetic or conductive body and disposed on the movable member; and a filter that includes a coil. The filter has a frequency response that changes depending on a distance between the detection part and the coil, and generates a detection signal from a reference signal.

A musical sound producing apparatus includes a plurality of keys; a sound production information generator configured to generate sound production information for producing a musical sound based on a first key operation on any key among the plurality of keys; a control information generator configured to generate control information for controlling, on the basis of a second key operation different from the first key operation, a mode of the musical sound produced on the basis of the first key operation; and a musical sound signal generator configured to generate a musical sound signal on the basis of the sound production information and the control information.

A manual vibrato control device, system and processing arrangement are disclosed. A manual vibrato includes a rotatable shaft, a raised cam section on the shaft, first and second biased collars received on the shaft either side of the cam section, the bias of the first collar being rotationally opposite to the bias of the second collar such that as the shaft rotates in one direction, it receives a return force from the first collar but does not rotate the second collar, and vice versa. Also disclosed are processing techniques to take the rotational data from rotational sensors, preferably Hall Effect, on the shaft and generate pitch change instructions for a pitch modification device. The mapping is user controllable to produce desired effects and performance.

An electronic vibrato system for a stringed instrument comprises an actuator and microcontroller which are disposed within a chassis. The control arm moves the actuator from a resting position to non-resting, rotated positions. The system is below a face of a stringed instrument such that the system has a disposed fulcrum within the instrument. The rotated positions impart resistive forces on said actuator and imparting control signals. The microcontroller processes said control signal and modulates pitch.

A position sensor has a plurality of moveable surfaces, each moveable surface having a region with an electrically conductive surface. Each moveable surface has an inductor which forms a magnetic field inducing eddy currents in the electrically conductive surface. The inductor is momentarily connected to a pre-charged capacitor, thereby forming an LC resonant circuit, and disconnected before a quarter cycle of the LC resonant period occurs. The voltage on the capacitor is read at the end of the measurement period and before the next capacitor pre-charge event. As the eddy currents generated in the electrically conductive surface by the inductor cause a damping of the LC resonant waveform, the voltage at the end of the measurement cycle varies monotonically with the position of the moveable surface.

A musical instrument includes a hollow body with an air inlet to blow air into the body, and an air outlet to allow the air to exit the body. A number of holes are provided which are suitable to be closed by a player. A sensor group includes proximity sensors located near the holes to detect if the holes are closed or open. One control unit is electrically connected to the sensor group, and power supply unit is connected to the sensor group and the control unit to power up the sensor group and the control unit.

A sensing system for a keyboard. Each key sensor comprises passive and active resonant circuits. The passive resonant circuit has a resonant frequency and the active resonant circuit excites the passive resonant circuit at the resonant frequency. A sensor driver drives the active resonant circuit with an RF drive signal, a multiplexing system multiplexes the drive signal such that simultaneously driven key sensors are separated by at least (k1) keys, and a detector detects a level of RF signal from a driven key sensor for sensing a position and/or velocity of a key.

An intuitive music composition game platform with various modes of operation in a single reader system and a music mash up collectable card game and method using cards with tags and unique identifications. A single reading platform includes a cover for card storage and for supporting a smart device platform for reading many Near Field communication (NFC) embedded cards, with stacking features and colored light indicated input lanes selection for user identification and selection. Various game modes include individual, studio mix, party modes game play features in music mash up collectable card games, which may be used together with or independent of accessory devices as controllers, or smart device user interfaces with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for communicating user selection and operation.

A device is provided for capturing vibrations produced by an object such as a musical instrument such as a cymbal of a drum kit. The device comprises a detectable element, such as a ferromagnetic element, such as a metal shim and a sensor spaced apart from and located relative to the musical instrument. The detectable element is located between the sensor and the musical instrument. When the musical instrument vibrates, the sensor remains stationary and the detectable element is vibrated relative to the sensor by the musical instrument.

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.