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US Patent #6444888
What follows are excerpts from the patent application. Much has been removed for the sake of readability, such as technical definitions of lower level components, patent references, the specific claims, etc., and some of the text has been modified for the sake of clarity.
Technical Field of the Invention:
The present invention is directed to a musical computer keyboard. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method to change the mode of computer keyboard use from alpha-numeric language orientation to become a musical input keyboard where the keys change meaning for this purpose.
Detailed Description of The Preferred Embodiment
The present invention provides a strategic mapping of notes, termed: Modal Computer Keyboard Format for Control of Musical Instruments (MCKFCMI). The MCKFCMI methodology makes use of a standard computer keyboard, i.e. a QWERTY keyboard as the mechanism to play the musical instrument. The MCKFCMI methodology maps musical notes to keys on the standard computer keyboard such that when a key is pressed on the keyboard, the mapping causes a musical note output. By pressing a plurality of keys at substantially the same time, a chord or other musical output may be generated based on the mapping of the MCKFCMI methodology.
A standard computer keyboard operates by providing a matrix of electrical connections below keys which may be actuated by a user...
The present invention makes use of this standard operation of a keyboard but provides a unique and alternative mapping of the standard computer keyboard such that the keyboard may be used to output musical notes. Furthermore, the particular mapping of the musical notes to the keys on the keyboard is selected in such a manner as to map musical notes that are most often played to keys that lie under the fingers of the user when the user places his/her fingers over the keyboard in a manner generally used for typing documents. For example, the musical notes that are most often played in a particular musical Key are mapped to the QWERTY keys A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, and ; on the middle row, i.e. the "home" row, of the standard computer keyboard.
Musical notes that are next most likely to be played are mapped to keys positioned below or above the home row. In this way, the keys in the home row are mapped to musical notes that may be used to generate a chord or create a melody out of the notes that would make up a Major chord. Other musical notes are mapped in such a way as to place them in positions based on the natural flow of actuation by a user whose hands are in the home row position in correspondence with the likelihood they will be played based on melody and chord construction.
The most likely chord progressions or melody lines (herein after termed chords for the sake of readability) from the base, or "Tonic" chord are the Dominant and Subdominant chord progressions. The Dominant chord, using the musical note mapping of the preferred embodiment, is generated by pressing one key in the home row and two keys in the next row up in as convenient a way as possible to access while still being roughly sequential from left to right, for example. The Subdominant chord, using the musical note mapping of the preferred embodiment, is generated by pressing one key in the home row and two keys from the row below the home row in a similar fashion, for example.
With the musical note mapping described above, a standard keyboard may be mapped to provide the ability to play musical notes within four octaves without having to actuate a key to switch octaves.
FIGURE 2: Major Components
The components 210-250 may be incorporated into a stand alone device or may be distributed across a plurality of devices... Alternatively, all of the components 210-250 may be incorporated into a stand-alone computer keyboard that is capable of processing the keystrokes to generate a musical output in the manner described hereafter.
The musical note mapping of the present invention may be implemented as software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. For example, the musical mapping may be implemented as software instructions executed by a processor. Alternatively, the musical mapping may be hardwired into a hardware circuit through which keyboard input is passed. Moreover, the musical mapping of the present invention may make use of a data structure in which received keyboard input may be "looked-up" to determine an appropriate musical note output. The detected notes played may be put into MIDI format or some other standard data format and passed on to commercially available music generation software; or sound generation software may be written to interpret MCKFCMI keystrokes directly. Other implementations of the present invention in software, hardware, or a combination thereof, may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
FIGURE 3: Depiction of Mapping Strategy Using a Generic Chromatic Scale
FIGURE 4: Explanation and Cross-Reference of Music Terms and Notations Used
As shown in Figure 3, the MCKFCMI key-mapping is designed to provide a keyboard layout that allows musical notes over four octaves to all be readily accessed. The most likely played notes in the musical scale are designated by the Chromatic numbers 1, 5 and 8 which represent the do/I/Tonic, mi/iii/Mediant, and sol/V/Dominant musical notes within that Key. The next most likely played notes are represented by the Chromatic numbers 3, 8, and 12 which represent the re/ii/Supertonic, sol/V/Dominant and ti/vii/Leading tones. The next most likely notes to be played are designated by Chromatic numbers 6, 10 and T+1 (Tonic+1, the base Tone note one octave higher) which correspond to the fa/IV/Subdominant, la/vi/Submediant, and do/I+1/octave tones. The keys that are the least likely to be played are designated by the Chromatic numbers 2, 4 and 9, so these are placed at the top. For the sake of rough sequentially and fluent access Chromatic notes 7 and 11 are placed one row up from home and one row down, respectively.
As shown in Figure 3, all 12 Chromatic notes are accessible in a compact hand-size space with the Diatonic notes strategically located. The notes most likely to start off a musical score or form a Major chord are conveniently placed just under the user's hands when positioned over the home row in a manner generally used by individuals familiar with proper typing position on a keyboard. The musical notes that are next most commonly used, and thus, typically used in conjunction with the musical notes mapped to the home row to generate musical chords, are mapped to locations that are easily actuatable by a user whose hands are in a home row position. This pattern repeats itself up and down the keyboard.
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the terminology used in this patent and the mapping strategy described herein and in Figures 3, 5 and 6, showing how these relate to various musical notation conventions for one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. This patent uses terminology that is common to musicians and music theory in general. For the sake of clarity Figure 4 cross-references various musical note designation schemes.
The first column of the table in Figure 4 represents the Halfsteps in a the Chromatic scale. The second column illustrates the generic note name for the Major notes in the Chromatic scale for the sake of cross-reference for those familiar with these designations. The third column represents the Diatonic scale degree of the Major notes based on common music theory notation. The fourth column provides the Key name, i.e. the relationship of the Key to the Tonic Key, which designation is often used in chord progression. The fifth column provides an example of what each note would actually be in the Key of C, and the sixth column shows the same for the Key of A.
Looking across the table, the notes for Chromatic 1, 5, and 8, correspond to the Solfege do, mi, and sol, and to Diatonic I, iii, and V, and to the base notes of Keys Tonic, Mediant, and Dominant, respectively. In the specific Key of C, for example, these notes end up being C, E and G, and in the Key of A these end up being A, C# (# denotes a Sharp note), and E.
FIGURE 5: Illustrative Example of Actual Note Mapping in the Specific Key of C Major
FIGURE 6: Another Example of Actual Note Mapping in the Key of A Major
- Relative: use of a control key and then hitting the current MCKFCMI mapped Key note desired;
- Actual: use of a command key and hitting the QWERTY alpha-numeric Key desired, where Sharp or Flat keys are accessed by additional command keys;
- Function: use of peripheral keys outside the center to transpose to the desired Key, either by a simple up/down function or by mapping targeted common Keys to specific unused keys,
- Sequence: use patch sequences (which are accessed by various means) that could include MCKFCMI Key changes. Sequence changes can be input using a peripheral device such as a pedal or by using un-mapped MCKFCMI keys or key combination; and
- Default: use a user specified Key upon startup.
The present invention is not limited to the layout set forth above and other mappings may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
For example, other possible layouts include four octaves in a Minor base Key, where Chromatic key numbers 4 and 5 would swap positions as well as 9 and 10. The benefit of swapping MCKFCMI keys to play in Minor Keys would be to achieve close proximity of likely notes. The problem is that changing keys around like this just to play in a Minor Key might well be a bit confusing and harder to master than the benefit it would provide. On the whole, it is thought best to keep the MCKFCMI keys in a fixed Major format for the sake of consistency. The drawback to keeping the keys fixed into a Major format is that it will require extra finger dexterity to play likely combinations in Minor Keys, but compared to many other musical instruments (like the guitar) this seems a minor drawback in comparison. In any case, Minor Keys can be achieved with a simple re-mapping of a few notes for those who wish to do so, and all such variations should be considered to be included in this present invention.
In addition to the keys for playing musical notes in accordance with the musical note mapping of the present invention, the mapping may further include function keys, such as the musical key change key described above, to perform various functions for changing the musical output generated by actuation of keys on the keyboard. Such functions keys may include, for example, a sustain key, an all octave-up or down key, a treble octave-up or down key, a bass octave-up or down key, a Key change key, a patch sound key, a stack sound key, a chorus key, a reverb key, a start/stop recordation key, a start-stop loop key, a volume up/down key, a mute key, and the like. The functions performed in response to actuation of these keys is rather straight forward. For example, the sustain key holds the decay of the notes played out longer just as the sustain pedal on a piano would. The treble octave up key raises the treble output one octave. The treble octave down key lowers the treble output one octave. The bass octave up and bass octave down keys perform similar functions for the bass output. The all octave up key and all octave down keys perform similar functions to both the treble and the bass hands and outputs. The musical Key change key is used to change the Key of the notes in the musical mapping. The patch sound key selects which instrument sound or group of sounds is desired (where "patch" harks back to the early synthesizers which used patch-cords to create sounds). The stack sound key allows a layering of sounds to be played simultaneously with a single key. The chorus, reverb, and start-stop loop keys are all used to perform various transformations of the musical output in a manner generally known in the art of musical synthesizer devices. And, obviously, the volume up/down key and mute key may be used to change the volume of the musical output. Functions such as these would be assigned default locations based on a similar strategy to the note mapping based on musical use and finger dexterity access. But since it is intended for such functions to be completely programmable and locatable by the user they are not shown in the Figures excepting the example of using the space bar for sustain to give the general idea of how peripheral keys might be used.
Mouse, trackball, and trackpad functions may also be used for music functions such as pitch bend; vibrato control; setting relative sound levels when multiple instruments "patches" are played simultaneously (or stacked); controlling volume, balance or fade; or sequence control through clicks. All of the functions performed in response to the actuation of these function keys and/or peripherals are generally known in the art and thus, a detailed explanation of how the musical output signals are transformed in response to actuation of these keys will not be provided.
In addition to the above, the keyboard of the present invention will have a designated key for changing modes from a standard computer keyboard input mode to MCKFCMI mode and back in accordance with the present invention. This mode selection key would not be part of the applied musical mapping since the musical mapping of the present invention is only used when the standard computer keyboard is operating in MCKFCMI mode. It will serve rather as an enter/exit MCKFCMI mode.
FIGURE 7: Flowchart of Operation
The operation outlined in Figure 7 may be performed with each actuation of a key on the keyboard. Furthermore, if multiple keys are actuated approximately simultaneously, the operation of Figure 7 is performed for each of the actuated keys at approximately the same time. Thus, the musical output will be a combination of each of the musical notes generated by actuation of the various keys. In this way, a user may generate a musical chord to be output. The user may decide to have notes output as soon as the computer perceives they are being pressed, or to "group" notes played within a certain granularity of time (that can be programmed) to create simultaneity of output with imperfect input, if desired.
Although not shown in Figure 7, some keys on the keyboard may have functions associated with them other than the output of a musical note, as described above. When such keys are actuated, the corresponding functions are initiated in the processor of the present invention.
Thus, the present invention provides a mechanism for mapping the keyboard strokes of a user of a standard computer keyboard into musical notes and controls that may be output. In this way, the user may "play" the standard computer keyboard as a real-time musical instrument. As a result, the user need not purchase expensive musical instruments and need not learn how to play such a musical instrument. The present invention allows a user to operate a standard computer keyboard in substantially the same manner as the user is already accustom to and be able to generate real-time musical output of sounds spanning a range of octaves similar to that of external MIDI piano/organ keyboards. The present invention is also a means to input musical melodies, chords, scores, bass-lines, percussion, improvisations, etc. into computer musical arrangement programs and the like.
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in a form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media such as a floppy disc, a hard disk drive, a RAM, and CD-ROMs and transmission-type media such as digital and analog communications links.
While normally MCKFCMI played sounds will be computer generated, once musicians gain MCKFCMI skill and virtuosity the present invention could be used to control/play traditional, physical instruments via external actuators. A prior-art analogy would be the pipe-organ, where a traditional piano-like keyboard controls the actuation of air pipe horns.
The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not limited to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
For example, a possible variation is to span 3 octaves rather than 4 for the purpose of avoiding use of the numbers in QWERTY. In other words, instead of a 12 Chromatic tone keys being placed three wide and four high as depicted, the 12 Chromatic tones would be placed 4 keys wide and 3 key rows high, not using the top row of keys. Such a mapping would place all possible Chromatic notes in closer proximity from the point of view of vertical finger dexterity, but this will of necessity be offset by more required movement horizontally. It will also not cover as many octaves overall.
The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
