US3549775A - Musical instrument employing electronic regenerative apparatus - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EMPLOYING ELECTRONIC REGENERATIVE APPARATUS 2,858,724 11/1958 Troppe 84/411 3,185,013 5/1965 Gussak.... 84/411 3,192,304 6/1965 Rizzutti 84/1.l6 FOREIGN PATENTS 922,777 6/1947 France 84/411 Primary Examiner-W. E. Ray Assistant ExaminerStanley J. Witkowski Attorney-Drummond, Cahill and Phillips 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 84/l.05, 84/ 1.06 lnt.Cl 61% 3/00 Field olSearch 84/1.01, 1.04,1.05,1.06,1.15,1.16,170,171,173,411

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,495,672 5/1924 Cheney 84/411 AMP V PATENTED M022 mm MIXER AMP I AMP *w QQ /0 AMP mvsmoa /5 A ABRAHAM R. KAMINSKY ,7 BY v ATTORNEYS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EMPLOYING ELECTRONIC REGENERATIVE APPARATUS This invention relates to musical instruments, and more particularly, to a new percussion instrument.

All music has a fundamental beat which may range from a simple primitive rhythm to a much more complex polyrhythm. In those instances in which a plurality of musicians perform together, one musician is often assigned the task of producing the audible beat which governs the rhythm of the music. By far the most common instrument utilized for this purpose is the drum in one or more of its many well-known forms. The drum however, by its very nature does not issue a musical sound; rather, pressure waves are set up, as the drum is struck or otherwise activated, which may be thoroughly ahannonic with the music for which it is supplying the audible beat.

It is, therefore, a broad object of this invention to provide an improved percussion instrument.

It is another object of this invention to provide a percussion instrument, utilizing a drum as a constituent, which issues an inherently musical sound.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a percussion instrument including pickup means sympathetic to the ambient music to color the rhythmic pulsations produced by a specially coupled and constructed drum.

These and other objects of the invention are accomplished, according to a first embodiment of the invention, by providing a concentrating structure including a plurality of tuned strings disposed to vibrate in' sympathy with the ambient music. The concentrating structure is directly coupled to a drum. A contact microphone within the concentrator picks up pressure bursts resulting from activation of the drum and colored by the sympathetically vibrating strings. The signal representing the resultant, musically colored, rhythmic pulsations is applied to a conventional amplifier which drives a speaker from which the musically colored pulsations issue. I

In a second embodiment of the invention, a concentrator with a plurality of tuned strings is provided with one or more contact microphones which pick up the sympathetic vibrations of the ambient music. The resulting signal, mixed if a plurality of contact microphones are used, is amplified and delivered to a small speaker disposed within a sealed drum. A microphone of the ordinary type is placed opposite the speaker within the drum such that it will pickup the amplified sound of the ambient music and, in addition, any rhythmic pulsations produced by activating the drum. The musically colored pulsations picked up by the microphone in this manner are amplified and delivered to a second speaker which issues the musically colored rhythmic pulsations.

The subject matter of the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, may best be understood by reference to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing of which:

FIG. 1 is a partially schematic and partially cross-sectional representation of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a representation of the concentrator utilized in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partially schematic and partially cross-sectional representation of the second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a representation of the concentrator utilized in the embodiment of FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the concentrator 1 will be observed to comprise a shallow, hornlike structure provided, on its inner face, with a plurality of tuned strings 2. For purposes of example only, the concentrator is depicted as a foursided structure; however, it will be understood that the specific construction used is open to a wide range of variations which will occur to those skilled in the art of stringed musical instruments. In the usual manner of stringed instruments, a tension adjusting device 3 is provided at one end of each string 2 for tuning purposes. Only a few of the tension adjusting devices 3 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 to avoid cluttering the FIGS.

As best shown in FIG. 1, each section of the concentrator 1 has an inner wall 4 across which the strings 2 are disposed and an imperforate outer wall 5 which, in conjunction with the inner wall 4 and partitions (not shown) between adjacent sections, define a sound chamber 6 within each section. The partitions (not shown) between adjacent sections have been found to be an expedient in constructing the instrument; however, apertures may be provided through such partitions such that a single sound chamber is, in effect, realized for the concentrator 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be observed that the inner wall 4 of the concentrator l is provided with a plurality of openings 7 in the traditional manner of stringed instruments. The precise number and configuration of these openings fall within the discretion of the individual craftsman constructing the concentrator 1.

Referring again to both FIGS. 1 and 2, an aperture 8 at the rear of the concentrator 1 leads into a conduit 9 which is in communicationwith the interior of a drum 10. A bellows 11 is also in direct communication with the interior of the drum 10 for purposes which will be explained more fully below.

The drum 10 of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 is rhythmically activated by, for example, a drum stick 12 provided with a soft head portion 13. The resultant pressure waves, representing the beat of music being performed, communicates through the conduit 9 to the concentrator l. The tuned strings 2 of the concentrator 1 will be vibrating in fundamental and harmonic sympathy with the ambient music as a result of the well-known phenomenon of resonance. Therefore, the inner wall 4 of the concentrator 1 will be vibrating in accordance with the ambient music punctuated by the pressure bursts from the drum 10. The resultant musically colored rhythmic sound is picked up by a contact microphone 14 which is shown, by way of example only, in FIG. 1 as attached to the inner wall 4. The electrical signal from the contact microphone 14 is delivered to the input terminals of an ampli fier 15 through which it is amplified and applied to the input terminals of a speaker 16. Thus, it will be understood that the sound issuing from the speaker 16 will be in accordance with both the ambient music and the activation of the drum 10; that is to say, a musically colored rhythmic sound. The intensity of the sound issuing from the speaker 16 may be controlled in the well-known manner by a volume control 17 which determines the degree of amplification through the amplifier l5.

Inasmuch as the rhythm of the sound issuing from the speaker 16 is derived from relatively minute pressure bursts within the drum 10, it will be observed that the bellows 11 could be utilized to produce such pressure bursts by simply manually tapping its upper arm. Further, there is no restriction to a single bellows 11, and the utilization of a plurality of such bellows is contemplated.

Referring now to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be observed that the concentrator 18 difiers slightly in construction from the concentrator 1. There is no aperture at the rear of the concentrator l8 corresponding to the aperture 8 of the concentrator 1. In addition, for exemplary purposes only, the concentrator 18 is illustrated with a contact microphone 19 disposed within each of the four sections. In all other respects, the elements of the concentrator l and 18 with like number are fully equivalent.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 3, the concentrator 18 is disposed such that its strings will vibrate in sympathy with the ambient music. The contact microphones I9 respond to the resultant vibrations of the near walls 4 to generate electrical signals corresponding thereto. The plurality of electrical signals from the contact microphones 19 are applied to a conventional electronic mixer 20 which simply mixes the several signals into a .single composite signal in the manner well known in the art. It will be understood that, should a single contact microphone 19 be utilized, the mixer 20 can be dispensed with. The composite signal from the mixer 20 is applied to the input terminals of an amplifier 21 which drives a speaker 22 disposed within the interior of a drum 23. Thus, the speaker 22 will issue musical sounds within the interior of the drum 23 which directly reflect the vibrations of the inner walls 4 of the concentrator 18, which vibrations are sympathetic to the ambient music.

A conventional microphone 24 is disposed within the interior of the drum 23 opposite the speaker 22 such that it will pickup the musical sounds issuing from the speaker 22 and, in addition, will respond to pressure bursts produced by activating the drum to accentuate the musical sounds. The drum 23 may be activated in the same manner as the drum 10 of FIG. 1, or one or more bellows 25 may be arranged to puff on the outer skin of the drum 23 as illustrated in FIG. 3. As yet another alternative for activating the drum 23, compressed air from a regulated source 26 may be released by manually operating a valve 27 to impinge upon the skin of the drum 23 to produce commensurate pressure bursts within. It will be understood that the methods of activating the drums l and 23 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 are equally applicable for use in either embodiment of the invention.

The musical sounds intercepted by the conventional microphone 24 within the interior of the drum 23 accentuated by pressure bursts resulting from the activation of the drum by any of the illustrated or conventional means result in an electrical signal representing musically colored rhythmic pulsations. The electrical signal from the conventional microphone 24 is applied to the input terminals of an amplifier 28 which drives a speaker 29. Thus, it will be understood that the sounds issuing from the speaker 29 will be rhythmic with the desired musical coloration. The intensity of the sound issuing from the speaker 29 may be controlled by a volume control 30 connected into the circuit of the amplifier 28 in the usual manner.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in an illustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, the elements, materials, and components, used in the practice of the invention which are particularly adapted for specific environments and operating requirements without departing from those principles.

lclaim:

l. A percussion instrument comprising:

a. receiving means for concentrating ambient sound waves,

said receiving means including a plurality of tuned resonant means responsive to said ambient sound waves for accenting the corresponding fundamental harmonic frequency components in said ambient sound waves;

b. a drum;

0. means for producing pressure bursts within said drum;

and

d. a conduit for conducting said pressure bursts to said receiving means such that said said accented fundamental and harmonic frequency components of said ambient sound waves are further conditioned rhythmically and qualitatively.

2. The percussion instrument of claim 1 which further comprises:

a. an electrical transducer within said receiving means for translating the structural sonic vibrations of said receiving means into an electrical signal;

b. means for amplifying said electrical signal; and

0. speaker means for translating said amplified signal into sound waves.

3. The percussion instrument of claim 2 in which said receiving means comprises a hornlike structure with tuned strings disposed about the walls comprising the horn chamber.

4. A percussion instrument comprising:

a. receiving means for concentrating ambient sound waves,

said receiving means including a plurality of tuned resonant means responsive to said ambient sound waves for accenting the corresponding fundamental and harmonic frequency components in said ambient sound waves;

b. an electrical transducer within said receiving means for translating the structural sonic vibrations into an electrical signal; 1

. means for amplifying said signal;

. a drum;

. speaker means disposed within said drum for translating said amplified signal into sound waves;

f. manual means for producing pressure bursts within said drum;

g. an electrical transducer within said drum for translating the composite sonic vibrations within said drum into a second electrical signal;

h. means for amplifying said second signal; and

i. second speaker means for translating said second amplified signal into sound waves.

5. The percussion instrument of claim 4 which includes:

a. a plurality of additional electrical transducers disposed within said receiving means for translating the structural sonic vibrations into a corresponding plurality of electrical signals; and

b. electrical mixing means for mixing all said electrical signals from all said electrical transducers within said receiving means into single summation signal to be applied to said means for amplifying said signal.

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