US3612741A

US3612741A - Electronic musical instrument employing mechanical resonators with regenerative effects

Info

Publication number: US3612741A
Application number: US881980A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fred C Marshall
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-12-04
Filing date: 1969-12-04
Publication date: 1971-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-12

Abstract

A performance embellishing sound reproduction arrangement comprising an electric loudspeaker, an electric resonance device secured to the chassis of said loudspeaker in contact therewith and having a microphone and a plurality of strings tuned to selected different audiofrequencies to resonate sympathetically whenever a musical production reproduced by the loudspeaker sounds the frequencies to which the strings are tuned, and circuitry for feeding the electric signals derived from the microphone of the resonance device back to the same loudspeaker, or to a second loudspeaker located within the range of audibility of the first-mentioned loudspeaker.

Description

Fred C. Marshall 1310 Third St., Berkeley, Calif. 94710 881,980

Dec. 4, 1969 Oct. 12, 1971 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 602,699, Dec. 19, 1966.

Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EMPLOYING MECHANICAL RESONATORS WITH REGENERATIVE EFFECTS 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 84/1.05, 84/1.06, 84/1.l6, 84/DIG. 1, 84/DIG. 10, 84/DIG.

21, 84/DIG. 26, 179/1 .1

Int. Cl G10h 3/00, G10h 3/02 Field of Search 84/1.041.06,

1.16, DIG. 1, DIG. 10, DIG. 21, DIG.

26, DIG. 27; 179/1 E, 1 J; 181/18 179/l.6 X 84/l.05 84/1.05

2,078,321 4/1937 Freimann et al 2,797,766 7/1957 Sullivan 181/31 3,064,086 11/1962 Sedley 179/100 1,938,584 12/1933 Drexl 84/1.06 2,001,723 5/1935 Hammond 84/1.05 2,672,781 3/1954 Miessner 84/1.05 3,192,304 6/1965 Rizzutti 8411.16 3,194,870 7/1965 Tondreau et a1 84/1.16 FOREIGN PATENTS 461,969 12/1949 Canada 84/1.05 961,543 5/1950 France 84/1 .05

Primary Examiner-Milton O. Hirshfield Assistant Examiner-Stanley J Witkowski Attorney-Kurt A. Tauchen ABSTRACT: A performance embellishing sound reproduction arrangement comprising an electric loudspeaker, an electric resonance device secured to the chassis of said loudspeaker in contact therewith and having a microphone and a plurality of strings tuned to selected different audiofrequencies to resonate sympathetically whenever a musical production'reproduced by the loudspeaker sounds the frequencies to which the strings are tuned, and circuitry for feeding the electric signals derived from the microphone of the resonance device back to the same loudspeaker, or to a second loudspeaker located within the range of audibility of the first-mentioned loudspeaker.

AMP

PATENTEDUCT 12 I97! 6 MIC MAMP \ MIC AMP INVENTOR.

FRED C. MARSHALL ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EMPLOYING MECHANICAL RESONATORS WITH REGENERATIVE EFFECTS This is a continuation-in-part of my pending US. Pat. application Ser. No. 602,699 filed Dec. 19, 1966 for a Performance Embellishing Sound Reproduction Arrangement.

The present invention relates to electric loudspeakers such as are used in connection with record players, radio and television receiving sets, and other electric musical instruments.

An object of the invention is to provide a loudspeaker arrangement which operates to embellish automatically in a pleasing manner the performance of a musical production that is delivered to the loudspeaker for reproduction, from a microphone, a phonographic tape or disc, or a radio or television receiving set.

This and other objects of the invention will be apparent frornthe following description of the accompanying drawing which illustrates certain preferred embodiments thereof, and wherein FIG. 1 is a diagram of a performance embellishing sound reproduction arrangement embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective of a component of the arrangement of my invention.

In accordance with the invention I attach to the chassis of an electric loudspeaker an electric resonance device having a plurality of strings tuned to selected different audiofrequencies, and provided with a microphone, and I feed the signals picked up by the microphone of the resonance device when its strings vibrate sympathetically in response to the same frequencies in a performance reproduced by the loudspeaker, through an amplifier back to the same loudspeaker or a second loudspeaker located within the hearing range of the first loudspeaker.

Having reference to the drawing, the top wall of the chassis 12 of a loudspeaker 14 is employed to form the base of resonance device which is in fact an electric stringed musical instrument 16. For this purpose one end of said top wall is formed into a raised ledge 18 within which the strings 20 are anchored, and near its opposite end said top wall forms a ridge 22 with a rounded top surface which constitutes the bridge" for the strings and which may have a metal covering 24. Beyond said bridge the strings are anchored in vertically disposed pegs 26 which are rotatably mounted in the top wall 10 of the speaker chassis and which may be turned by the manipulation of keys indicated at 28, to tune the strings to selected audiofrequencies.

Arranged below the strings 20 adjacent the bridge 22 is a microphone 30 which converts any vibration of said strings into electric audio signals that can be reconverted into sound in electric loudspeakers. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing the resonance device 16 on top of the loudspeaker chassis 12 has six strings 20 which are tuned to six distinctly different audiofrequencies. It will be understood, however, that the resonance device employed in accordance with my invention to embellish the performance of a loudspeaker, may be provided with more or less than six strings if desired.

When exteriorly produced electric audio signals are fed to the loudspeaker 14 through an amplifier represented by the block 32 in FIG. 1, for conversion into a musical performance, the individual strings of resonator 16 will vibrate sympathetically whenever the perfonnance contains the frequencies to which the strings are tune. Any such vibration of said strings is immediately picked up by the microphone 30 and converted into electrical audio signals. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, I feed these signals through amplifier 32 back to the same loudspeaker 14 (FIG. 1). As a result thereof, in the performance of the loudspeaker 14, the notes corresponding to the frequencies to which the strings of the resonance device are tuned, are emphasized in a peculiar manner whenever they occur in the reproduction of a musical work. This embellishes the whole performance giving it an m st ka ssh t ts Q QWH- The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 2 differs from the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1 in that the output of the microphone 30 of resonance device 16 is fed through an amplifier 34 to a separate loudspeaker 36 rather than the same loudspeaker. When this second loudspeaker is located within the audio range of the first loudspeaker, both

speakers

14 and 36 cooperate to produce the same characteristic sound effect as obtained with the single loudspeaker embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1.

It remains to point out that the apparatus of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be used as a sound-producing instrument rather than a performance embellishing loudspeaker arrangement. When a performer plucks any one of the strings 20 on top of chassis 12, the vibrations of the plucked string or strings are converted into electric current pulses in microphone 30 and after amplification in amplifier 32 these pulses are delivered to the loudspeaker 14. There they are reconverted into mechanical motion and the chassis 12 of the loudspeaker transmits the resultant vibrations through the bridge arrangement 22-24 to the strings 20. Thus, the initial vibrations of the plucked strings are sustained so that the strings continue to sound even though they are no longer being plucked. Hence, by plucking selected ones of the strings, an unusual sound performance may be produced, and may be modulated by plucking additional strings at intervals; and this performance is sustained automatically. It will be understood that in the described use of the apparatus of my invention, the loudspeaker does not necessarily have to be equipped with the usual sound-producing membrane for the apparatus to produce sound. Performance of its electromechanical transducer part is sufficient. In fact, any electromechanical transducer will operate, i.e. any transducer that converts the amplified output pulses of the microphone 30 into vibrations of a frequency corresponding to that of the plucked strings, as long as it is arranged to transmit these vibrations through acoustomechanical means, such as chassis 12 and bridge arrangement 2224, to the strings of the instrument, which then produce the sounds of the performance.

While I have described my invention with the aid of certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific constructional details shown by way of example, which may be departed from without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Thus, devices other than the guitarlike stringed instrument 16 described hereinbefore and illustrated in FIG. 3, such as for instance, a selection of different tuning forks mounted upon the chassis of the loudspeaker, may be employed to vibrate in sympathy with and produce signals that are picked up by a microphone or microphones and emphasize selected sounds and notes of a performance.

I claim:

1. A performance-embellishing sound reproduction arrangement comprising a loudspeaker having a chassis, means for delivering exteriorly produced electric audio signals to said loudspeaker, multiple resonance means tuned to selected different audiofrequencies secured to said chassis in contact therewith and having microphone means, and means for feeding signals derived from said microphone means to said loudspeaker when said resonance means resonate during performance of said loudspeaker.

2. Arrangement according to claim 1 wherein said resonance means is an electric stringed musical instrument.

3. A performance-embellishing sound reproduction arrangement comprising a first loudspeaker, having a chassis, means for delivering exteriorly produced electric audio signals to said first loudspeaker, a second loudspeaker located in the vicinity of said first loudspeaker, multiple resonance means tuned to selected different audiofrequencies secured to the chassis of said first loudspeaker in contact therewith and having microphone means and means for feeding the electric signals derived from said microphone means when said resonance means resonate during performance of said first loudspeaker to said second loudspeaker.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3 wherein said resonance means is an electric stringed musical instrument.