Patent ID: 6175070
Filing Date: 2001-01-16
Classification: G09B,G10H

Abstract:
A music system comprising:an actuator which generates a plurality of actuation signals in response to input from a user;an audio synthesizer which generates audio tones in response to control signals;a memory storing a musical score, said stored musical score comprising a sequence of notes, each of which has an associated time stamp to identify a time at which it is supposed to be played by said user in said musical score;a video display unit;a digital processor controlling said audio synthesizer and said video display unit,said digital processor programmed to support a plurality of user selectable display formats each of which presents a different representation of the stored musical score when the stored musical score is being played, each of said plurality of display formats indicating to the user when the actuation signals of said plurality of actuation signals should be generated to cause the synthesizer to produce corresponding sounds of the stored musical score;said digital processor programmed to be responsive to a selection signal from the user identifying a selected one of said plurality of user-selectable display formats;said digital processor programmed to display the stored musical score using the selected display format;said digital processor programmed to receive said plurality of actuation signals from said actuator and generate a sequence of control signals therefrom,said digital processor programmed to map the plurality of actuation signals from said actuator to a corresponding set of notes from among said sequence of notes; andsaid digital processor programmed to produce the sequence of control signals from the corresponding set of notes, said sequence of control signals causing said synthesizer to generate sounds representing the corresponding set of notes.