Remix apparatus and method for generating new musical tone pattern data by combining a plurality of divided musical tone piece data, and storage medium storing a program for implementing the method

A remix apparatus and a remix method are provided, which can generate new musical tone pattern data with new tempo and groove while partly maintaining the tempo and groove of the original musical tone pattern data. Musical tone pattern data having a first predetermined length are divided into a plurality of first musical tone piece data each having a second predetermined length smaller than the first predetermined length, and the musical tone pattern data are divided into second musical tone piece data each having a third predetermined length smaller than the first predetermined length and different from the second predetermined length. Based on a rearranging pattern indicative of an arrangement of lengths of ones of musical tone piece data obtained by the division to be rearranged in rearranging the musical tone piece data, new musical tone pattern data are generated by selecting and rearranging at least one of the plurality of second musical tone piece data in at least one position for which the rearranging pattern indicates the second predetermined length, and selecting and rearranging at least one of the plurality of first musical tone piece data in at least one position for which the rearranging pattern indicates the second predetermined length.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 The present invention relates to a remix apparatus and method for dividing
 previously generated musical tone pattern data into a plurality of musical
 tone data (hereinafter referred to as "musical tone piece data") and
 combining the musical tone piece data obtained by the division to generate
 new musical tone pattern data, and a storage medium storing a program for
 implementing the method.
 2. Prior Art
 A conventional remix apparatus for generating new musical tone pattern data
 from previously generated musical tone pattern data is known, for example,
 from Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 6-95668.
 This remix apparatus designates ones of plural previously generated and
 stored musical tone pattern data which are to be selected as well as
 switching timing therefor and reads out the designated musical tone
 pattern data at the designated switching time to sequentially regenerate
 the data starting with the one indicated by the switching timing to
 thereby generate new musical tone pattern data.
 With the above conventional remix apparatus, however, the newly generated
 musical tone pattern data is obtained by cutting out some of the plural
 musical tone pattern data and joining these data together, and each of the
 musical tone data constituting the new musical tone pattern data is
 located at the same position as the corresponding original musical tone
 pattern data. That is, the tempo (the tempo, as used herein, does not
 refer to the general tempo of performance but to the tempo in a local
 portion such as one beat) and groove of the newly generated musical tone
 pattern data still depend on the tempo and groove of the corresponding
 positions of the original plural musical tone pattern data. Thus, the
 conventional remix apparatus still has room for improvement on this point.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 It is an object of the present invention to provide a remix apparatus and
 method that can generate new musical tone pattern data with new tempo and
 groove while partly maintaining the tempo and groove of the original
 musical tone pattern data, and a recording medium storing a program for
 implementing the method.
 It is another object of the present invention to provide a remix apparatus
 and method that can generate musical tone pattern data with rhythmicity or
 rhythmical sense even from original musical tone pattern data which lack
 rhythmicity or rhythmical sense, and a recording medium storing a program
 for implementing the method.
 It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remix
 apparatus and method that can generate new musical tone waveform data by
 processing harmonic characteristics of musical tone waveform data for use
 in a waveform memory tone generator, an FM (frequency modulation) tone
 generator, or the like, and a recording medium storing a program for
 implementing the method.
 According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix apparatus comprising a division device that divides musical tone
 pattern data having a first predetermined length into a plurality of first
 musical tone piece data each having a second predetermined length smaller
 than the first predetermined length, and divides the musical tone pattern
 data into a plurality of second musical tone piece data each having a
 third predetermined length smaller than the first predetermined length and
 different from the second predetermined length, and a generation device
 that operates based on a rearranging pattern indicative of an arrangement
 of lengths of ones of musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division device to be rearranged in rearranging the musical tone piece
 data, to generate new musical tone pattern data by selecting and
 rearranging at least one of the plurality of first musical tone piece data
 in at least one position for which the rearranging pattern indicates the
 second predetermined length, and selecting and rearranging at least one of
 the plurality of second musical tone piece data in at least one position
 for which the rearranging pattern indicates the third predetermined
 length.
 According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is also
 provided a remix method comprising a division step of dividing musical
 tone pattern data having a first predetermined length into a plurality of
 first musical tone piece data each having a second predetermined length
 smaller than the first predetermined length, and dividing the musical tone
 pattern data into a plurality of second musical tone piece data each
 having a third predetermined length smaller than the first predetermined
 length and different from the second predetermined length, and a
 generation step of operating based on a rearranging pattern indicative of
 an arrangement of lengths of ones of musical tone piece data obtained by
 division by the division step to be rearranged in rearranging the musical
 tone piece data, to generate new musical tone pattern data by selecting
 and rearranging at least one of the plurality of first musical tone piece
 data in at least one position for which the rearranging pattern indicates
 the second predetermined length, and selecting and rearranging at least
 one of the plurality of second musical tone piece data in at least one
 position for which the rearranging pattern indicates the third
 predetermined length.
 Thus, according to the first aspect, by changing the manner of dividing the
 musical tone piece data depending on the length of each part of the
 rearranging pattern, portions of the musical tone pattern from which
 sounds characteristic of this pattern are generated can be extracted and
 rearranged depending on the beats of the musical tone pattern data (for
 example, 4 beats, 8 beats, or 16 beats), thereby enabling the
 rearrangement of the musical tone piece data with the nuance of the
 original musical tone pattern data maintained.
 According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix device comprising a division device that divides musical tone data
 having a predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece data
 each having a length smaller than the predetermined length, a first
 selection device that selects one of a plurality of rearranging patterns
 each indicative of an arrangement of lengths of ones of musical tone piece
 data obtained by division by the division device to be rearranged in
 rearranging the musical tone piece data, a second selection device that
 selects one of a plurality of ratio patterns each indicative of positions
 of ones of the musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division device to be controlled in rearranging the musical tone piece
 data and also indicative of contents of control thereof, and a generation
 device that generates new musical tone pattern data by sequentially
 selecting ones of the plural musical tone piece data which have lengths
 indicated by the selected rearranging pattern, subjecting ones of the
 selected musical tone piece data which are located at positions indicated
 by the selected ratio pattern, to control having contents indicated by the
 selected ratio pattern, and then rearranging the controlled musical tone
 piece data.
 According to the second aspect, there is also provided a remix method
 comprising a division step of dividing musical tone data having a
 predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece data each
 having a length smaller than the predetermined length, a first selection
 step of selecting one of a plurality of rearranging patterns each
 indicative of an arrangement of lengths of ones of musical tone piece data
 obtained by division by the division step to be rearranged in rearranging
 the musical tone piece data, a second selection step of selecting one of a
 plurality of ratio patterns each indicative of positions of ones of the
 musical tone piece data obtained by division by the division step to be
 controlled in rearranging the musical tone piece data and also indicative
 of contents of control thereof, and a generation step of generating new
 musical tone pattern data by sequentially selecting ones of the plural
 musical tone piece data which have lengths indicated by the selected
 rearranging pattern, subjecting ones of the selected musical tone piece
 data which are located at positions indicated by the selected ratio
 pattern, to control having contents indicated by the selected ratio
 pattern, and then rearranging the controlled musical tone piece data.
 According to the second aspect, there can be provided as many rearranging
 manners as combinations of the rearranging patterns and the ratio
 patterns, and it is possible to freely change positions indicated by a
 rearranging pattern for musical tone piece data to be controlled and the
 contents of control, depending on a ratio pattern.
 According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix apparatus comprising a division device that divides musical tone
 data having a predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece
 data each having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a
 generation device that operates based on a rearranging pattern indicative
 of a rule for use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by
 division by the division device, to generate new musical tone data by
 sequentially rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the
 plurality of musical tone piece data or muting piece data indicative of
 sections each having an equal length to that of a corresponding one of the
 selected musical tone piece data.
 Further, according to the third aspect, there is also provided a remix
 method comprising a division step of dividing musical tone data having a
 predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece data each
 having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a generation
 step of operating based on a rearranging pattern indicative of a rule for
 use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division step, to generate new musical tone data by sequentially
 rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the plurality of musical
 tone piece data or muting piece data indicative of sections each having an
 equal length to that of a corresponding one of the selected musical tone
 piece data.
 According to the third aspect, new musical tone pattern data including
 muting sections can be generated while maintaining the tempo and groove of
 the original musical tone pattern data.
 According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix apparatus comprising a division device that divides musical tone
 data having a predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece
 data each having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a
 generation device that operates based on a rearranging pattern indicative
 of a rule for use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by
 division by the division device, to generate new musical tone pattern data
 by sequentially rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the
 plurality of musical tone piece data or modified musical tone piece data
 generated by sampling and holding a predetermined number of samples of the
 selected musical tone piece data at a time.
 Further, according to a fourth aspect, there is provided a remix method
 comprising a division step of dividing musical tone data having a
 predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece data each
 having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a generation
 step of operating based on a rearranging pattern indicative of a rule for
 use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division step, to generate new musical tone pattern data by sequentially
 rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the plurality of musical
 tone piece data or modified musical tone piece data generated by sampling
 and holding a predetermined number of samples of the selected musical tone
 piece data at a time.
 Thus, according to the fourth aspect, new musical tone pattern data
 including sections with fidelity reduced can be generated while
 maintaining the tempo and groove of the original musical tone pattern
 data.
 According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix apparatus comprising a division device that divides musical tone
 data having a predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece
 data each having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a
 generation device that operates based on a rearranging pattern indicative
 of a rule for use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by
 division by the division device, to generate new musical tone pattern data
 by sequentially rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the
 plurality of musical tone piece data or modified musical tone piece data
 generated by reducing length of sound-generating time of the selected
 musical tone piece data.
 Further, according to the fifth aspect, there is provided a remix method
 comprising a division step of dividing musical tone data having a
 predetermined length into a plurality of musical tone piece data each
 having a length smaller than the predetermined length, and a generation
 step of operating based on a rearranging pattern indicative of a rule for
 use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division step, to generate new musical tone pattern data by sequentially
 rearranging musical tone piece data selected from the plurality of musical
 tone piece data or modified musical tone piece data generated by reducing
 length of sound-generating time of the selected musical tone piece data.
 According to the fifth aspect, new musical tone pattern data including data
 length-reduced sections can be generated while maintaining the tempo and
 groove of the original musical tone pattern data.
 According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
 remix apparatus comprising a selection device that selects first or second
 musical tone pattern data from a plurality of musical tone pattern data, a
 division device that divides the selected first musical tone pattern data
 into a plurality of first musical tone piece data each having a data
 length smaller than that of the first musical tone pattern data and
 divides the selected second musical tone pattern data into a plurality of
 second musical tone piece data each having a data length smaller than that
 of the second musical tone pattern data, a random number generation device
 that generates a random number, a first generation device that operates
 based on a rearranging pattern indicative of a rule for use in rearranging
 first musical tone piece data obtained by division by the division device
 and on the generated random number, to rearrange first musical tone piece
 data selected from the plurality of first musical tone piece data to
 generate a new third musical tone pattern data, and a second generation
 device that operates based on the rearranging pattern and the random
 number used to generate the third musical tone pattern data, to rearrange
 second musical tone piece data selected from the plurality of second
 musical tone piece data to generate a new fourth musical tone pattern
 data.
 According to the sixth aspect, there is also a remix method comprising a
 selection step of selecting first or second musical tone pattern data from
 a plurality of musical tone pattern data, a division step of dividing the
 selected first musical tone pattern data into a plurality of first musical
 tone piece data each having a data length smaller than that of the first
 musical tone pattern data and divides the selected second musical tone
 pattern data into a plurality of second musical tone piece data each
 having a data length smaller than that of the second musical tone pattern
 data, a random number generation step of generating a random number, a
 first generation step of operating based on a rearranging pattern
 indicative of a rule for use in rearranging first musical tone piece data
 obtained by division by the division step and on the generated random
 number, to rearrange first musical tone piece data selected from the
 plurality of first musical tone piece data to generate a new third musical
 tone pattern data, and a second generation step of operating based on the
 rearranging pattern and the random number used to generate the third
 musical tone pattern data, to rearrange second musical tone piece data
 selected from the plurality of second musical tone piece data to generate
 a new fourth musical tone pattern data.
 According to the sixth aspect, the manner of rearranging the first musical
 tone pattern data to generate the third musical tone pattern can be used
 to generate the fourth musical tone pattern data, which is different from
 the second musical tone pattern data.
 According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided
 a remix apparatus comprising a selection device that selects one of a
 plurality of musical tone pattern data, a division device that divides the
 selected musical tone pattern data into a plurality of musical tone piece
 data each having a data length smaller than that of the selected musical
 tone pattern data, a random number generation device that generates a
 random number, a generation device that operates based on a rearranging
 pattern indicative of a rule for use in rearranging musical tone piece
 data obtained by division by the division device and on the generated
 random number, to rearrange musical tone piece data selected from the
 plurality of musical tone piece data to generate a new musical tone
 pattern data, and a storage device that stores rule data indicative of the
 rearranging pattern and the random number used to generate the new musical
 tone pattern data.
 According to the seventh aspect, there is also provided a remix method
 comprising a selection step of selecting one of a plurality of musical
 tone pattern data, a division step of dividing the selected musical tone
 pattern data into a plurality of musical tone piece data each having a
 data length smaller than that of the selected musical tone pattern data, a
 random number generation step of generating a random number, a generation
 step of operating based on a rearranging pattern indicative of a rule for
 use in rearranging musical tone piece data obtained by division by the
 division step and on the generated random number, to rearrange musical
 tone piece data selected from the plurality of musical tone piece data to
 generate a new musical tone pattern data, and a storage step of storing
 rule data indicative of the rearranging pattern and the random number used
 to generate the new musical tone pattern data.
 According to the seventh aspect, the manner of rearrangement (the
 rearranging pattern and the random number) used to rearrange musical tone
 pattern data can be saved as rule data. Using the rule data, new musical
 tone pattern data can be generated by rearranging other musical tone
 pattern data in the same manner as the above rearrangement.
 The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will
 become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in
 conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
 The present invention will be described in detail by way of example with
 reference to the drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof.
 FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the construction of a remix
 apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in
 FIG. 1, the remix apparatus of the present embodiment is comprised of a
 keyboard 1 for inputting information about pitch, a switch group 2
 composed of a plurality of switches for inputting various kinds of
 information, a key depression detecting circuit 3 for detecting a
 depressed state of each key of the keyboard 1, a switch detecting circuit
 4 for detecting a depressed state of each switch of the switch group 2, a
 CPU 5 for controlling the entire apparatus, a ROM 6 that stores control
 programs executed by the CPU 5 and a variety of table data and the like, a
 RAM 7 for temporarily storing performance data, various kinds of
 information, results of operations, and the like, a timer 8 for measuring
 a timer interrupting time in a timer interrupting process and other times,
 and a display device 9 provided with, e.g. a large-sized liquid crystal
 display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT) display and light emitting
 diodes (LEDs) and the like for displaying various kinds of information.
 The remix apparatus is further comprised of a floppy disk drive (FDD) 10
 for driving a floppy disk (FD) 20 as a storage medium, a hard disk drive
 (HDD) 11 for driving a hard disk (not illustrated) which stores a variety
 of application programs including control programs, a variety of data, and
 the like, a CD-ROM drive (CD-ROMD) 12 for driving a compact disk read only
 memory (CD-ROM) which stores a variety of application programs including
 control programs, a variety of data, and the like, a MIDI interface (I/F)
 13 for receiving musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) signals from
 the outside and outputting MIDI signals to the outside, a communication
 interface (I/F) 14 for transmitting and receiving data to and from, e.g. a
 server computer 102 on a communication network, a tone generator circuit
 15 for converting performance data inputted from the keyboard 1 and
 predetermined performance data into musical tone signals, an effect
 circuit 16 for adding a variety of effects to the musical tone signals
 transmitted from the tone generator circuit 15, and a sound system 17
 composed of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), an amplifier and a
 speaker for converting the musical tone signals from the effect circuit 16
 into sounds. The above-mentioned components 3-16 are connected with each
 other through a bus 18. The timer 8 is connected to the CPU 5, other MIDI
 equipment 100 is connected to the MIDI I/F 13, the communication network
 101 is connected to the communication I/F 14, the effect circuit 16 is
 connected to the tone generator circuit 15, and the sound system 17 is
 connected to the effect circuit 16.
 As stated above, the control programs executed by the CPU 5 can be stored
 in the hard disk of the HDD 11. In the case where a certain control
 program is not stored in the ROM 6, the control program can be stored in
 the hard disk, so that the control program can be read into the RAM 7 and
 the CPU 5 can operate in the same manner as in the case where the control
 program is stored in the ROM 6. This facilitates the addition of new
 control programs or upgrades to a version of an existing program. The
 control programs and the variety of data are read from the CD-ROM 21 of
 the CD-ROM drive 12 and are store dint he hard disk of the HDD 11. This
 facilitates the installment of additional control programs and upgrading a
 version of an existing program. An external storage device other than the
 CD-ROM drive 12 may be provided in order to use various kinds of media
 such as magneto optical disk (MO).
 As stated above, the communication I/F 14 is connected to the communication
 network 101 such as a local area network (LAN), the Internet, and a
 telephone line. The communication I/F 14 can connect to the server
 computer 102 via the communication network. In the case where a certain
 program or parameters are not stored in the hard disk of the HDD 11, the
 communication I/F 14 is used to download the program or the parameters
 from the server computer 102. A client computer (the remix apparatus in
 the present embodiment) transmits a command to the server computer 102 via
 the communication network 101 to request downloading of the program or the
 parameters. In response to the command, the server computer 102 transmits
 the requested program or the parameters to the client computer. The client
 computer receives the program or the parameters through the communication
 I/F 14 and stores them in the hard disk of the HDD 11 to complete the
 downloading. The remix apparatus may also be provided with an interface
 for transmitting and receiving data directly to and from an external
 computer or the like.
 FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an operation panel of the
 remix apparatus according to the present invention. The operation panel is
 comprised of the panel switch 2 and the display device (formed of a LCD in
 the present embodiment) 9.
 As shown in FIG. 2, the panel switch 2 is comprised of an up/down switch
 (hereinafter referred to as "the source PTN selecting switch") 2a for
 selecting one of various original musical tone patterns (PTN) displayed on
 the display device 9, that is, musical tone patterns used as sources for
 generating new musical tone patterns, an up/down switch (hereinafter
 referred to as "the rearranging PTN selecting switch") for selecting one
 of various rearranging patterns (PTN) displayed on the display device,
 that is, patterns each representing a rule for rearranging a plurality of
 musical tone piece data constituting an original or source pattern, or a
 variety of user rules, that is, manners in which audition patterns,
 referred to later, are generated from source patterns (specifically, the
 manners each include the pattern number and random number value used), an
 up/down switch (hereinafter referred to as "the ratio PTN selecting
 switch") 2c for selecting one of various ratio patterns displayed on the
 display device 9, that is, patterns each representing a control manner in
 which the musical tone piece data are rearranged (this manner will be
 hereinafter referred to as "the rearranging manner"), a pattern (PTN)
 generating switch (hereinafter referred to as "the PTN generating switch")
 2d for generating a new musical tone pattern based on the source pattern,
 rearranging pattern (or user rule), and ratio pattern selected by the
 switches 2a to 2c, an audition switch 2e for reproducing the new musical
 tone pattern generated by the PTN generating switch 2d, for audition, and
 an up/down switch (hereinafter referred to as "the audition PTN selecting
 switch") 2f for selecting one of various musical tone patterns displayed
 on the display device 9, that is, one of the newly generated musical tone
 patterns which is to be auditioned, a save switch 2g for shifting the
 apparatus into a save mode for saving one of the newly generated various
 musical tone patterns which is desired to be saved or its generation
 manner (data stored as a user rule) in a predetermined area of the RAM 7
 (a pattern or table area, which will be referred to later), and a save
 execution switch 2h for commanding a saving destination set in the save
 mode to save a simultaneously set saving object (the musical tone pattern
 or its generation manner). Although the panel switch 2 includes various
 other switches, for example, a power switch, these switches are not
 characteristic of the present invention and illustration and description
 thereof are omitted.
 Control processing executed by the remix apparatus constructed as above
 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 17.
 FIG. 3 schematically visually represents the control processing executed by
 the remix apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a
 flow chart showing a main routine for realizing this control processing,
 that is, a main routine executed by the CPU 5. This main routine is
 started when a user depresses, for example, the power switch, not shown.
 In FIG. 9, first, an initializing process is executed to clear a work area
 (see FIG. 3) of the RAM 7, set an initial tempo, and copy basic (default)
 source patterns, rearranging patterns, and ratio patterns into a source
 pattern area, a rearranging pattern area, and a ratio pattern area in the
 work area, respectively (step S1).
 Next, it is determined whether or not the user has operated any switch of
 the panel switch 2, and when the user has not operated any switch, the
 process stands by until a switch operation is performed. On the other
 hand, when the user has operated a switch, the process proceeds to a
 process corresponding to the operated switch (step S2). The present
 embodiment executes the following eight types of processes corresponding,
 respectively, to the above eight types of switches 2a to 2h:
 1) a source pattern selecting process executed when the source PTN
 selecting switch 2a is operated (step S3);
 2) a rearranging pattern selecting process executed when the rearranging
 PTN selecting switch 2b is operated (step S4);
 3) a ratio pattern selecting process executed when the ratio PTN selecting
 switch 2c is operated (step S5);
 4) a pattern generating process executed when the PTN generating switch 2d
 is operated;
 5) an audition switch executed when the audition switch 2e is operated
 (step S7);
 6) an audition pattern selecting process executed when the audition PTN
 selecting switch 2f is operated (step S8);
 7) a save process executed when the save switch 2g is operated (step S9);
 and
 8) a save executing process executed when the save execution switch 2h is
 operated (step S10).
 Further, when switches other than the ones shown above are operated,
 processes depending on these switches (other processes) are executed (step
 S11).
 The processes 1) to 8) will be individually described below in detail.
 1) The source pattern selecting process comprises copying into the source
 pattern area, one musical tone pattern selected by the user by operating
 the source PTN selecting switch 2a, from a plurality of musical tone
 patterns (in the illustrated example, N musical tone patterns labeled 1 to
 N) stored in a pattern area in FIG. 3 and displayed on the display device
 9. The pattern area is provided in the RAM 7 at a predetermined location,
 and in which are stored previously created various musical tone patterns
 (that is, source patterns) and new musical tone patterns generated by a
 method described later.
 FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing details of the source pattern selecting
 process. First, when the user operates the source PTN selecting switch 2a,
 one of the patterns within the pattern area is selected according to this
 switch operation (step S31), and then the selected pattern is copied into
 the source pattern area (step S32).
 2) The rearranging pattern selecting process is performed such that if the
 user operates the rearranging PTN selecting switch 2b to select one
 rearranging pattern from a plurality of rearranging patterns or user rules
 stored in a rearranging pattern table and displayed on the display device
 9, then the selected rearranging pattern is copied into the rearranging
 pattern area, and if the user selects one user rule, then rearranging and
 ratio patterns specified by this user rule are copied into the rearranging
 and ratio pattern areas, respectively.
 The rearranging pattern table is comprised of a plurality of the
 rearranging patterns (in the present embodiment, eight patterns labeled A
 to H) for rearranging a plurality of musical tone piece data constituting
 the selected source pattern, that is, the source pattern copied into the
 source pattern area, as well as a plurality of the user rules (in the
 present embodiment, five rules labeled 1 to 5). The rearranging pattern
 table is stored in a table area, which is provided in the RAM 7 at a
 predetermined location.
 FIG. 4 shows an example of the rearranging pattern table. The rearranging
 pattern table is comprised of a plurality of (in the illustrated example,
 eight, as stated above) rearranging pattern data.
 In FIG. 4, for example, the pattern H is comprised of four types of
 numerical value date ("2", "1", "0.5", and "0.25"). In the present
 embodiment, each source pattern is comprised of a musical tone pattern for
 one bar (for example, waveform data obtained by sampling sounds generated
 by a player actually using a musical instrument, musical tone waveform
 data cut out from a music CD or the like, or a sequence of MIDI data such
 as a rhythm pattern), and four types of musical tone piece data having
 different data lengths are generated based on this musical tone pattern
 for one bar.
 FIG. 5 shows a manner of generating these four types of musical tone piece
 data. As shown in FIG. 5, the musical tone pattern for one bar is evenly
 divided into 4, 8, 16, and 32 pieces to generate musical tone piece data
 composed of quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second note lengths,
 respectively. The quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second note
 lengths correspond to the above numerical value date "2", "1", "0.5", and
 "0.25", respectively. In this figure, the shaded musical tone piece data
 are used when "random (default)" is set as a rearranging manner (its
 meaning and contents will be described later). That is, all of the musical
 tone piece data of the divided source pattern are rearranged at positions
 indicated by the numerical value date "2" or "1", while part of the
 musical tone piece data of the divided source pattern (for the source
 pattern divided into 16 pieces, odd-number-th musical tone piece data, and
 for the source pattern divided into 32 pieces, n-th musical tone piece
 data meeting n.ident.1 (mod4)) are rearranged at positions indicated by
 the numerical value date "0.5" or "0.25". The reason why the musical tone
 piece data rearranged at the positions indicated by the numerical value
 date "0.5" or "0.25" are limited to part of the divided source pattern is
 that this part often contains effective sounds. Of course, the rearranging
 unit is not limited to the above four types but may be any value such as
 "1.5", as shown in a pattern F. In the present embodiment, however,
 numerical values are determined such that the sum of the numerical values
 of each rearranging pattern is equal to "8", which is the data length of
 the source pattern, that is, one bar length.
 In the present embodiment, the source pattern is automatically evenly
 divided by the CPU 5, and data indicative of the boundary of each musical
 tone piece data is embedded in the source pattern. The present invention
 is, however, not limited to this. Alternatively, the data indicative of
 the boundary of each musical tone piece data may be embedded in the source
 pattern at the time of generating the source pattern. Further,
 alternatively to embedding the boundary data in the source pattern,
 addresses of the musical tone pattern corresponding to the boundary
 positions may be managed separately from the source pattern.
 For example, the address region at which the musical tone pattern is stored
 may be evenly divided between its leading and final addresses in the
 memory so that the address of each divided point can be managed as a
 divided position, and the address management method may use absolute
 addresses or addresses relative to the leading address. The expression
 "dividing the source pattern" also includes "setting positional
 information (for example, addresses)" indicating the positions of data in
 the source pattern which are to be selected for rearranging instead of
 actual division of the source pattern into a plurality of pieces.
 In addition, the present invention is not limited to the even division of
 the source pattern into a plurality of musical tone pieces, but the source
 pattern may be unevenly divided. For example, peak positions of a waveform
 from the source pattern may be automatically detected and determined as
 divided points, or the user may arbitrarily set divided positions.
 Further, evenly divided points may be set or peak positions may be
 automatically determined as divided points, and then the user may then
 finely adjust the divided points. The fine adjustment of the divided
 points may be carried out by providing a plurality of fine adjustment
 operators, not shown, corresponding, respectively, to divided points and
 operating these fine adjustment operators to finely adjust the divided
 points so as to prevent occurrence of click noise if such noise occurs
 when the rearranging pattern is auditioned during the auditing process,
 which will be described later.
 Further, the numerical value data of each rearranging pattern have their
 rearranging manner changed by the ratio pattern, described later. The
 present embodiment has six types of rearranging manners including "fixed"
 and "random". The "fixed" refers to fixation with respect to the source
 pattern, that is, the musical tone piece data are not rearranged, and the
 "random" refers to randomness with respect to the source pattern, that is,
 the musical tone piece data are randomly selected from other musical tone
 piece data. In the present embodiment, the random is a reference (default)
 rearranging manner. The other rearranging manners will be described in the
 description of the 3) ratio pattern selecting process.
 In FIG. 4, the shaded numerical value data indicate that the rearranging
 manner has been changed to the "fixed".
 In the present embodiment, rearranging patterns have been previously
 created and stored within the table area of the RAM 7 (for example, the
 contents stored in the RAM 7 are held by a backup power supply), but the
 present invention is not limited to this. The user may create rearranging
 patterns.
 FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing details of the rearranging pattern
 selecting process. First, when the user operates the rearranging PTN
 selecting switch 2b, one of the rearranging patterns or user rules in the
 rearranging pattern table is selected according to the switch operation
 (step S41).
 Next, it is determined whether or not a rearranging pattern has been
 selected (step S42), and when a rearranging pattern has been selected, it
 is copied into the rearranging pattern area (step S43). On the other hand,
 when a user rule has been selected, a rearranging pattern and a ratio
 pattern specified by this user rule are copied into the rearranging and
 ratio pattern areas, respectively (step S44). The selection of the
 rearranging pattern determines particulars of a new pattern to be
 generated (where long musical tone piece data is to be rearranged, and
 others), and the selection of the user rule enables the reproduction of a
 rearranging pattern and a ratio pattern used in the past by the user when
 creating an audible pattern.
 3) The ratio pattern selecting process comprises copying into the ratio
 pattern area, one of plural ratio patterns stored in the ratio pattern
 table which is selected by the user by operating the PTN selecting switch
 2c.
 The ratio pattern table is comprised of plural types of ratio patterns for
 determining a rearranging manner ("mute", "fixed", "LoFi", "pitch change",
 and "data length reduction") for the selected rearranging pattern, that
 is, the rearranging pattern copied into the rearranging pattern area. The
 ratio pattern table is previously stored in a table area, which is
 provided in the ROM 6 at a predetermined location.
 FIG. 6 shows an example of the ratio pattern table, which is comprised of a
 plurality of ratio pattern data (in the illustrated example, 10 ratios
 labeled A to J).
 As shown in FIG. 6, each ratio pattern data is comprised of plural sets of
 data wherein a pair of data in parenthesis constitute one set of data.
 Each set of data in parenthesis are comprised of two integral values, and
 the left-hand numerical value indicates a position in a sequence of
 numerical values (for example, in the pattern A, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2)
 constituting a rearranging pattern, while the right-hand numerical value
 indicates the contents of control executed on musical tone piece data to
 be rearranged at the position indicated by the left-hand numerical value.
 The left-hand numerical value ranges up to the maximum value of the number
 of numerical values belonging to the sequence of numerical values
 constituting the rearranging pattern, and the right-hand value ranges from
 0 to 4. The contents of control corresponding to each integral value are
 shown below.
 0: mute, 1: fixed, 2: LoFi, 3: pitch change, and 4: data length reduction
 wherein:
 1) the "0: mute" means control that allows no sound to be produced without
 rearranging musical tone piece data,
 2) the "1: fixed" means control that uses musical tone piece data at an
 original position thereof as they are, without rearranging other musical
 tone piece data at the original position,
 3) the "2: LoFi" means control that reduces the fidelity of randomly
 (default) selected musical tone piece data,
 4) the "3: pitch change" means control that changes the pitch of randomly
 (default) selected musical tone piece data, and
 5) the "4: data length reduction" means control that reduces the data
 length of randomly (default) selected musical tone piece data.
 The fidelity reduction in 3) is performed specifically by sampling and
 holding a predetermined number of samples of musical tone piece data at a
 time for each sample if the musical tone piece data are waveform data. If,
 for example, samples of the original waveform data are: SD(0), SD(1),
 SD(2), SD(3), SD(4), SD(5), SD(6), SD(7), SD(8), SD(9), then these samples
 can have their fidelity reduced by sampling and holding them as follows:
 SD(0), SD(0), SD(2), SD(2), SD(4), SD(4), SD(6), SD(6), SD(8), SD(8) . . .
 .
 The pitch change in 4) can be carried out specifically by holding each
 sample, for example, for two sampling periods to reduce the pitch to half
 if the musical tone piece data are waveform data. If, for example, samples
 of the original waveform data are: SD(0), SD(1), SD(2), SD(3), SD(4),
 SD(5), SD(6), SD(7), SD(8), SD(9), then the pitch of these samples can be
 changed by holding them as follows: SD(0), SD(0), SD(1), SD(1), SD(2),
 SD(2), SD(3), SD(3), SD(4), SD(4) . . . .
 In the data length reduction in 5), as shown, for example, in FIG. 7A, the
 above musical tone piece data have their data length reduced as follows:
 If the musical tone piece data are waveform data, a volume envelope
 thereof is attenuated. If the musical tone piece data are automatic
 performance data, the value of a volume parameter contained in the
 automatic performance data is gradually reduced.
 Instead of the data length reduction, the types of the contents of control
 may be increased to vary the attenuation speed, position, or curve as
 shown in FIGS. 7B to 7D. Alternatively, the types of the contents of
 control may be increased such that arbitrary combinations of the controls
 0 to 4 can be selected.
 Referring back to FIG. 6, the first set of data in a ratio D is (1, 1),
 meaning that if, for example, the pattern C (2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.5) is
 selected as the rearranging pattern, the first numerical value ("2") of
 the sequence of numerical values constituting the pattern C is controlled
 (changed) from the "random", which is a default, to the "fixed".
 "null" is set for a ratio A, which means that no control is provided. Thus,
 the rearranging pattern remains set to the "random", which is a default.
 FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing details of the ratio pattern selecting
 process. First, when the user operates the ratio PTN selecting switch 2c,
 one of the patterns within the ratio pattern table is selected according
 to this switch operation (step S51). Then, the selected pattern is copied
 into the ratio pattern area (step S52).
 4) The pattern generating process comprises generating a new musical tone
 pattern by rearranging each of the musical tone piece data in the source
 pattern copied into the source pattern area based on the rearranging
 pattern copied into the rearranging pattern area and the ratio pattern
 copied into the ratio pattern area.
 FIGS. 8A to 8C show examples of patterns generated by applying the ratio
 patterns of the ratios A, B, I in FIG. 6 to the pattern H in FIG. 4 when
 this pattern is selected as the rearranging pattern.
 In FIG. 8A, since the pattern H consists of the sequence of numerical
 values 2, 1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25,
 0.25, 0.25, and the ratio A is "null", musical tone piece data of data
 lengths each assigned to a corresponding one of rearranging positions
 HA1-HA15 are randomly rearranged at these rearranging positions.
 Specifically, any one of the musical tone piece data "1" to "4" shown in
 FIG. 5 and generated by evenly dividing the source pattern into four
 pieces is randomly selected and rearranged at the position HA1, two of the
 musical tone piece data "1" to "8" shown in FIG. 5 and generated by evenly
 dividing the source pattern into eight pieces are randomly selected and
 rearranged at the positions HA2 and HA3, four of the musical tone piece
 data "1" to "8" shown in FIG. 5 and generated by evenly dividing the
 source pattern into 16 pieces are randomly selected and rearranged at the
 positions HA4-HA7, and seven of the musical tone piece data "1" to "8"
 shown in FIG. 5 and generated by evenly dividing the source pattern into
 32 pieces are randomly selected and rearranged at the positions HA8-HA14.
 In FIG. 8B, since the ratio B is (1, 1), (3, 1), (5, 1), musical tone piece
 data at positions HB1, HB3, and HB5 are not rearranged, whereas musical
 tone piece data are selected and rearranged at the other positions as in
 FIG. 8A.
 In addition, in FIG. 8C, since the ratio I is (2, 2), (5, 0), (8, 3), (11,
 0), (12, 4), a randomly selected one of the musical tone piece data "1" to
 "8" generated by evenly dividing the source pattern into eight pieces is
 rearranged at a position HI2 after having its fidelity reduced, randomly
 selected two of the musical tone piece data "1" to "8" generated by evenly
 dividing the source pattern into 32 pieces are rearranged at positions HI5
 and HI11 after having been muted, a randomly selected one of the musical
 tone piece data "1" to "8" generated by evenly dividing the source pattern
 into 32 pieces is rearranged at a position HI8 after having its pitch
 changed, and a randomly selected one of the musical tone piece data "1" to
 "8" generated by evenly dividing the source pattern into 32 pieces is
 rearranged at a position HI12 after having its data length reduced.
 In addition, if, for example, the pattern F in FIG. 4 is selected as the
 rearranging pattern, and when a section of section length "1.5" is
 designated, musical tone piece data of length "1.5" from the leading
 position of a section of length "2" is assigned to the section of length
 "2".
 Although in the present embodiment, overlapping assignment is permitted in
 the random assignment of musical tone piece data, the overlapping
 assignment may be inhibited. Furthermore, the user may select either
 method. Specifically, a mode for permitting the overlapping assignment and
 a mode for inhibiting the same are provided so that the user can select
 one of these modes by using, for example, a mode switch, not shown,
 included in the panel switch 2. When the permission mode is selected,
 musical tone piece data are randomly assigned as in the present
 embodiment, whereas when the inhibition mode is selected, the remaining
 musical tone piece data, that is, all the musical tone piece data other
 than already assigned ones are selected and assigned.
 FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing details of the pattern generating process.
 In FIG. 13, first, an old pattern 1 is transferred to an old pattern 2
 area, and a new pattern is transferred to an old pattern 1 area (step
 S61).
 The old pattern 1 is stored in the old pattern 1 area of a generated
 pattern area, which is provided in the RAM 7 at a predetermined location,
 and the new pattern is stored in a new pattern area of the generated
 pattern area. As shown in FIG. 3, the generated pattern area is comprised
 of three areas: the new pattern area, the old pattern 1 area, and the old
 pattern 2 area. That is, at the step S61, in order to store in the new
 pattern area a new pattern to be generated by this pattern generating
 process, the last new pattern and the new pattern preceding the last new
 pattern are transferred to the old pattern 1 and 2 areas, respectively.
 At a subsequent step S62, a new pattern is generated based on a source
 pattern (a pattern stored in the source pattern area), a rearranging
 pattern (a pattern stored in the rearranging pattern area), a ratio
 pattern (a pattern stored in the ratio pattern area), and a random number
 (generated when, for example, the CPU 5 executes a predetermined random
 number generation algorithm) and is stored in the new pattern area.
 Then, at a step S63, the new pattern generated at the step S62 is set as an
 audition pattern, that is, a pattern to be subjected to the auditing
 process, which will be described below.
 FIG. 18 shows an example of generation of a new pattern from a source
 pattern using the pattern generating process. In the illustrated example,
 the pattern in FIG. 8C is used as a generation control pattern. FIG. 18
 also shows a rule used to generate the new pattern.
 5) The auditing process comprises regenerating a musical tone pattern
 selected as an audition pattern. When the musical tone pattern is waveform
 data obtained by sampling a sound from a musical instrument or cutting out
 musical tone waveform data recorded on a music CD or the like, the
 waveform data in this pattern is directly regenerated. When the musical
 tone pattern is a sequence of MIDI data such as a rhythm pattern, that is,
 a sequence data consisting of event data and output timing data therefor,
 this pattern is regenerated by outputting corresponding event data to the
 tone generator circuit 15 at a point of time indicated by the output
 timing.
 FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing details of the auditing process. A pattern
 set as the audition pattern, that is, the audition pattern set at the
 above step S63, or an audition pattern selected by the audition pattern
 selecting process, which will be described next, is regenerated and
 auditioned by the above method (step S71).
 6) The audition pattern selecting process comprises selecting one of the
 musical tone patterns stored in the three areas of the generated pattern
 area which is selected by the user by operating the audition PTN selecting
 switch 2f, as the audition pattern, that is, the musical tone pattern
 regenerated by the above auditing process.
 FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing details of the audition pattern selecting
 process. When the user operates the audition PTN selecting switch 2f, one
 of the patterns within the generated pattern area is selected according to
 this switch operation (step S82). Then, the selected pattern is set as the
 audition pattern (step S82).
 7) The save process comprises shifting the current mode to the above save
 mode (save screen).
 FIG. 16 is a flow chart showing details of this save process. When the user
 operates the save switch 2g, the display device 9 shifts to the save
 screen (step S91).
 After shifting to the save screen, the display device 9 displays, for
 example, a message "Specify Save Destination". At this point, operating
 the source PTN selecting switch 2a enables one of the areas within the
 pattern area to be selected as the saving destination; for example, the
 display will be "Saving Destination: Pattern 3". Alternatively, operating
 the rearranging PTN selecting switch 2b enables a user rule area in the
 table area to be selected as the saving destination; for example, the
 display will be "Saving Destination: Rule 3".
 8) The save executing process comprises commanding the saving destination
 set by the save mode to save a simultaneously set saving object (a musical
 tone pattern or its generation manner).
 FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing details of this save executing process.
 First, the process branches depending on whether the selected saving
 destination is a pattern area or the user rule area in the table area
 (step S101). When a pattern area has been selected, the musical tone
 pattern selected as the "audition pattern" is copied into this pattern
 area (step S102), and when the user rule area has been selected, the rule
 used to generate the "audition pattern" is saved into this user rule area.
 If there is no empty area, one of the patterns or rules stored in the
 pattern area or user rule area, respectively, may be deleted so that the
 musical tone pattern can be copied or saved into the resulting empty area.
 In the present embodiment, a new musical tone pattern is generated by
 directly (or after processing) rearranging the musical tone piece data of
 one source pattern, but the present invention is not limited to this. A
 new musical tone pattern maybe generated by rearranging or combining
 musical tone piece data of a plurality of source patterns. For example, a
 new musical tone pattern composed of musical tone-piece data "aklcjhgo"
 may be generated from a source pattern composed of musical tone piece data
 "abcdefgh" and a source pattern composed of musical tone piece data
 "ijklmnop". This can be simply realized in the same manner as in the
 present embodiment by employing a rearranging pattern that is composed of
 musical tone piece data to be rearranged, which can be selected from a
 plurality of source patterns.
 Although in the present embodiment, as the source pattern, musical tone
 waveform data for one bar or MIDI sequence data for one bar, originally
 having rhythmicity, groove and tempo, are used, which are rearranged to
 generate a new pattern while maintaining the groove and tempo of the
 source pattern, a source pattern originally having no rhythmicity, groove
 or tempo may be rearranged. Further, the source pattern may have an
 arbitrary length instead of one bar. For example, a source pattern may be
 rearranged which is sampled (the length may or may not be one bar) from a
 sustained instrument sound or a human voice phrase (a song or a speech),
 or basic waveform data such as sine or saw-tooth wave for use in a
 waveform memory tone generator or an FM (frequency modulation) tone
 generator for forming musical tone signals or musical tone. waveform data
 obtained by sampling an instrument sound, (which may be one cycle of
 waveform, plural cycles of waveform, or a waveform shorter than one
 cycle).
 In addition, in the present embodiment, the newly generated musical tone
 pattern is saved in the same data format as the source pattern (if, for
 example, the source pattern is of an audio waveform data format, the new
 musical tone pattern will also be of the audio waveform data format, and
 if, for example, the source pattern is of a MIDI sequence data format, the
 new musical tone pattern will also be of the MIDI sequence data format),
 but the present invention is not limited to this. The source pattern and
 the new musical tone pattern may be saved in different formats (for
 example, instead of the section specifying information such as "abcdefgh",
 that is, the musical tone piece data, information indicating the positions
 thereof plus the corresponding original audio waveform data or MIDI
 sequence data may be used).
 Furthermore, although the numbers of rearranging patterns and ratio
 patterns are six and eight, respectively, for the sake of explanation, the
 present invention is of course not limited to this. For example, the
 number of patterns may be varied depending on the number of pieces into
 which the source pattern is divided, or may be totally arbitrary. In
 addition, the number of newly generated musical tone patterns stored is
 not limited to three as in the present embodiment. only the latest musical
 tone pattern may be stored or two or four or more musical tone patterns
 may be stored.
 The object of the present invention can also be achieved by providing a
 system or apparatus with a storage medium containing a software program
 code for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment and
 reading the program code from the storage medium by a computer (or the CPU
 5 and the MPU) of the system or apparatus for execution.
 In this case, the program code read from the storage medium realizes the
 novel functions of the present invention, and the storage medium
 containing the program code constitutes the present invention.
 Examples of the storage medium containing the program code are the floppy
 disk 20, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto optical disk, the CD-ROM
 21, a CD-R, a non-volatile memory card and the ROM 6. Alternatively, the
 program code may be supplied from the server computer 102 through the MIDI
 equipment 100 and the communication network 101.
 Of course, the functions of the above described embodiment can be realized
 not only by executing the program code read by means of the computer but
 also by executing a part or the whole of the actual processing by means of
 an operating system or the like working on the computer in accordance with
 commands of the program code.
 Moreover, it goes without saying that the functions of the above-described
 embodiment can be realized by executing a part or the whole of the actual
 processing by means of the CPU 5 provided in a function expansion board
 inserted in the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the
 computer in accordance with commands of the program code after the program
 code read from the storage medium is stored in a memory provided in the
 function expansion board or the function expansion unit.