Patent ID: 7700868

Claim:
A musical instrument for producing music sound, comprising: at least one manipulator moved to different positions by player's force depending upon different sorts of player's intention so as to change an attribute of the music sound to be produced; a tone generator connected to said at least one manipulator, and producing said music sound having said attribute; and a supporting system including at least one sensor provided in association with said at least one manipulator and producing a detecting signal representative of a physical quantity expressing the movement of said at least one manipulator, at least one actuator responsive to a driving power so as to exert an assisting force on said at least one manipulator causing said at least one manipulator to move to said different positions, and a controller connected to said at least one sensor and said at least one actuator, said controller storing plural relations between said physical quantity and a magnitude of said driving power, said controller selectively accessing said plural relations depending upon said different sorts of player's intention and adjusting said driving power to a certain magnitude in said selected one of said relations corresponding to said physical quantity so that said at least one manipulator is moved by the total of said player's force and said assisting force.