Patent ID: 7473841

Claim:
An automatic player for producing at least stop-and-go motion of manipulators of a musical instrument, comprising: actuators provided in association with said manipulators, respectively, and responsive to driving signals so as to exert force on the associated manipulators, thereby moving the associated manipulators along reference trajectories on which target stops are respectively determined for said stop-and-go motion; sensors monitoring said manipulators for producing signals representative of pieces of motion data expressing actual values of physical quantity in actual motion of said manipulators on actual trajectories; and a data processing unit including a motion controller determining pieces of control data expressing target values of said physical quantity in target motion of said manipulators on said reference trajectories, and outputting said pieces of control data at time intervals and a servo controller connected to said sensors, said motion controller and said actuators for a servo control on said manipulators, normalizing said pieces of motion data in such a manner as to express normalized values of said physical quantity less than said target values of said physical quantity at said target stops for the manipulators advancing toward said target stops and other normalized values of said physical quantity greater than said target values of said physical quantity at said target stops for the manipulators running over said target stop and adjusting said driving signal to a proper value of magnitude through minimization of a difference between said pieces of motion data already normalized and said pieces of control data.