Patent ID: 7531737

Claim:
A music processing apparatus capable of performing music processing including reproduction of performance of at least one of events and audio signals, said music processing apparatus being capable of registering plug-in software, having a predetermined music function, into a rack object to thereby use the music function of the plug-in software in part of the music processing, said music processing apparatus comprising: a first interface section that connects said music processing apparatus to a music network capable of real-time transmission of the performance of at least one of events and audio signals; a storage section that stores, for each equipment registered for use in said music processing apparatus, equipment data including a name of the equipment and information of a connection port to be used for connecting the equipment to the music processing of said music processing apparatus; a library section capable of storing a plurality of sets of the equipment data; a connection detection section that detects an external equipment newly connected to the network and having a music function identical in type to the music function of the plug-in software and that generates equipment data of the detected external equipment on the basis of information acquired from the detected external equipment; an automatic registration section that, when connection of an external equipment is newly detected by said connection detection section and if the newly detected external equipment has not yet been registered for use, causes equipment data of the newly detected external equipment to be stored into said library section; a use-registration section that, in response to operation by a user, selects any one of a plurality of equipments, having their respective equipment data stored in said library section, to register the selected equipment for use and writes the equipment data of the selected equipment into said storage section, and that, when the selected equipment having been registered for use is the external equipment detected by said connection detection section, deletes the equipment data of the external equipment from said library section; and a rack registration section that, in response to operation by the user, registers the equipment, having been registered for use, into the rack object, wherein the music function of the equipment registered in the rack object is usable as part of the music processing in a substantially same manner as the music function of the plug-in software.