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    26 views20 pages

    Piano Tuning System

    Uploaded by

    César Leonardo Paggi

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 20
    United States Patent 1) 1) Patent Number: 5,065,660 de Buda 145] Date of Patent: Nov. 19, 1991 [54] PIANO TUNING SYSTEM 44435953979. Oliver sons B/DIG, 37 X 4136682 4/1980 Raskin 4/454 X {76] Inventor: Erie de Bude, $5 Humberview Road, 4297838 11/1981 Kirby caress Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1W7 4,327,623 $/1982 Mochida et al. 84/454 pet) Appl Nos sa0s77 AS84923. 4/1986 Minnick sence 8/454 Primary Examiner—Russell E. Adams (22) Filea: May 29, 1990 Assistant Examiner—Jae N. Noh {51} Tat. cs G10 3/10; G10G 7/02 “‘tomey. Agen, oF Firm-—-Ridout & Maybee {32] US. “nn 84/2005 84/455; ‘ABSTRA 34/454, 64/455, 84/DIG. 187) “ cr 138] wo» 84/484, 458, 200, 455, A system for tuning pianos and other string instruments H/DIG. 18, DIG. 77 lesa clampron probe witha Teiback lop 1 in duce a controlled vibration ofthe string and its natur 156) References Cited frequency of vibration. This frequency i electronically US. PATENT DOCUMENTS compared to an accurate reference frequency. An asso- ciated electronic circuit controls an electric motor 461529 7/1972. Van Der Woerd sass ci pense ae L 4/435 riven mechanism which adjusts the string tension until pen aa BASE the correct frequency is achieved dariass Zapp : e304 sons fear wes 11 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets MOTOR CONTROLLER: f 4 [we af 33 com | JUUL | FREQUENCY | UT | FREQUENCY DRIVER COMPARATOR REFERENCE f f 3» 39 40 DEMODULATOR|'V\/V|_ SIGNAL & AMPUFIER ' /PROCESSOR| J f 36 37 US, Patent Nov. 19, 1991 Sheet 1 of 11 5,065,660 Col JUUL | FREQUENCY | ULT | FREQUENCY DRIVER COMPARATOR |" | REFERENCE 4 f£ é o> 39 40 RF DEMODULATOR| V/V") SIGNAL OSCILLATOR| “| & AMPLIFIER [ [Processor ' \ Se 35) 36 FIG. 1 5,065,660 Sheet 2 of 11 Noy. 19, 1991 US. Patent U.S. Patent Noy, 19, 1991 Sheet 3 of 11 5,065,660 FIG. 13 USS, Patent Nov. 19, 1991 Sheet 4 of 11 5,065,660 f FIG. 14 Sheet 5 of 11 5,065,660 Nov. 19, 1991 US. Patent 6r “OW HOLIMS: wOLoaTaS q SNOL-INIS {+9 E35 AMORA ——— ae A+ (~~ KINO E— = 9 ava +0 0 eh r oh 3} SLAdNI 5V +0 of \ iS aOLyTHSO — oLvaYdnoo -_— fast TWLIDIT S Th. ‘TWISAYD 4 ° ‘TWNOIS AONGNOTAL Were 2 SEE oH TONTARAT oe te 2 — xh —~_ boa + {| GUY aaunnoo — 69 2 Qo N A SaIAIC Uo uI~ Cog ~~ \ 2 OF 02 ‘Slt Vor ‘Sid 5,065,660 Sheet 6 of 11 Noy. 19, 1991 =. Ion #|_, = SIGHS 2 she dom 68 US, Patent lo ate Coe = WOLVADTINI 0 48 yoLvavdnoo |_, ‘OCNIA pe YSLATANOD ¢ == o-| 39VLTOA OL | 26 Ce ADNENORIL Coy Sheet 7 of 11 5,065,660 Nov. 19, 1991 US. Patent ‘TWNOIS qa0dd dassdo0dd Te “old YGLATANOD TOVITOA OL 58 TNOIS C SONSUTATY AONENOTAL TUL AONANDTL WVU —o «a> ‘TWNSIS 9 Ud y aa0ud Qu o S6 5,065,660 Sheet 8 of 11 Nov. 19, 1991 US, Patent "bao s ee ‘Old __ ar lp aly 20r YOLVaVdHOD fT ‘MOCNIA XN — aoLvavano2 Indio ‘AOCNIA YOLVEVEHOD gn yoLogtas |}- (sharp/flat) input 122 goes low again, the output of 10 the logic NOR gate 124 will again go high, and the ‘motor will continue rotating forward and tightening the string. If the #/b (sharp/Mat) input 122 goes high and stays high, then the output of the logic NOR gate 124 ‘20es low and the motor 111 stops rotating, The capaci- tor 126 causes the input of the inverter 127 to go low and stay low momentarily as determined by the resistor 128. The diode 129 conducts the output of said inverter to the left input ofthe power bridge, causing the motor 111 to reverse momentarily. This releases the torque and allows the tension adjusting mechanism to be ‘moved to another tuning pin. If the note goes fiat again while the torque is being released (due to hysteresis), then the resistor 130 and the diode 131 will cause the capacitor 117 to be discharged, thereby causing the tuning cycle to repeat itself with the exception that the binary counter 132 has been ad- vanced to the next Af value. The binary counter 132 is set to zero by the “clear” input whenever the “tune” switch 121 is closed. It advances to the next value when the #/b (sharp/fat) input 122 goes high and stays high Jong enough to charge the capacitor 133 through the resistor 134. This prevents the counter from being trig gered by noise ‘The Schmitt trigger 135 ensures that the counter will set a proper rising edge. The logic AND gates 136 activate the Af outputs 137 while the string is being tightened and deactivate them while the torque is being released. Ifthe #/0 (sharp/Mat) input 122 stays high for the duration determined by the capacitor 126 and the resistor 128, then after the output of the inverter 127 ‘goes low, the output of the inverter 138 goes high, and through the diode 139 prevents the capacitor 117 from being discharged through the diode 131. The motor then stops turning. The sequence of operation is as follows: With the bracket 47 of the tuning arm 45 secured to the piano frame, the operator secures the socket 43 over the tun- ing pin ofthe string to be tuned and places the probe 32, cor 63, as previously described, over the string to be tuned. The operator must ensure that the frequency selected by the combination of the octave and semi-tone selector switches corresponds to the frequency of the string being tuned. The momentary “tune” switch 121 is closed, the binary counter resets to zero, and the motor turns in the forward direction to tighten the string until the #/> (sharp/flat) input goes high. If said input goes high only momentarily due to a noise spike the motor ‘momentarily decelerates, but otherwise the noise spike is ignored. If said input goes high for a longer duration, the binary counter is advanced and the motor is put in reverse. If said input goes low while the torque is being released (motor in reverse), then the tuning cycle re- sumes with the binary counter taking the next larger count, Tuning stops if the #/b (sharp/Mat) signal 122 stays high for the full duration of the motor reverse motion. If desired, the frequency modifying anti-hys- teresis feature can be disabled by disconnecting the 5 20 2 3 0 4s 0 ss o ‘s 10 diode 131, in which case the controller will do one forward/reverse cycle in which the forward motion is terminated by a low to high transition on the #/ input. The operator then selects the pitch of the next string to be tuned, moves the socket 43 and probe 32, or 63 to the next string, and repeats the operation. Referring now to FIGS. 25 and 26, one ofthe difficul ties an operator may experience, if the piano is very badly out of tune, is uncertainty about whether the controller 143 is set to the correct note. This problem is addressed by having twelve indicator lights 140 on the controller, one for each semi-tone of an octave, posi tioned above their respective keys on the keyboard. The bottom surface 144 of the controller 14 itself may be provided with slots 141 cut into it of « size and spacing {o match the black keys 142 on the piano keyboard During the tuning session, the controller 143 rests on top of the piano keyboard and the slot pattern in the bottom of the controller 143 ensures that for each oc- tave, the controller 143 can be located on the keyboard in only one position, being the position in which the semitone indicator lights are individually positioned directly above or adjacent to their corresponding keys (on the keyboard). This also ensures that on any piano, regardless of its design, there will always be a conve- nient place to rest the controller during the tuning oper- ation. ‘Some alternative embodiments of the present inven- tion will now be briefly described. Instead of using electromagnetic RF coils, one could use a single passive coil which responds to the changes in the magnetic field which occur when the string vibrates near a permanent magnet or other source of magnetic flox. Instead of using a coil, one could use a Hall effect sensor. Another ‘option would be to make the electromagnet itself into a sensor since the string vibration induces a voltage on its terminals. Some means would be required to separate this signal from the excitation voltage. Instead of using electromagnetic methods, one could use electrostatics. ‘The string could be charged with a DC voltage so that its vibration induces a voltage in a nearby conductive surface. An optical detector such as a photodiode or phototransistor can also pick up vibration if the string surface is illuminated by optical radiation. A laser diode of the type used in compact disc players could provide illumination for very sensitive vibration sensing. pro- vided that itis well focused. Focusing and positioning Could be achieved using the same moving coil arrange- ‘ment found in these dis players, Finally, a microphone can be used, however, it must have the required fre- uency response and must be properly positioned. ‘An alternative tothe clamp and damper arrangement, ‘would be to replace the clamps with dampers so thatthe probe has four dampers. The dampers could be spring loaded and have notches to help them maintain their rip on the strings ‘A probe with one side missing, could be useful for reaching strings in hard-to-get-to places such as next to a support beam. It may also be possible to fit the probe onto an auto- mated device which, by sequentially gripping the strings, is able to automatically index the probe from fone sting to the next. Indexing could also be done relative toa temporarily mounted track. An alternative to this would be to construct a multi-element array of sensors and electromagnets, one for each string. Damp- ing of adjacent strings could be accomplished electroni- cally, by feeding the electromagnets signals which are 5,065,660 11 the exact opposite phase of the signals that would be required to build up the vibration, Damping could also bbe accomplished by the use of solenoid actuated damp: Many of the analog circuit functions could be achieved with digital circuitry. For the phase shifting circuit in the signal processor, an oscillator and a ‘counter could be used to generate a time delay accord- ing to information stored in read only memory. Another approach would be to use a phase-lock loop. The fre- ‘quency comparator can be made to work with digital circuitry as shown in FIG. 24. Instead of a sawtooth ‘wave, the digital equivalent is used, this being the out- put of a binary counter. Data latches can then be used instead of sample and hold circuits, while the basic functional principle remains the same. If the analog version is used, however, a simple way to achieve the Af offsets isto feed controlled currents into the capaci tors of the second stage sample and hold amplifiers. There are different strategies that can be used when offsetting the reference frequency in order 10 compen- sate for hysteresis. Before each successive tuning cycle, the reference frequency can be increased by the same percentage increment. Alternatively, the amount by which the note goes flat due to hysteresis can be mea- sured, and this Value used to determine the next fre- quency offset. Another way to address the problem of hysteresis is to use impact torque for adjusting the tension. A smaller amount of impact torque could be added to static torque in order to reduce the shock waves in the piano frame that impact torque tends to produce. In the described embodiment, there are no warning signals given to the operator who is therefore required to maintain a certain level of alertness. A warning could bbe added to warn the operator if changing the tension doesn’t change the natural frequency. This could be coupled to an automatic shutdown circuit if the opera- tor doesn't respond. This could address the problem which can arise if the operator inadvertently puts the tension adjusting mechanism onto a pin which does not correspond to the string which has the probe. Other ‘warnings for problems such as excessive torque could also be added. Another approach to handling the analog and the digital circuit functions is to use a microcomputer, and program in the functions with software, in a manner which will be obvious to someone skilled in the art. ‘An alternative to inducing vibration at the natural frequency of the string and comparing this to a refer- ence frequency, is to induce vibration at the desired frequency and compare the phase shift of the response ‘to what it should be ifthe string is in tune. In this case, the frequency error of the controlled vibration would be zero, regardless of the natural frequency error of the string, the natural frequency error being the difference between the desired natural frequency, and the natural frequency at which the string would vibrate if it was vibrating on its own. Therefore, the natural frequency error is not measured directly in this case, but is instead determined using information derived from the phase ‘shift signal. The advantage of this approach is that the electronic circuitry can be greatly simplified. The signal processor is no longer needed as the signal from the frequency reference can be fed directly into the electro- ‘magnet coil driver. The frequency comparator is also no longer needed and can be replaced with a simple circuit for measuring phase and comparing it to the ry 2s 30 0 4s 0 3 6 12

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