Ivl Technologies Ltd

George J Spark

Brian C Gibson

A pitch detector is disclosed that automatically recognizes the pitch of musical notes quickly and outputs the pitch information in a variety of formats. The detector employs a microprocessor that samples the signal from a musical instrument or voice at regular intervals using an analog-to-digital converter and then utilizes both amplitude and time information from the waveform to determine the fundamental period of the note, while rejecting the harmonic components. The microprocessor analyzes the waveform looking for peaks that are approximately equal in amplitude separated by opposite polarity peaks. The time intervals between the peaks must be approximately equal too. Timing information is measured using more than one point on the waveform to avoid inaccuracies caused by temporary distortions of the waveform. The timing points are chosen at points where the slope of the waveform is high for substantially optimal accuracy. To filter out erroneous readings caused by pitch detection during note transition or noise, additional processing of the data is performed to cause a second corroborating reading to be taken when a note transition that is uncommon musically is detected.

Growing community of inventors

Martensville, Canada

George J Spark