The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 22, 1980
Filed:
Feb. 28, 1978
Robert A Moog, Williamsville, NY (US);
Norlin Music, Inc., Lincolnwood, IL (US);
Abstract
A keyboard for a monophonic musical instrument has a plurality of touch sensitive keys which function as variable capacitors, the capacitance depending on the force applied to the keys. The variable capacitance is detected and used to produce a variable control voltage which is used to execute one or several of various control functions, such as controlling the volume of the sound produced by The instrument, controlling the cutoff frequency of a low pass filter in the output system of the instrument, controlling the amount of vibrato or other periodic modulation introduced into the sounds produced by the instrument, controlling the frequency of the vibrato or other periodic modulation, or controlling the amount of 'bend' in the pitch of a sound produced by the instrument, i.e. shifting the pitch slightly from its nominal value. The variable capacitors employ a conductive elastomer which is deformed in response to the force applied to the keys. The changes in the capacitance are converted to a DC voltage which is used to control the amplitude of an output signal.