Real-time music creation system

Abstract

An electronic music system has an input device (12), one or more computer storage media, a rhythm generator (100), a pitch selector (108), and a sound generator (102). The input device (12) generates rhythm-related input signals and pitch-related input signals in response to manipulations of the input device (12) by a user attempting to create and play a solo. The computer storage media have a plurality of user-selectable musical accompaniment tracks over which the user can create and play the solo and a plurality of rhythm blocks wherein each rhythm block defines, for at least one note, at least a time at which the note should be played. The computer storage media also store at least a portion of the solo created by the user over a predetermined time interval in the immediate past. The rhythm generator (100) receives the rhythm-related input signals from the input device (12), selects one of the rhythm blocks from the computer storage media based on the rhythm-related input signals, and outputs an instruction to play the note at the time defined by the selected rhythm block. The pitch selector (108) receives the pitch-related input signals from the input device (12) and selects an appropriate pitch based on the pitch-related input signals, the user-selected musical accompaniment track, and the stored solo information. The pitch selector (108) then outputs that appropriate pitch. The sound generator (102) receives instructions from the rhythm generator (100), pitches from the pitch selector (108), and the user-selected musical accompaniment track and generates an audio signal representative of the user-created solo and the accompaniment track.