In a musical performance apparatus, a time line management processing part displays one or more of time lines on a display unit according to an operation of an operating unit, each time line being an image representing a period for a sequence of one or more of sounds that repeat in a piece of music. An object management processing part displays one or more of objects on the display unit according to an operation of the operating unit, each object being a symbol corresponding to and representing a sound to be generated. A musical performance processing part determines belongingness of each object to the one or more of the time lines displayed on the display unit, and repeats control of generating sounds corresponding to the objects in parallel and independently for each time line at the period corresponding to each time line, such that each sound is generated at a sound generation timing determined according to a position of the corresponding object in a longitudinal direction of the time line to which the corresponding object belongs.

An information processing apparatus is provided which includes a metadata extraction unit for analyzing an audio signal in which a plurality of instrument sounds are present in a mixed manner and for extracting, as a feature quantity of the audio signal, metadata changing along with passing of a playing time, and a player parameter determination unit for determining, based on the metadata extracted by the metadata extraction unit, a player parameter for controlling a movement of a player object corresponding to each instrument sound.

Method for deriving at least one animation parameter from audio data, said animation parameters being descriptive of the mood of said audio data, comprising the following steps: determining a current mood model for said audio data; calculating at least one distance measure for at least one reference mood model, wherein said distance measure represents the distance between said current mood model and the respective reference mood model; setting of at least one animation parameter depending on said distance measure.

An electronic music system includes a computer which performs a sequencing function and a remote controller. The remote controller is provided with a start operator and a selection operator. In response to an instruction made by the start operator of the remote controller, the computer or the remote controller adds a new track on a sequencer configured on the computer. The computer or the remote controller then offers options of available different types of tone generators used for the track, and in accordance with a selection made by the selection operator in a state where the available different types of tone generators have been offered, assigns the selected type of tone generator to the track.

A recording medium such as a video CD, for recording both audio and still picture data, has all audio data recorded on successive tracks within one recording region and data of all of the still pictures recorded together within another recording region as successive data sets expressing respective ones of a plurality of groups of still pictures. Each of recorded sets of track control information specifies, for the corresponding track, a still picture group which includes all of the still pictures that are to be displayed during playback of that track, those pictures (within that group) which are actually to be displayed during that playback, and respective display starting time points for the specified pictures. The playback apparatus includes a still picture data memory (5), and a control section (2b) which, when playback of a selected track is designated, judges whether the data of the corresponding still picture group are already stored in the memory (5), reads out those data and stores in the memory (5) if necessary, and thereafter reads out the requisite still picture data from memory as indicated by the track control information of the selected track during playback of that track.

A music and audio playback system is implemented on a computer with a playback engine that enables the operator, typically a disk jockey, to apply a variety of effects. The system may store one or more snapshots, or a combination of settings for a plurality of controls that are applied by the playback engine. The settings that may be stored in a snapshot may be for effects, deck controls and/or mix settings. These snapshots allow for changes to settings for effects, mixing and playback to be made quickly, some of which would normally be difficult to perform. A sampler module permits a user to specify one or more samples that may be triggered for playback. The most frequently used samples may be designated as scratching files that may be quickly activated through the push of a button (or other control). A waveform display represents a window of audio samples around a current playback time. When two tracks are being played, only half of each waveform is shown. In particular, the bottom half of the waveform at the top, and the top half of the waveform at the bottom are shown. Certain effects that affect the playback of a current audio file, such as a reverse, repeat or brake effect, are performed as insert effects. As a result, the current play position in the current audio file continues to advance while the effect is performed, even thought the effect is applied to the audio data in the current audio file. The waveform display continues to update based on the continually updated current play position in the audio file.

A music and audio playback system is implemented on a computer with a playback engine that enables the operator, typically a disk jockey, to apply a variety of effects. The system may store one or more snapshots, or a combination of settings for a plurality of controls that are applied by the playback engine. The settings that may be stored in a snapshot may be for effects, deck controls and/or mix settings. These snapshots allow for changes to settings for effects, mixing and playback to be made quickly, some of which would normally be difficult to perform. A sampler module permits a user to specify one or more samples that may be triggered for playback. The most frequently used samples may be designated as scratching files that may be quickly activated through the push of a button (or other control). A waveform display represents a window of audio samples around a current playback time. When two tracks are being played, only half of each waveform is shown. In particular, the bottom half of the waveform at the top, and the top half of the waveform at the bottom are shown. Certain effects that affect the playback of a current audio file, such as a reverse, repeat or brake effect, are performed as insert effects. As a result, the current play position in the current audio file continues to advance while the effect is performed, even thought the effect is applied to the audio data in the current audio file. The waveform display continues to update based on the continually updated current play position in the audio file.

A plurality of client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are connected to a server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 through a communications network 50. Each of the client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10, which is provided with an ID, attaches the ID to a signal representative of operation of performance operators 11 and setting operators 12, and transmits the ID-added signal to the server-side electronic musical apparatus 30. The server-side electronic musical apparatus 30 independently and concurrently executes, through the use of the ID, processes corresponding to the operational signals for the respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 to generate musical tone data and display data, and transmits the generated data with the ID to the respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10. The thus-transmitted data is appropriately received by the client-side electronic musical apparatus 10 identified on the basis of the ID. In spite of having a simple configuration, therefore, the respective client-side electronic musical apparatuses 10 are able to independently and concurrently operate as a sophisticated and high-performance electronic musical apparatus.

There are provided a first storage section that stores text files each including at least text data, and a second storage section that stores registration data including predetermined performance environment setting information and text file selection information specifying a text file associated with a performance environment set on the basis of the performance environment setting information. Registration data is selected from the second storage section, and the text file associated with the performance environment is selected, in accordance with the text file selection information of the selected registration data, from among the text files stored in the first storage section. The text data included in the selected text file is displayed on the basis of the selected text file. In an alternative, control is performed to display lyrics data included in currently-reproduced automatic performance data or text data included in the text file stored in the first storage section.

A recording medium such as a video CD, for recording both audio and still picture data, has all audio data recorded on successive tracks within one recording region and data of all of the still pictures recorded together within another recording region as successive data sets expressing respective ones of a plurality of groups of still pictures. Each of recorded sets of track control information specifies, for the corresponding track, a still picture group which includes all of the still pictures that are to be displayed during playback of that track, those pictures (within that group) which are actually to be displayed during that playback, and respective display starting time points for the specified pictures. The playback apparatus includes a still picture data memory (5), and a control section (2b) which, when playback of a selected track is designated, judges whether the data of the corresponding still picture group are already stored in the memory (5), reads out those data and stores in the memory (5) if necessary, and thereafter reads out the requisite still picture data from memory as indicated by the track control information of the selected track during playback of that track.