The
Continuum Fingerboard or
Haken Continuum is a music performance controller developed by Lippold Haken, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois, and sold by Haken Audio, located in
Champaign, IllinoisChampaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
.
The Continuum is a
MIDI controllerMIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....
; it does not generate audio. Rather, it must be connected to a sound-producing source that will receive
MIDIMIDI , ) is an industry-standard protocol defined in 1982 that enables electronic musical instruments such as keyboard controllers, computers, and other electronic equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other...
input, such as a synthesizer module.
The most recent model has begun to incorporate built in sounds, and can generate audio, but it is still primarily designed to be a controller.
The Continuum features a touch-sensitive
neopreneNeoprene or polychloroprene is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene. It is used in a wide variety of applications, such as in wetsuits, laptop sleeves, orthopedic braces , electrical insulation, liquid and sheet applied elastomeric membranes or...
playing surface measuring approximately high by either long for a full-size instrument, or long for a half-size instrument.
The
Continuum Fingerboard or
Haken Continuum is a music performance controller developed by Lippold Haken, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois, and sold by Haken Audio, located in
Champaign, IllinoisChampaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
.
The Continuum is a
MIDI controllerMIDI controller is used in two senses.*In one sense, a controller is hardware or software which generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices....
; it does not generate audio. Rather, it must be connected to a sound-producing source that will receive
MIDIMIDI , ) is an industry-standard protocol defined in 1982 that enables electronic musical instruments such as keyboard controllers, computers, and other electronic equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other...
input, such as a synthesizer module.
The most recent model has begun to incorporate built in sounds, and can generate audio, but it is still primarily designed to be a controller.
Specifications
The Continuum features a touch-sensitive
neopreneNeoprene or polychloroprene is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene. It is used in a wide variety of applications, such as in wetsuits, laptop sleeves, orthopedic braces , electrical insulation, liquid and sheet applied elastomeric membranes or...
playing surface measuring approximately high by either long for a full-size instrument, or long for a half-size instrument. The surface allows a
pitchPitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because...
range of 9350
centThe cent is a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals. Typically cents are used to measure extremely small intervals, or to compare the sizes of comparable intervals in different tuning systems, and in fact the interval of one cent is much too small to be heard between successive...
s (about 7.79
octaveIn music, an octave , is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon which has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." It may be derived from the...
s) for the full-size instrument, and 4610 cents (about 3.84 octaves) for the half-size instrument. The instrument has a response time of 1.33 ms.
Sensors under the playing surface respond to finger position and pressure in three dimensions and provide pitch resolution of one cent along the length of the scale (the X dimension), allowing essentially continuous pitch control for
portamentoPortamento is a musical term originated from Italian primarily denoting a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by instruments such as the violin, and is sometimes used interchangeably with anticipation. It is also applied to one type of glissando as well as to the "slide" or "bend"...
effects and notes that are not in the
chromatic scaleThe chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a nondiatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step intervals," having, "no tonic," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
, and allowing for the application of
vibratoVibrato is a musical effect, produced in singing and on musical instruments by a regular pulsating change of pitch, and is used to add expression and vocal-like qualities to instrumental music...
or pitch bend to a note. A software "rounding" feature enables pitch to be quantized to the notes of a traditional
equal-tempered scaleEqual temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. In equal temperament tunings, an interval — usually the octave — is divided into a series of equal steps...
,
just scaleIn music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval; in other words, the two notes are members of the same harmonic series....
or other scale to facilitate in-tune performance, with the amount and duration of the "rounding" controllable in real time.
The Continuum also provides two additional parameters for the sound: it is able to transmit the finger pressure on the board as a MIDI value, as well as the finger's vertical position on the key. These parameters are independently programmable; a standard configuration is where position on the X-Axis (lengthwise) on the instrument corresponds to pitch, position on the Y-Axis (widthwise) corresponds to a
timbreNot to be confused with timber.In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope...
shift, and position on the Z-Axis (vertically) corresponds to a change in
amplitudeLoudness is the quality of a sound that is the primary psychological correlate of physical strength .Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures of sound pressure such as decibels or sound intensity. Filters such as A-weighting attempt to adjust sound measurements to...
. The Continuum is capable of polyphonic performance, with up to 16 simultaneous voices.
Continuum players
A major proponent of the Continuum in contemporary music is
Dream TheaterDream Theater are an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Myung, John Petrucci, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, before they dropped out to support the band...
's keyboardist,
Jordan RudessJordan Rudess is a progressive rock keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater.-Biography:...
. He has used the instrument in the songs "
OctavariumOctavarium is a song by progressive metal band Dream Theater, from the album of the same name. It is notable as being the band's third longest song at exactly 24 minutes, behind "In the Presence of Enemies" and "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence"...
" and "Sacrificed Sons" from the album
OctavariumOctavarium is the eighth full-length Dream Theater studio album, released on June 7, 2005 .It holds the distinction of being the last album ever recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City....
, "The Dark Eternal Night" and "
Constant Motion"Constant Motion" is the third song and first single from Systematic Chaos, the ninth studio album by Dream Theater. It is also accompanied by a music video. The band hadn't produced a music video since "Hollow Years" from Falling into Infinity in 1997, citing lack of interest and lack of rotation...
" from 2007's
Systematic ChaosSystematic Chaos is the ninth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 4, 2007 in the United Kingdom and June 5, 2007 in the United States, Systematic Chaos was the band's first release through Roadrunner Records...
, and "A Nightmare to Remember", "The Count of Tuscany", and "The Shattered Fortress", from the album
Black Clouds & Silver LiningsBlack Clouds & Silver Linings is the tenth studio album of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. It was released on June 23, 2009 under Roadrunner Records. The album was produced by drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci, and mixed by Paul Northfield...
. Rudess also used the Continuum on Dream Theater's live releases
ScoreScore is a 3 CD/2 DVD combination by progressive metal band Dream Theater. It is a live album, recorded on April 1, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This is the final concert of their 20th Anniversary Tour, labeled "A Very Special Evening with Dream Theater"...
and
Chaos in Motion, and his 2007 solo album
The Road HomeThe Road Home is a cover album by Jordan Rudess. It was released on September 12, 2007.Rudess's arrangements of these classic prog tracks include many sections that were not in the original songs, especially solos...
.
Another high profile advocate of the Continuum Fingerboard is
Sarth CalhounSarth Calhoun is an electronic musician from Brooklyn, NY.He is a member of Lucibel Crater along with Leah Coloff and Paul Chuffo. He is also a member of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio, along with Lou Reed and Ulrich Krieger. He was previously a member of Number19....
, who uses it in his work with Lucibel Crater and
Lou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground as well as a successful solo artist whose career has spanned several decades. The Velvet Underground gained little mainstream attention during their career,...
. In the Metal Machine Trio both Calhoun and Reed use Continuum Fingerboards on stage.
The Continuum was used by
John WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career that spans six decades, Williams has composed many of the most famous film scores in Hollywood history, including Star Wars, Superman, Home Alone, the first three Harry Potter movies and all but two of Steven...
for his score to
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.A.R. Rahman used the Continuum in the song "Rehna Tu" in the 2009 movie Delhi 6.
Other musicians using the Continuum include
John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist musician.Best known as the...
and
Randy KerberRandy Kerber is a composer, orchestrator, and keyboard performer, born September 25, 1958 in Encino, California, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema...
.
External links