Haken Audio Continuum Full Size

Full Description

Expressive Playing

The Continuum fingerboard gives a level of expression not found on usual keyboards and MIDI controllers. Featuring 3 dimensions of touch control (X, Y, Z), the Continuum fingerboard opens you up to a whole range of expressing playing. Combining pressure (for articulation), left and right movements (for pitch/vibrato), and up and down sliding (for timbre), the Haken Audio Continuum implements multidimensional polyphonic expression. The Continuum allows you to slide between notes for a glissando and vibrato effect, apply pressure for changing volume, and even slide up and down to control effects such as filters, volume, and whatever you want to customise it to. Create more natural sounding virtual instruments when playing, getting every nuance with your fingertip movements. Achieve vibrato and pitch bend with your own dynamic touch rather than using modulation wheels and rotary knobs to control effects. When playing a chord, you can control the volume of each separate note by sliding up or down the pad. Additionally, the 3 directions can be customised to different parameters such as the filter cutoff, volume, and more.

Control External Synths and Software

The Haken Audio Continuum allows you to control external synths as well as digital synths via MIDI. This enables you to expressively play your synths (if they have the capability). Connect up your synth via MIDI to take expressive control. Pressure and front-to-back can be configured for any MIDI continuous controller message. Conveniently, you can also split the playing surface into 2 zones and have 1 synth on the right side, and another on the left to create a truly unique performance.

Monophonic and Polyphonic

The Continuum allows you to play monophonically and polyphonically. This allows you to play both basses, leads and chords. When in monophonic mode, you can choose between legato, re-trigger, and portamento modes. Legato modes means that the notes after the first note don't have an attack or decay of there own. Re-trigger mode means that every note as an attack, which is ideal for playing arpeggios and percussive instruments. Additionally, you can use the portamento mode to smoothly glide between the 2 notes you’re playing. This reacts to the relative pressure and can create whammy style effects. When in polyphonic mode you have a wide range of control for modulating the notes. The fingerboard allows you to play a chord and adjust the volume or filter of each note by sliding up or down, or pitch bend a note by sliding across. The Continuum allows you to play 32 notes simultaneously for the internal sounds, and 16 notes via MIDI, allowing enough room for 2 people to play on the Continuum at once.

Features

• 3 dimensional polyphonic playing surface
• Customise X, Y, Z movements to parameters such as filters, volume, and more
• Control analogue hardware and virtual instruments
• 32 voice polyphony
• Nearly 8 octaves (9350 cents)
• Monophonic and polyphonic modes
• Split playing surface to 2 zones (eg. different synth for each side)
• Highly optimised 16 voice MIDI data output
• Pitch resolution allows for seamless polyphonic glissandi and the ability to microtune intervals on the fly
• Ultra-fast performance response regardless of polyphony
• Configurable via surface interaction, external computer editor, or MIDI input
• Advanced communication to DSP hardware from Symbolic Sound Corporation
• Pitch processing allows for scalable and non-linear pitch mappings of the playing surface
• Innovative dual pedal support, including "dynamic" sustain, allowing for continuous depth control of sustained notes
• Mono modes which allow the user to use multiple fingers to step, re-trigger, or glide between note ranges
• Adjustable pitch bend range tailors the Continuum's response to your MIDI sound device
• Pressure and front-to-back can be configured for any MIDI continuous controller message
• Direct integration with the Continuum voltage converter (CVC) for control of analog synthesizers. Each of the CVC's 16 control voltages has a user programmable formula
• Configurable MIDI split for playing surface zone setups

Specifications

• Pitch Range: Nearly 8 octaves
• Maximum Polyphony: 32 simultaneous notes for internal sounds, 16 via MIDI
• Dimensions: 1500 x 280 x 165mm
• Weight: 17kg