There are laser-etched lines on the surface that indicate the note positions. They don't show up very well in the video. The newer Continuums have a surface with much more visible black areas for the black keys.
@leakeg: No, there is not much tactile reference. On the newer Continuums, there are silk screened stripes that are much higher contrast (it took him a long time to find someone who could make a large silk screen that was accurate enough). You can slightly feel the stripes on the newer ones, but it's not enough to play by. That's one of the tradeoffs of having a truly continuous surface to play on!
Wow, the guy who made this thing, Dr. Lippold Haken, is one of my professors at UIUC (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). I didn't think that it was this cool.
@MusicWizard2112 - this is NOT an instrument, as mentioned in the beginning, though not so specifically. It is a controller; MIDI controller. Hook it up to hardware synths with the MIDI port, or software instruments using USB MIDI or similar.
There was the piano and his wonderful keyboard, then the synths with there sounds and differtent controllers, now Haken makes a wonder finger board with most of the controllers inside, a must for musicians who loves to work, push and slide with their fingers. Tried it in Frankfurt, awesome
@noobdles There IS visual feedback. The Continuum in this video has lines etched on with a laser. They are visible to the player but don't show up very well in the video. The newer Continuums have a more high-contrast black and red stripe pattern. It is hard to play, but not as hard as something like a violin.
There are narrow lines on the surface showing the note locations, but they don't show up in the video. The newer Continuums have larger dark lines the same width of the black keys on a piano.
@marksmartus2 If You really wrote this, then i must say that You're a genius. Just love progressive, psychedelic. Hail to Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Fripp and many other poeple, who gave us real music
The Continuum has some advantages over both the Ondes Martenot and the Theremin in that you control 3 parameters on each note rather than 2, and that you can play multiple notes simultaneously.
There are lines on the surface that show the locations of the notes, they just don't show up very well in the video. The newer ones have a more high-contrast surface, like in video v=A77Mrg--Ax4.
In this video all the sounds are coming from either the ARP Axxe or the NeKo. I have some other videos on my channel if you want to see it controlling other stuff like a Nord Modular, an old Moog, and Tesla coils! On the newer Continuums, in addition to being able to control things externally, there are some really beautiful sounds designed by Ed Eagan built in. Search for "continuum eagan" to see and hear those.
@Subtleinductor Well, the piano has black keys to guide your fingers. I bet it would be noticeably harder if those were uniformly distributed (i.e. black-white-black-white...). Besides, you don't need to worry about intonation at all.
Anyone think the lack of tactile feedback could be a problem? Virtually all instruments in some way feel different in different positions which allows the performer to know where his hands (or feet or whatever) are without looking, except the Haken Continuum. Even on a violin, you can eventually start the notes with good intonation, relying on touch only, but I feel more R&D is in order for this one.
Holy crap! It's an Arp Axxe!!! The Continuum is one of, if not the most expressive lead electronic instruments made. Too bad it's so pricey. But hey, the guy has an Axxe!
excellent idea----i kinda wish he'd have shown some images or info about the inventor "Haken" but i guess i'll have to wiki that myself;-) It also seems like a gr8 idea, would love to try one of these.
@ArvonLisaVero What about a piano? From my piano lessons I learned to find my register based on muscle memory from sitting right in front of middle C every time. Perhaps that's how the musician is expected to find his or her register.
It looks like there are marks above and below the play area, but how do you think a person knows what note they are playing on a violin or or a trombone or a fretless bass? Practice and ear training.
its made of a almost fabric like neoprene surface (sp?) which... is probably a combination of what u guessed: "Velvety", "hard", and "What on earth? thats brilliant" :D
+MagiMysteryTour Also, Lippold Haken is from Illinois, not the UK. It might be easier to contact him by calling 217-333-4206 than it would be to have to pay toll charges for overseas calls. I haven't done so, but I'd like to do so. He's a professor, so I might have to leave a voice mail message.
Yeah, but I think Roli did it better. The developed their own majestic and powerful synth, put more finctionality in controller, did more compact and cheaper. Also Roli's keys are more like regular synth or piane keys, so I think it's more convinient. Also it's cheaper. Oh, I already said that. And don't forget it's cheaper.
I've actually tried the seaboard and I found it to be a bit stiff, hard and unresponsive. It could have been because of the format, but I found a similar situation on two seaboards that I played. As a Pianist, I found that the mountain valley emulation of the keyboard didn't feel at home with the concept of a continuous bed of notes. I wished it was simply flat plane of articulation! I've unfortunately have not found any with the penny for the continuum, but I'm curious to find out if it's worth the price!
Ah... so strange hearing Harlem Nocturne on a midi controller. Sounds pretty good, but I can't touch my dad's real sax. But compared to any other midi controller I've seen try anything like that, it still beats the crap out of em.
actually invented by me - playing with keyboards in a N.Y. music store late 80's and told the guy next to me about it. realized immediately afterwards that I shouldn't have. oh well.
You will need some type of sound generating software on the computer, which may not be free. :) The music beginning at 8:18 is a prog-rock tune I wrote, very heavily influenced by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
I remember hearing this kind of instrument in a movie during the 80's.. though i forgot what the title is.. any ideas? It's some horror movie, i think, i cant really recall very much xD
