Haken Audio has released Continuum Firmware 8.00 – an update that brings over 120 new presets, new ways to play the Continuum and more. 

System Presets

Firmware 8.00 includes over 120 new System Presets, designed by Edmund Eagan and other Continuum Fingerboard sound designers. System Presets are now organized by Category making a particular preset easier to find. Description bubbles offer patch information and suggestions for playing techniques.

New Ways to Play the Continuum

Two new ways of playing the Continuum expand on performance techniques from two great historical electronic instruments, the Ondes Martenot and the Mixtur Trautonium.

The Continuum’s Touche allows one hand to control articulation while the other controls pitch. This concept can be greatly enhanced in the Continuum so that any performance parameter can be independently controlled by either hand.

The Continuum’s new Tri-Value Pedal allows for super-fast playing. A performer dedicates one finger for each micro-tuned pitch within one octave, and the performer does not change hand position during the fast passage. The Tri-Value pedal switches octaves up or down. This technique was used to great effect by Oskar Sala on his Mixtur-Tratonium in his stunning performance of Genzmer’s Concert for Trautonium and Orchestra.

Other updates:

• Pitch Trim – The new Pitch Trim corrects pitch errors inherent in waveguide and filter feedback structures. Pitch Trim provides a graphical interface for the sound designer to create custom Pitch Trim maps for each preset.
• Y-Based Rounding – The new Y-Based rounding allows you to go from rounded to totally free pitch as you play, with the amount of rounding determined by the finger’s Y position. This new rounding option has a definite pedagogical benefit, allowing one to gradually wean away from rounding, or use rounding to a limited extent only when absolutely needed.
• New Formula Features -5 new Shape Generator shapes: Pulse at End, and 4 S-Curve variants.
• The Formula W component provides a new “Polyphony Scaler” for formulas that depend on polyphony, such as formulas using the Summed Delay.
• Matrix Additions – The Osc/Filt matrix sections provide a new “Noise from Seed,” with Trigger and Seed input columns. These make it possible to produce identical random number sequences, useful for certain narrowband resonance synthesis techniques.
• New column options for the BiqMode Banks: Offset graphs can affect frequency and/or bandwidth of each mode.
• For users with EaganMatrix Expanders, new matrix row options DSP 1 and 2 (L/R) allow post-processing on DSP 3.
• Pitch Table Editor (PTE) – The PTE is a new graphical interface for creating custom Pitch Tables for the Continuum. The PTE was created by Continuum player Pablo de la Loza.
• The PTE allows you to define your own alternate tunings for pitch rounding, and/or stretch, compress, repeat, and reverse pitch ranges on the playing surface.
• Equal Pedal – The Equal pedal allows switching between a Pitch Table and equal tuning as you play.

New User-requested Features:

• New Mute and Dim buttons are now available in addition to Gain Control for controlling final audio output levels.
• A single computer can run multiple Continuum Editors, for multi-Continuum setups. Each Editor can talk to a different Continuum.
• For users with an xCEE (external EaganMatrix Expander) and a CVC (Continuum Voltage Converter), a second CVC may be connected for a total of 32 analog control voltage outputs.
• For users with an xCEE (external EaganMatrix Expander), one or two Tri-Value pedals may be plugged into the xCEE, in addition to two other pedals directly plugged into the Continuum. These Tri-Value pedals implement the Octave Shift and Advance functions.
  Support for Lowpower Bluetooth Midi:
• Lowpower Bluetooth Midi is convenient for wireless connection to the Continuum Remote iOS app.
• Lowpower Bluetooth Midi is very slow, and is adequate for Continuum control and setup, however it should not be used for wireless playing.
• The Continuum can limit to 5% Midi Rate, which is the maximum sustainable rate for Lowpower Bluetooth Midi.

New Continuum Presets:

Availability:

Continuum Firmware 8.00 is available now at the Haken Audio site.