Slim Continuum Fingerboards

At only 1.2 inches thin, the new Slim Continuums are amazingly versatile instruments, designed to give you a great range of playing possibilities for the studio and for live performances. At nearly 6 octaves long (70 half steps), the Slim70 Continuum 70s8x is our flagship product, designed to give you extensive octave freedom without the use of octave buttons or octave pedals. At nearly 4 octaves long (46 half steps), the Slim46 Continuum 46s8x is designed to be shorter and more compact. Both are highly sensitive instruments that will quickly become a 'goto' for your expressive sound design, organic performances and sonic composition.

Slim70 Continuum Fingerboard — 70s8x from $6510.00

• Price is for purchase direct from the Haken Store; free shipping within North America — International customers responsible for customs/import duties — European and Australian customers please purchase from sources on your continent (Schneidersladen in Berlin, Modular Square in Paris, KMR Audio in London, Found Sound in Melbourne, etc).

Slim46 Continuum Fingerboard — 46s8x from $4910.00

• Price is for purchase direct from the Haken Store; free shipping within North America — International customers responsible for customs/import duties — European and Australian customers please purchase from sources on your continent (Schneidersladen in Berlin, Modular Square in Paris, KMR Audio in London, Found Sound in Melbourne, etc).

Craft your sound and style using it as a stand-alone instrument, integrate it into your modular synth workflow with CV controllers, or hook up the midi out to whatever you want to control! The Continuum is a truly versatile instrument for both studio and live performance. Flexibility is key, due to its robust bi-directional implementation of MPE+, the Continuum can control external synths or be played by external Midi controllers.

All connections to Slim Continuums are in one convenient location.

1. Power inlet
   (10 oz 110/220 V universal power supply included with purchase)

2. Foot pedal inputs
   Haken Audio recommends Yamaha FC3A and FC7

3. 3.5 mm Midi I/O
   Universal Midi In (Type A, Type B, and TS)
   Type B Midi Out
   (adapters to 5-pin DIN Midi included with purchase)

4. Midi over USB
   (USB-A to USB-B cable included with purchase)

5. i2c port for communication to the Control Voltage Converter

6. Digital audio I/O
   Input rate 32 kHz to 192 kHz
   Output rate 48 kHz, 96 kHz, or matched to input

7. Analog audio output left and right, or mono sum
   Compatible with unbalanced (TS) or balanced (TRS) systems

8. Headphone output
   Compatible with stereo (TRS) only. For mono (TS) plug into AUDIO L/(M) instead.

HARDWARE

Manufactured by Haken Audio, the Continuum has slowly evolved over many decades by its hardware designer Dr. Lippold Haken, and synthesis sound engine designer Edmund Eagan. The Continuum Fingerboard is a musical instrument that allows unprecedented real-time performance control. The Continuum offers continuous control in three dimensions for every finger that is placed on the playing surface. Controlled by Light Action, the playing surface can track up to 16 simultaneous fingers as standard. The newest Continuum models, the Slim46 (46s8x) and Slim70 (70s8x), both include expanded 8x DSP for maximal processing power. Dr. Lippold Haken's electromechanical design is unique in its concept and has been fine-tuned by him over the last 20 years. This brings something very different to the table in terms of quality and playability. Unparalleled in its ergonomic tactile feeling under your fingers, the playing experience just draws you into using it time and time again. Every nuance of finger movement is captured and translated into sound through interaction with this highly optimized playing surface. Combine this with the complete control of the fully programmable EaganMatrix sound engine and it opens up a new world of sonic possibilities. 

EAGANMATRIX

EXPANDED (8x) PROCESSING INCLUDED WITH EVERY SLIM CONTINUUM

Designed and Invented by Edmund Eagan, the internal EaganMatrix is incredibly sophisticated but easy to use. The EaganMatrix takes advantage of the subtle and dramatic expressive musical possibilities of the Continuum's playing surface, offering something unique in terms of playability. This combination of hardware and software have slowly evolved together, fusing over time to become a holistic instrument. The freedom of the matrix design and deep modulation structure allows for unprecedented integration with the playing surface. This allows complex sound modulation to be assigned and mapped to the detail of your finger movements. These two major components come together to form the most expressive digital musical instrument ever made. The EaganMatrix has very deep synthesis technologies under the hood to create very unique sound experiences. Ed has worked with Lippold to create something unique in terms of the types of synthesis topologies that are combined in union. Subtractive Synthesis, Physical Modelling with Modal Filter Banks, FM, Spectral Sets with Micro Analysation, including Waveguide with Feedback and Feedback Delay Networks are all at work for you here. This complex union of synthesis is what makes the EaganMatrix a unique proposition in terms of digital sonic exploration. Take this and marry it with the most expressive surface available and you have a juggernaut of a sound creation tool. More information on the EaganMatrix here.

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

Dr. Lippold Haken started development over 35 years ago on what was to become the modern-day Continuum Fingerboard. Today, the Continuum has established itself as the premier multidimensional controller surface ever designed. It has been in the vanguard for expressive control ever since it’s inception as a commercial product at the beginning of this century. The Slim Continuums add a built-in display, octave switch buttons, preset select buttons, USB-Midi and optically-isolated 3.5mm Midi, SPIDF digital audio in and out, and mono-summed and stereo line-level outputs (balanced and unbalanced), to become the latest iteration in Haken Audio's unique product line. 

CREATED FOR ARTIST TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES

Over the years many varied artists from around the world have discovered the beautiful experience that the Continuum can deliver. It has an amazing acoustic like experience that really opens the door for countless types of outstanding musical expression. In a symbiotic partnership, this expressive blending of sound engine and playing surface has inspired many musicians over the years to create amazing performances, musical compositions and soundscapes. See what some of our Continuum owners say here.

SEE HOW IT WORKS

The video below by Loopop (see his fantastic youtube channel here) is a good introduction to the Slim Continuum Fingerboard and the EaganMatrix. 

The Sound Examples section of this web site includes additional introduction videos, EaganMatrix examples, historical techniques, external synths, and analog examples. Many more technical details can be found in the Continuum User Guide and the EaganMatrix User Guide  (available for download in the support section of this web site).

continuum playing techniques

Rob Schwimmer is a highly skilled Continuum Fingerboard performer. His compendium of playing techniques may be found here.

continuum SURFACE PATTERN

The playing surface of a Continuum Fingerboard has a semitone pattern. This pattern is purely a reference and does not enforce any particular tuning system. If you keep Pitch Rounding disabled, you can start a note at any pitch. The surface pattern helps you get close to the desired pitch. You must listen carefully and slightly roll your finger to get the exact pitch you desire. Much of the Continuum’s allure comes from each note in a performance having its own pitch, as opposed to every note starting at a pitch selected from a scale. This is reminiscent of acoustic string, woodwind, and brass instruments, and makes the Continuum very different from the ExpressiveE Osmose, despite the Osmose having the same EaganMatrix sound engine.

The Continuum’s playing surface pattern is printed nylon which has been fused to a neoprene substrate. This fusion occurs during manufacture at the neoprene factory. Due to the nature of the neoprene curing after the application of the nylon, there is a small global variation in the surface marking spacing, creating a small total pitch range difference between every Continuum. Consequently, each Continuum has a custom “surface alignment” stored inside, so that each Continuum’s surface pattern accurately reflects semitone intervals. This slight variation in total pitch range between Continuums has no effect on the playing experience of the Continuum.

SPECIFICATION SHEET

The Slim70 (70s8x) is 110 x 19.5 x 3 cm (43.4 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches).
The Slim46 (46s8x) is 78 x 19.5 x 3 cm (30.7 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches).
Both models have a knob that extends up from the top 1.5 cm (0.6 inches).
Both models have a 10 x 5 x 3.8 cm (4 x 2 x 1.5 inches) power supply weighing 0.3 kg (10 oz).

Note: The original Full-size Continuum and Half-size Continuum have been renamed 94L2x and 46L2x, respectively.
Note: The actual Playing Surface Range on a Continuum may be a bit bigger than specified in the table below; please see the Surface Pattern topic above.