The Continuum Fingerboard is a Midi performance controller that offers real‐time 3‐D continuous control for every finger that is placed on its playing surface. Its novel design presents unique performance challenges and possibilities. Like a fretless instrument, the performer must rely on audio feedback, finger memory, and manual dexterity for accurate intonation and expression. The Continuum requires its own technique, different from any other instrument. With a traditional music keyboard, it is normal for the performer to feel the key hit a hard stop for each note, even if the performer is playing quietly. Also, traditional keyboards are usually velocity sensitive; a single velocity value is determined by the speed of the key movement. In contrast, the Continuum is both velocity sensitive and, more importantly, pressure sensitive. It initially outputs a single velocity level, and then continually outputs a stream of pressure, pitch, and front‐back position updates until the note is terminated. The Continuum is designed for a fast and relatively lighter touch than other musical instruments, so it is unusual to hit the hard stop (or “bottom out”) except for the very loudest notes. Various Continuum‐specific performance techniques utilized by performers will be presented.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
October 2010
Meeting abstract. No PDF available.
October 18 2010
Playing the Continuum Fingerboard: New performance techniques for a continuous instrument.
Lippold Haken;
Lippold Haken
Elec. and Comput. Eng., 330G Everitt Lab, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, L‐[email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
Edmund Eagan
Edmund Eagan
Twelfth Root, Ottawa, ON K1Y 3E5, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128, 2345 (2010)
Citation
Lippold Haken, Edmund Eagan; Playing the Continuum Fingerboard: New performance techniques for a continuous instrument.. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 2010; 128 (4_Supplement): 2345. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3508304
Download citation file:
Citing articles via
All we know about anechoic chambers
Michael Vorländer
A survey of sound source localization with deep learning methods
Pierre-Amaury Grumiaux, Srđan Kitić, et al.
Does sound symbolism need sound?: The role of articulatory movement in detecting iconicity between sound and meaning
Mutsumi Imai, Sotaro Kita, et al.
Related Content
Sound design for the Continuum Fingerboard: Effective mapping of finger data to synthesis parameters.
J Acoust Soc Am (October 2010)
The effect of the coupling between the top plate and the fingerboard on the acoustic power radiated by a classical guitar (L)
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (March 2011)
Left hand finger force in violin playing: Tempo, loudness, and finger differences
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (July 2009)
Improving human engineering of violin playing
J Acoust Soc Am (August 2005)
Intonation and compensation of fretted string instruments
Am. J. Phys. (January 2010)