Theremin vs. Haken Continuum

I think there is a bit of leeway around the terms physical model and additive synthesis these days.

Basically physical modeling is usually denoting using some kind of mathematical based method of generating sound through various means. But some of the Continuum patches, like the string patch said they started with a sampling of some sort.

So perhaps the "seed" patches that you can further manipulate through the EaganMatrix were generated in different ways - some just using the formula based construction and some using a combination of sampled waveform and then manipulation.

I need to look at it more. 

Rich

Peter - thanks for that info! I was going by Lainhart's experience in the video. Good to know there is a well defined method for doing this now with minimal risk.

Rich

Just found this one. Looks like a nice setup.

He is triggering the E'vox with the Haken via midi, I guess what we hear is the voice two of the E'vox.

I must admit I like more the glissandos on the E'vox though ;)

Ethervox 2

He is routing the EVox output that is being played by the continuum back into the Continuum's AES input and processing it further with Delay in the EaganMatrix engine. I do believe this can be a very interesting way of using the Theremini. Right hand can be playing while the sound is routed through the AES input of the Continuum and then the fingerboard can be set up to send MIDI volume and other theremini control parameters while playing. I bet you I can get a wider and more natural volume profile this way. 

I finally tried connecting the Continuum to Omnisphere tonight. Having some issues getting the Continuum's MIDI connection for the Editor working simultaneously with the MIDI connection required to drive Cubase running Omnisphere plugins. Ed Eagan has a very nice video that shows how to do it with Logic Pro - but I need to use Cubase. I'll post how to do that when I figure it out.

But I found that I can use the editor to set a continuum patch to play Omisphere, then disconnect the editor and run the Continuum through the MIDI interface I use to connect to Cubase and it works fine. What fun! The most important thing is to match the pitch bend of the continuum to Omnisphere (have to limit it to 24 for Omnisphere). Then set Y and Z to CCs or controller values that you want to map things to in Omnisphere as the video illustrates.

Finally you need to load up the Omnisphere patches you want (up to 8 channels worth - so set the Continuum up to Polyphony = 8). But I find it's a bit confusing to map so many channels to fingers - though you can get some interesting things going on when every finger plays a different sound - and changing ordering as your finger's polyphony change - though there are different settings for finger/polyphony priority. Better to just clone all 8 channels to channel 1 in Omnisphere to start so you can easily play polyphonically on the same sound to get used to playing and testing Omnisphere sounds. Then you can split the keyboard and play Omnisphere with Continuum sounds, etc. Very flexible controller.

This opens up a whole new sonic world for the Continuum that I can see is going to let me create some very interesting backgrounds and let me do a lot of experimenting as well! Of course you can connect the continuum to any MIDI source you want as well.

Here's just a bit of noodling using a  continuum playing Omnisphere lines along with the Etherwave running through a  PSP N2O Vocal format patch (theremin is the vocal sound you hear).

I can see I'm going to lose a lot of sleep playing around with all this.

https://soundcloud.com/rk53-1/continuumomnisphere-theremin-test

By the way another nice thing you can do here because every Omnisphere patch can have an A and B sound component both totally configurable (not to mention multi patches that can stack multiple of these patches on a channel basis) - you can set the Y parameter to map to amplitude of the B sound. This lets you work in a very three dimensional sonic space. As you play you can move you fingers front to back to ease the second patch in and out (and of course you can assign this to any parameter of the sound - not just the amplitude or assign it to multiple parameters along with Z - though in most cases you want Z to be volume related). The possibilities are quote limitless.

Need to also try setting the Continuum to a very buzzing sawtooth sound and run it through the Talking Machine (which responds best with waveforms that have a complex spectral component - that is more buzz-like and less sine-like). Because that device by its nature cuts down on the theremin's reponsiveness - I bet when played on the Continuum you will be able to create something that will be very close to  sound of it playing on the theremin except for attacks maybe).

I think I deleted this by mistake but if you listen carefully you will hear that one of the main things that tells you its a continuum vs. theremin playing is the initial attack profile (yes and tuning and vibrato as well especially in the high register). But I believe combinations of theremin and continuum can be interesting and I think that's the direction I'm going to be headed in for a while as I am transfixed with both instruments.

https://soundcloud.com/rk53-1/o-come-o-come-emmanuel

I also want to try running the theremin through the AES input of the continuum to see how the theremin sound might be manipulated in addition to just adding delay as in Ed Eagan's video. You should be able to modify parameters in the EaganMatrix to create all kinds of different sounds from the theremin. I'll create some examples of that soon.