Fingerboard design / construction ideas

I not being a musician, what does the Continuum do that can not be developed around the normal keyboard setup?   Vibrato?

Christopher

you can modulate the tone by sliding forwards and back on the 'keys'

Theremins versus Fingerboards versus Keyboards:

(all my opinion only, as a casual "musician"  - and I may well have something wrong or have missed something ):

Keyboards:

Conventional keyboards are suited to playing where pitch produced by playing a key is invariant - there is usually no method of modulating the pitch of an individual key (pitch modulation and vibrato can only ba applied globally to all keys being played, by using common 'bend' and 'vibrato' controllers, often wheels.

Many variants of electronic keyboards exist, but all usually have a 'travel' distance which is common to all keys, and bottom surface that limit the travel and which, when reached (or at some precice distance before being reached) triggers the note.

Usually there are two contacts or change-over switch which are activated as the key is pressed, the first activation is as the key starts to move, the second as the key gets near to the bottom of its travel. The time between these two events determines the velocity for control of loudness or dynamics.

Some keyboards have a pressure sensor under the keys and common to them all, this allows some global pressure value to be transmitted for controlling some parameter.

Some keyboards have a pressure sensor under each key,  this allows the pressure value for each key to be transmitted for controlling some parameter which can be  related to that particular key.

Some (extremely rare) keyboards did allow lateral (sideways) force to be applied to the keys, and this allowed pitch modulation on a per-key basis.

All the above are capable of polyphonic playing. IMO, the big advantage of keyboards is timing and the tactile feel - one can strike the key of a good keyboard hard and know exactly how loud the note will be or the dynamics you will get, or you can move a key softly, and in all cases, the note will sound exactly when the lower trigger position on the key is reached.

The keyboard is not ideal for control of instruments where fine control of pitch is required - "aftertouch" can be used for pitch modulation, but usually vibrato is produced by a modulation oscillator - When playing a mono synth, one can get quite good control from a good keyboard using aftertouch and portamento for example, but nothing remotely as good as using a ribbon with a mono synth IMO.

Theremin:

This instrument allows monophonic playing of pitch unrestrained in any way to any scale - any audio frequency can be produced and shifted to any degree. Likewise, volume control is unrestrained.

Mono "ribbon' instruments:

Usually, like the theremin, these instruments allow monophonic playing of pitch unrestrained in any way to any scale - any audio frequency can be produced and shifted to any degree. Volume can be a function of pressure applied to the ribbon, or can be controlled by some seperate mechanism.

Past ribbon controllers that I have seen require some touching of the ribbon and some application of force. The capacitive ribbon I am developing does not require contact, but requires fingers to be close to the ribbon for them to strongly influence it - fingers can touch the ribbon as lightly as the player wishes. Volume is controlled by a seperate capacitive sensing strip parallel to the ribbon, or by a seperate mechanism such as a loop or breath pipe.

Other  controllers:

These are things like the tannerin where a continuous mechanical action (pulling a string, rotating a dial etc) changes the pitch continuously. There are probably numerous other control mechanisms such as optics which could be mono or poly, but dont relate to the fingerboard AFAICS. 

Polyphonic Fingerboards:

These are instruments like the Continuum or other similar ideas like the "Chimaera" where each position on the "board" relates to a note or pitch, and movement on the X axis will change this pitch - Like the theremin and mono ribbon, any pitch can be produced, modulated, glide etc, but unlike the theremin and mono ribbon, more than one finger can be sensed simultaneously, allowing polyphonic playing.

Finger boards can act on X( Left-Right), Y(Back-front) and Z(Pressure or distance)  X axis -  usually for pitch, and Y acting on some other parameter, and Z acting on dynamics / volume.. These may be re-assigned, for example, a fingerboard that cannot sense Z could use Y for volume (as with some tablet Apps).

Fred.

Rob, thanks for that feedback!  Some of us have to live vicariously through the experiences of others.  The Continuum looks like lots of fun, I imagine the tightly bound internal synth has something to do with that?

I'm not terribly tech oriented... Maybe even barely tech oriented so the internal sounds are what I go to. They're excellent and I do tweaks on them but it's still pretty trial and error. But yeah--the tightly bound aspect (instant gratification of having all aspects of the instrument considered and finessed by Ed Eagan) is critical for me. 

What if there were a subtle groove cut down the middle of each note?  Do you think that would help or hinder playing the Continuum?

I don't know. There's a lot to wrap your head around with this and I think maybe keeping it in its slightly "foreign" state is good at least most of the time to keep me from falling back on playing strategies I may have used on other keyboards... First thinking (momentarily relating as half steps and not microtonally) that the black notes come all the way down to the front and then you think about your previous keyboard fingering which is now due for a full re-examination. Not rendered worthless at all but way different ways of thinking about how to play and what your imagined phrasing needs you to do to make that sound real

Polyphonic Fingerboards:

These are instruments like the Continuum or other similar ideas like the "Chimaera" where each position on the "board" relates to a note or pitch, and movement on the X axis will change this pitch - Like the theremin and mono ribbon, any pitch can be produced, modulated, glide etc, but unlike the theremin and mono ribbon, more than one finger can be sensed simultaneously, allowing polyphonic playing.

Finger boards can act on X( Left-Right), Y(Back-front) and Z(Pressure or distance)  X axis -  usually for pitch, and Y acting on some other parameter, and Z acting on dynamics / volume.. These may be re-assigned, for example, a fingerboard that cannot sense Z could use Y for volume (as with some tablet Apps).

Fred.

Sometimes there are Continuum setups in which Y will be 2 different sounds with morphing from one to the other gradually in the middle. Also the front and back might be different octaves.

2 patches Ed Eagan made for me were

1. Front of keyboard is liquid (like theremin) pitchwise right to left with a slow morph into chromatic (half      steps) towards the back of the Y axis.

2. Keyboard is chromatic (half steps) but Z pressure (totally adjustable how much pressure is the threshold which is again a gradual morph) turns the keyboard liquid. You can still play half steps if you're playing light (with one hand, for example) while also playing liquid (with the other... or maybe even with one hand if they're big enough. Mine aren't)

I was having trouble controlling this patch when suddenly I thought, "I'm the only person in the world that is having this problem right now." That was cool enough for me to stop thinking of it as a problem. 

Here's a thing I did at a microtonal festival:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMIqv1I6-wM

Rob,

The more you talk about the Continuum, and the more videos I see of you (and others) playing it, the more I want one!  LOL ;-)

Many thanks for your input - I am reasonably sure that I will never own anything more than my monophonic capacitive ribbon instrument, and to be honest, with my abilities anything more would be wasted anyway..

But the details and ideas here may inspire someone to venture into a full DIY fingerboard, and I think there is enough common ground between the theremin and this stuff to justify it being on TW.

Fred.

I think there is enough common ground between the theremin and this stuff to justify it being on TW.

Don't know if it's justified... but I do know it's here... so far

BTW in the manual the way they best describe how to approach the Continuum is to listen to Clara Rockmore and how she plays and try to emulate that in order to understand what the Cont can do

BTW in the manual the way they best describe how to approach the Continuum is to listen to Clara Rockmore and how she plays and try to emulate that in order to understand what the Cont can do

It would be really interesting to hear a good thereminist who plays a Continuum, undertake this task!

;-)

BTW in the manual the way they best describe how to approach the Continuum is to listen to Clara Rockmore and how she plays and try to emulate that in order to understand what the Cont can do

It would be really interesting to hear a good thereminist who plays a Continuum, undertake this task!

;-)

 Hmmm.... That sounds like a great idea!

Ok, FredM-- Just throwing down the cutlet here but here's a last Continuum bit of a tune Clara might have liked. The tone I'm using is maybe a little more Ondes Martenot-like. Then back on my head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuTVgbgBsXg