Haken Continuumini

[BobDog]

These are available now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/16 ... ntinuumini

I have one coming, get them when they are available...

[Roger_Linn]

Yes, I encourage everyone to check it out. The Continuum— released way back in 1999— was the first polyphonic 3D expressive instrument. I and all those instrument makers who followed are standing on Lippold Haken’s giant shoulders.

[BobDog]

I always wanted a Continuum since the first time I was lucky enough to "play" one for a short time.

The investment for someone with my mediocre musical ability seemed a bit high though.

This little one is right up my financial street though, Eigen Matrix on board as well and it looks like it should be possible to play it using the Linnstrument.

[John the Savage]

The playing surface on the Mini seems a bit cramped to me. I'm also unclear as to what "bidirectional implementation of MPE and MPE+" means exactly... Is there no Y-axis response?

At any rate, it's a shame there isn't a more direct way to plug an external MPE controller into it. If there were, I'd have one of these sitting along the leading edge of my LinnStrument, acting as a sound module, and doubling as an alternate playing surface.

Cheers!

[Tj Shredder]

I wonder how much would it be to license the Eagan Marix synth and put it into the Linnstrument? I bet the space in our beloved controller would be sufficient...

[48cube]

Embedded Eagan Matrix into Linnstrument would be so cool. I would also pay the same price as for Mini only for standalone module with regular MIDI and USB host connections, stripping down the touch surface, keeping small LCD and basic preset/settings navigation buttons. Pure MPE(+) sound module which might be attractive to our Seabord brothers and sisters too.

[Roger_Linn]

It would be nice to possibly add sound generation to a future LinnStrument model and I like the Eagen Matrix very much, but I’m not sure it gives a wide enough range of sounds. Some people like samples and other forms of synthesis, as well as effects. I’m starting to see a trend toward embedded Linux in music products, which might provide more flexibility and power at low cost.

[Tj Shredder]

I asked, because the Eagan Matrix is so different and from the ground up designed for expressive playing. Even a violin has a wide enough range of sounds...; - )
There is no point in having it deliver samples or VA sounds as well at all, that can be easily acomplished with an additional iPad for example if needed.
It is more about the camp fire scenario a bunch of expressive sounds is better than none. That future version should be battery powered by the way and should be able to send bluetooth Midi... (No, bluetooth audio has unusable latencies...; - )

[Roger_Linn]

I see your point but for users who desire different sounds, they might prefer not to pay extra for a LinnStrument with sounds if those included sounds are not what they want. I think they would prefer to pay for included sounds that they want.

[Tj Shredder]

I would want the EaganMatrix sounds more than anything else...
From any portable sound sources this is the most interesting.
I would not pay extra for internal sounds if I could get hold of them externally. iPads are a lot of standard sounds for the buck. None of the more or less transporatble MPE compatible hardware sound engines offer more than an iPad (except for hands on controls maybe...)

[Roger_Linn]

The question is “How many people share your opinion?” If not, then I’d be making a more expensive LinnStrument that few would value enough to buy.

[BobDog]

And that is the rub of good ideas, I for one would love to have a Linnstrument with the Eigen software built in, or maybe one with a more flexible sound engine but unfortunately in life I have realised that what I think is a good idea is not necessarily viable. More's the shame.

[Roger_Linn]

That’s the reason I’m finding the trend of embedded Linux interesting. If it continues and some good synths start to appear, then you could load the synth(s) of your choice into your instrument, rather than being stuck with either the included synth that you may not like or using an external iPad/laptop.

[NothanUmber]

An instrument with kind of an integrated plugin host sounds interesting, indeed!

Also wouldn't underestimate the beauty of having a hand full of good "signature sounds" though - something that you could uniquely identify as a Linnstrument in a recording, where pieces could be written for (for which playing technique and resulting sound are considered as a unity).
Not easy to find such sounds. Probably they would have to grow on people first. (The first time people heard a distorted e-guitar they probably also categorized this as "sound accident", not a sonic relevation )

Regarding EaganMatrix: Not "infinite power" of course, but the integrated synthesis approaches promise to provide a nice palette of colors.
They have added a new entry in their faq regarding the connectivity question: It seems to be possible to connect both a MIDI instrument (like the Linnstrument) and the ContinuuMini to an externally powered USB-hub(*), power both from that and play the EaganMatrix via this external MIDI instrument (with no computer being required).
This is good to hear, as not all synths support USB hubs(*). So using this as a sound module for MPE compatible instruments like Linnstrument should work (well, I hope so, have pledged for one mainly for that purpose ).

*: edit: sorry, should have read more closely - it's usb HOST not hub, a usb hub won't work - see posting on the next page.

What would be interesting to know: If I plug a power supply to the Linnstrument, does it output current on the USB port also then, so I could drive a bus-powered synth (like the EaganMatrix) with it? Would be handy, then no USB hub would be needed (at least for the "big" Linnstrument).

[Roger_Linn]

If I plug a power supply to the Linnstrument, does it output current on the USB port also then, so I could drive a bus-powered synth (like the EaganMatrix) with it? Would be handy, then no USB hub would be needed (at least for the "big" Linnstrument).

No, it does not. Also, I think may be confused about what a USB hub is. It is simply a device that connects to a single USB jack on your computer and provides 2 or more USB jacks. However, some cheaper USB hubs don’t deliver enough power or data speed.