Device · Machine
Haken Continuum Fingerboard
A surface that tracks the fingers in three dimensions: continuous pitch, not keys. My instrument since Lucibel Crater, in Lou Reed’s band, Metal Machine Trio, Yellow Pony and Lulu.
The Continuum Fingerboard is a long neoprene playing surface that tracks finger position and pressure in three dimensions. Continuous pitch, not keys. Full-size or half-size, and often driving Kyma. Maker: Lippold Haken, Haken Audio, Champaign, Illinois. hakenaudio.com
It has been my instrument since Lucibel Crater and through the Reed years. In Metal Machine Trio, Lou and I both had Continuums onstage. Yellow Pony: Continuum plus live resampling of Reed and Anderson’s voices. Lulu: dual Continuum improvisations with a live string section. Wikipedia names me as an advocate.
I lost sleep. I even dreamt about it last night. It was one of those thousands-of-people-watching nightmares.
Lippold Haken, after watching Sarth Calhoun play the Continuum at Lollapalooza, quoted on sarth.net, 2010
Conspiracies
The Continuum is on Lou Reed Live at Lollapalooza 2009, credited “electronics & continuum,” across Lou Reed’s song band, Metal Machine Trio, Yellow Pony and Lulu, on Introspections, and on the Lucibel Crater records. Symbolic Sound’s post Walking the road that only you can see is one take of Continuum, Kyma and Ableton amp modelers. The photograph of me at it is on About.
The creditSarth Calhoun plays the Haken Continuum Fingerboard: in Lucibel Crater, in Lou Reed’s band from 2008, in Metal Machine Trio with Reed and Ulrich Krieger, in Yellow Pony with Reed and Laurie Anderson, and on Lulu; Wikipedia’s Continuum article names him among its players.
My thoughts
The entry is the one that stood on the Devices page. Lippold Haken’s line is from my old site’s biography, archived in 2010.