Champaign, Ill. /MuseWire – Exclusive/ — Haken Audio has announced a new update to the unique MIDI controller and virtual instrument developed by Lippold Haken. The new v 4.10 firmware adds new features, including a new internal sound model, “Mouth String” (for the models with the built-in sound feature).

Specifically, in the new version are: A new internal sound, Mouth String, and extensions to the existing Clinical Oscillator. An improved Continuum Editor, with all common usage items placed on a single page. A new performance feature, Release Rounding.

According to the company founder, Lippold Haken, “Firmware version 4.10 continues to extend the expressive possibilities of the Continuum Fingerboard, the unique musical instrument from Haken Audio. Version 4.10 is the latest step in the continuing progression of the Continuum Fingerboard, the most expressive electronic musical controller ever built.”

New sound model: Mouth String
The Continuum Fingerboard’s Mouth String instrument is a vocalised string design that takes its inspiration from the musical bow, a simple musical instrument made from a piece of bent wood and a single string. The appealing vocal nature and primitive spirit of this instrument were the basis for the Continuum’s Mouth String. A typical musical bow is monophonic and of limited pitch range. The Mouth String sound in the Continuum further expands on this instrument by including multi pitch and polyphonic possibilities. The Continuum Mouth String allows vocal shaping characteristic changes through use of the front to back positioning on the playing surface, and pressure changes on the surface introduce a continuous air quality to the sound. More information about the musical bow can be found on Wikipedia here.

Like the other physical modelled instruments in the Continuum Fingerboard, the string instruments in the Continuum Fingerboard are not designed to emulate a particular instrument per se, but are created to be an evocative unique musical experience in their own right.

Expanded Internal Sound: Clinical Oscillator 2
The Clinical Oscillators have been expanded to include a new addition, Clinical Oscillator 2. New tonal variations and unique delay aspects specific to the Clinical Oscillator can now be further exploited, utilizing the raw fantastic sounding alias free oscillators in solo or as starting points for further external modification through analog or digital destinations.

More information on the internal sounds, with audio examples of the new sound elements:
http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/html/intsounds/isIntro.html .