Firmware
Important note about updating your Continuum firmware!
Read the support documents included with each firmware update. Failure to do so may result in damage to the Continuum and other Firewire devices attached to your computer.
If you use a Mac to do your firmware update, it will be done through a Firewire cable connected between your Continuum and your Mac. If you use a PC to do your firmware update, you must have Midi In and Midi Out cables connected between your Continuum and your PC. If your Continuum has firmware older than December 12 2005 (version 1.71), you must use a Mac the first time you do a firmware update; after that you are free to use a Mac or a PC for subsequent firmware updates.
Current Release
Version 1.97
October 23, 2007
This firmware release is recommended for all models of Continuums. It incorporates all revisions from previous release versions. It is recommended to also download the latest Continuum and/or CVC user guide(s), as firmware improvement documentation is included.
New Feature
External Note Mode
You may use the Continuum Fingerboard together with a MIDI keyboard, to get functionality like a superprecise pitch ribbon controller. This is called External Note Mode. The Continuum Fingerboard surface will be used to add pitch bends and controller values to Midi notes generated from a MIDI keyboard's output. All notes will are generated by the MIDI keyboard, and only bending and controller values will be provided by the Continuum Fingerboard. For more information about this new mode see the Continuum User's Guide.
Click on the icon to download the stuffit archive for Mac update.
Click on the icon to download the zip archive for PC update.
Previous Release Notes
Version 1.96
July 18, 2007
New Features
(1) Octave toggle switch (controller 14 on channel 16):
Pressing the Octave Toggle Switch will transpose the playing surface down by one octave. Pressing the switch again will remove the octave transposition. This octave transposition is in addition to the octave shift configured with Midi In or using the Configuration Strip.
(2) When you use the analog tuning note that outputs A440 to all the CVC channels, it now also outputs a note number 69 (middle A) on Midi. This aids CVC users who want to tune their analog and Midi gear together.
Improvements
Improvements to the algorithm for computing pressure/velocity at the onset of very quiet notes.
Version 1.93
May 24, 2007
New Features
CVC voltage ranges specifically for Buchla synthesizers and any other which need a 1.2 volts per octave setting. Now there is an option for Z-squared values for all CVC encodings, useful for creating more musically useful ranges for linear destinations. The idiosyncratic interpretation of external Midi pitch bend for the Moog Voyager is supported.
Version 1.92
April 5, 2007
New Features
Tuning tables now have 500 entries (previous limit was 255), with 14 bits of fractional half step in the definition (up from the previous 7 bits). You must download this new firmware to use Mark Smart's newly updated tuning editor. When Round Initial or Round Rate are active, the new firmware will round to much more precise pitches. The new rounding mechanism "eases in" to the exact pitch in a very musical way that should make a pleasant sonic sensation when you use small Round Rates and tunings with perfect tuning ratio intervals.
The calibration procedure has changed. To discard old calibration data, hold in both buttons for 10 seconds. Power cycling is no longer required. Please see the updated User's Guide calibration section for details. If your continuum has quarter inch jacks, this new firmware allows you to calibrate the jacks for your particular foot pedals. This will not make a noticeable change for momentary pedals, but continuous pedals (expression pedals) will have minimal pedal travel wasted at maximum value and minimum value after calibration. Please see the updated User's Guide calibration section for details.
Version 1.90
February 15, 2007
New Features
Instant Round pedal (controller 67 on channel 16): While the Instant Round footswitch is down, the Continuum Fingerboard will use the maximum Round Rate of 127; with the switch down, you will get a piano-style half step glissando when you slide a finger past half step boundaries. When the Instant Round switch is up, the Round Rate is determined by the Round Rate Controller (if you have one) or the Default Round Rate. The Ext+ configurations from the surface now include mappings with Instant Round; for details, please see section 3.12 in the new User's Guide.
Several improvements to the Merge options: System Messages and SysEx messages are now properly merged from Midi In to Midi Out. Pitch bend ranges and pressure controller numbers from Midi In are now interpreted (and remapped if necessary) before merging to Kyma (via firewire) or CVC (via i2c).
The Continuum now supports 8 user-definable tuning grids. The tuning grids can be downloaded as NRPNs and saved in the Continuum's flash. Continuum user Mark Smart is developing a web-based text interface that allows you to specify a list of positions on the fingerboard, and the pitch corresponding to each position; you can define up to 255 different grid positions on the playing surface. Each grid position corresponds to a spot to which Round Initial and Round Rate will gravitate; the grid positions need not correspond to equal tempered positions nor to 12 notes per octave. Mark is also developing a graphic interface to let you choose frequency ratios for each pitch in the octave.
After this update, the list of Continuum flawed sensors will no longer be cleared each time you update firmware.
CVC Improvements
A Variable Gate feature has been added for the CVC. If you encode Midi Velocity as "z" (instead of the default "127"), CVC gate signals will be scaled by the initial velocity reading. This can be useful if you do not need the gate for triggering envelopes and require a value which approximates the velocity of your initial finger strike.
A CVC communications verify option has been added. When enabled, NRPNs report back the number of verified transfers and number of errors every 10 seconds. This can be useful for checking the performance of cabling between the CVC and the Continuum. So far this is available in the PC Continuum Utility program, and will be available on Mac soon.
Bug Fixes
A bug that prevented selection of the Just C scale from the playing surface has been fixed.
Version 1.89
January 10, 2007
New Features
1.89 has calibration data for the current models of Control Voltage Converters, and the capability to change CVC voltage setups from the Continuum surface. As well Midi NRPN support to report the CVC serial number has been added. This firmware is necessary for proper CVC operation. Refer to the current CVC and Continuum user's guides for operational details.
Version 1.88
December 19, 2006
Features
Firmware 1.88 reintroduces two features back into the Continuum operating system, reverse tuning and single Midi channel operation. For more information about these operational changes refer to the updated user's guide.
Version 1.87
December 2, 2006
New Features
New in 1.87 is a n-tone equal temperament rounding option. This allows for equal temperament rounding to alternate scales, like 10 notes per octave or a quarter tone (24 division) scale. Changed in 1.87 is the tuning ratios for the minor seventh in the Just scales. The frequency ratio is now 7 over 5. For the Continuum Control Voltage Converter, there is now an option to output a continuous voltage reference to aid in analog oscillator tuning. Finally, mono interval configuration from surface now uses the configuration Data Entry area. For more information about these operational changes refer to the updated user's guide.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a configuration from surface issue where a split area could get assigned with a zero voice allocation, issues with round rate 127 and retrigger mode, and a problem with inadvertent voice stealing when playing very fast glissandi.
Version 1.85
November 9, 2006
Release notes in brief: Release 1.85 includes a comprehensive update to the Overlay strips, allowing the user extended access to the most used features of the Continuum's OS directly from the Continuum playing surface. Also, for operational clarity the terminology of the Continuums buttons has changed. They are now simply referred to as the "Red" and the "Green" button.
Version 1.81
September 30, 2006
Release notes in brief: Release 1.81 fixes a problem introduced in release 1.78 that can, in rare circumstances, result in the Continuum Fingerboard failing to send a Midi Key Off. Release 1.81 has support for Just tuning; please see the Midi Input topic for details. Release 1.81 also has support for the Continuum Voltage Converter; please see the Voltage Converter topic. And Release 1.81 has a greater range of Round Rates available; Round Rate values above 80 remain unchanged, but Round Rate values less than 80 let you go from slow to glacially slow (80 corresponds to a slow 30 cents per second as before, and rate 1 corresponds to a glacial 0.9 cents per second).
Version 1.78
September 8, 2006
Release notes in brief: Release 1.78 fixes a problem with sustain and sostenuto pedals (Midi controllers 64, 66, and 69). It also allows faster reattacked tremolos - the style of tremolo with Midi Key On sent for each tremolo, rather than just pressure controller changes for each tremolo cycle.