How to use the EaganMatrix (ContinuuMini) with other MPE controllers?

Axolati looks & sounds like a great engine. Thanks for bringing my attention to it! So many projects out there like this these days, its easy not to notice.

Plug a beefy powered USB hub into a Lightning USB camera adapter, plug that into your iPad. Plug the Linnstrument and Continuumini into the USB hub. Run midifire on the iPad, and use it to route the Linnstrument to the Continuumini. Plug headphones into Continuumini. I think I also routed the Continuumini to/from the Springsound app, which has a remote page that will let you see which patch you are on, twiddle your barrels, etc.

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As @da3v already wrote, a Raspberry Pi might also be a good option as a USB host. Neat thing is, it comes with four ports out of the box, so besides Linnstrument and ContinuuMini there is still place for two additional things. Should be the cheapest solution I am aware of.

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A photo of what @da3v was talking about :wink:

So, what to say/add to those who have an LS… its a great combo, on the photo left split is CC Faders for the 4 Barrels+2 Gen + Sustain AND Gain!

You could start “velcro” stuff together…

Sorry to show the ContinuuMini in its full length :innocent: ; actually Lippold is steady delivering these precious at a good pace…

Edit: forgot to mention there are plenty of ways to route MIDI on IOS. I used MIDIflow but another ways is with free midimittr.

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I have a ContinuuMini and am trying to decide if I want to keep it or not. I know that EaganMatrix is fabulously powerful, but I have yet to juryrig a setup to use the ContinuuMini with one of my MPE controllers (Artiphon, KBP4).

Part of me is just thinking, “Do you really need ANOTHER distraction? Sell the damn Haken while people are drooling from the wait!” But in the meantime, I’ll watch this thread carefully and learn what I can as I go… as @Dan mentioned, the control surface does nothing for me, but the engine is potentially appealing, and the thing weighs practically nothing. (Cue YouTube video of a ContinuuMini being hacked into two pieces with a table saw so the engine can fit in a pocket… I wonder if Lippold and Ed have realized how freaking cool that would be?)

I agree, I’d love a standalone EaganMatrix module I could just plug into. If it could also USB power my controller, even better.

perhaps we can avoid this by just asking :wink:
@Anckorage , do you know how big the dsp board is inside the mini? or any internal pictures?
viable to rip it out//detach it from the control surface (or will it decide to fail to boot if it cannot find the surface attached)
related: can it be taken apart safely… or more importantly, if you do, can it be reassembled with special tools/jigs :wink:

on a slightly different, but kind of related , note…
how are finding the continuumini when connected to other control surfaces?
my experience with mpe synths, is that presets tend to need quite a lot of adjustment for different controllers - as expression and sound engine are tightly coupled.
does this feel easy to adjust in the Eagen Matrix… whats are the results like?

I have had mine apart, the board is totally enclosed in the area to the left of the ribbon.

It is very small.

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It works very well with the linnstrument, I have not had to change any of the presets (apart from increasing polyphony on some of them). In reality they are much more “playable” from the Linnstrument than they are from the ribbon!

For me the CM is fantastic but just as a sound module, by far the best MPE synth I have tried. The playing surface feels like something from a Ford Model T though!

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I have internal pictures… from launch exactly one year :wink:

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here are additional pictures



The board is very small, also it is not designed to boot without sensors: if you do it will raise an error at boot time.
So I would advise to keep it as it is: even with the “ribbon” it is not that big and still very light, so quite easy to carry and insert in a set.

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is the ribbon just connected via that 5 way ribbon cable?
does that go to a a second micro-controller handling the ribbon? whats the protocol? :slight_smile:

whist the ribbon may be small/light, its still 4 times the size of the dsp board.
without it, I could easily fit that dsp board inside the soundplane and/or the eigenharp basestation, with a Pi/Bela to do the eigend/soundplane protocol handling…

hmmm, perhaps that 5 pin header, could carry multi-touch data directly from bela to avoid midi :slight_smile:

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it is a bit more complicated: there is a mini sensor board at the other end, hall effect sensors expect magnet somewhere, and there are additional connection underneath. A firmware update will be necessary to make it really standalone.


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Finally set up a Raspberry Pi3B+ and pisound with Orac2. Works great for Linnstrument!

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do you think thats something Lippold might be open to ?

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Lippold and team putting effort into hand crafting each ContinuuMini just that people rip them apart to get their hands on the EaganMatrix board sounds a little sad.
Perhaps the board alone (with said firmware upgrade) could be sold separately to DIY enthusiasts?
Or releasing a small box with EaganMatrix inside, optimally with USB charging port, USB host port (best one that supports USB hubs) and DIN MIDI in+out would be an instant buy for many though I could imagine!

Or perhaps HakenAudio, Madronalabs, Eigenlabs and Mark could stick their heads together - an EaganStation with an EaganMatrix, an input port for an Eigenharp Alpha/Tau (thus being a full replacement for a basestation), usb in for MIDI class compliant mpe instruments like Linnstrument or Seaboard, native Pico protocol and native Soundplane protocol and MPE(+) compatible DIN MIDI in/out could be the ultimate synth for all existing polyexpression instruments! Well, people can dream, right :slight_smile:

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I agree with @NothanUmber about the ContinuuMini ripped apart. It gives me shivers but I’m not a DYI person anyway.

I dream with you, an EaganStation with a few knobs, even a screen thus making a computer obsolete, would be great.

That said (and dreamed) I think I may well get one of the minis once they come out. And actually I’m not afraid of the playing surface. It could make a good supplement to the Linnstrument, act like a one string instrument or a flute…

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this was more what I had in mind… as it seemed like its quite a separate element.

however, im not sure this is part of haken’s strategy, many have asked before about the possibility of eagen matrix outside the continuum… I suspect this has not changed.
(which is fair enough, I can understand that too)

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Not planed for now… too many other things to do !

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fair enough - look forward to seeing/hearing the results :slight_smile: