Continuous music keyboard

A method for controlling a continuous keyboard system, comprising the acts of:

• providing a flat control surface;
• providing a plurality of rods coupled with magnets and proximate to said flat control surface;
• providing a plurality of Hall-Effect sensors operable to output sensor values responsive to movement of at least one of said magnets;
• receiving a plurality of sensor values;
• identifying a three-dimensional coordinate corresponding to a depression in the flat surface;
• calculating a predicted three-dimensional coordinate using at least one three-dimensional coordinate and a computed derivative of the at least one three-dimensional coordinate;
• and
• comparing an identified three-dimensional coordinate with a predicted three-dimensional coordinate.

A method for controlling a continuous keyboard system, comprising the acts of:

• providing a plurality of rods coupled with magnets;
• providing a plurality of Hall-Effect sensors operable to output sensor values responsive to the movement of at least one of said magnets;
• receiving a plurality of sensor values;
• computing a plurality of rod values;
• calculating a parabola from said plurality of rod values;
• determining a minimum point on said parabola;
• computing a sum of a first series of sensor values, said first series of sensor values corresponding to magnets proximate to a first end of a flat control surface;
• multiplying said sum of a first series of sensor values by a fractional exponent;
• computing a sum of a second series of sensor values, said second series of sensor values corresponding to magnets proximate to a second end of said flat control surface;
• multiplying said sum of a second series of sensor values by a fractional exponent;
• and
• computing the ratio of said sum of a first series of sensor values multiplied by a fractional exponent to said sum of second series of sensor values multiplied by a fractional exponent.

A continuous keyboard system, comprising:

• a flat control surface;
• a plurality of rods proximate to said flat control surface;
• a plurality of first end magnets, each of said first end magnets coupled to a first end of a rod;
• a plurality of second end magnets, each of said second end magnets coupled to a second end of a rod;
• means for generating voltages in response to movements of said first end and second end magnets;
• means for receiving the voltages;
• means for normalizing the voltages;
• means for generating coordinates corresponding to a depression in said flat control surface;
• and
• means for predicting a potential new position of said depression in said flat control surface;
• wherein the potential new position of said depression is calculated using at least one set of previously generated coordinates and a computed derivative of the at least one set of previously generated coordinates.