Musical Instruments : M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum Pad Control Surface

Rating: - advice for vista users
The trigger finger is a great midi control for those who like beats. I just have one advice: if you use windows vista, be pacient...I lost hours configuring the software.

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Rating: - itchy trigger finger...
I bought this as my first ever drum midi and for the most part very pleased. My only gripe was that it did not come with any kind of manual. wtf? Anyhow i really like that the pads are velocity effected. It gives what ever im making a real sound which is nice. Came packaged with Ableton live which i ended up not using because im more accustomed to Acid Pro and had no idea what the heck to do with Ableton. Kinda looks like 'Fruity Loops' and i never liked that program anyhow. Had a little trouble getting the computer to see the device. It would see it as a midi device but not as "trigger finger". That was fixed with a reboot. All in all i am very happy with the purchase and it is exactly as described.

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Rating: - A Solid Product, But Requires Programming
-- The Short Version --

Sensitive pads and lot of flexible controls make this a useful piece of gear for a computer-based studio, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't have a good grasp on how MIDI functions.

Also, keep in mind that this is only an interface -- it doesn't produce sound without additional software.

-- The Long Version --

As you may have guessed from the 4-star review, I'm pretty happy with my Trigger Finger. I got it to work flawlessly with Cubase 4, controlling Reason 3.0 through ReWire, with basically no effort. I did have trouble getting it to control Reason directly (as some other users have mentioned I got the faders and knobs working, but not the pads), although I suspect this could be resolved through some tinkering with my MIDI settings.

And there's the reason this didn't get 5 stars -- I've found it to be much less plug-and-play than M-Audio's site led me to believe. Following the instructions in the included PDF documentation I was easily able to set up several drum/note maps for different styles of playing by programming them directly on the Trigger Finger, but this did require me to know what notes I wanted each pad to trigger.

Enigma was daunting enough that I've put off really diving into it until I want to use this as more than a drum trigger, but I've at least been able to find menus for any parameter I'd ever want to program (and then some).

All in all a good buy. It takes some time to learn how to use it effectively, but the results are worth the effort.

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Rating: - Michigan Consumer
Cool product! Very hard to figure out. Should have come with easier software. Should have pre-programmed beats and stuff. Overall, I like it but I am still not comfortable using it.

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Rating: - Nice Beat Maker
This item is a hot item, especially if you can figure out how to use it. I bought this for my son as a Christmas gift because it was more affordable than the one he originally wanted. After reading the reviews, I thought this would be a great buy. My son was very satisfied but he is having a little difficulty getting the beats to work the way he wants. He told me there is more software he has to purchase. I am not sure about that but I think once he figures it out, it will be great. There is really no instructions but how to plug the thing up, but overall, for the price, I am happy and he is too. This item arrived very fast. A Good buy.