M-Audio Trigger Finger Pads vs. Akai MPD-16 Pads

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 7:11 pm

Anyone compared Trigger Finger's pads to Akai MPD-16 pads? Which do you like best?

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 7:22 pm

I've looked into the subject. And eventually bought the trigger finger.
The corners of the trigger finger pads are useles. Where mpd-16 pads are sensitive.

But in terms of what you can do with the pads. the trigger finger wins.
Very easy to configure. and you get used to not hitting the corners very quickly.

Cheers

musick · Post by **musick** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:57 am

I'm also considering a Trigger Finger.... Does it make sense to mount it on a microphone stand to save desk space? I can imagine it will tip over quickly.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:06 am

musick wrote:I'm also considering a Trigger Finger.... Does it make sense to mount it on a microphone stand to save desk space? I can imagine it will tip over quickly.

Not quicker then a mic.

It's pretty sturdy. But i wouldn't go kicking around the micstand.
The hole for the mic is dead-center under the pads.

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:12 am

All areas of my trigger finger pads work fine (corners included), I've tried both and the mpd16's pad were little to non responsive in the corners, so i would recommend the trigger finger hands down.

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:26 am

All areas of my trigger finger pads work fine (corners included), I've tried both and the mpd16's pad were little to non responsive in the corners, so i would recommend the trigger finger hands down.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:41 am

[quote="Tyrant"]All areas of my trigger finger pads work fine (corners included), I've tried both and the mpd16's pad were little to non responsive in the corners, so i would recommend the trigger finger hands down.[/quote

Man if that is true....

Can anybody confirm that?

musick · Post by **musick** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:44 am

hoffman2k wrote:
Tyrant wrote:All areas of my trigger finger pads work fine (corners included), I've tried both and the mpd16's pad were little to non responsive in the corners, so i would recommend the trigger finger hands down.[/quote

Man if that is true....

Can anybody confirm that?

Not yet, probably in two weeks

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:48 am

I base all my purchases from reviews from computer music mag, then also take the 2 alternatives they give in the mag, go to my local music shop hook em up and make up my own mind.

computer music gave the trigger finger 9/10.
computer music gave the akai mpd16 6/10

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:05 am

Tyrant wrote:I base all my purchases from reviews from computer music mag, then also take the 2 alternatives they give in the mag, go to my local music shop hook em up and make up my own mind.

computer music gave the trigger finger 9/10.
computer music gave the akai mpd16 6/10

It's not so much the fact that it has a better score or not.
Your corners work and mine not.
I keep getting dodgy units from m-audio. Might as well buy stuff from fisher-price then.

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:42 pm

i was just saying that even in the reviews it states that the pads on the trigger are amazing( which they are ) and the akai are crap ( which amazed me since the mpc series is great

It's crap that your having some issues with your trigger, If you've bought it locally bring it back, if bought off the internet then your gonna have a bit of hassle sending it and getting it sent back.

I've never had any problems with M-audio products, so that why i keep buying their stuff.

ryst · Post by **ryst** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:45 pm

The outside of the pads on my Trigger Finger aren't as sensitive as the center but that doesn't bother me. When I use the Trigger Finger with BFD, I can get really expressive with the velocity layers in BFD. Plus, It's just something to get used to. I love the Trigger Finger. It's great

john_sweet · Post by **john_sweet** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:49 pm

I say Trigger Finger.
I listened to all the hardliners & M-Audio haters the first time around & grabbed the MPD-16. What you see is what you get: just pads. The editor is nice & really straightforward, but just as plain as the product. The MPC software seemed too much for my poor G4 400--could play in real time, but slid hilariously all over the beat when recording in Live and Reason. To be fair, it worked on my G5, but I still returned it. Thought I was stepping down when I bought the Trigger Finger (sales guys were laughing at the exchange), but getting home changed my mind. Solid build, extra knobs, some crusty sliders that actually work OK on the crossfader, an even better edit/patch recall system that lets me easily jump on the fly between stutter-launching clips in session view w/all 16 pads & then controlling Impulse, plus it's class-compliant, so no software woes.
In the $200 market, you are not going to get the chewy, beg-you-to-thwack-'em pads of a high-end production station. Just because something carries the Akai brand doesn't mean it's premium hardware, and just because M-Audio still makes the Oxygen doesn't mean they only sell shite. And you save 50 bucks.

>v^<^^ · Post by **>v^<^^** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:01 pm

The Trigger Finger definitely has more features... knobs/sliders, stand-mount, etc. The pads seem to be decent as well, which is surprising to me considering that M-Audio's MIDI keyboard controllers have the absolute worst feel of any keyboard I've ever played. I'd also be more inclined to trust driver support from M-Audio over Akai. Granted, I've never installed Akai software, and you probably can't go wrong either way, but considering the amount of experience M-Audio has in USB MIDI devices...

The Trigger Finger is also $50 less.

However, before making a purchase like this, try them both for yourself. I tried both side-by-side at a local Guitar Center and, with the models I used, the Akai had slightly better sensitivity, but it was really pretty close. Considering that I have knobs galore on my keyboard controller and that I wasn't going to be using the USB connection, I went with the Akai.