sick of trigger finger

stesmith · Post by **stesmith** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:46 am

ok, iv just installed my FA-66. that seems to be working ok. im goin to use ableton for djing so i have the cue channels set to 1and 2 and the master to 2 and 3. just waiting for my cables to come through the post to wire up my active speakers straight from the FA-66.

i recently bought a trigger finger. downloaded the drivers and Enigma from the website and installed both to my laptop, running windows XP Media Centre Edition. The Enigma software recognises the Trigger finger, i can send and receive banks from Enigma to the TF, although im finiding it hard to understand the Enigma Software...i dont really know what it does (??)
And i've had it up to here trying to get Live to work with the TF. I have Live 6. Live wont find the TF as a midi input at all, its just not there. the TF isnt in the inputs list and i cant MIDI map it with Live. When i put on midi map mode in Live and (for example) move a slider on the TF, nothing happens. Can anybody help as im thinking of just selling the TF, although i dont want to coz i know it is a useful tool.

is it anything to do with me running Media Centre?

please help!!!

stesmith · Post by **stesmith** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:04 pm

anyone??

Gravis · Post by **Gravis** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:28 pm

Firstly, forget enigma for now (you can go back later, but we're just trying to help you out now), you don't actually need it, although it'd be nice, i've set my TF up without it.

Now perform a factory reset ....

Disconnect the Trigger Finger from the USB port and/or power supply. Hold down the "Prog / Bank Change" and the "Full / Lock Velocity" buttons simultaneously and while doing so, re-connect the USB cable and/or Power Supply. Keep the two buttons held down for a couple of seconds after the Trigger Finger powered up again.

Now the trigger finger will have CCs/Notes automatically assigned to each pad/slider/knob (this is a good thing! for now).

Now make sure the trigger finger has power, and has a MIDI cable connected to your computer/audio interface. NOTE: the USB cable does not send MIDI data, you need a MIDI cable!

Once this is done ...
1: Start Ableton
2: Go into preferences
3: Open the "MIDI Sync" tab
4: Select the top drop down menu in the "Input" column.
5: From the drop down list, select your Audio/MIDI interface. It should then appear below under the "MIDI Ports" section.
6: close the preferences window
7: Enter MIDI map mode
8: Select one of the level meters and assign a slider
9: Select one of the pan knobs and assign a knob
10: Select one of the channel mute buttons and assign pad

That should get you working. If not, post here again and I'll see if i can help. I may have easily forgotten something, I'm doing this off the top of my head at the moment.

Hope it helps

p.s I don't use windows, i use a mac, but it should be the same.

muthafunka · Post by **muthafunka** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:40 pm

Gravis wrote: NOTE: the USB cable does not send MIDI data, you need a MIDI cable!
p.s I don't use windows, i use a mac, but it should be the same.

Seems to be firing midi down a usb cable here, on Mac too. Why do you think it doesn't? Do have to agree that Enigma was a sublimely well-chosen name for that beast tho...I seem to have managed to get some things done with it but Bob knows how. Is a pad sending cc or notes or....letters to Santa....feck knows

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:52 pm

Gravis wrote: Now make sure the trigger finger has power, and has a MIDI cable connected to your computer/audio interface. NOTE: the USB cable does not send MIDI data, you need a MIDI cable!

It sure does send MIDI over USB!

If ableton isn't seeing the device, you should try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers... that might help.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:12 pm

You have to install the drivers for each port you might be using. On my notebook one of USB ports TF is recognized as Hub !!!!????!!!! I tried to fix it, find out why but finally use other ports, dont like to waste my time. Asking M audio support wont do, you will waste time, possibly get upset or even very,very upset and pissed.
P.S. before checking in Live, first see in device manager if TF is there where it should be.

dCross · Post by **dCross** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:23 pm

Your issue may be Windows Media Center Edition, it's a mess for any professional audio/video tasks.

http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/ ... word=30163

Gravis · Post by **Gravis** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:23 pm

damn, i thought it did, but i couldnt for the life of me get it to work, i'll have another go tomorrow, i thought that was really odd!

Cheers guys, you learn something new everyday around here

awesome forum!

stesmith · Post by **stesmith** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:40 am

thanks guys this is helping. i will try it all out when i gt home. just getting frustrated now.

so i dont need a midi cable?

i tend to plug the TF into the same UCB port so that shud b ok

i think its media centre causing the problem coz i cant use my hypersonic plug in with it either, and some of my NI software.

guess il have to get hold of XP home or Pro

gp23 · Post by **gp23** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:44 am

No, you don't need a MIDI cable.

I had a hell of a time installing my TF on XP Pro. Even with the proper drivers installed, it would only be detected as a 'generic USB hub.' I eventually got it working by swapping it to another USB port and manually updating the generic USB hub driver to the M-Audio TF one. It works now, but I've had a couple of instances where Live stops seeing the TF. Which is a bit of a concern when I have a gig in a few weeks!

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:58 am

gp23 wrote:No, you don't need a MIDI cable.

I had a hell of a time installing my TF on XP Pro. Even with the proper drivers installed, it would only be detected as a 'generic USB hub.' I eventually got it working by swapping it to another USB port and manually updating the generic USB hub driver to the M-Audio TF one. It works now, but I've had a couple of instances where Live stops seeing the TF. Which is a bit of a concern when I have a gig in a few weeks!

I am not the only one then ! Did you manage to correct that port from "generic hub" to recognizing TF ? How ? that particular port works with everything else but TF, though if I connect via hub it works. The biggest problem with TF is that it has some features, functionalities that the other controllers do not have, and the pads work better for me then of MPD 16 or padKontrol. It is light and compact, I rather have 2 TFs then 1 Akai 24- same space,price but 16 pads more.
I never had any "disconnection" but dont use it that often, with M audio it is not uncommon. Unlike on Mac you have to restart Live to get it recognized again.

Gravis · Post by **Gravis** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:47 pm

Someone want to explain to me how to get the MIDI data to get sent to my iMac without having a MIDI cable hooked up?

I have the Trigger Finger being powered by USB (i do not have an external power supply).

When i don't have the MIDI cable in, my iMac doesn't recognize any devices, and neither does Ableton, so i don't have any choice in the input/output section of the "MIDI Sync" tab of the preferences.

NOTE: the trigger fingers lights are on as it is receiving power, but not sending data.

If someone has a trigger finger hooked up on a mac that is using the USB to both power and send MIDI data i'd REALLY like to know how, i can always use with freeing up an extra MIDI port!

Cheers.

gp23 · Post by **gp23** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:40 pm

rikhyray wrote: I am not the only one then ! Did you manage to correct that port from "generic hub" to recognizing TF ? How ? that particular port works with everything else but TF, though if I connect via hub it works. The biggest problem with TF is that it has some features, functionalities that the other controllers do not have, and the pads work better for me then of MPD 16 or padKontrol. It is light and compact, I rather have 2 TFs then 1 Akai 24- same space,price but 16 pads more.
I never had any "disconnection" but dont use it that often, with M audio it is not uncommon. Unlike on Mac you have to restart Live to get it recognized again.

Well, simply swapping the port didn't fix the problem for me. I had to go into the Device Manager, find the Generic USB Hub under the USB section, right-click update driver and manually select the TF driver from the list. Other things I did that may have helped were swapping the USB cable, using an older TF driver and disabling the power management for that USB port.

I had a PadKontrol for a while but sold it. I like the TF much better.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:52 am

gp23 wrote: Well, simply swapping the port didn't fix the problem for me. I had to go into the Device Manager, find the Generic USB Hub under the USB section, right-click update driver and manually select the TF driver from the list.

I am not getting list to choose, only "unknown device", if I connect TF via hub- to same port- it installs the drivers. Not a big deal but I wouldnt mind to fix it to be able to use the port directly without hub