New Drum Pad controller from M-Audio

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Thu May 05, 2005 7:33 pm

louZ wrote:congratulations on the new purchases!
keep us posted about your experiences.

i don't think it's available in Europe yet
Thomann is still waiting for a shipping date.

I looked yesterday, and they seem to be in stock at Thomann. I just bid on a Yamaha DX200 on Ebay, though. Almost hoping not to win so I can get the Trigger Finger instead...

Cheers,
Mikael

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:29 am

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:
louZ wrote:congratulations on the new purchases!
keep us posted about your experiences.

i don't think it's available in Europe yet
Thomann is still waiting for a shipping date.
I looked yesterday, and they seem to be in stock at Thomann. I just bid on a Yamaha DX200 on Ebay, though. Almost hoping not to win so I can get the Trigger Finger instead...

Cheers,
Mikael

you're right, the website says it's in stock now!
i e-mailed them a week ago and it wasn't in stock then.

i'm tempted to buy straight away...
maybe it's better to wait and try it in a dutch store first though.

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:33 am

louZ wrote:you're right, the website says it's in stock now!
i e-mailed them a week ago and it wasn't in stock then.

i'm tempted to buy straight away...
maybe it's better to wait and try it in a dutch store first though.

I find that the Swedish stores almost always get beaten by Thomann - even including shipping!

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:56 am

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:
louZ wrote:you're right, the website says it's in stock now!
i e-mailed them a week ago and it wasn't in stock then.

i'm tempted to buy straight away...
maybe it's better to wait and try it in a dutch store first though.
I find that the Swedish stores almost always get beaten by Thomann - even including shipping!

same with dutch stores.
if the price difference is too big, i would try here and buy at thomann. at least the EU has some advantages

don't know if i can wait untill they arrive in stores here though. this is one of those gear lust things i have to get asap

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:59 am

btw i also find that thomann is not always the cheapest in germany anymore. i still order at them because i know their service and fast shipping.

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:12 pm

Just placed an order with Thomann. Now something has to leave my desk... probably the Oxygen 8. This is my last hardware purchase for a long time!

I swear...

Most definitely! Don't need anything more than I have!

...that's for sure.

Cheers,
Mikael

12micsn1 · Post by **12micsn1** » Sun May 08, 2005 4:56 pm

I know Sam Ash has these in now. Going back sometime this week to see one setup with LIVE 4. Also to do a comparison on the pads vs Akia and Roland. The demo looks like a winner so far. If i buy this Im looking for a better deal then USD $199.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun May 08, 2005 5:00 pm

Thomann is hardly ever the cheapest german supplier. there are loads of cheaper ones.

Patbos · Post by **Patbos** » Sun May 08, 2005 6:04 pm

what are the other stores you recommend?

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Mon May 09, 2005 5:28 pm

Machinate wrote:Thomann is hardly ever the cheapest german supplier. there are loads of cheaper ones.

Trigger Finger is pretty cheap at Thomann. € 222,- as opposed to € 235,- at musik-service.de or € 249,- at musik-produktiv.de for example.

But in general, I agree.

gba88 · Post by **gba88** » Fri May 13, 2005 3:31 pm

I was referred to this thread from the harmony central forums because I was looking for a review of the Trigger Finger.

From reading the posts so far, it seems that the trigger finger has been generally accepted as a decent controller. I was just wondering if anyone has had anymore experience with it in regards to 2 main points.. First, any latency issues in comparison to the mpd16? Second, how do the pads measure up to the mpd16's? Like are they soft & rubbery, or hard plastic or what? -Response and feel is what I'm interested in.

I'm looking to buy a controller like this and have basically narrowed it down to the trigger finger or the mpd16. I don't have any local music stores in my area that actually carry either unit, so I can't check them out in person

deepdirtydub · Post by **deepdirtydub** » Fri May 13, 2005 10:39 pm

i cant compare the trigger finger to the mpd but i can say this.

the pads are soft but not too soft and rubbery. nice to work with. not hard plastic!
the outsides of the pads arent as sensitive as the middle but thats not a big problem to me.
the latency is pretty decent i'd say. (at least nothing you should really worry about)
overall i think its definitely worth the coin.

JacksinMS · Post by **JacksinMS** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:11 am

I got one a week or so ago and I'm just starting to figure out the settings, but then again I'm a bit of a MIDIdiot.

The pads feel good and responsive, but as deepdirtydub said, the outside of the pads aren't too sensitive.

Figured out the other night how to even use the Impulse tool, never really used it before.

Still haven't programmed it to mess with the Auto Filter the way that fella in the video can... wish that guy could come over and have some drinks & coerse my trigger finger to do my bidding.... whoa... I should erease that last sentence.... but I'm lazy... bah...

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Sat May 14, 2005 1:24 am

I got one of these, and also own the mpd. I like it. A lot. Especially in conjunction with the enigma software to program it. The midi response for me has been great. Better than the mpd in fact. Sometimes, with the mpd I find that when I put a track in record mode and try to bang something out, there's a hesitation or something that makes the timing sound wack.

that hasn't been the case with the triggerfinger. On Tiger, I plug it in and it's ready to go with non of the issues I've had with the mpd.

All in all, I dig it much.

gba88 · Post by **gba88** » Sat May 14, 2005 2:03 am

Thanks a lot for the comparison rahlo

I was leaning towards the trigger finger because of the additional knobs & sliders that are freely assignable.
Seems to offer quite a bit more, but the akai has a track record & name going for it so...

A question about the mpd...are the outer edges of the pads as sensitive/insensitive as the trigger fingers? I'm asking since the other 2 replies made note of this. It's probably not too big of a deal, but my concern would be if you were tapping out a beat and hit only the edge of a pad instead of "dead center" and the resulting sound was lower than the previous tap. That line may be a little confusing, but I think you guys know what I mean.

I couldn't really care too much about the build quality of either unit, as I don't plan to drag it behind my car anytime soon

Besides, nothing is built like it used to be...as long as a product is fairly stable and hold up to "normal" use, then it is fine by me.