ableton 6 and trigger finger

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:24 pm

swishniak wrote:
steffensen wrote:My trigger finger works just perfectly, dunno you all seem to have these problems.
+1

and me.. iBook G4, 10.4.10

obscurityknocks · Post by **obscurityknocks** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:23 am

My guess is that it is specifically a MacBook problem? Or maybe just certain generations of Macbooks? Those of you that are having the problems--do you have earlier Macbooks?

Not sure why it should be a problem...as the unit still has power--it's just Ableton being able to read the incoming MIDI data...

Glad for those of you that aren't having problems...

But in general....with these "working with Apple on this" things....any luck...or is that a sham?

966sf · Post by **966sf** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:57 am

Is Remote turned on in your MIDI Preferences?

I just bought the Trigger Finger choosing over the MPD24 because of it's pressure sensitivity and because it apparently won't do any false triggering due to extreme vibrations in live use.

Anyway, when I plugged it in, same problem. I could not get MIDI Map to pick up any commands from the TF. Went to MIDI Preferences, turned Remote from OFF to ON and there we go. Everything seems to work fine so far. In fact, I'm quite glad with my purchase.

furn · Post by **furn** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:25 pm

I have a MacBook Core 2 Duo and my Trigger Finger will only work on ONE of my two USB ports... the USB port closest to the screen.

Not that big of an issue once you know about it.

Hope this helps!

obscurityknocks · Post by **obscurityknocks** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 3:49 am

Sadly, I have tried all of these things....

Strangely enough, on my Macbook Core Duo the UBS port closer to the screen doesn't even recognize the Trigger Finger at all.

This is ridiculous....I guess the guys who started this thread just gave up?

Or are we waiting for M-Audio and Apple to "work it out" ? ha ha ha

966sf · Post by **966sf** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:51 am

I think my tip fixed would've fixed the original poster's problems. Live was at least sensing the Trigger Finger. Obscurity, you should probably try the USB hub if you haven't already. On my first gen MBP, I can't duplicate the problem. The TF works on both ports. I can test this out on my bro's 2nd gen Macbook, whenever I return to his place, but i guess if other 1st gen Macbook users are chiming into your problem, then you're kind of SOL. Also, what Audio Interface are you using? Have you ever just bought the adapter power supply and connected the TF to your computer through the MIDI Inputs in your Audio Interface?

obscurityknocks · Post by **obscurityknocks** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:50 am

I actually haven't tried it with a power source for the TF itself, but I do remember the first time around that I tried it with a MIDI sport 2 x 2 USB device and tried to get it to work that way. Didn't really meet with success either....

I'll see if I have a plug adaptor that will work with the TF, but that will kind of kill one of the main selling points of it for me, which was something smaller than my Novation X-Station to use out on the road that powered from the laptop.

Audio interface is the Novation X-Station, but to be honest, I usually just use Apple's Core Audio when working on stuff at home, and my bass player's M-Audio 410 in the studio, so I wouldn't have thought of trying this. I'll give the MIDI cables/X-Station route for laughs, but obviously this won't help me outside of the studio.

Thank you for all of your suggestions in any case.....

If nothing works out, there's always the option of selling it.....argh.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:16 pm

It must be a macbook problem. I had a white macbook core duo that worked fine with the TF, then got a black one, and am now experiencing this same issue. I went to GC to see if a new TF would work (which would mean mine was broken) and that didn't work either. What's crazy is that the TF powers up when I plug it into either usb port, but Live doesn't even pick it up. Nor does Audio/Midi set up.

However, when I plugged in a Korg PadKontrol at GC, it worked immediately. So did an MPD 24. Wonder why these units work OK, but now I'm gettin' no love from the TF?

Plus, my TF works fine when plugged into my Mac Pro desktop.

Rogue Scrunt · Post by **Rogue Scrunt** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:17 pm

I had a strange issue with my tf, on my C2d Imac.

the tf just stopped working. on any usb port, hub or not.

I had to hook it up to my old g4, then had to "update trigger finger"
in one of the menus of enigma.

when i hooked it back to the I-mac, it worked fine.

mysterious

mobiledjs · Post by **mobiledjs** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:10 pm

This is a very common problem but you will not find the correct solution on this forum (thus far). Even m-audio had no solution for this on their website from what I could tell. I had to go somewhere else and after hours of research finally got my m-audio devices working. I believe this issue is similar to the issue with the axiom keyboard because the driver is pretty much the same. What happens is that that Microsoft has a driver that will work on the device and despite having the correct driver present it takes over and puts it in your computer anyways as some generic USB device which does you no good. So basically what you have to do is go into Device Manager and go down to Sound, Video Game Controllers. You should see an entry that is like USB device or something really generic. I forget what the exact wording is but basically this is what it's classified as when the wrong driver is installed. You could unplug it and go back and look to see which one disappears to determine the correct one. But what you will need to do is Update Driver and replace it manually with the correct one. This will force it to use the correct driver rather than the one that was erroneously put in there. It should them pop up again with the correct device name and then you will be in business. It will then show up in the MIDI settings of Live. I know this worked on the axiom-49 and I was having problems with my trigger finger working also so I am pretty positive that this will correct the issue. I am a little disappointed that no one on this forum came up with the correct solution or bothered to post it (course the search functionality isn't that great either). Could have saved me many hours of pain. If you have the Axiom keyboard Ableton has a tutorial livepack that you can install which will help set it up. Both devices should have Live presets also to make it work very easy once you get it going.

Rogue Scrunt · Post by **Rogue Scrunt** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:21 pm

mobiledjs wrote:This is a very common problem but you will not find the correct solution on this forum (thus far). Even m-audio had no solution for this on their website from what I could tell. I had to go somewhere else and after hours of research finally got my m-audio devices working. I believe this issue is similar to the issue with the axiom keyboard because the driver is pretty much the same. What happens is that that Microsoft has a driver that will work on the device and despite having the correct driver present it takes over and puts it in your computer anyways as some generic USB device which does you no good. So basically what you have to do is go into Device Manager and go down to Sound, Video Game Controllers. You should see an entry that is like USB device or something really generic. I forget what the exact wording is but basically this is what it's classified as when the wrong driver is installed. You could unplug it and go back and look to see which one disappears to determine the correct one. But what you will need to do is Update Driver and replace it manually with the correct one. This will force it to use the correct driver rather than the one that was erroneously put in there. It should them pop up again with the correct device name and then you will be in business. It will then show up in the MIDI settings of Live. I know this worked on the axiom-49 and I was having problems with my trigger finger working also so I am pretty positive that this will correct the issue. I am a little disappointed that no one on this forum came up with the correct solution or bothered to post it (course the search functionality isn't that great either). Could have saved me many hours of pain. If you have the Axiom keyboard Ableton has a tutorial livepack that you can install which will help set it up. Both devices should have Live presets also to make it work very easy once you get it going.

maybe.... you did not realize...that most people posting in this thread
are using Apple, macintosh computers.

so... microsoft has nothing to do with the problem

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:37 pm

Getting a powered usb hub does the trick for me. Live now sees and responds to the tf. But I can't stay with this solution. Though it's a really small hub, it takes two more cables to use it, and it jacks up my whole live layout/setup.

I'm either gonna go with the mpd 24, or get a different macbook or macbook pro.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:33 pm

sorry for the double post

oniondip · Post by **oniondip** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:30 am

Sad to say, I'm also in the same boat with you guys using a MacBook Pro. It's not really an Ableton issue with the Trigger Finger. The USB/FW ports on the MBPs are under-powered. I have a MacAlley portable firewire 400 drive that doesn't need DC power on a G4 laptop, but does need power on the MBP via a USB to DC power cable. So, the fw 400 drive has the fw400 and usb to DC hooked up to the MBP and mounts fine. I wonder if there's a way to mod a firewire 400 cable to DC for the Trigger Finger? Anyway, Apple is at fault for the under-powered fw400 and usb 2.0 ports on the MBPs. Apple claims that the ports are exaclty the same on the G4 laptops, not true.... If enough people complain then I think Apple would have to swap logiocboards if they have quietly fixed the issue with new MBP's say on a rev.board.
Just know there is no blame on M-Audio or Ableton.