Ableton Forum

I was considering getting a Trigger Finger this weekend, then walked into the shop to a mighty display of Axiom 49 controllers, which all of a sudden opened up new options. I love what the Axiom has to offer for the money, but would I get better flexibility by getting a separate pad controller vs. the all-in-one unit? Are the pads on the Axiom just as good as getting a Trigger Finger on it's own and separate 49-key controller? I realize the TF will give me more knobs and sliders, but looking at the Axiom it seems to cover the basics for what I need, and the Axiom runs a mere $50 more than a Trigger Finger alone. Thanks for your thoughts on this one....

The pads on the Axiom are more responsive... The Trigger finger has dead corners on each pad. However the trigger finger can send note values AND midi controller values with pressure sensitivity at the same time. With the Axiom it's one or the other. For live 5 the Impulse only has 8 pads and the simpler only has 1 voice so that's a no brainer for the Axiom... however in Live 6 you will be able to fill up the entire keyboard with different sounds...

As for session view you can assign clips to as many pads or keys that you have. I don't use session view in a live maner so that doesn't appeal to me (I should start though).
I like the endless encoders on the Axiom better than the limited ones cause no matter what device you use, you don't get jumping parameters. I also like having a transport section so I don't have to reach elsware to record or bring it back....

The keys feel great however the pads cannot transpose and the 'Octave' buttons don't affect the pads either unlike the Trigger Finger wich will go through all the octaves. In order to get the same affect with the Axiom you would have to actually program the different octaves into the presets. Unlike other controllers, the Axiom is split up into groups soooo.... If you only have the pads group turned on then changing presets will only affect the pad section and other 3 remaining sections will remain unchanged... Or you can dedicate the faders to the main faders by leaving all groups active except the fader group so when you do change presets the faders will not change with the rest of the sections/groups.

But honestly, at the end of the day, I still use both... If I only had the choice of using 1, I would go with the Axiom and set up the pads for the different octaves.

I love my Axiom 25, and I agree that the pads are better than Trigger Finger (haven't tried out PadKontrol yet, but I don't really care because the Axiom fits Live perfectly).

wow, Willyum, thank you for such a great comment on both units, very helpful. I think I will just get the Axiom 49 and call it a day, and like you, I can always add the Trigger Finger later on if I feel the need to. Thanks again!

I used to use my TF everyday, but since I got my Axiom 49, the TF is sitting with my turntables as more of a DJ controller. Programing with the Axiom pads feels sooo much better, and the work flow is much better as faders, sweet endless knobs, pads, keys AND transport control are all in reach on one unit. Im just starting to re-program the Axiom after 2 weeks of fondeling it, its gonna be sweet mapped to a template in live!

axiom ......49.....it's a (insert swingin' notes here) crazy little controla'...........

Yeah baby, it's crazy.......nice pads, nice little faders, great knobs and buttons......very nice keys...........at the price......it's hard to go wrong......

Oh, and I (like someone else) wipe my ASS with maudio......but this is a very nice controller...........

get a axiom dude, it's just impressive with ableton, works like a charm for me

(happy owner of a axiom 49)

What about new Novation Remote SL series? The have also sensitive touch-pads

Automap feature seems a revolution, possibly beginning a new generation of "intelligent" midi controllers....


what do you think?

The pads on the remote sl are tooo small and apparently not very responsive. I agree Automap is kool, but if your using the Axiom with Live 6, the new automappimg is sweeter than candy. Im contemplating buying a remote SL zero incase I start using it to DJ, and to use with Reason, I think the Axiom/Zero SL combo would be pretty sweet...like candy.

Has Axiom any kind of automaping feature? how does it works in Live?

FYi, I think there has been an unannounced revision of the Trigger Finger, so that they respond much like the Axiom pads.

I just got back home with a new Axiom 49, pretty excited to set it up now, thanks for all the comments, that was quite helpful in deciding.

hope you enjoy it bud

so far I am, a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities, not much in the way of documentation other than "for Live, use preset 17', but how do you select a preset took me a few minutes and even then. A pad triggers a drum in Impulse but a key will trigger a synth sound in operator and the same drum sound from the pad, argh...I just downloaded Enigma hoping that could make life easier, we'll see...

That said, I have used Live for 3 years but always in the Arranger window. Now I am trying to learn the Session window as I'll be playing live shows soon and I'm also a bit daunted by the whole recording, triggering, getting used to vertical vs. linear, quantization, etc. I'm sure it'll all make sense soon enough...

Sorry to bump this again but I'm having a rather difficult time with the Axiom 49. I'm not new to midi by any means and the only controller I've had before this was the first Oxygen 8, which I used only with Reason. Now I have pads, faders, silders, buttons and a transport on the Axiom and I'm trying to set up a quick and efficient way for it to ineract with Live. I downloaded Enigma and while it does look intuitive, I'm not quite sure I understand how to program all the sliders, etc to the paramaters in Live.

Any resourceful links or posts on how to use the Axiom/Enigma would be great.

All that said, my Axiom 49 isn't being recognized in Reason 3.0.5 (intel Macbook). Even though the one sheet quick start that came with the controller says it should work with programs 7 through 10, nothing does as the Reaon Midi Preferences don't see the Axiom, even after re-scaning. It also mentions the ReDrum working automatically no matter which preset is chosen, but alas, not for me.

Thanks for any help on this.