M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum Pad Control Surface

by M-Audio

Product Features

• Trigger Finger allows musicians to harness the expressive potential of their software
• 8 assignable knobs, 4 assignable faders
• 16 velocity and pressure-sensitive pads
• Individual assignable pressure on each pad
• Powered from USB connection or optional DC power supply

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000800B6U
• Item model number: 9900-40855-00
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,144 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

Trigger Finger puts the power to program and perform expressive percussion and drum parts at your fingertips. Its 16 velocity-sensitive pads are perfect for playing the drum sounds in your favorite software, launching loops and samples, or even controlling video projections--and applying pressure to the pads can generate any MIDI controller you wish. Trigger Finger also gives you 8 knobs and 4 faders that are freely assignable to MIDI parameters such as volume, pan, pitch, and effects. Pre-programmed maps for Reason, Live, GM Drum, XG Drum, iDrum, and more make setup a snap--and full programmability lets you customize the unit to fit your needs. Settings are easy to store via 16 presets, and M-Audio's free Enigma editor/librarian software for PC and Mac lets you create a collection of even more. A simple USB cable is all it takes to connect and power Trigger Finger with your computer. It's time to take full control of your drum programming--and Trigger Finger is the right tool for the job.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trigger Finger alowa you total control of your drums, March 20, 2006

By 

Robert H. Cooper (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum Pad Control Surface (Electronics)

Unlike the first reviewer my experience with Trigger Finer has been a good one. At first it took me awhile to figure out how to get the device to control the drums in Impulse (Ableton Live) once I realized that each pad had to be set in order to have each tone mapped it was a breeeze. I suspect that maybe the first reviewer as well as any midi newbie might have difficulty in that respects since it is not plug in play as M Audio states....it is program and play, however once you get it programmed correctly it is effortless. The htinkg is it is soo expandable and programmable it may be to its own detriment especaiily for peolle who are not fimiliar with mapping out midi controllers.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you can tap out a rhythm with your fingers..., March 16, 2006

By 

Simon Allardice (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum Pad Control Surface (Electronics)

Tried this after using (and returning) an Akai MPD16, which looks pretty similar - but this feels better, responds better, has more features and is easier to use. And unlike the previous reviewer, I didn't have any problems whatsoever with hooking it up: I just plugged in the USB cable, it worked, no drivers needed, end of story. Great with Ableton Live, and just amazing when hooked up to percussion instruments like StormDrum. Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light, nice and useful, even if not as a drum pad, August 13, 2007

By 

G. Maldonado (Roma, RM Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: M-Audio Trigger Finger Drum Pad Control Surface (Electronics)

I bought this product because I wanted to experiment a drum-playing gesture in computer-music making.

But, if used as it was a percussion, it suffers of unreliability: if you don't hit the pads perfectly at the center, they don't respond reliably to your gesture, since they are not too sensible, you have to hit them quite hard, if you are thinking at a drum, at least for me.

Anyway, I realized that the pads can be used for purposes other than drum-like playing. In fact they act as a key of a piano-like keyboard, i.e. they send note-on message when pressed and note-off when released (not immediately after the note-on like most other drum pads). Also each pad can be used as a different pressure controller, with independent tracking, by assigning a different controller to each pad. This is like having actual polyphonic aftertouch, a feature which is missing to most of keyboard controllers. This permits you a non-conventional gesture that allows unusual and powerful musical approaches.

The tracking quality of the four vertical sliders are very good, the best I have found in a control surface so far.

The quality of the eight knobs is also good even if not at the level of the sliders.

Summing up, it is a very good product, I recommend it.