Akia MPD16 or M-Audios Trigger Finger

carlosfl

New member
I bought M-Audios Trigger Finger over the Akia MPD16, and I ended up returning it after a week. The main reason was because I had problems programming the pads. I used the pads with live, but was only able to use the bottom 8 pads. I couldn’t get the thing to do what I wanted it to do, and the manual it came with didn’t help much either. The trigger finger came with software to program the pads called enigma, but in my opinion the software sucked. After a month without it, I’m beginning to miss it, and I am wondering if I should give it another chance, or try the Akia MPD16. Has any one had any experience with either controllers?
 
Just because you don't understand something right away doesn't necessarily mean it sucks. Give Trigger Finger another shot and see if you can get past whatever problem you're having with it...

On the other hand, for $50 more the Akai looks like it would be pretty much foolproof --- and nowhere near as flexible as Trigger Finger. If simplicity is what you're looking for, go with the Akai.
 
get the trigger finger, and just read more about programing the pads, the mpd sucks the pads are hard as hell, and it can be buggy at times (at least on my freinds pc) but like i said the trigger finger is great get it again.
 
I have to say, the pad sensitivity on the Trigger Finger is very subtle if programmed correctly. I compared the two recently and came away with the following opinion.

The Akai seems a little more rugged however the Trigger Finger has way more programmability. Also the pads on the trigger finger seemed more responsive across the velocity layers than the Akai, $50 less too.

Seems like a no brainer but I need to spend some more time on the Akai before I pull the trigger, on buying the Trigger Finger. :D :p :rolleyes:
 
I don't know what type of music your making but the Trigger Finger is good at what it does for me and that is drums. The tutorial video from the M-Audio website was using Live and had all the pads sliders and knobs doing what they had to do. I don't think you gave it enough time.

This was my first controller, I waited on the MPD for 6 months and couldn't wait anymore. Never got to try an MPD but I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Drum programming stepped up big time with this tool.

I use it with Battery and admit that I was clueless when I first got it, but now I just make music. You should reconsider and spend some time learning it before giving up.
 
Ok, I need to retrack my earlier statements about the Trigger Finger. After playing with it awhile the pads are definitely not as sensitive, especially at the lower levels than the MPD16. Also, there are some quality control issues in that when the pads are all set to the same velocity and pressure setting, individual pads still have different responses. After a shootout with both units this week, the MPD16 just has better pads.

You hear this when you try to do drum rolls on a single pad. The trigger finger stutters but the MPD16 can hang. Thought it was important to state this. The TF still has more programability but this is not science, its music.

I took the TF back and kept the MPD16.
 
aw man!! I wanted the TF to be the one.
Anyway , thanks for the review Brian. So global velocity and pressure sux wad for individual pads huh? That sux. Gotta be able to do rolls for drums-otherwise why bother? :cool:
T
 
I just ordered a Trigger Finger the other day. I'll let you all know what I think when I get it.

I'm going to be using it for programming Drumkit From Hell Superior stuff in Sonar 4. I'm currently borrowing a friends Edirol PCR-30 to do it, but it doesn't cut it for me.

It's going to be my first time reprogramming my drum mappings too. Should be fun once I get it all working.
 
Well... I got my Trigger Finger in the mail a couple weeks ago, set it up pretty quickly and got it to work with Cakewalk SONAR 4 pretty easily.

The only thing I had issues with was reprogramming the pads into a series of 16 patches for my multi purpose drum recording through Drumkit From Hell Superior.

I'm not sure which part of my ineptitude is due to being a total MIDI newbie, or because the Trigger Finger Enigma program was difficult to figure out. I think I should chalk most of it up to "I was a newbie, and now I am becoming enlightened to the world of MIDI."

Tonight I sat my ass down, opened Sonar and DFHS and decided to make my patches I needed. Basically I wanted the first patch to be a general one that had kick, snare, some hihat functions, and cymbals. Other patches would contain all useful hihats, another would contain all toms (right and left hand hits) for rolls, another for snare work, etc.

First I had to figure out in DFHS which note corresponded to which sound. In DFHS I would select a sub-pad (a snare pad would have a sidestick, flam, right left, etc) then I would see what note it was. I soon figured out that I needed to transpose the note up two octaves in Sonar. No biggie.

I also had to turn the Piano roll in sonar to display the note numbers instead of the keys and notes themselves. So instead of seeing a piano, I saw 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. I had to get accustomed to looking at the grey and white lines and the thicker lines to denote the next variant of C.

But, basically, I would find the note in DFHS, transpose it on the piano roll, take that number, then I would program that number on the proper pad and patch in the Trigger Finger software.

Saving and uploading the new info to the Trigger Finger is really easy, but the Trigger Finger doesn't auto update so you have to re-select the patch you were using to re-load the new programming.

But, after about an hour I was able to think-out and program two patches (my general tracking patch and my advanced hi-hat function patch).

I was also able to set the 4th slider to work the hi-hat pedal. It isn't great because it's hard to double hit and slide that thing with any accuracy, but if I got a dedicated Hi-Hat pedal, it would work damn well I think. I just wish I could figure out how to reverse the functionality of the slider. I tried setting the max to 0 and the min to 127 (to reverse the default functionality), but it didn't work. Maybe this is another case of MIDI newbieness.

All-in-all the Trigger Finger seems sweet. I will probably end up using the sliders and knobs for mixing functions in Sonar too.

If you know MIDI really well, you'll probably have a much easier time than I did. If you don't know MIDI but are a fast learner, it will give you some pain but the payoff is worth it.

An advanced piece of hardware, but worth the effort and price IMO.
 
Hi. i didn't really want to start a new topic for this and figured this would be a good place to post it. i bought the trigger finger but i'm having trouble programming the knobs and sliders with the enigma software. if anyone is a wizard with the software and this machine and is in a helping mood message me or somethin'. i'm desperate.
 
Go ahead and take that big plunge and start your own thread! It's free and I'm sure you won't be displeased with the results...

When you do, please go into more specifics as to exactly what problems you are having with the Enigma software.
 
pinkie said:
Hi. i didn't really want to start a new topic for this and figured this would be a good place to post it. i bought the trigger finger but i'm having trouble programming the knobs and sliders with the enigma software. if anyone is a wizard with the software and this machine and is in a helping mood message me or somethin'. i'm desperate.
What exactly are you trying to do? I used the software to program mine the way I wanted.
 
Thinking about buying one of these products in the next week or so. Based on what I've heard here I'm leaning towards getting the MPD16. I know it doesnt have all the features of the trigger finger but I just wanted to find out how well it handled setting up and managing patches eg how many patches can you have and how easy is it to select the one you want? Also i was woundering what the utility software that it comes with does.
 
Sorry for the bump but I'm putting off buying an MPD16 until someone can give me a little info on the software and setting up the output note for each pad.
Cheers
 
You can have 16 patches per bank and there are two banks for a total of 32 patches.

As far as the note for each pad, that depends on your software. I use DKFH Superior and all I have to do is set a drum element in the learn mode, tap the MPD-16 pad I want to use and it is assigned to that pad.

I sometimes use the pad to key other synths and you can use either the utility software to assign each pad to a particular midi note or you can do this from inside your sequencer which is trial and error because you may have to just use the sounds from the midi default values and learn the sound positions on the pads.

You can download the manual by the way from the Akai site here http://www.akaipro.com/supportdocuments.html#MPD16.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks, thats all i needed to know. I did download the manuals before but i mustn't of paid too much attention to them (or forgot to actualy read all of it) cause i missed the info on the utility software
 
I have the TF and love it for making Drum tracks with DFH Superior.
The info that I can't find is how to assign the knobs and faders to Cubase SX?
I am a bass playin midi noob, and would love to control my subgroup faders with the TF. (the demo vid makes it look so easy)
I would be humbly gracious for any help.
 
As far as setting up and using the MPD16, it can either be set up via the utility that it comes with (set notes for each pad and assign the fader to pitchbend, velocity or whatever) or (on mine anyway) there was a sticker on the back on how to do it manually without a computer. The feel of the pads is identical to the MPC pads and IIRC, there were 4 or 16 velocity levels for each pad. It maps by default C0 and up. It seemed to be a little flakey over the USB on my old machine but on the newer one, it worked flawlessly
 
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