Pinnacle Trigger Finger 9900-50855-00 Merkblatt

controllers to pitch bend to aftertouch. The

pads can all be on one MIDI channel or

each can send on its own channel. In short,

this thing has far more MIDI capability than

you’d think from looking at it — in reality, it

has more MIDI capability than most (if not

all) of us will ever use.

To harness all that power, M-Audio provides

a free downloadable editor called “Enigma,”

which actually supports a variety of M-Audio

control devices. With Enigma, you can address

every programmable parameter in the Trigger

Finger, and build up a library of presets. 

Enigma is compatible with both Mac and

Windows. Install it on your computer, launch,

and it will automatically find Trigger Finger and

be ready for action. The user interface is sim-

ple; click on the control you want to change,

and make whatever settings you need. Or you

can drag parameters to Trigger Finger pads and

controls. There are parameter lists included

for a number of common instruments, which

makes it easy. Select Gmedia’s Oddity (for

example) from the library, and all the Oddity’s

controllable parameters are listed. Just drag

a parameter from the list to the pad, knob, or

slider you want to use, and you’re done.

For quick changes (especially of the notes

assigned to the pads), you can program

Trigger Finger from the front panel — just hold

the Memory Recall and Prog/Bank Change

buttons to enter Edit mode. Then, to change

the note assigned to a pad (for example), hit

the desired pad, then turn the first control

knob. The LCD readout will change to display

the note assigned to the pad. Easy. But if you

really want to use Trigger Finger to its fullest,

and you need to create highly customized pro-

grams, Enigma is definitely the way to go.

Trigger Finger is excellent for the obvious

application: playing drum sounds. It worked

great with Reason for playing ReDrum and

other samples, and for programming MIDI

tracks in Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Logic Pro,

and others. It also worked great for simply play-

ing sounds; FM7, Pro-53, Korg’s Wavestation

plug-in, on and on, anything that could be

played by MIDI was cool with Trigger Finger —

www.eqmag.com

Programming drums can be a pain

in the ass. Plunking in little dots on

a grid with a mouse is painfully

tedious, and often results in lame,

rigid rhythms — which is fine, if

you’re into that sort of thing. But

if you’re after feel, mousing in

drum and percussion parts isn’t

going to cut it. Yes, you can use a

MIDI keyboard to play in parts.

But the black-and-whites aren’t

exactly designed for the task. It

works, but it’s not “natural,” especially

for non-keyboard players. For great-feeling

drums and percussion, my opinion says that

pad controllers are the way to go. High-priced

boxes like the MPC60 and its progeny do

the job, but they’re, well, high-priced. And they

do way more than just serve as pad con-

trollers. That’s wonderful if your MPC is the

main instrument you build your tracks around.

But if you’re like me and you just want some

pads for playing in drum parts with some

feel, then an MPC is overkill. MIDI drum pads

are excellent if you’re a drummer or are handy

with sticks. But I’m not — I want something

I can bang on with my fingers.

That’s where the M-Audio Trigger Finger

comes in. This affordable box has 16 veloc-

ity- and pressure-sensitive pads that you

can use for playing sampled drums, trig-

gering loops, sending MIDI messages, or

doing whatever you want to use MIDI events

to trigger or control. As a bonus, there are

eight assignable control knobs and four

assignable sliders for controller parameters,

mixer settings, or anything else. You can

create 16 preset “maps” for accessing your

drum layouts, loops, or control needs, and

quickly switch among them as you move

from application to application.

It doesn’t get much simpler than the

Trigger Finger. Install the driver on your

Mac or PC, then connect the Trigger

Finger to your computer using the

supplied USB cable. Launch

Reason, Live, or a host DAW

running a plug-in instrument

such as Battery, Kontakt, or

MachFive — whatever you’re

using for your sounds —

and start smacking the pads,

cranking knobs, and flick-

ing sliders. Alternatively, con-

nect Trigger Finger’s MIDI out

to your keyboard or sound module, and

start playing. As the annoying TV ad guy says,

“It’s really that easy.”

The Trigger Finger can draw power over the

USB connection, or you can use it with an

optional 9-volt power supply. The MIDI out can

either send MIDI messages generated inside

the Trigger Finger to another MIDI device,

or it can serve as a MIDI output for a computer

that’s connected via USB, turning the Trigger

Finger into a 1-out MIDI interface.

Trigger Finger can send out a very wide

variety of MIDI messages, from notes to

www.eqmag.com

Got an itchy trigger finger for great rhythm programming? Of course, you do.

by Mitch Gallagher

Type: Pad-, knob-, and slider-based MIDI

controller

Price: $249.95

Contact: M-Audio, m-audio.com

Connections: USB out, MIDI out, 9-volt

DC input

USB Support: Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher,

Windows XP

Compatibility: MME, DirectX, Core MIDI

Presets: 16

Pre-programmed maps: Live, Reason,

GM Drum, XG Drum, iDrum

Pads: 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive

Sliders: 4

Knobs: 8

Dimensions: 11" (w) x 10" (d) x 2-1/4" (h)

Power: USB or optional 9-volt DC

adapter

Software Bundle includes: Drivers,

Ableton Live 4 Lite, Enigma editor