Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager

Download

The Trigger Manager ships in two flavors. Pick the one that matches your computer.

Option A — macOS native app (recommended for Mac users)

• Format: ZIP, ~976 KB.
• What it is: A standalone macOS .app bundle (universal, works on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs).
• Requirements: macOS 11 or later.
• Install: unzip, drag Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager.app into /Applications, and launch.

⬇️ Download Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager for macOS (.zip, ~976 KB)

Option B — Cross-platform RAR package (Windows, or Node.js / cross-platform)

• Format: RAR, ~97 KB.
• What it is: A small local HTTP server with a Web Bluetooth front-end — same controller UI as the macOS app, packaged for both Windows and macOS.
• Requirements: Node.js 18+ installed on your computer, and a Chrome or Edge browser (Safari and Firefox do not expose the Web Bluetooth API this app uses).
• Run on Windows: unzip or unrar the archive, then double-click start-windows.bat.
• Run on macOS: extract the archive, then double-click start-macos.command. If macOS stripped execute permission during extraction, run chmod +x start-macos.command once, or use zsh start-macos.command directly.
• Any platform with Node.js: open a terminal in the extracted folder and run npm start.

The launcher opens http://127.0.0.1:8765/ in your browser. Keep the launcher window open while you are using the manager — closing it stops the local server.

⬇️ Download Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager — Windows / cross-platform (.rar, ~97 KB)

Need help choosing? If you only have a Mac and prefer a one-click install, take Option A. If you are on Windows, need a single package for both platforms, or want to tinker with the source, take Option B.

Quick Start Guide for the Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager (macOS)

This guide covers Bluetooth pairing, pad selection, parameter tuning, real-time velocity monitoring, saving, and troubleshooting. It applies to macOS version 1.0.7 (Build 8).

Figure 1 — Main interface.

Interface Layout

• Top bar: connection status, Refresh, and Connect / Disconnect.
• Left panel: product diagram and pad list — click any pad to select it.
• Right panel: real-time hit velocity, Trigger Force, Retrigger Guard, and Save / Restore controls.

A green outline marks the currently selected pad. An orange dot indicates parameters that have drifted from their factory values.

1. Connect via Bluetooth

The app uses BLE-MIDI. Tapping Connect Bluetooth only scans and lists nearby devices — it never auto-selects one.

Figure 2 — Bluetooth device selector.

1. Power on the Beats and keep it close to your Mac.
2. Click Connect Bluetooth and wait for the scan list to populate.
3. Click Connect next to the Fingersonic_Beats entry.
4. Once the top bar reads Fingersonic_Beats, you are connected.
5. Wait for the parameter read to finish; if needed, click Refresh to re-read.

Tip: if Fingersonic_Guitar or any other BLE-MIDI device is also in the list, pick Fingersonic_Beats manually.

If the device does not appear

• Quit any DAW, Audio MIDI Setup, or other BLE-MIDI clients that may have claimed the device.
• Click Scan Again. If still empty, restart the Beats and toggle Mac Bluetooth off / on.
• Confirm the app has Bluetooth permission under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Bluetooth.

2. Select a Pad

Figure 3 — Snare pad selected.

Click the pad on the product diagram, the pad strip below it, or any entry in the right-hand Pad Overview. Before editing, confirm the SELECTED PAD name and MIDI Note on the right panel are correct.

3. Tune and Save Parameters

Trigger Force

Controls how hard you must strike a pad to reach a high Velocity.

• Increase: heavier strikes are needed before reaching Velocity 127.
• Decrease: lighter strikes already produce high Velocity values.
• Start at 100%; adjust in steps of 5–10%.

Retrigger Guard

Controls the minimum time between two valid triggers on the same pad.

• Increase: suppresses double-triggers more aggressively, but may swallow fast rolls if pushed too far.
• Decrease: allows faster rolls, but may register two hits from one strike.
• Start at 25 ms; adjust in steps of 5 ms.

Best practice: change one parameter at a time so you can isolate its effect on feel.

Save the current pad

1. Move the sliders to the target values.
2. Confirm the selected pad name on the right panel.
3. Click Apply & Save.
4. Wait for the green success toast, then strike the pad to verify the result.

Note for Windows / cross-platform users: the macOS app shows a dedicated LIVE HIT VELOCITY panel on the right. The Web Bluetooth package (Option B) does not include this live monitor — strike the pads and watch the controller's response in your DAW or the device's own indicator instead. The section below documents the macOS app behavior.

4. View Real-Time Hit Velocity

Once connected, the LIVE HIT VELOCITY panel on the right listens for MIDI Note On messages. Strike any pad and you will see the actual Velocity of your last hit.

Figure 4 — LIVE HIT VELOCITY panel at the top of the right parameter pane.

• Shows the pad name, MIDI Note, MIDI Channel, and Velocity.
• Velocity range is 1–127; higher = harder hit.
• The percentage and progress bar make it easy to compare hits across strikes.
• The matching pad briefly highlights blue; the last result stays visible until the next hit.
• Clear only clears the display — it does not change hardware settings.

Velocity reference

• Light: Velocity ≈ 20–50.
• Normal: Velocity ≈ 60–100.
• Hard: Velocity ≈ 110–127.

If normal hits frequently hit 127, raise Trigger Force. If even hard hits stay well below 100, lower Trigger Force.

5. Recommended Calibration Workflow

1. Start at 100% Trigger Force and 25 ms Retrigger Guard.
2. Strike 5 light hits, 10 normal hits, 5 hard hits — observe Velocity distribution.
3. If normal hits peg at 127, raise Trigger Force. If hard hits stay low, lower Trigger Force.
4. Test the fastest roll you play: if you get missed hits, lower Retrigger Guard; if you get double-triggers, raise it.
5. Click Apply & Save, then repeat the light / normal / hard test on the saved pad.
6. Tune one pad at a time, and record the final values you settle on.

6. Restore, Disconnect, and Troubleshooting

Restore

• Restore This Pad reverts only the currently selected pad.
• Restore All Pads to Factory reverts all 10 pads and asks for confirmation.
• After a restore, click Refresh to make sure the UI matches the device state.

Note: Restore All Pads to Factory overwrites every pad's custom settings. If you only need to fix a single pad, use Restore This Pad.

Safe disconnect

1. Confirm no Apply & Save or Refresh is in progress.
2. Click Disconnect in the top right.
3. Wait until the top bar returns to Not Connected, then quit the app or power off the device.

Troubleshooting cheat sheet

• Connected to the wrong device: click Disconnect, rescan, and pick Fingersonic_Beats manually.
• No parameters after connecting: click Refresh; if it still fails, disconnect, restart the device, and reconnect.
• Apply & Save is greyed out: complete the Bluetooth connection first and confirm the top bar shows the device name.
• Feel unchanged after saving: verify the correct pad is selected, that save succeeded, and re-test by striking the pad.
• Live Velocity shows nothing: confirm the connection and check that the pad is sending BLE-MIDI Note On.
• App has no Bluetooth permission: grant it in System Settings and relaunch the app.

Daily Workflow

Connect → Refresh → select pad → strike and observe Velocity → tune in small steps → Apply & Save → re-strike to verify → Disconnect.

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If macOS Blocks the App ("Unknown Developer")

This applies to Option A only (the .app bundle). Because it is not signed through the Apple App Store, the first launch may show a Gatekeeper warning. Open it with any of the methods below. The RAR package (Option B) is launched by a script and does not need this step.

Option 1 — System Settings (recommended, macOS 13 Ventura and later)

1. Double-click the downloaded zip to extract Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager.app.
2. Move it to Applications.
3. In Finder, right-click (or Control-click) the app and choose Open.
4. In the warning dialog, click Open to confirm.
5. If you prefer the GUI path: System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the Security section, and click Open Anyway next to the message about the blocked app. (See the screenshot Eldon sent — set Allow applications from to App Store & Known Developers, or temporarily to Anywhere on older macOS.)

Option 2 — Right-click → Open (every macOS version)

In Finder, right-click the app → Open → confirm Open in the dialog. macOS remembers this choice and will not ask again.

Option 3 — Terminal (advanced)

Run once after moving the app to /Applications:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Fingersonic Beats Trigger Manager.app"

Then double-click to launch.

Option 4 — Spctl (older macOS)

On macOS Mojave / Catalina / Big Sur, you can also allow the app via System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General → Open Anyway, or temporarily disable Gatekeeper assessment:

sudo spctl --master-disable

Re-enable later with sudo spctl --master-enable.

Tip: once the app is opened successfully the first time, macOS keeps the approval and it will launch normally from then on.

Compatibility Notes

• Option A (.app): Apple Silicon recommended; Intel Macs may also work but are not officially supported.
• Option B (RAR): Windows 10/11, macOS 10.15+, or any platform with Node.js 18+ and Chrome / Edge.
• Both packages use the same BLE-MIDI protocol and parameter range: Trigger Force 50–200% (factory 100%), Retrigger Guard 5–200 ms (factory 25 ms).

Need Help?

Reply to this post or contact us at support@fingersonic.net .