1.Name of the product and current version
Alternate Mode TrapKAT 3.1
2.When you bought the product
April 2007
3.Why you bought it
It's the best MIDI percussion controller on the market
4. Cost?
$2291 (which was nearer £1000 then than it is today
) -- including double kick pedals, hi-hat pedal, rack stand, t-shirt! and shipping from the US to the UK
5.Set up and/or installation: Simple/ complicated?
Simple: MIDI in and out; control pedals; hihat and kick triggers; power supply.
Not as simple: rack frame -- but that could just be me...
Downright tricky but fun: writing the editor software
6.What do you like about the product?
Sensitivity, configurability, stability, size.
7.What don’t you like about it?
I'd have liked more interesting pad colour options...
8.Any improvements you would like to suggest for the product?
Um, not really. And 4.0 is being released shortly with even more MIDI stuff you can do!
9.How does it compare to similar products out there?
There's very little directly comparable: it's not a Mandala, it's not like a "standard" e-drum kit, it's (obviously) not like the other Alternate Mode products. It's a controller - so no on-board sounds.
10.Would you buy it again?
Definitely. There's a new light-weight version out soon, too which might cut the transport fee and make it more attractive to those who gig.
11.Pros and cons summary
Pros: unique format for a force-sensing resistor (rather than piezo) based percussion controller; 24 trigger surfaces plus kick trigger input (kick triggers can be stacked to allow double kick) and hihat controller (with interpolated chick and splash triggering); vast range of pad configurations (up to six notes per pad with editing software)
Cons: current version is a little heavy - but still a lot easier to transport than a drum kit.