Very disappointing
- Rating
- Posted by
- Walter
- Date Posted
- 01/19/2025
Supposedly, you can just plug this thing in to a USB port on a computer and it will work. Nope. It didn't do anything on a Windows desktop, so I bought a MacBook Pro (another $1,500) outlay, and it didn't work either. Then I download a copy of Mainstage for another $20 or so. Then I got online advice to plug the mallet station int using an Apple-specific USB A-C adapter. STILL no joy. Then I downloaded a software update from Pearl. After hammering on keys enough, I managed to get MainStage updated to the point where it recognized the mallet station (I'm a Windows expert and find iOS completely opaque) and I could ask MainStage to make sounds like a xylophone. It kind of worked through the built-in speakers, but it's awfully soft even with all volume controls set the max. MainStage won't play through an external amp plugged in to the MacBooks' headphone plug. Oh, and the latency is so bad that I can't play faster than 120. At the end the end of the day, I still don't have an instrument that I could take to a gig in place of a real xylophone or glockenspiel. It's not exactly a rip-off, but it's certainly not what I was hoping for.







