malletSTATION 3.0 Oct Adjustable Range Electronic Mallet Controller

The media could not be loaded. I LOVE the malletSTATION. I’m a huge user of MIDI keyboards for home, travel, and live performance. The malletSTATION has scratched an itch for me that I’ve had for a few years now: wanting to play mallet instruments as well as realistic mallet instrument input while working in a DAW such as Logic Pro or Ableton.From the software side, the downloadable app on macOS / Windows does exactly what you want it to do: manipulate the malletSTATION until your heart is content. It is extremely flexible with Tapspace’s Virtual Drumline 2.5, Spitfire Audio’s Ricotti Mallets, and ThumbJam for iOS. Integrating a sustain pedal takes some minor programming, and an expression pedal is plug and play. The USB Cable supplied with the unit is SUPER long and probably more than enough for home applications as well as live performance.The hardware is incredibly easy to use. There are just two things I have a qualms about:1) The sound of the pads was louder than I expected. It’s like a practice pad, but louder. Still definitely quiet compared to an acoustic counterpart. (See attached video.)2) Some keys responded to my playing better than others. I had to play a little bit harder on the higher end, but that feels very similar to playing the higher end of a marimba. It was weird, but it can be a learned characteristic of the instrument.Overall, I LOVE the malletSTATION. I think it’s a great alternative for acoustic instruments (especially in apartment living like me), and it’s a great tool for realistic MIDI input with third-party plugins. I definitely use mine every day.

I’ve never had a product work out of the box as fast as this. Zero configuration, I loaded up Cinesample’s vibes, and it worked. The pedal (not included) worked. On a real vibraphone, you can lightly rest the mallet head on a bar and that stops the sound. This controller does that. How? Magic, I assume. This thing is filled with magic.The star of the show is doing rolls. If you’re trying to input a realistic xylophone, marimba, or vibe part on a MIDI keyboard, you know how much of a pain it is to get those things right. With this, they just happen. It comes from the physicality of using real mallets.Want a good tympani? This does that, too.Timbales? You can play this with drum sticks, and it works!Conga? You can play this with your hands!!If you have the space and you’re doing any kind of music that may involve mallets, buy this. It is the star midi controller of my studio, and a blast to play.

I was very excited to purchase this. I used it on my recital. I used Logic Pro to play sounds. I also used the malletstation as a MIDI instrument to record in Logic Pro. I could not figure out how to all the buttons on the right side. It's definitely a learning curve figuring out everything this is supposed to do. A big negative is that the A note was randomly triggered and went off on its own during my recital. It was annoying, and people kept asking what that was referring to the random sound. I am still glad to have it. I just wish I didn't have to go through a lot of hassle of it not working correctly. I am very confused about how to rate it.

First order never arrived, “lost in the mail” (took some time just to sort out refund). Second order came in said time, unfortunately, at least 4 of the accidental keys were not reacting properly like the rest of the keys. One key in particular sounded at a lower volume when struck.

So the malletstation is a great product. Works fine as a midi controller. What I hate is that I can't find anything on Windows or Android devices that work with this well. I can only find Apple OS products from Pearl's Youtube page. So it's very disgruntling when I have to look for almost two hours to find something that will work decently with it without delay. This would be great if they would think of the people without Apple OS products.

The device doesn’t work, and has no customer support.

I like the usb power and the solid construction. Unfortunately the velocities of the individual keys are all over the place. Since I am triggering samples from a sampler I went with the MalletKat Express, as a controller. Expandable, portable and the new key coverings are a nice upgrade. About the same price for two octaves, additional octaves are about 500 per octave. I needed portability so a foot pedal to change octaves is not an issue. Nice companion editor, lots of options and internal memory. Unlike the Pearl, theKat is very dynamic, tons of expression options! The pads are nice! I didn't like the Pearl's hard and loud keys.