TriplePlay Support Materials

You need to push the button on the receiver, and the small button on the controller. The LED light on the controller is also a button (some people miss this). You need to press this button until the light flashes more quickly (it may require a firm push, especially on the initial attempt after installation), and also press the button on the receiver. When paired, the receiver light stays solidly on, and the controller light flashes more slowly. If this does not work, quit the TriplePlay standalone app, unplug the receiver and turn off the controller. Relaunch the TriplePlay app, plug the receiver back in, turn on the controller, and repeat the pairing process.

TriplePlay is not suggested for acoustic guitar. One reason for this is that the pickup requires the strings to be ferrous (made of magnetically sensitive material) and traditional bronze-wound guitar strings are not, apart from their cores. However, while TriplePlay is not officially supported for acoustic guitars, some users have reported usable results pairing the pickup with acoustic guitars outfitted with magnetically-active acoustic guitar strings, such as GHS White Bronze or DR Zebras.

TriplePlay will comfortably transmit distances of 40-100 feet, depending on obstacles and RF interference on the 2.4G Hz band (e.g. microwaves, wi-fi).

The TriplePlay controller and pickup mount with brackets adhered to the face of your guitar, your pickguard, or the endpin using a gentle adhesive. The brackets require no permanent modification to the instrument. The controller is held to the bracket with magnets, while the pickup is held to its bracket by a slide-in mechanical connection. You can slide the pickup off its mount and remove the controller from its magnetic holder in a matter of seconds.

The ability to play virtual instruments on your physical instrument (your guitar) is the heart of the entire TriplePlay experience. Virtual instruments are essentially software-based representations of actual instruments or groups of instruments (such as pianos, basses, horn sections, orchestras, etc.), or of synthesizers that allow you to create and experiment with endless arrays of sounds. While TriplePlay contains partner software from Native Instruments and SampleTank that offer a wealth of sounds, we certainly encourage you to find new favorites for yourself that can then be utilized by your TriplePlay system. The most common form of virtual instrument exists as a plugin in a “VST” format, a standard created by Steinberg in the mid 90’s. Once you have amassed a collection of these VST plugins, you can scan for them from within TriplePlay, and they will then be available for you to begin using. There is no shortage of both paid and free VST plug-ins available. Here are a couple of good resources for learning more about the world of VSTs:
http://www.kvraudio.com/plugin-ranks.php
http://www.vstplanet.com/Instruments/VST_Synthesizers.htm

If you are using the 64-bit version of TriplePlay, patches that incorporated SampleTank will not be available, as SampleTank is currently 32-bit only.

Yes. You can choose to launch TriplePlay in either 32 or 64-bit mode. On Windows, just launch whichever version you prefer. On Mac, right-click on the app, choose “Get Info”, and check/uncheck the box for “Open in 32 Bit Mode”.

When TriplePlay is used within a DAW, latency is determined by the buffer settings within that particular application, not from within TriplePlay preferences. If you are using TriplePlay for the first time within your DAW, the latency value may be set quite high by default. Simply adjust this value within your DAW’s preferences until TriplePlay tracks to your satisfaction.

Mounting brackets and parts are currently available. They can be purchased here:
http://www.fishmanstore.com/product.htm?pid=735726

The USB receiver is available from our parts and accessory website for $69.95 + shipping, via the following link:
http://www.fishmanstore.com/product.htm?pid=735728

Yes, you can still use TriplePlay as you normally would while the controller is charging. An AC power supply is included with the unit in order to charge it without a computer. Yes, the controller could be sent to Fishman to have the battery replaced for a nominal charge, if necessary. However, if you keep the guitar from conditions of extreme heat and cold, the battery should last indefinitely.

Any remaining adhesive on the face of your guitar can be removed with a damp cotton cloth. Do not use paper towels, as paper fibers can put fine scratches in your finish. Finish by polishing the area with a traditional guitar polish and polishing cloth.

TriplePlay uses 2 MIDI input ports. When only one is available, the app displays the message “Receiver in use”.

Yes, simply plug the receiver into a USB port while holding down its button. Launch the TriplePlay standalone application, click ‘Options’ in the menu bar, and then click ‘About TriplePlay’ while holding the Control key on your keyboard. The receiver version should read at this point as “1.04”. Click ‘Force FW Update’ to restore the receiver to the newest available version of the firmware.

If the audio device settings within your TriplePlay preferences are set with the input source as internal microphone, this may create an audible feedback loop when selecting patches that incorporate Guitar Rig. See “Tutorial #2: Adding Traditional Guitar Audio” for detailed instructions.

The TriplePlay software cannot be unregistered once the initial registration is complete. If you have purchased a used version of TriplePlay and would like a new code to refresh your product, you can purchase a new registration code here:
http://www.fishmanstore.com/product.htm?pid=740404

You may have accidentally transposed numbers for letters or letters for numbers. This is the most common reason for code failures. The code card should follow the layout: XX#X-X#XX-XX#X – where X is an Alpha character and # is a numeric character. It is common to transpose “1” (one) and the letter “I”, or “0” (zero) and the letter “O”. The second most common issue is that the code has been previously used. This can only happen if the scratch off code had been removed from the card before you received it. If you scratched off the code yourself, then this would not be possible.

You can use TriplePlay hardware without registering our partner software. The partner software gives you lots of built in sounds and options, but the controller can be plugged into any computer and used with any software that allows MIDI input. If you have a favorite Digital Audio Workstation, just plug in TriplePlay and use it to control any of your virtual instruments. If you’re impressed with the tracking and the response, our full installation of software will only make the product even better! The string sensitivity and other hardware-only settings can only be done by installing our TriplePlay application, which doesn’t require a registration code. Download TriplePlay and set your sensitivities before using it with your DAW by logging in at /support/tripleplay-updates/

There is no limit to the number of installations of our TriplePlay software that you can perform. Our partner plug-in packages (provided with your software) can be installed on more than one computer, but installations may not be unlimited. You should defer to the information provided with their products for their specific rules of fair use and multiple installations.

We are continuously working on TriplePlay’s software and firmware to ensure that they provide the best user experience possible. The software will automatically notify you if updates are available to be downloaded. Currently, there are no plans for such a product. There are simply too many types of guitars for us to come up with a permanent internal installation that would fit across such a wide spectrum of instruments. We are developing internal TriplePlay systems that will be instituted by several partners (Fender, Godin, etc.) on a factory model with built-in TriplePlay, but this is the only option on the horizon. However, we did have a customer email us a picture of a guitar that they built around the retail TriplePlay unit which was quite amazing. So, a clever person with some technical aptitude could certainly try and make our external product into an internal one.

We hope to eventually develop TriplePlay for a wide range of instruments, but we don’t have any immediate plans for TriplePlay for bass or any instrument other than guitar at this time.

Our product does not technically support left-handed users in this initial version, although it can still generally be installed, depending upon the physical layout of the guitar. Some of the design features (how the cable runs from the pickup, etc.) are less convenient in this orientation, and the encoder’s functionality will be reversed. But other than that, the product will work as expected.

The TriplePlay pickup will not respond properly if placed anywhere other than adjacent to the bridge. The closer it is to the bridge, the better its performance will be.

The distance between the pole pieces on the TriplePlay pickup and the bottoms of the strings should be 1 mm. We have included a tool in the TriplePlay’s box to aid in this setting. Check out the installation guide for the hardware here:

The broadcast bands for wireless use on the North American model are different than those of the EU model. This may mean that these bandwidths are occupied in countries other than North America. Your results may be fine using the US pickup in your region, or you may encounter problems – we have no way of knowing for sure. European models have broadcast bands specified for use in the EU and are the only version of the product suggested for use in that region.

The TriplePlay system relies on the processing speed of your computer, so it will not be 13-pin compatible going forward. Our system frees you from the need for slow and clunky 13-pin outboard processors and dated sounds, allowing users to experience guitar MIDI with much more powerful DAWs, modern synths, samplers and sequencers.

Yes. You can use string splits to create alternate tunings by creating multiple synths, each with its own transposition up or down, as the case may be. These could then be saved as user patches.

You can use any MIDI foot controller from another manufacturer in conjunction with your computer to control TriplePlay.

Our software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.8 and higher, or Windows 7 and higher. Our software has sounds and other features that maximize TriplePlay’s functionality on your computer. That being said, TriplePlay hardware is also a basic MIDI controller that is compatible with virtually any hardware. You could plug into a computer running Windows XP, or an iPad (using the video to iPad USB connector) and it will show up as a simple MIDI input device with any software that accepts MIDI.

TriplePlay by itself is not notation software, but it integrates with Notion’s Progression software for notation, which is shipped with TriplePlay as a fully functional version.

Progression does not let you play back through TriplePlay or other virtual instruments directly; however, you can export your score from Progression as a MIDI file and, using a Digital Audio Workstation, play your converted score through any virtual instrument compatible with the DAW.

Your DAW needs to be stopped from opening the control port via the following procedure. In Ableton Live, go to: Options -> Preferences… -> MIDI Sync Turn off all items for ‘Input Fishman TriplePlay (Port 2)’.

Digital Performer is becoming confused as it scans for VSTs and sees the new version of TriplePlay. You will need to uninstall TriplePlay, launch Digital Performer and rescan VSTs, then reinstall the latest version of TriplePlay and scan in DP once again. Before uninstalling TriplePlay, be sure to export any user patches you may have created so that they are not deleted during the uninstall process.

Your DAW needs to be stopped from opening the control port via the following procedure. In Cubase, go to: Devices -> Device Setup -> MIDI -> MIDI port setup Uncheck all boxes by MIDIIN2 and MIDIOUT2.

Our factory patches are only available with full installations of our versions of Native Instruments and SampleTank. If you already have sounds you prefer, you may not be interested in our patches. However, there is no issue installing our versions of the partner software along with the packages you may already have. So if you have the time and the disk space, there is no harm in installing both, and you might get some new patches you really enjoy.

1) Reinstall the IK Multimedia sounds.
2) Click ‘yes’ if you are asked to reinstall with suggested settings.
3) Open IK’s SampleTank standalone application.
4) Locate the sounds folder (as detailed in the IK installation portion of our software guide) from within the standalone and then close it.
5) Reinstall TriplePlay.

For Native Instruments, launch the Service Center app, make sure you are registered, and click on the Updates tab. The updates are downloaded by Service Center but are not automatically installed. They are saved to your desktop, and need to be double-clicked to install. Once all the updates are installed, reinstall TriplePlay.

If Kontakt patches are taking literally minutes to load, you need to click the ‘Files’ tab within Kontakt, and “resave batch”. This is a known issue between Kontakt and various anti-virus software.

If you pick hard, are using light gauge strings, have fret issues with your guitar, and/or your string height (action) is very low, the vibrating string may contact an adjacent fret to the one you fretted, simply because the string is so close to this fret. This happens only during the very first cycle of the string’s vibration, since the amplitude of the pulse gets much smaller by the second cycle. Knowing this, try one or more of the following steps:
1.With a sound like piano (which would normally have no pitchbend), it is not necessary to play in Trigger mode: try setting your Pitchbend settings within TriplePlay Parameters to “Stepped”.
2. Experiment with heavier gauge strings.
3. Try raising the action of your strings or adjusting your neck angle. View “Tutorial 10: Adjusting Neck Angle” for detailed instructions.
4. Pick with a lighter attack or try a thinner pick.
5. Even if you play with a pick, try switching the Touch Sensitivity within TriplePlay Parameters to Fingerstyle mode – this setting skips recognition in the first cycle.

One way would be to use the TriplePlay plug-in from within your VST instrument, and then load your sounds into the TriplePlay host. The other way would be in the Basic MIDI mode, after booting the device into hardware-only functionality. Download the newest version of the user guide from fishman.com/tripleplay/help and look over the ‘boot into hardware mode’ part of the hardware portion of the guide.