Mackie control for both BCR2000 and BCF2000

[adam_harzuf]

This post was originaly sent to Namihei, but I thought what the heck, maybe someone else can help as well.

First of all, this one is for Nuendo/Cubase, not Live. I know that there are some experienced people with the BCR2000 in here, so pardon for the "intrusion", Ableton

I got the BCF2000 already in Mackie Control mode in Nuendo, so all main controls are there.
In the BCF2000 (while in Mackie Control mode for Cubase that comes naturaly with the BCF), you can go to "Instrument" control mode (like you go to EQ or Send modes), and then you use the 8 encoders to change the values of the instrument's controls - of coarse there's more then 8 controls for most VST instrument, but then you can press the "page up" and "page down" controls to navigate.

What I want to do to my BCR2000 is to make it "spread" all of these pages so I don't have to navigate through these pages with the BCF, and so the BCR2000 becomes a VST instrument controller only.

I know I can also use the "Generic Remote" protocol in Nuendo, but it meens that I have to change presets in my BCR2000 in order to get to the instrument I want to control.

I am also aware that there's a mackie control emulations for the BCR2000 over the net, but it doesn't fit my needs, as you can see, they are very particular.

I would appreciate your instructions, if you think what I want is possible.
Thank you very much
Adam

[Tone Deft]

First of all, this one is for Nuendo/Cubase, not Live.

First you have to tell us all the ways Ableton is better than a Nuendo or a Cubase (whatever those are.)

<throws up Ableton gang sign>

[Landser]

@adam_harzuf

This is not possible, because the MackieControl-protocol only sends eight plugin parameters per bank. No chance to get more than eight plugin parameters transferred to the controller.
A support of Mackies C4 would be necessary for that.

I think the maximum that is possible at the moment, is to combine the MackieControl-functionality with Live's automap-functionality into one BCR-preset. Therefore i've changed Namihei's BCR MCU-Emu layout for a more ergonomic workflow and combined it with Live's automap.

1st (bottom) encoder row: track VOL
2nd row (counted from bottom up): PAN
3rd row: Live's automap - the parameters of the plugin you click in Live, are transferred to the BCR and available on the 3rd row - switching through the parameters via reprogrammed STORE and LEARN buttons which are right beside the 3rd row
4th (top) row, the BCR push-encoders: pushing the encoder SELECTS TRACK, SOLO or MUTES the appropriate track, depending on the functionality that is chosen via the encoder-group buttons (below the numerical display).

No jumping faders, all encoders on the BCR are updated correctly.

PLAY and STOP are put on the lowest two buttons for maximum ergonomic workflow and the MCU-8track-bank-select is right above them, making it easy to switch through the tracks.

It's very sad that Live doesn't allow the user to define the sequence of the plugin parameters mapped to the hardware controller.

PM me if you are interested in the preset.

[adam_harzuf]

First of all, this one is for Nuendo/Cubase, not Live.

First you have to tell us all the ways Ableton is better than a Nuendo or a Cubase (whatever those are.)

For my music I much prefer Ableton. When it comes to mixing other people's stuff, you have to go with an industry standart

[adam_harzuf]

I'm not a very experienced mixer, but I did make a complemetary General Midi setting for the BCR2000, considering you have a BCF2000 in Mackie mode emulation. I think it's will be very convenient. It shure hell beats controlling Pro Tools from Yamaha DM1000 in my school
Heck, It's almost as convenient as a good digital console, But probably like what, 50 times cheaper?

I made 3 presets on the BCR2000. For each preset, BCR2000 was programmed so that all controlls are following CC numbers from 1-108 with the same midi channel. That meens that preset 1 on the BCR2000 is channel one, preset 2 is channel two.

Then I went to Nuendo and programmed 3 General midi for the BCR2000:

1.All levels
Since I don't usually get a production of more then 32 channels, I programed only the 4 visibal encoder rows to show levels. This saves paging between the 8 channel groups on the BCF2000 or showing nuendo's mixer if you want to see a clean shot of all the levels.

2.selected channel
I noticed that the thing that was short with the BCF's display more then anything in an easy way was to see which of the selected channel's inserts are active, you I don't have to go to the inspector, and "edit" button for each so it can be easily accessed and then "go away" with no mouse hassle.

The 8 top encoder's buttons are insert edits
The top row of 8 buttons are insert on/off
the bottom row of 8 buttons are send on/off

another thing I was missing is EQ easiliy visible.
so the 4 buttons on the bottom left of the BCR2000 are on/offs for the frequency bands.
most right 4 encoder column is gain.
the next to the left is freq.
the next to the left is Q.

another 2 columns to the left there are volume and panning (what the heck, lots of encoders)

and in the most left colums had read / write. not really important, but again, what the heck.

I noticed something great about this mode to the eq - it has more resolution the BCF2000's encoders (which are in mackie mode as opposed to regular control), and also it displays the CC value from 0-127. It makes it easier to know where you are (for example 900Hz = 45CC value on display)

3.All pannings
The same as preset one but for panning

[adam_harzuf]

If there was a way to make the BCR2000's encoders control CC numbers of the selected midi channel, that would be perfect. I don't think it can be done, though, I tried all things on "selected" channel category... Maybe I missed something???

I don't see why Cubase doesn't support Mackie's C4

We're leaving in 2007, this stuff should have been really easy by now

[Tone Deft]

this is a post where I ranted how my BCR is set up for Live, also references to the SL25.
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 403#430403
I did the exact same thing you did, preset x= channel x, for cc0-whatever. Then I combined elements of presests I made.

It's tough to pin down specific questions you're asking, deep topic, so many damn knobs.

You touched on one thing, they're cheap, buy two and have 16 tracks in front of you.

[adam_harzuf]

It sure was a bugger to program channel X= preset X on the BCR for 16 channels, those idiots should have make this an available download

Lucky me, I dealt with it about half a year ago, so now I'm into how I can make the most out of it.

The workflow in Nuendo is killer that way. I sure had a hard time with the midi mapping of Live, because it "latches" to anything you assign it to. You have to deal with importing presets and all of that crap anytime you're working on something new. If you change the order of the tracks, the channel doesn't automaticly change, and that's a b1tch. Not very organized. If Ableton wants to make Live a sesious sequencer for a sound engineer, they really have to take care of these things and make them better then any of the competitor's.

You touched on one thing, they're cheap, buy two and have 16 tracks in front of you

With the BCF2000, there's not need for that, as they blend really well in the way I programmed it. Making it work with Live that way is impossible.
Too bad, because Live is really my favourite software, I love it.