Setting up BCR000 - to dump or not?

[kately]

Live's manual warns not to dump without confirming the BCR2000 can receive a dump....but I cannot find this info in the b-control manual. Anyone know?

I am borderline retarded and this is my first midi controller. Thanks very much.

[solger]

Live's manual warns not to dump without confirming the BCR2000 can receive a dump....but I cannot find this info in the b-control manual. Anyone know?

I am borderline retarded and this is my first midi controller. Thanks very much.

Hi,

you have two options:

1) Make the BCR ready for a dump: Press "EDIT" + ">" (Preset right arrow)
The display should now show a constantly spinning circle -> the BCR is ready for receiving.
It might be that you have to switch the BCR off and on again after the dump is completed.

2) you can also use the factory preset "Only Controllers" and start from there, if you want: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=176118

[kately]

Hi, you are awesome. Thank you so much!

[kately]

hi solger,

sorry to bug you, do you know of any posts addressing basic 101 setup of presets btwn ableton and bcr? i'm waiting for the bcr yahoo group to accept me as a member and right now everything i have found is a bit too specific and complex.

my basic auto-mapping works but i want to create my own presets. i can easily assign midi remote control and create temp mapping in a project that way (or save it as a template) with the BCR as my controller. But this is only to avoid not being able to save this to the BCR itself in learn mode.

compared to ableton's manual, the manual is very challenging to comprehend


thanks if you know anything,

[solger]

hi solger,

sorry to bug you, do you know of any posts addressing basic 101 setup of presets btwn ableton and bcr? i'm waiting for the bcr yahoo group to accept me as a member and right now everything i have found is a bit too specific and complex.

my basic auto-mapping works but i want to create my own presets. i can easily assign midi remote control and create temp mapping in a project that way (or save it as a template) with the BCR as my controller. But this is only to avoid not being able to save this to the BCR itself in learn mode.

compared to ableton's manual, the manual is very challenging to comprehend
thanks if you know anything,

Hi again,

what exactly do you want to MIDI-map? Functions in Ableton Live or Instruments/external VST (instruments).

So far what I can tell you, is:

1) Using auto-mapping, the top row of encoders on the BCR is automatically mapped to certain functions of, for instance, a instrument from the Ableton Live Devices. As you can see here (starting at about 1:18): http://www.ableton.com/de/articles/gett ... controller

2) If you want to midi-map the buttons, knobs and faders, etc... of Live yourself, you can do it like you already wrote:

(a) Save it as a template: Go to Preferences -> File Folder -> Save Current Set as Default.
Now this template is always loaded when starting Live or when opening a 'New Live Set'.

(b) Or you could also save it as a Live Set, if you want to have more than one or different midi-mapping(s). (Because in (a) you can only save/overwrite one template)


3) If you use external/3rd party VSTs, you might be able to make a midi-mapping with the BCR and the VST itself (and save this as a preset to the BCR), which should be remembered the next time you load the VST into Ableton Live.

4) Something which might be more complex, is a 'user remote script', like in these (older) threads:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... script+bcr
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=68596

I for myself normally use a (custom) default template set and (next to auto-mapping) I temporarily midi-map additional things in the project if I need to. For me this was the faster approach so far and that's why I didn't spend time (yet) to do something like point 3 or 4.

Hope I could give you some useful hints.

[kately]

Great! This makes a lot of sense and is super helpful.

There are two things I want to do and I guess I just want to make sure I'm not doing them insanely....

First just a basic template with up to 32 tracks (mapping knobs to volume, send, pan, solo)
Would you map tracks 1-8 to BCR's "P-1" and then 9-16 to BCR's "P-2" and so on, copying the layout? All the BCR presets really just represent crazy numbers which I assume are channels for data to pass...

Second, I use EQ a ton. If I want to map every parameter of 8 EQ, would you recommend I stray from the push encoders and encoder groups and just create a preset that lets me use the 24 rotary controllers? If I want everything laid out in the open? More importantly is it possible for Ableton to basically apply these controls to EQ on any track...treating "8 EQ" almost how it would an instrument? "Locking" doesn't seem to achieve this....

I also want to map to Drum Rack but particularly so it will function when I do "Slice to Midi" b/c that is how I usually open open a rack (that may be wrong!)

I'll ask around other forums too ....but thanks a ton! This stuff is very intimidating and you've made it make sense!

k

[solger]

Great! This makes a lot of sense and is super helpful.

There are two things I want to do and I guess I just want to make sure I'm not doing them insanely....

First just a basic template with up to 32 tracks (mapping knobs to volume, send, pan, solo)
Would you map tracks 1-8 to BCR's "P-1" and then 9-16 to BCR's "P-2" and so on, copying the layout? All the BCR presets really just represent crazy numbers which I assume are channels for data to pass...

I guess you already found the software editor for the BCR: http://home.kpn.nl/f2hmjvandenberg281/bcman.html

If you want to do it the straightforward way, you could make it like this:

1)Take a preset "P-1" (which has buttons, encoders, etc mapped to CC-values for instance) and copy it to "P-2"

2) For "P-2" change the Midi-Channel for all the buttons, encoders, etc.. to another number


3) So let's say now you have:
- Midi-Channel 1 for all buttons and encoders of "P-1" and
- Midi-Chanel 2 for all buttons and encoders of "P-2"
and you can midi-map for instance the bottom encoder row of
- "P-1" to the volume faders of Track 1 -8
- "P-2" to the volume faders of Track 9 - 16

Example - how it shows up in the Midi-Mapping windows of Live:
- volume fader of track 1: 1/98 -> Channel 1/CC Value 98 (P-1)
- volume fader of track 9: 2/98 -> Channel 2/CC Value 98 (P-2)


4) Let's say you have a template where you have 32 tracks and "statically" mapped everything.
The problem now is that you have to keep every one of these tracks, because

a) if you move a track, the midi-mapping is "glued" to this track (If encoder 1 changes volume on track 1 and you switch the position of track 1 and 2, encoder 1 now changes volume on track 2.)
b) if you delete for instance track 2, the midi mapping is gone and the encoders, etc... on the BCR for this track are not automatically remapped.
c) if you add a new track, you have to midi map this track manually.


Maybe a user remote script might be more useful in such a situation, but again, I haven't tried it yet. Mainly because for most of these things I use the BCF2000 (the unit with the faders) in Mackie Mode and the Launchpad (next to the BCR).

You might find something useful here too: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... script+bcr

[solger]

I also want to map to Drum Rack but particularly so it will function when I do "Slice to Midi" b/c that is how I usually open open a rack (that may be wrong!)

This shold be possible if you map the buttons on the BCR to the note values you see in the drum rack - starting from C1 to D#2 (these are the first 16 slots/slices in the drum-rack when using slice to midi):

Type: Note
Values: 36 - 51 (this is for range C1 to D#2: http://tonalsoft.com/pub/news/pitch-bend.aspx)

So here's an example,if you change it directly on the unit:
1) Press "EDIT" + a button you want to edit
2) 1st encoder in top row: TYPE -> note
3) 2nd encoder in top row: it should make no difference which midi channel is used
4) 3rd encoder in top row: the values (for instance value 36 -> C1)
5) 6th encoder in top row: MODE: toggle off/on - depends if you want to start/stop a sample when pressing the button (toggle on) or the sample only plays while holding the button (toogle off)
6) Press "STORE" twice to save the changes to the preset.
7) Don't forget to enable "TRACK" in Midi-Preferences for the Input of the BCR2000, so it can trigger the slices in the drum rack (of the armed track).

Second, I use EQ a ton. If I want to map every parameter of 8 EQ, would you recommend I stray from the push encoders and encoder groups and just create a preset that lets me use the 24 rotary controllers? If I want everything laid out in the open? More importantly is it possible for Ableton to basically apply these controls to EQ on any track...treating "8 EQ" almost how it would an instrument? "Locking" doesn't seem to achieve this....

As far as I can remember, there is nothing like a "focus" for the recent selected track EQ (maybe it' possible with a user remote script??).
But I have to check, if I find anthing else about this ...

[kately]

awesome! super helpful. there's a very easy to understand article here on remote scripts too.

http://www.anthonyarroyodotcom.com/thea ... r-scripts/

[solger]

awesome! super helpful. there's a very easy to understand article here on remote scripts too.

http://www.anthonyarroyodotcom.com/thea ... r-scripts/

Thanks. If I have some time on the weekend, I might try to play around a little bit with a simple user remote script.

Here's another one, which looks good, if you haven't already come across it:
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/07/a ... s-control/