I just got my paws on a Behringer BCR2000 and am totally stoked but also a little lost. I searched the forums and seems like there was a lot of excitement over the Behringer BCR2000 and especially the BCF2000 when it first came out and i wonder if a lot of folks are still using these. I am trying to make sense of this thing.

1. Program the BCR2000 itself, setting up all your knobs that you want to use with controller numbers and channel assignments.

2. To do this you can use an application, but it seems like maybe (?) there is a multi-step maneuver you can do (for each knob) without any computer connected to set the BCR2000 up in a kind of stand alone mode.

3. On a PC there are a number of really nice editors that all work great and make you coffee too, including bcfredit by birdie, which seems highly regarded.

4. If you are on OS X you are basically screwed since Behringer have not updated the Mac software in ages and it requires a version of Java from the early 1970s and even if you installed that the Editor for Mac is a nightmare to use. So what do mac folks do? Borrow a PC? Or set it up w/o software?

So I am guessing that you program the BCR2000 and get all your knobs set to their controller# and channel and save that on the unit itself as a preset(./?)

Then you have to configure your patch so that all your knobs are going to the right place, which should be cake since you can arbitrarily assign anything to anyplace that in your patch.

So.... any advice on how i can get one good all-purpose set up to use all the knobs and buttons available and allows me to easily figure out the controller numbers to map in Max?

I figure i can just make one standard set up with all the knobs and buttons assigned and sheet or patch that tells me which knob is what number for ctlin, etc. and then maybe label the unit and my patch..

Anyone else using this for max and have a patch they are willing to share?

What do you need to do to get the 14 bit mode working on the rotaries? I hear they are all capable of 14 res?

How do folks use those knobs on the top row that also act as buttons? Do the buttons also have a different # for ctlin/ctlout?

Anyway, folks using the BCR2000 who have any tips or tricks to share please chime in. I have to say i am super stoked to have one, but slightly overwhelmed by the learning curve after using the 1600x which seems so simple to set up in comparison.

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So I am guessing that you program the BCR2000 and get all your knobs set to their controller# and channel and save that on the unit itself as a preset(./?)

behringer-bcr2000-wmaxmsp

CNMAT is providing a handy BCF2000 wrapper, it shouldnt be difficult to adapt it to the bcr2000. it will get you started, if you hadnt checked it already.

kevin parks wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 08:55

kevin parks wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 08:55I just got my paws on a Behringer BCR2000 and am totally stoked but also a little lost. I searched the forums and seems like there was a lot of excitement over the Behringer BCR2000 and especially the BCF2000 when it first came out and i wonder if a lot of folks are still using these. I am trying to make sense of this thing.

(karrrlo) wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 01:58

I hadn't I was looking at jasch_objects_0_5.dmg

What is the CNMAT thing used for and why would one use that and not jasch's thing?

(karrrlo) wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 01:58CNMAT is providing a handy BCF2000 wrapper, it shouldnt be difficult to adapt it to the bcr2000. it will get you started, if you hadnt checked it already.

What is the CNMAT thing used for and why would one use that and not jasch's thing?


FWIW, the windows editors work well on my Mac using XP in VMWare Fusion.

I am trying to avoid that. I don't have XP on my machine. Still good to know if i find someone who is dual booting.

bdc wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 08:06FWIW, the windows editors work well on my Mac using XP in VMWare Fusion.  

I am trying to avoid that. I don't have XP on my machine. Still good to know if i find someone who is dual booting.


I figured out how to set at least some of the BCR2000 by hitting edit and wiggling a knob and then setting that rotary up with top row and then exiting and hitting store(2x) to save it. I don't quite get how to set up the push buttons and the push encoders (rotary knobs with push buttons on them)... but i am getting there by trying to decipher the manual and googling around.

I just started numbering the rotary knobs from the bottom

I just started hacking a patch .... so i dunno if this is a good way to go or not... anyway i have the bottom three rows doing 0-127 on midi channel 1 and i can wiggle the sucka from my max patch and i can move the knobs in my max patch with the BCR2000.

I was able to do this with midiin-->midiparse and also w/ ctlin/ctlout.

Which one should i use and why? does ctlin give you some more options?

Also.. i don't quite get that js CNMAT patch and how i would use or edit that for the BCR2000. It sort of seems to work.. tho i am not sure what (or how) it is doing it and it also seems to have a weird naming scheme were it give rotary's as row and #?

Looks like a great patch, but really cryptic and i the HTML docs that are linked to it are missing.

Why OSC instead of MIDI or ctlin? Is it merely for interapplication tomfollery or is there some other reason to use OSC and javascript (both of which i know absolutely noting about).

i'll post my dumb patch if anyone cares to see where it is headed.

ps. i just copied the top part of the CNMAT patch for my layout and put knobs where the faders were and started cabling it up to midi in.

I just started numbering the rotary knobs from the bottom
17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24
09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16
01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08

Which one should i use and why? does ctlin give you some more options? 

ps. i just copied the top part of the CNMAT patch for my layout and put knobs where the faders were and started cabling it up to midi in.


Incidenetally I found a little piece of magic by someone named Nesa... I mostly get what this does (how handy) but i am confused about 2 of the parameters. I don't know enc/btn number & cc par are for. I tested it out and it works, it changes the bcr2000 settings but it seems to change it in unexpected ways for me. I send it some info and suddenly 2 knobs are changed. I think that this patch maybe assumes a certain order? In the BCR2000 itself you assign the knob using the third rotary on top labeled "PAR". I am pretty sure that one of those 2 enc/btn number or cc par is for setting that assignment, but i dont know which... and if it is one of those then what is the other for? Otherwise it mostly seems self explanatory.

Being able to set the BCR2000 from within Max would be huge and save a lot of knob twiddlydee.

okay sooo... i spent the whole day programming this wrong it seems. Well... wrong by convention.. which is maybe why Nesa's patch doesn't jive with my expectations... It seems that the controllers are numbered by convention with B (for Buttons) and E (for rotary knobs) and you see these numbers momentarily when you hit the edit button and twiddle... so it seems my made up convention (complete with tape and lables 'Doh') is backwards....

b_uttons (the 2 rows below the top row of knobz)

Rotarys (top row, these can do 14 bit it seems)

The encoder numbers are not so arbitrary it seems but the par assigments are i guess? anyway i still haven't figured out how to program the buttons and my 14-bit jibbies up top are not yet working.... but least i know i should prolly reverse everything in my patch to fit the conventions outlined above.

 of buttons.... plus it lights up like a tree.... wooo~ really smart design. Robust as toilet paper... but a really peachy keen box....

ps. (so guess that the nesa patch uses this set up and the enc numbers are what i have hear and the cc par is what you would set with the PAR button (rotary 3) in Edit mode?

buttons (on rotary knobs up top)
b_1 -- b_8 (encoder group 1)
b_9 -- b_16 (encoder group 2)
b_17 -- b_24 (encoder group 3)
b_25 -- b_32 (encoder group 4)

b_uttons (the 2 rows below the top row of knobz)
b_33 b_34 b_35 b_36 b_37 b_38 b_39 b_40
b_41 b_42 b_43 b_44 b_45 b_46 b_47 b_48

Q-tet of buttons on on bottom Right
b_49 b_50
b_51 b_52

E_1 -- E_8 (encoder group 1)
E_9 -- E_16 (encoder group 2)
E_17 -- E_24 (encoder group 3)
E_25 -- E_32 (encoder group 4)

Three rows of knobs below
E_33 E_34 E_35 E_36 E_37 E_38 E_39 E_40
E_41 E_42 E_43 E_44 E_45 E_46 E_47 E_48
E_49 E_50 E_51 E_52 E_53 E_54 E_55 E_56

plenty of knobs... and a cr@pload of buttons.... plus it lights up like a tree.... wooo~ really smart design. Robust as toilet paper... but a really peachy keen box.... 

ps. (so guess that the nesa patch uses this set up and the enc numbers are what i have hear and the cc par is what you would set with the PAR button (rotary 3) in Edit mode?


kevin parks wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 18:55

So what do mac folks do? Borrow a PC? Or set it up w/o software?

I edit on the hardware. It's pretty easy. You need to read the Behringer docs and experiment, but basic procedure is: hold "edit", move or press the control you want to edit. Top encoder row edits parameters as marked. Press edit again to exit.

They are, but you'll find them painfully slow as absolute knobs in 14-bit mode (A14).

I set mine up in relative 7-bit mode, WITH acceleration. This is utterly undocumented, but it can be done using just the hardware (no tricky sysex-file hex-editor hacking):

1 - Setup the encoder first using r114, r214, or r314 (relative 14-bit modes).

2 - Set the encoder range max (val2) to something higher than 127. I find around 200 works well. Higher = more acceleration.

3 - Set the encoder back to the equivalent rel1, rel2 or rel3 (relative 7-bit modes).

Voila! 7-bit relative mode WITH acceleration (faster turn = higher delta offset values). Don't touch that "max" value while in 7-bit mode or you'll lose the acceleration.

The push is separately assignable, as note, cc, whatever.

Note that the "encoder groups" buttons get you 4 completely separate switchable groups of relative press-encoders - you program each separately for each group. Useful because the lower 3 rows of encoders don't support push or relative modes.

Also note that the BCR likes to set its own LEDs from whatever the hardware is doing. This can't be disabled, which is annoying if you are sending feedback. Delaying your feedback 100ms or so helps.

kevin parks wrote on Thu, 09 July 2009 18:55So what do mac folks do? Borrow a PC? Or set it up w/o software?

Quote:What do you need to do to get the 14 bit mode working on the rotaries? I hear they are all capable of 14 res?

Quote:How do folks use those knobs on the top row that also act as buttons? Do the buttons also have a different # for ctlin/ctlout?

Also note that the BCR likes to set its own LEDs from whatever the hardware is doing. This can't be disabled, which is annoying if you are sending feedback. Delaying your feedback 100ms or so helps.


I didn't really read all of this thread , but here is how I use max w. the bcr 2000. And how one can take advantage of continuous inc_dec the BCR sends when having reached 127-0.

I actually never set up my BCF to anything. I just use a small midi-learn abstraction in my patches, that works quite simple and fast and doesn't depend on what kind of midi controller you're using.

I'm new to this place (first post - Hurray!), I took the libetry to take the first posted patch and made an whole editor of it, where one can edit the properties for all the knobs and buttons of a BCR2000.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45008417/BCR-Editor.zip

Hello to all,
I'm new to this place (first post - Hurray!), I took the libetry to take the first posted patch and made an whole editor of it, where one can edit the properties for all the knobs and buttons of a BCR2000.
Limitation: Only CC#s.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45008417/BCR-Editor.zip


Behringer BCR2000 w/Max/MSP