Bc2000 (for the BCF2000 & BCR2000)

Total n00b... I picked up a used BCR2000  and am trying to make sense of this thing.

my understanding is that you have to:

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 or there is a 107 step maneuver you can do (for each knob) without any computers right on the machine itself (true ?)

3. On a PC there are a number of really nice editors that all work great and make you coffee too.

3. If you are on OS X you are basically screwed since they have not update 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 you either have to get access to a PC or learn the sans-computron method (if that actually exists?)


So I am guessing that you program the BCR2000 and get all your knobs set to their controller# and channel....

Then you have to configure your software so that all your knobs are going to the right place. For me that part seems like it should be cake since i plan to use this with Max/MSP and i can arbitrarily assign anything to anyplace that i want.


So my problem is that this is used and as such seems to have all be programmed for the previous person's use and i have no idea what he was doing since all his presets use only a subset of the knobs and in various different odd configurations.

I would like to get a preset that uses all the knobs with a really logical layout like the knobs all numbered in a reasonable order.

I used SysEx Librarian to send bcr2000_1-10.syx to the unit via the USB cable and this went flawlessly but i was half hoping that this would reset the unit.... or that i could use SysEx Librarian to configure the unit...

Additionally I was hoping SysEx Librarian would be able to slurp down the existing presets and allow me to save them to my HD so that if i want them back for some reason i could get them back... But i guess that this is what the editor is really for and .... well since i am on a mac i am prolly screwed on that front.

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

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


-kp

--- In bc2000@yahoogroups.com, "kp712" <kp712@...> wrote:
> If you are on OS X you are basically screwed since they have not
> update 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 you either have to get access to a PC
> or learn the sans-computron method (if that actually exists?)

One thing you might try:
A few people have reported that they've managed to get BC Manager (a Windows program that I wrote) running on their Macs: under OS X (the "host" operating system) you run a "virtual machine" program, within which you run Windows (a "guest" operating system), and then within that Windows guest you run BC Manager (or any other Windows program, obviously).
I don't have a Mac myself, so maybe others in this group can help you further.

Mark.

Thanks... i might have to investigate that down the road even tho the idea of it alone gives me hives.

Meantime, 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
17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24
09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16
01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08

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.

Not sure how to set up the push encoders yet or the buttons but i have a start.

I could see how doing the editing on a computron would be a TON faster.

-kp--

--- In bc2000@yahoogroups.com, "kp712" <kp712@...> wrote:
> Thanks... i might have to investigate that down the road even tho the idea of it alone gives me hives.

Haha, better not go into the reasons for that...

But seriously: you have to weigh the horror of "befriending Bill Gates" (I admit it sounds gruesome) against the benefits - in this case of using BC Manager rather than having to program each and every button and encoder on the BCR manually.

Why don't you first try to learn the BCR2000's capabilities and set it up on a "real" Windows machine via BC Manager? Then when you're comfortable with things, connect the BCR to your Mac for the "production stage" - you might not have to tweak the BCR's settings very much any more at that stage, so that the lack of a nice BCR Mac editor isn't such a problem.

> 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

Just a tip: do yourself a favor and immediately use the standard numbers used by the BCR itself in preset dumps. See e.g. my "BC MIDI Implementation.pdf" (available from http://mntn-utils.110mb.com ), section 17.

> Not sure how to set up the push encoders yet or the buttons but i have a start.

Again: try the document mentioned above for many interesting (and even more uninteresting...) details on the BCR2000. You might also try Royce Craven's "SecretBC.pdf" (available via this Yahoo group's file section in the "Documentation" folder).

Mark.

Mark, I wish i had waited for a reply as you might guess i spent the whole evening programming this wrong it seems.  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....

This is how it is set up (?):

controller numbers

buttons (on rotary knobs)
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)

buttons (the 2 rows below)
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


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

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

The encoder numbers are not so arbitrary it seems but the par assigments are i guess...

doh!

thanks tho~

-kp

Thanks Royce. I may eventually try to hook this up to a PC if i can get access and set it up... tho i am having some partial success doing it from within max... tho perhaps i can't do the fancy stuff from within max/msp

anyway as you might see ... i learned the hard way the info you just posted... oh well.

What a crazy great box. Robust as a Yugo... but so mant knobs and buttons and it looks like xmas... 

woo!

-kp

--- In bc2000@yahoogroups.com, "kp712" <kp712@...> wrote:
> This is how it is set up (?):

Correct!

Additionally, ALL the remaining buttons on the right side (ENCODER GROUPS, STORE etc., PRESET </>) are numbered as well when a preset is set up in certain ways: then they don't function as "STORE" etc., but as "ordinary" buttons. (See "BC MIDI Implementation.pdf" for all the details.)

And of course the foot switches (at the back) also have "button" numbers...

Mark.