1 <?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
3 <!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
7 <section id="sn-bcf2000">
8 <title>Using a BCF2000</title>
10 This will walk you through the process of configuring and using a
11 <ulink url="http://www.behringer.com/BCF2000/index.cfm">Behringer
12 BCF2000 MIDI control surface</ulink> , or BCF, with Ardour. This should
14 <ulink url="http://www.behringer.com/BCR2000/index.cfm">BCR2000</ulink>,
15 but has not been tested.
18 <section id="bcf2000-connecting-device">
19 <title>Connecting Device</title>
21 It's assumed that your USB ports are functional under Linux. The
22 easiest way to tell if you've got a functional link is to simply
23 connect the BCF2000 to your computer with a USB cable, connect the
24 power, and turn it on. You should see the USB MODE light come on in
25 the upper right corner of the BCF. If that's not on, you'll need to
26 figure out how to make your <ulink url="http://www.linux-usb.org/">USB
27 port work under Linux.</ulink>
31 If the USB MODE light is on, doublecheck that Linux knows of the
36 client 64: 'M Audio Delta 1010 MIDI - Rawmidi 0' [type=kernel]
37 0 'M Audio Delta 1010 MIDI'
38 client 72: 'BCF2000 - Rawmidi 1' [type=kernel]
43 <section id="updating-firmware">
44 <title> Firmware Updating (v1.07) </title>
46 The first thing you're likely to have to do is update the firmware in
47 the unit. This is a relatively painless process.
52 Download the firmware from Behringers
53 <ulink url="http://www.behringer.com/05_support/bc_download/bc_downloads.cfm">downloads
54 page</ulink>. There will be a
55 <ulink url="http://www.behringer.com/BCF2000/bcf2000_107.zip">zip
56 file</ulink> available which should be downloaded. (This example
57 uses version 1.07 of the firmware, the latest available at the
58 time of this writing. There may be a newer version available now.)
63 Unzip the file you downloaded. You'll typically extract 2 files, a
64 PDF file with release notes and an SYX file, which is the firmware
70 Find the system device of the BCF
73 xtc:~% cat /proc/asound/cards
74 0 [M1010 ]: ICE1712 - M Audio Delta 1010
75 M Audio Delta 1010 at 0xdf80, irq
76 2 [BCF2000 ]: USB-Audio - BCF2000
77 BEHRINGER BCF2000 at usb-00:1d.1-2, full speed
82 In this case there are 2 devices. The number at the left indicates the
83 card number. The BCF is almost certain, then, to use the device
84 <filename>/dev/snd/midiCnD0</filename> where <emphasis>n</emphasis> is
85 the card number, in this case, 2.
89 Write the firmware to the BCF with the command
92 cat bcf2000_1-07.syx > /dev/snd/midiC2D0
96 Make sure you use the actual device you determined in the previous
102 The BCF display will show a whirling figure-8 animation and count up
103 to 18. Once the whirling stops, you should turn off the BCF, count to
104 5, then turn it on again. You should then see the version number of
105 the upgraded firmware displayed for a few seconds as the BCF starts.
109 <section id="bcf2000-connecting-to-ardour">
110 <title> Connecting to Ardour </title>
112 After starting Ardour, it's important to connect the MIDI device ports
113 of Ardour and the BCF together so that they will communicate with each
114 other. There are a few ways to do this.
117 <section id="bcf2000-connecting-with-qjackctl">
118 <title> With qjackctl </title>
120 If you use the program <application>qjackctl</application> to
121 control JACK, there's an easy way to connect Ardour to the BCF. Run
122 qjackctl, and click on the <guibutton>Connect</guibutton> button in
123 the main qjackctl window. This will bring up the Connection window.
124 You should see at least 2 items listed, the BCF and Ardour:
128 <imagedata fileref="images/con1.jpg"/>
132 Connect the BCF output to the Ardour input, and vice versa:
136 <imagedata fileref="images/con2.jpg"/>
139 <section id="bcf2000-automating-qjackctl-connection">
140 <title> Automating the qjackctl connection </title>
142 You can set qjackctl to automatically make the MIDI connections
143 (and others) by using the Patchbay feature in qjackctl. Start
144 qjackctl and Ardour, and make the MIDI connections as shown above.
145 Click on the <guibutton>Patchbay</guibutton> button, then click on
146 <guibutton>New</guibutton>. Qjackctl will ask if you want to
147 create a patchbay definition as a snapshot of all actual client
148 connections. Clicking on <guibutton>Yes</guibutton> will bring in
149 a set of all ports available.
153 <imagedata fileref="images/qjpatch.jpg"/>
157 Make sure you've got both connections as described above, and
158 click <guibutton>Save...</guibutton> and choose a filename. Once
159 this is saved, you can close the patchbay.
163 Next, click on the qjackctl <guibutton>Setup</guibutton> button,
164 then click on the <guibutton>Options</guibutton> tab.
168 <imagedata fileref="images/qjopts.jpg"/>
172 Click on <guibutton>Activate patchbay persistence</guibutton> and
173 use the filename you used to save the patchbay above. The patchbay
174 connections will now be made after qjackctl starts up the clients.
179 <section id="bcf2000-connecting-from-command-line">
180 <title> From the command line </title>
182 The command <command>aconnect</command>, which is the ALSA sequencer
183 connection manager, can do the job of connecting the BCF to Ardour.
184 First find the numbers of the MIDI device ports for the two:
188 client 64: 'M Audio Delta 1010 MIDI - Rawmidi 0' [type=kernel]
189 0 'M Audio Delta 1010 MIDI'
190 client 80: 'BCF2000 - Rawmidi 2' [type=kernel]
192 client 129: 'ardour' [type=user]
196 Here, the BCF is 80, and Ardour is 129. The proper connections can
197 be made between the two with two commands:
200 xtc:~% aconnect 80:0 129:0
201 xtc:~% aconnect 129:0 80:0
205 <section id="bcf2000-automatic-midi-connection">
206 <title> Automating the MIDI connection from the command line </title>
208 It's sometimes handy to start Ardour from the command line. I found
209 it irritating to have Ardour come up, and then have to manually make
210 the connections for the BCF. This was quickly solved by the
211 following script, which starts Ardour, finds the proper MIDI device
212 ports, and connects them:
216 # /usr/local/bin/start_ardour.sh
218 # April 17, 2005 - Joe Hartley (jh@brainiac.com)
219 # A quick script to start Ardour and then make the MIDI connections between
220 # the BCF2000 and Ardour.
222 # start Ardour and give it a little time before setting the MIDI connections
223 nohup /usr/bin/ardour &
226 # Set the IDs - note that they'll both end with a colon
227 BCF_ID=$(aconnect -o | grep BCF2000 | grep client | awk '{print $2}')
228 ARD_ID=$(aconnect -o | grep ardour | awk '{print $2}')
230 aconnect "$BCF_ID"0 "$ARD_ID"0
231 aconnect "$ARD_ID"0 "$BCF_ID"0
234 As an alternative to the patchbay in qjackctl, you could have it run
235 this script to start Ardour and make the MIDI connections. Click the
236 <guibutton>Setup</guibutton> button and choose the
237 <guibutton>Options</guibutton> tab. Enable the <guibutton>Execute
238 script after Startup</guibutton> option, and change the line to call
239 the <filename>start_ardour.sh</filename> script. In this example, I
240 change directories to the drive I record to so new sessions will
241 open there by default before I run the script.
245 <imagedata fileref="images/qjopt.jpg"/>
251 <section id="bcf2000-programming">
252 <title> Programming the BCF2000 for effective use </title>
254 One problem that I ran into with the BCF2000 was that none of the
255 factory presets really did what I needed to control Ardour. I had a
256 modest set of things I wanted to use the BCF to control for a track:
274 Mute, solo and rec-enable
280 Transport (play, stop, ffwd, rewind)
286 Preset 2 (P2), the Simple Mixer, was almost there, but I could not map
287 the mute, solo and rec-enable controls in Ardour to a pushbutton on
288 the BCF. This was because in P2, the buttons sent a Program Change
289 signal, but Ardour expects a Control Change signal. This required
290 re-programming the BCF a bit. Here's a list of the controls and what I
297 Rotary knobs 1 through 8, when pressed: CC33 through CC40
303 First row of buttons: CC65 through CC72
309 second row of buttons: CC73 through CC80
315 Here's a quick walkthrough to program the controls on the BCF. First
316 we'll do the rotary knobs:
321 Hold down the EDIT button and press the rotary control. The
322 display will show b1.
327 Turn the rotary control labeled "TYPE" until the display reads
333 Turn the rotary control labeled "PAR" until the display reads
339 Turn the rotary control labeled "MODE" until the display reads "t
345 Press the EXIT button.
350 Continue to program the other rotary controls in the same way,
351 incrementing the value set by the "PAR" control by 1 each time. This
352 will set the CC parameter for the second knob to 34, the third knob to
357 The steps are the same for the two rows of pushbuttons under the
358 rotary knobs. The CC values for the first row of buttons run from 65
359 to 72, and from 73 to 80 for the second row.
363 Finally, you need to store these changes so that they'll be kept even
364 when the BCF has its power cycled.
368 Press the STORE button. Its LED will start to flash.
373 Select a different preset number if you wish with the left and
374 right PRESET buttons.
379 Press STORE again to write the settings to an empty preset. If
380 you want to overwrite an existing preset, press STORE twice. You
381 can cancel the store at any time by pressing EXIT.
388 Your BCF2000 is now ready to control Ardour!
391 <section id="bcf2000-preconfigured-preset-file">
392 <title> Preconfigured Preset File </title>
394 Here is a <ulink url="http://zappa.brainiac.com/preset1.syx">saved
395 preset file</ulink>, which has the definitions described above. You
396 can use <command>amidi</command> to load this into the BCF as
397 <xref linkend="bcf2000-loading-a-preset"/>.
402 <section id="bcf2000-mapping-ardour-controls">
403 <title> Mapping Ardour controls to the BCF2000 </title>
405 The final step to control surface Nirvana is to map the controls in
406 Ardour to the knobs, buttons and faders on the BCF.
410 Before you can map things properly, you'll need to set the MIDI
411 options within Ardour. In the Editor window of Ardour, choose
412 <menuchoice> <guimenu>Windows</guimenu> <guisubmenu>Options
413 Editor</guisubmenu> </menuchoice>. Make sure the seq device is online,
414 and make sure <guibutton>MTC</guibutton>, <guibutton>MMC</guibutton>
415 and <guibutton>MIDI Parameter Control</guibutton> is set for the seq
416 device. Also make sure that the 4 boxes below are checked:
422 <guibutton>MMC control</guibutton>
428 <guibutton>MIDI parameter control</guibutton>
434 <guibutton>Send MMC</guibutton>
440 <guibutton>Send MIDI parameter feedback</guibutton>
446 <imagedata fileref="images/midiopts.jpg"/>
450 Now you're ready to do the actual mapping. This is a pretty simple
451 process, all controlled with a <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
452 <mousebutton>Button2</mousebutton> </keycombo> click. This will pop up
453 a little window which says <guilabel>operate MIDI controller
454 now</guilabel>. Simply press the BCF button (or move the slider) that
455 you want to have control the Ardour function.
458 <section id="bcf2000-example">
459 <title>Example</title>
461 We want to map the Master fader in Ardour to the first slider on the
462 BCF. Hold down the <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> key on your keyboard, and
463 click with <mousebutton>Button2</mousebutton> on the Master fader in
464 Ardour. You should see the <guilabel>operate MIDI controller
465 now</guilabel>. Move the first slider on the BCF up or down a bit.
466 The window should disappear, and you should see the master fader
467 move up and down as you move the slider on the BCF. If that works,
468 move the fader in Ardour with your mouse. You should see the slider
469 on the BCF move up and down in tandem with the Master fader!
473 If the "operate MIDI controller now" window does not go away, there
474 is no connection between Ardour and the BCF. Make sure you've
475 properly connected the two as outlined in the Connecting to Ardour
480 <section id="bcf2000-transport-controls">
481 <title> Transport Controls </title>
483 The 4 buttons in the lower right corner are already mapped in Preset
484 2 to the MMC transport controls Home (or rewind to the beginning of
485 the session), Fast Forward, Stop and Play, as shown here.
489 <imagedata fileref="images/transctls.jpg"/>
495 <section id="bcf2000-saving-and-loading-presets">
496 <title> Saving and Loading Presets </title>
498 After beating my head against a wall trying to get various programs
499 that handle SysEx messages to do what I wanted, I realized that once
500 again, the simplest way for me to do this the first time through is
501 from the command line. <glossterm linkend="gt-alsa">ALSA</glossterm>
502 provides the perfect tool for saving and loading files:
503 <command>amidi</command>
507 First, use <command>amidi</command> to list the available ports:
512 hw:0,0 M Audio Delta 1010 MIDI
513 hw:2,0,0 BCF2000 MIDI 1
516 There's the BCF, at port hw:2 (we can ignore everything after the
517 first number after the colon). We'll tell amidi to use this port with
521 <section id="bcf2000-saving-a-preset">
522 <title> Saving a Preset </title>
524 There's 2 parts to saving a preset: telling the BCF to send the
525 data, and telling the computer to accept it.
528 <section id="bcf2000-recieving-the-data">
529 <title> Receiving the Data </title>
531 Run <command>amidi</command>, using the <option>-p</option> option
532 to specify the port, and the <option>-r</option> option to receive
536 xtc:~% amidi -p hw:2 -r preset1.syx
539 The system will collect data from the MIDI port now until it's
541 <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap> </keycombo> so
542 it's time to send some data.
546 <section id="bcf2000-sending-the-data">
547 <title> Sending the Data </title>
549 To send the MIDI data for the current preset to the computer, hold
550 down the Edit key on the BCF and press the Store button. They
551 should both stay lit and the display should read
555 . This is the Global Edit mode.
559 You can choose whether to send the current preset's data or the
560 data for all 32 presets by turning the Mode knob, #6, and
569 . When ready to send the data, press knob 6. The display on the
570 BCF will circle around while it's sending data, and return to
574 when complete. At this point,
575 <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap> </keycombo> out
576 of amidi. You'll see a report on the amount of data read:
579 xtc:~% amidi -p hw:2 -r preset1.syx
582 xtc:~% ls -l preset1.syx
583 -rw-r--r-- 1 jh jh 13169 May 1 22:14 preset1.syx
586 The data for the preset is now saved in the file
587 <filename>preset1.syx</filename>. Press Exit on the BCF to exit
588 the Global Edit mode.
593 <section id="bcf2000-loading-a-preset">
594 <title> Loading a Preset </title>
596 Loading a .syx file, such as the one saved above, is very simple.
597 First, select the preset on the BCF to choose the preset to
598 overwrite. Then call <command>amidi</command> using the
599 <option>-s</option> option instead of <option>-r</option> to send a
603 xtc:~% amidi -p hw:2 -s preset1.syx
606 There will be a quick left-to-right flash of the encoder LEDs along
607 the top of the BCF, followed by the display circling around until
608 the data is loaded. It will then display the preset number again.
612 The preset is now loaded with the settings from the file. They are
613 only active as long as the preset is not changed. If you go to
614 another preset and back to the one you loaded, all the changes will
615 have disappeared. To save the settings,
620 Press the STORE button. Its LED will start to flash.
625 Select a different preset number if you wish with the left and
626 right PRESET buttons.
631 Press STORE again to write the settings to an empty preset. If
632 you want to overwrite an existing preset, press STORE twice. You
633 can cancel the store at any time by pressing EXIT.
640 <section id="bcf2000-bcedit">
641 <title> Using BCEdit </title>
643 The tool provided by Behringer to manage presets and other things on
644 the BCF is the Java program
645 <ulink url="http://www.behringer.com/05_support/bc_download/bc_downloads.cfm">BCEdit</ulink>.
646 This program will start up under Linux provided the correct version of
647 Java is used. I've found that
648 <ulink url="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp">JRE 5.0
649 Update 2</ulink> starts up correctly, but earlier versions of 5.0 will
651 <ulink url="http://behringer-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/behringer_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?sm=2">The
652 Behringer support page</ulink> says that the "editor software was
653 originally developed under J2SE-1_4_2_05". I tested it with
654 J2RE1.4.2_08 and BCEdit started, but was unable to see the BCF when
655 the "Scan" button was pressed. Running under JRE_1.5.0_02, pressing
656 the "Scan" button found the BCF, and I was able to load presets from
657 the BCF to BCEdit, but when I simply renamed the preset and tried to
658 write it back to the BCF, I got a Timeout Error while sending "$rev
659 F1" in the application.
663 At this point, I don't consider <application>BCEdit</application> to
664 be fully usable under Linux yet.
668 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
669 href="Some_Subsection.xml" />