[ddots-l] Re: Accessible control serfices
- From: Chris Smart <csmart8@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:21:08 -0400
Behringer BCF2000 by Feel
Notes for the Blind User
By Neil J. Graham, Chris Smart and Tim Burgess
And Additional Contributions From Around the Web
0.1: Introduction
The following notes are intended for use by the blind or
visually-impaired user, or by those who want to use the
BCF2000 without relying on the visual display. Display contents
will be given, however, just in case you have a handy
light-dependent person around who can verify things as you get up
and running with your control surface. This guide is not a
substitute for reading the official documentation, but is intended
as a useful supplement to it. We hope these notes get you up and
running quickly using your BCF2000 with Cakewalk Sonar.
Specifically, Sonar needs to see the BCF2000 as a different control
surface, a Mackie Control. Other emulation modes and using the unit
with other DAW applications are not covered here. Apparently,
Cockos Reaper can support the BCF2000 directly, so perhaps someone
else can investigate BCF functionality inside Reaper and get back
to me. Also, if you can accomplish things not mentioned in this
document, please e-mail csmart8@xxxxxxxxx so I can include your
processes in a future revision.
0.2: Making Connections
First, put the unit in standard operating position with faders near
the bottom and the back panel away from you. The power switch is on
the far right. Immediately underneath it is the socket for the
standard AC power cord.
To the left of the power button and inlet is the USB jack that
accepts one end of the included USB cable. Further to the left are
three MIDI jacks, out-B/thru, out-A, and in. Last are two ¼"
footswitch jacks. The first is configured for a continuous rocker
type expression pedal and the second accepts a standard footswitch.
One possible use for a footswitch is starting and stopping
recording or playback, so you can keep your hands on your
instrument of choice.
1.0: Overall Layout
The control surface is organized into two sections, one which fills
most of the unit's surface area, arranged as eight vertical channel
strips. These are similar to the channel strips on a traditional
mixing console. Starting closest to you, each strip contains a
100mm motorized vertical slider ? commonly called a fader - two
buttons, one above the other, and a rotary knob that can be either
turned or pushed. The other panel of buttons, visual display, and
status LED's occupy the far right-hand side of the unit, and are
also arranged vertically. You can feel that the rear-most area
containing the strip buttons and knobs, visual display, status
lights and four buttons is raised slightly from the rest of the
surface.
The second section on the right side of the unit contains the
four-character visual display at the top, and fourteen buttons
arranged in four groups. All but two of these buttons have more
than one function. IN what follows, functions are listed as they
apply specifically to Cakewalk Sonar.
Since everyone online seems to come up with their own naming scheme
for the bank of fourteen buttons on the right side of the unit, I
will as well. To keep things as simple as possible, the buttons are
labeled in order from A to N, and a plus sign (+) between two
letters means you should press and hold the first button, then
press the second button. A is the top left button in the group
closest to the visual display, with B to its right. C and D are
below these. This naming scheme continues, all the way down the
unit. So, moving towards you, the bottom right button is labeled N.
As they apply to Sonar, the four buttons A through D are
immediately underneath the visual display, and switch between
various BCF2000 modes. A is the top left button in this group of
four, B is to the right of A. C is below A and D is below B. A
and C are shift modifiers, meaning that they are used in
conjunction with other buttons to perform various tasks.
Below this top group of four buttons, you will feel a horizontal
row of six holes. These are status lights which show whether or not
you are using the USB, MIDI, or footswitch connections.
Below the status lights are four buttons which switch among various
Sonar modes. E is top left, with F to its right. G and H are in the
next row down. Below these buttons are two smooth buttons, with I
on the left and J on the right. These focus the unit on groups of
tracks, busses, or parameters. Last, and closest to you, are the
last group of four buttons, usually used for controlling Sonar's
transport. K is on the left with L to its right. M is immediately
below K and N is immediately below L. Please take a moment now to
find the two shift modifiers, A and C, and the three groups of
buttons in general.
2.0: Enabling Communication Between BCF2000 and Sonar
IMPORTANT! Always turn on the BCF2000 before starting Sonar; and
turn the BCF2000 off after you exit Sonar. Failing to follow this
procedure will require you to perform some of the following steps
again, to reenable communication between your control surface and
Sonar. To get Sonar and the BCF2000 communicating with each other,
follow these steps.
2.1: Selecting Mackie/sonar Emulation Mode On The BCF2000
Put the BCF2000 into Mackie/Sonar emulation mode by holding down
the fourth upper channel strip button while you turn the unit on.
That is, feel across the top of the unit, along the row of rotary
knobs, until you get to the fourth knob from the left. Press and
hold down the flat rectangular button right below that knob, while
turning on the BCF2000 with the power button. If successful, the
faders will move to the bottom of their travel. If you have someone
sighted around, they can confirm that the display shows "MCSo", as
in Mackie Control Sonar. Turning the BCF2000 off and then on again,
you will still pop right back into this emulation mode and the
faders will move to the bottom if they are not already there. You
should only need to select this mode once. If, for some reason,
you need to change back to this emulation mode, or to select one of
the other available modes, simply hold down one of the following
buttons as you turn the unit on:
Strip 1 Upper Button: Native B-Control
Strip 2 Upper: Mackie/CueBase
Strip 3: Logic Control
Strip 4: Mackie/Sonar (the topic of this document)
Strip 5: Baby HUI
2.2: Enabling MIDI Ports In Sonar
From within Sonar, enable the MIDI ports to which the BCF2000 is
connected. Go to the Options Menu with ALT+o, and select MIDI
Devices. It should be the first item in the menu. In the lists of
available MIDI input and output ports, make sure the ones marked
BCF2000 are checked.
2.3: Selecting the Control Surface In Sonar
Tell Sonar you are using a Mackie Control by going to the Options
Menu with ALT+o, then select Controllers/Surfaces. Mackie Control
is probably not yet listed there, so TAB and then activate the Add
Surfaces button to bring up a list of available surfaces, and pick
Mackie Control from the list; it is probably the bottom item. Press
TAB and make sure the correct intput and output ports are selected.
2.4: Configuring Mackie Control In Sonar
Go to the Tools Menu with ALT+L, and locate the item that says
Mackie Control. Hitting ENTER on this item will open the properties
for your control surface. In this dialog, you can change many
aspects of how Sonar and your control surface interact, including
channel strip button assignments. The F1 through F8 assignments in
this window dictate what happens in Sonar when you press
lower-shift or C simultaneously with the eight upper channel strip
buttons. Also, A and B in this window assign any connected
footswitches to functions, such as transport controls like Play and
Record. If you change anything, be sure to save your changes as a
preset. You should be in an empty preset list when the dialog
opens, and tabbing should take you to Preset Save and Delete
buttons, then on to other options that adjust control surface and
Sonar behavior. For full documentation on Sonar and Mackie Control,
press F1 from this screen. CakeTalking users, press F1 twice quickly.
IMPORTANT! Before you close this window with CTRL+F4, SHIFT+TAB
until you encounter three checkboxes. Make sure that "Solo selects
channel", "Fader touch selects channel" and "Select Highlights
Track" are all checked.
3.0: Using Your BCF2000 And Sonar's Track View (First Principles)
the surface default setting when the BCF is powered up, the eight
motorized faders adjust the volume of any of eight tracks at a
time. The rotary knobs adjust the panning of the same eight tracks,
and pressing the upper strip button below each of the knobs mutes
or unmutes the respective track. Also, you can quickly center the
panning of a particular track by pressing its corresponding pan knob.
IMPORTANT! Pressing I and J changes which tracks in your project
are controlled by the eight channel strips. For example, if your
project has ten tracks, but your eight strips currently control
tracks one through eight, pressing J moves focus along so you can
now adjust tracks nine and tenwith your right-most two strips. If
you were in a sixteen or thirty-two track project, pressing J would
allow you to control tracks nine through sixteen and seventeen
through thirty-two. Pressing I takes you back to controlling the
first or second group of eight tracks. To move your channel strip
focus one track at a time, add C to I and J.
2.5: Strip Buttons
The two buttons in each channel strip are assigned as follows:
Upper: Mute track
A+Upper: Solo track
Lower: Select track
A+Lower: Arm/Disarm track for Recording
C+Upper1-Upper8: undefined (Go to Mackie Control on the Tools Menu
to define these to your liking.)
C3+Lower1-Lower8 are configured as follows:
Lower1: Insert Audio Track
Lower2: Insert Midi Track
Lower3: Fit Track to Project
Lower4: Fit Project to Window
Lower5: OK button
Lower6: Cancel button
Lower7: Move to next open window
Lower8: Close current window
2.6: Controlling Tracks, Busses, and Main Outs
By default, when you go into Sonar, button B
should be lit, and your channel strips control track volumes, pans,
mutes etc. The display may show "tr". Press A+B to switch from
controlling tracks to controlling busses. Now your channel strips
control your bus volumes, pans, mutes etc. If someone sighted can
check the LCD display, it should read "bu". To return to
controlling tracks, press B. The display should read "tr". Pressing
C+B causes your channel strips to control main outputs, and the
display should read oP. You may only have two main outs for a
stereo setup, or more if you are using a surround sound set-up.
Again, pressing C puts you back to track control "tr" mode.
More coming. I need to finish writing up how to access the track
EQ, plug-ins etc. But that should give you and some other folks a
good start.
Chris
PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE!
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