[ddots-l] Re: Accessible control serfices
- From: "Tim Burgess" <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:17:41 +0100
Hi,
There's some additional notes at:
http://www.raisedbar.net/MDR/MDRReadMe.htm
Best wishes.
Tim Burgess
Raised Bar Ltd
Phone: +44 (0)1827 719822
Don't forget to vote for improved access to music and music technology at
http://www.raisedbar.net/petition.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Chris Smart
Sent: 19 June 2011 22:21
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Accessible control serfices
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
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