Knowledge sharing request - Behringer BCF 2000 midi mixer and Samplitude MS 2013

drat wrote on 5/19/2013, 8:30 AM

I'm using a Behringer BCF 2000 midi mixer hooked up to laptop via USB. This mixer is a beast to understand. I seem to get partial control over SMS2013's mixer (faders, eq, pans etc) but what I dream for is control over the synth plugins (i.e. cutoff/resonance synths and effects nobs etc).

I'm following the youtube tutorials designed for this mixer and logic pro but not all of it translates to SMS2013. The logic emulation modes in SMS2013 and the BCF work mostly but with the drawback that I can't get proper control over the plugins. Any knowledge about how plugins are implemented in SMS2013 and how I can program the right buttons on the BCF?

Any hints truly welcome.

Comments

Former user wrote on 5/19/2013, 6:26 PM

None of the synths and VSTi sutff that came with your program are suitable ? You also have a built-in Mixr and Midi Edittor. Why the necessity to use your other BCF ?

drat wrote on 5/20/2013, 2:46 PM

Hi gnarly

None of the synths and VSTi sutff that came with your program are suitable ? You also have a built-in Mixr and Midi Edittor. Why the necessity to use your other BCF ?

Oh yes! I love the versatility of using favourite synths/ effects...but what I don't <love> is trying to make fine tune movements with mouse. So the BCF seemed to offer the ability - say - to change two parameters at once. Allowing full creative expression (heh?!). Works fine for faders, pans and eq. My problem with plugins seems to be multiple - 1. I don't quite understand what midi messages the VSTs transmit and 2. I don't quite know what messages I should be sending from the BCF to each parameter of the VST (i.e. NRPN, CC etc).

It seems to be a dark art - the BCF - and using it with SMS2013 - but it has extended my bedroom studio to something more studio-like. I use a DJX (no laughing) as midi controller and have a couple of other boxes of tricks. This together with SMS2013 and plugins means I can simply reach for an idea and start putting it together. Fab! The BCF came out of the need to get the "expression" into mixdowns - another dark art I am searching answers of.

Anyways - I'm not looking for excessively techy midi code but understanding how VSTs are implemented, addressed, and controlled in SMS2013 would help me with this next challenge - the hardware controller! I think it controls me at the moment and it should be the other way around.

Adain - any help welcome.

Best wishes,

Drat!

Former user wrote on 5/20/2013, 6:27 PM

If I understand correctly...it seems that you want to gett into the engineneering of how this stuff all works. There is all kinds of lines of code written very precicsely that eventually will become an instruction that is delivred to a specific "address ' . It can literally take pages of code just to create 4 bars of one instrument. I don't think I can be of much help to you on yur quest for more knowledge, but I do encouraage you to press on,,,,,just remember that for every piece you add to your collection of musical gear, compounds the potential for much grief.