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the BCR2000 and a way to mastering FL's livemode (Topic) Image-Line

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the BCR2000 and a way to mastering FL's livemode

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Previous topic :: Next topic rbe Oct 23, 2008 (1:28)

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I planed to tell you the awesome story of me, setting up my brandnew (and first) midi-controller - the BCR2000 - and my way to the dashboard and beyond, reaching for a live setup. But as I did fell nearly asleep while proofreading my many words, I figured nobody would read it anyway... hehe So, I'll try to keep things short instead (it turns out, that didn't quite happen, bwahaha). The dashboard & midi out brothers aka the `poor man's controller feedback` aka: THE EPIC FAILURE! I've finally got a midi-controller: a BCR2000 from Behringer, wohooo! I've managed to setup my own CC-layout (the default one doesn't really work) and dashboard for it (again, with a sane CC-layout). Boy, that was ugly (at least for a midi-noob like me). In conculsion: Don't assign any of the following CC to any of your knobs on the BCR2000: CC1, CC6, CC7 and CC96-CC101. Once the dashboard was setup for the `poor man's controller feedback` , I realised that this approach sucks big time. I could live with the tedious linking to the internal controllers and the losing of controller assignments once you touch the original knobs again. But the knobs on the BCR200 weren't really useable anymore. Totally quirky feeling. Jittering like hell. (I guess, the BCR2000 overwrites manual tweaking with the data from the midi out generator too often, too fast..) I tried the USB-only Mode (U1) which worked best (still barely usable) and I also tried it per midi-only Mode (S1) which was even worse. Before I ditched the idea of the dashboard completley, I figured that I could at least have this darn thing setup, but disabling it (both midi out generators) during playback, etc.. So my poor BCR2000 would at least recieve the initial values for all knobs on loading a FLproject (which would be the best part of controller feedback anyway). But guess what. Disabling (unlighten the led infront of the generator) didn't work at all. So those darn midi out generators were still happily sending all the data. Hell no! Temporarly deleting those generators isn't an option either, because I'd loose all the linking, which'd mean that I wouldn't be able to save the project ever again. In conclusion this means that I can't use this workaround with the dashboard at all. (and it would be a BIG thing, if at least my controller would recieve the init data for its knobs..) Is there really no way to disable a midi out generator? Oh boy. Well, it's a workaround anyway. The even better idea would be to at least send the parameter feedback for linked knobs once after loading a project. That would be the best part of real/automatic parameter feedback, and that - I guess, but I'm pretty sure - at little cost. Please? I still haven't managed to take a look at the famous `multilink/override generic links`-thing. But sounds good! I did try the MCU-Emulation/Implementation for the BCR2000, but figured, that such a control is totally painful and thus useless for me. But it was fun to watch the fireworks, err.. the parameter feedback for the faders, working totally smooth and stuff. And now for the pleasant part: THE AWESOME! The BCR2000 rocks. It's `the awesome` together with FL Studio - once you've managed to make things work and you've setup a sweet liveset-template (for a start, or to import previous songs). I can unscrupulously recommend it to any non-pianist, looking for the ultimate `beginners` midi controller, although it's not officially supported. I've discovered FL's livemode. Again. But this time I love it(!) and I'm willing and eager to use it for my live setup. Boy what fun! (jaja, I don't like Ableton Live, just have tried out (once more) the latest version - tough only the limited version that came with my maudio delta. And I don't need to load new plugins every now and then in my live setup, plus my FLStudio is stable as a rock over here. So screw you ableton fanboys, hehe) For anyone interested (and hopefully the one or other with some tricks in his pocket) I'll describe my current (and first) live setup. Below is also a layout-mockup so you have something to look at. (Sorry, I can't make any funky youtubes and stuff, but thanks for yours! It's always a great inspiration.) Ok. A live setup should be "fixed" to make things playable and fun. This means, that every song should have more or less a similar arrangement of instruments (though they can differ widley in terms of sound). I did that more or less anyway with my current songs, so it wasn't very hard, to settle for the following ingredients: Track 1: a kick Track 2: slice x (1st instance or bank A), purpose: main/heavy drums Track 3: slice x (2nd instance or bank B), purpose: percussions/fx/... Track 4: Hihats or similar Track 5: Bass Track 6: Lead Track 7: Pad Track 8: FPC, purpose: free samplebank for voices, fx and stuff (only Bank A) all in one cut-group (any sample cuts any other or itself), where the last sample is an empty one, to cut any playing sample immediately. What I need is two BCR2000 presets: Preset 1: FL all control Preset 2: FPC sample bank control both on midi channel 1, to make things easier (which means, that all controls on the second preset except the 16 main buttons are assigned/linked as on preset one.. pretty cool, but beware of preset-jumps: same knobs don't update their values!) Track mute/unmute is assigned to the second row of the main-buttons and their volume can be controlled with the top encoders (encoder

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the BCR2000 and a way to mastering FL's livemode (Topic) Image-Line

group 3). Easy. Though I control pre-volumes, not post-volumes. It's a bit trickier, but I don't want to link FL's Mixer-Faders to my controller, so I can setup `a good mix`/adjust the max. volumes and don't touch those faders in a live situation (unless its really necessary, so I could always use the mouse in such a case). Now comes the fun part: THE FX-BUS and two Master FX I've setup a FX-Bank with 8 arbitrary FX slots (for stuff like bitcrusher, flanger, distortion and so on). With the top main buttons I can mute/unmute them and with the top encoders on the BCR2000 (encoder group 1) I can control their volume. What is send to them can depend, but will be fixed per project/song. In my template, I send all the drums (Kick, Slicex A + B and the HH) to the FX-Bus (from where it goes to FX1-FX8 - on demand, hehe). I guess I'll mostly send my drums to this FX-Bus, because it works well and lots of fun with pretty much any drum/percussion as well as any FX. Linking is done in a way, which allows for easy exchanging them per `load mixer-track state`, without loosing links to the BCR. Ok. On to the Master-FX. I planed for two, though I currently only use one. It works as follows: With the top encoders I can send any track to either MasterFX 1 (encoder group 2) or MasterFX 2 (encoder group 4). That means I can send anything seperately (or some things together) to my Master FX. Flexibel as hell and again lots of fun. But I also need to send the output of the FX-Bus to the MasterFX, no problem, but with which knobs do I control that? Since I'm sending drums, I've linked the send-amount from FX-Bux to the slice x A knob. Works well, but that could differ. Now. What to put on a Master FX? Delay of course! (although I can't wait for gross beat, which will fit perfectly) I've setup a delaybank (sorry for saying this one time, that I regard it as useless because it lacks envelopes, its not! hehe) with 4 simple delays: 1:00, 3:00 and two long ones: 8:00 and 16:00, but that can depend from project to project. Now, I don't need the 4 function keys on the BCR2000 for their default purpose (store, learn, edit, exit). So I've assigned them simple CC and I've turn off the toggle behaviour, which means that the key acts like a piano-key (it isn't still ON once released). And yeah, the 4 delaybanks are linked to those 4 buttons. Actually I've used 2 Delaybanks, the one with the short delays in front of it, so that the longer delays will record the shorter ones. (to make this work, one have to open the dry-amount on the second delay-bank, if the first one got triggered... item) Ok, lets summarize: I can route any track to either Master FX 1 or 2 on-the-fly. 4 Buttons/Keys to trigger 4-Delays (from which two are used like a beat-repeat, the other like, well delays.): lots of fun! Routing the drums to MFX1 for instant beatjoggling-thingy, routing the FPC Sample Bank or the Pad or again the drums their for long delays.. all easily routet and triggered from the BCR2000. I'm looking forward to use gross beat (gimme gimme gimme!) for my second Master FX and using the first one as Delay-Unit only. Don't know where the button will end up to be used for (probably gross beat; which needs to be `played`/beatjoggled, hehe, long delays can be linked to some free wheels I guess). With the bottom encoders (3 rows), the left halve I use for the 3 synths (bass, lead, pad). This controls are always at your hands (without encoder group switching). And the right side of this encoders is still unassigned, but I plan to use them for the Master FX or anything else. One of my main goals was to get a template for my songs, ready for live performance, where I don't have to setup all links over again. So routing is mainly implemented on the mixer itself, rather than with some fruity balance units. And since I mostly always use Sytrus for Bass, Lead and Pad, that linking is also setup/preserved (Filt.1 by default) and only needs small adjustment (controlling x/y pad instead of cut/res of Filt.1...) if I load another preset (eg. for importing previous songs). Too sweet!

Boy, it's so friggin awesome! So much fun! And this hole thing has an evil influence on my music, harhar. Tweaking the BCR2000 this way feel's like playing a real instrument (and I've played guitar for several years, though I never grew good at it, hehe). It's better. Ah, and their are 4 bottom-right buttons: the upper I use for `Select prev./next marker region` to progress/advance in my songs and the others are MMC Play and MMC Stop. The song is nicely laid out - you can decide how much you wan't to draw in their. My approach is to build concentrated blocks/marker regions, where all instruments are playing. Then I loop from marker region to marker region, happily deciding what instrument play. This way I can improvise build ups and fade out's as I wan't.. I did try out the `Playlist Live Mode` which lets you turn on/off patterns. But I didn't find it very usefull. Yet! I can imagine switching different Hihat-Patterns or sth. on and off, but here I like the `song-layout-idea` better which means that I'd rather progress in the song where HH are matched to the other parts, instead of mixing anything with anything together. But perhaps I've to grow on this one. hehe

Another thing I wanna try out is some kind of a Loop-Recorder as already described, showed and performed by others. Also I figured it would be a good idea to let a click play along your set, heck even better a `1 und 2 und 3 und 4 und 1 und ...` - sample(s, to be synced, oh and I'm speaking of the sexy female kind of, bwaha) which you'd rout to another audio-output for monitoring purposes! Sometimes it's really hard to get things back in/up (or to begin with), if you've previously muted all drums/hihats, all the beat-indication things. What then happens... either you were lucky and it fits or you didn't hit it on spot and therefore you get a worng sense of the beat/timing/groove, which can mess you up quite a bit.

It's my first midi controller (got it six days ago) and therefore my first live setup - ever. It's still under construction and I realised (and still am at it) only one song with it (which is my basis to explore and develop my live-setup template). So I'm sure some of you flooper veterans might have a valuable tip or two for me (come on! hehe) and that other livemode-noobie-floopers might find this a bit helpful or at least have a good laught. Here's the promised layout-mockup of the BCR2000 and the major FL setup/routing: http://non.sense.ch/shared/FL_live_setup.png. (ah,

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the BCR2000 and a way to mastering FL's livemode (Topic) Image-Line

nevermind and see below... same thing is attached to this message. EDIT: omg, too big, so, ok, click this darn link.) And if you wanna listen how this sounds, you can tune in here: http://non.sense.ch/shared/GAGset03a.mp3 It's a record of a 14 minute session with this very setup. There's absolutely no automation and there's only 4 blocks of 64bar/4beats. It's by no means an elaborated song and my performance sucks ass, but what did you expect?! hehe Also I haven't used Slicex B (track 3) yet and there's also no Lead (track 6). Oh and those samples in there (originally from futurama) are only there to test the FPC Sample Bank approach. Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you to death. tweak on! rbe

^^ btw. this can and has to be regarded as another vote for further livemode develompent! I'll post a feature request in the TODO Forum any second.
rbe Oct 23, 2008 (4:00)

Quick update: I separated the BeatJuggling from... Display posts from previous: All posts Sort by Post time

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