Behringer FCB1010 and Behringer FX2000 (Virtualizer)effects processor

By Rocker3360, 15 December, 2021
Forums

Hi Mark! I'm new to this group. Thanks for letting me join! And Hi everybody!

I am pulling out what little hair I have left because of Behringer's non-transparency in their manuals. There is nothing anywhere that describes or even mentions interfacing these 2 Behringer products together. There are 2 things I am trying to do. One is to get the expression pedals programmed so that I can use them, and second I am trying to access the user saved presets on the FX2000 using the FCB 1010 controller.

Can you help?

Mark van den Berg

3 years ago

I am pulling out what little hair I have left because of Behringer's non-transparency in their manuals. There is nothing anywhere that describes or even mentions interfacing these 2 Behringer products together.

Section 4.3 of the FX2000's User Manual (FX2000_P0A3P_M_EN.pdf) does give a few good tips on how to control the FX2000 with a MIDI foot controller: The "Instrumentalists can benefit ..." paragraph discusses Program Change messages, and the "If your MIDI foot controller ..." paragraph discusses Control Change messages.

There are 2 things I am trying to do. One is to get the expression pedals programmed so that I can use them,

First of all: the FCB1010's expression pedals and the FX2000 must use the same MIDI channel.
See "EXP A" and "EXP B" in FCB1010 Manager's "Global Configuration" window.

The "Controller functions with MIDI" table on page 24 of the FX2000's User Manual specifies to which Control Change messages the FX2000 listens.
So for instance to make the FCB1010's two expression pedals control the FX2000's EQ Low and EQ High parameters, you can set up the FCB1010's EXP A and EXP B as follows:

EXP A:
Controller: 109
Value 1: 0
Value 2: 32

EXP B:
Controller: 110
Value 1: 0
Value 2: 32

If you don't need the FX2000's full -16 ... +16 dB range, you can increase Value 1 and decrease Value 2 as desired.

Note that each of the FCB1010's 100 presets has individual settings for EXP A and B. So when you select a preset in which EXP A and B are not defined, these pedals don't function! So you have to set up EXP A and B in each FCB1010 preset you want to use. (The advantage is that you're not obliged to use the same EXP A and B setup in all presets!)
Tip: FCB1010 Manager allows you to set up any single parameter in a range of presets in one operation; this can save you hours of work.

second I am trying to access the user saved presets on the FX2000 using the FCB 1010 controller

You can select any FX2000 preset via a Program Change message.
However, there's one complication here: the FX2000 has two preset banks: internal and user.
So it's probably best to always tell the FX2000 to which bank the preset you want to switch to belongs.
You can achieve this in FCB1010 presets as follows:

First make sure that in "Global Configuration" the FCB1010's MIDI channels for CNT 1 and PC 5 are the same as the channel the FX2000 uses.

Then make the following settings in individual FCB1010 presets:

CNT 1:
Controller: 0 (=Bank Select)
Value: 0 (internal) or 1 (user)

PC 5:
Program: 1-100

(The use of PC 5 rather than PC 1/2/3/4 is obligatory if you want to use CNT 1 to select the correct FX2000 bank, because the Program Change message defined via PC 5 is the only one which the FCB1010 sends after the Control Change message defined via CNT 1.)

You can make a 1-to-1 mapping between the 100 FCB1010 presets and the 100 FX2000 user presets, but of course you're totally free to make your own mapping.

A final tip:
Creating a setup on the FCB1010 itself is a nightmare, and even uploading a setup created in FCB1010 Manager to the FCB1010 is so cumbersome that you only want to do it for your definitive setup.
So it can be very convenient to use FCB1010 Manager's "Soft FCB1010" while creating your setup: this is a virtual FCB1010 that can output MIDI messages exactly like a real FCB1010, allowing you to fine-tune your setup before uploading it to the FCB1010.

Hope this helps,
   Mark.

Rocker3360

3 years ago

Oh man, where you you about 5 years ago when I got this rig donated to me. I've been able to set the 1010 up for accessing the canned effects, but that's about all.

Thank you so very much! 

I do machine automation for work, but midi has me semi-baffled.

I'm 61, been playing since I was 10, and have never really been exposed to midi until 5 years ago... lol.

Randy