Hi Mark, et al.
I bought a used BCR2000 as a way to control (among other things) the Kawai K1m. I use Ableton Live 11 on a 2024 MBP with an M4 chip. My midi and audio interface is the RME UCX II. I have installed BC Manager. I cannot seem to get the Personality to show the device is online. I can see it in the Midi Audio Interface when it's plugged in via USB, it's visible, when it's unplugged it goes dark (like it should). When I switch the BCR to any of the S modes in Global (with the USB unplugged) I get some pretty wild results. I can't replicate it, but there was an issue sending and receiving messages in which it seemed like it was trying to send and receive a lot of notes at once. Otherwise, I can generally see midi activity with all S and U options in Global. I can activity tied to Midi Port 1 in the Input meter (though changing the midi channel doesn't change which channel's meter responds, it's always channel 1). So, I can see activity, but I can't get the personality to recognize the device. Is this the only (best, least hell-ish) way to change the preset and map the knobs to the Kawai?
Thank you!
Hi Laurin, For BC Manager…
Hi Laurin,
For BC Manager and a BCR to interact correctly (as indicated in BC Manager's Personality column), their MIDI connection must work in both directions.
Many problems can prevent this, both hardware and software related.
To mention just three problems that might pertain to your situation:
1. The USB controller onboard the BCR can be defective. Particularly nowadays this cannot be ruled out, considering that all surviving BCRs are at least ten years old and many are second-hand (like yours). If your BCR's USB controller is defective, the U-modes don't work correctly and you should resort to an S-mode.
2. The BCR's Operating Mode must be correct:
Among the U-modes, U-1 is best for testing.
Among the S-modes, S-4 is recommended. S-1 and S-2 are unsuitable because they cause inherent feedback; that might be the cause of what you describe as "some pretty wild results".
For further discussion see section 4 (particularly point 3) in the BC Manager Manual.
3. The macOS edition of BC Manager is for Intel-based CPUs, so it needs Rosetta 2 to work on Apple's modern Silicon machines. However, several users have reported MIDI communication problems in this setup (see various forum topics on this website). Unfortunately, since I've never had access to a Silicon machine, I haven't been able to test this (let alone fix it).
I don't know what's causing your problem, but as always my recommendation is to try to isolate the cause.
Perhaps most importantly, you should try to establish whether communication works bidirectionally: does the BCR receive MIDI messages sent by BC Manager, and does BC Manager receive MIDI messages sent by the BCR?
It might help to use my MIDI Tools application to test this. BC Manager does have all the facilities for testing this too, but MIDI Tools is more straightforward, precisely because it doesn't have any confusing "higher-level" BCR-related logic.
Hope this helps,
Mark.
HI Mark, this is very…
HI Mark, this is very helpful. Thank you for being so knowledgeable and quick with your reply.
BC Manager shows my device, but it's offline. When I run Refresh Connection Status, the error says No Response from B Control. I'm connected via DIN and USB. I have both connected as I've been trying different arrays of combinations to see if anything will work. This next part doesn't really make sense.
In BC Manager:
In Midi Tools:
So, all of these scenarios show one way communication from the unit back to the computer. I can use Sysex Librarian and see that I can send information back to the computer by playing back a file I sent to it. I can't seem to get BC Manager to send data back to the unit though.
Further, I spent a few hours today trying to send CC messages to the Waldorf Miniworks 4-pole filter. I was able to map parameters 1 way from the miniworks to the BCR so that, encoder changes on the Miniworks lit up corresponding changes on the BCR, but I could never get CC to go from BCR to Miniworks. I have been able to get PC messages to go both ways, which indicates I have a CC issue that I need to resolve.
But, 1 thing at a time. How can I get information from BC Manager back to the BCR? Does Personality have to be "Online"?
Apologies for the late reply…
Apologies for the late reply - I've been insanely busy...
MIDI Tools can only communicate with a BCR (or any other MIDI device) on a "dumb" level.
That is: MIDI Tools can only send and receive individual MIDI messages to/from a BCR.
For instance, MIDI Tools can send CC messages from its "MIDI Controllers" window.
(There are various other windows that can send MIDI messages: all these windows can be opened from the View pulldown menu.)
So one thing to try would be to make your BCR respond to MIDI messages sent by MIDI Tools.
For instance, you might try to send a Program Change message: can you make the BCR respond to that by changing its active preset?
And a CC message sent from MIDI Tools should update any corresponding button/encoder on the BCR.
BC Manager has all the facilities that MIDI Tools has.
So in principle you could use BC Manager instead of MIDI Tools to test "basic" communication.
However, for clarity it's probably best to first try this with MIDI Tools, as described above.
BC Manager differs from MIDI Tools in that BC Manager can also work with a BCR "intelligently".
But for this to work, a bidirectional connection is necessary:
If a bidirectional connection with a BCR has been established, the Personality column in the "B-Controls" window says "B-Control". (For a BCF there are additional options.)
To establish a bidirectional connection, the "MIDI input port", "MIDI output port" and "Device" column must be set correctly. (You can edit these values in the "BCR2000: MIDI options" dialog box, accessible via the MIDI pulldown menu of the B-Controls window.) For instance, Device must match the Device ID set on the BCR itself.
I don't understand why you haven't been able to establish a bidirectional connection between BC Manager and your BCR.
In any case, if "basic" communication between your BCR and MIDI Tools (or BC Manager) works bidirectionally, it should be possible to make "intelligent" bidirectional communication between your BCR and BC Manager work too.
Hope this helps,
Mark.