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Question for Behringer FCB1010 users
I'm currently using Boss FC-50 for controlling Loopy HD within my rig. I'm reasonably happy with it but it doesn't provide a huge amount of control, especially because it can't take advantage of the new loopy long press function which is great for adding another command to the same pedal. This is only available via CC messages which FC-50 can't do without adding extra pedals.
I've been through IK Blueboard and some other Yamaha stuff and I don't like the switches (mainly because they don't provide enough physical feedback).
This brings me to FCB1010 which, while looking like a mothership seems to send CC messages alongside PC (program change which most of guitar related controllers seem to favour).
I am extremely confused about the FCB and whether it will send CC out of the box or does it need extra UNO or other chips installed. Could anyone explain this to me? I'm seeing a few of them going on eBay but don't want to pull the trigger on something I won't use.
Many thanks
Comments
I don't have the UNO chip and mine sends cc's. My only issues with it are wires and size, otherwise....
I recently bought a (second hand) FCB1010 and it sends CC messages out of the box (no special firmware chip required). I used the freeware FCB1010 PC Editor to program the buttons and pedals and that was easy. There's also the free app from Secret Base Design. Before I programmed it, I did a sytem reset on the FCB1010, and noticed that all the 10 buttons for the 10 banks (= 100 messages) that you can store in FCB1010's memory are set to program changes (0 - 49 and again 0 - 49) and the pedals send CC 7 and CC 10 in every bank. But you are free to change everything and - if you need to - you can send 2 CC's and 5 PC's per button per bank.
I read somewhere that the firmware version from Behringer for the FCB1010 older than 2.4 is buggy and mine has version 2.2, but (until now) I have no trouble at all with it. You can't update the firmware via USB, so that's something to watch out for if you buy from f.i. eBay...
Cheers guys, that's great news @Harro @Fitz
...should I avoid the ones with chips though? or you reckon it just adds features without messing with the original functionality?
See http://www.ossandust.be/index.php
All I know is me and a friend both had trouble programming it. A lot! But that was a while ago so maybe you will love it and I'm sure it sends ccs out of both unless I'm trippin
The stock FCB will send CC messages; it's a powerful foot pedal, and built like a tank, but programming it sucks beyond belief. I wrote FCBFF because I couldn't deal with programming it manually -- it really really pissed me off.
I don't have the Uno chip, and am not planning on getting one -- I'm looking towards building more functionality into my software, rather than trying to retrofit the pedal.
I totally feel ya. My looping rig on iPad is so full that I can't afford running another app alongside that's dedicated to routing midi. It would also be a pain to set it up every time.
I'm just going to get one aiming at the most recent software and hope for the best. Worst that can happen is that I'll sell it on to some other unlucky soul.
This feels too negative to me; programming the FCB1010 with its own buttons and pedals is difficult indeed - and Behringer is to blame that they baked their firmware in an EPROM and didn't deliver a USB-port (for updating the firmware) and a software-editor for programming, but luckily there are very good 3rd party software-editors available (for Mac/PC and yours for iPad)! I just bought a license for FCB/UNO Control Center for € 16 (see http://www.fcb1010.uno) and it's absolutely great! It works with FCB's with Behringer- or UNO-chips.
@supadom: You once program the FCB like you want it to behave with such an editor on a PC or Mac and then you don't have to use extra apps on you iPad...
I thought the point of the FCBFF app was for programming the pedal, not running live?
@SecretBaseDesign Does FCBFF need to be running while FCB1010 is in use?
Sorry I thought that was like a midi router. So it just is an editor for iPad. That would be cool indeed. But is it?
Video demo!!!
From the app's description in the AppStore seems like you might be right @Hmtx
@supadom FCBFF is an editor , not router . It does make programming a lot easier , although first the user must understand how the FCB operates ...
What seems to confuse people is that the original FCB1010 is NOT intrinsically a guitar footswitchboard , where all buttons & footpedals are part of one bigger patch /system . e.g . a row of switches for different fx on/off & up/down preset .
Instead the ten buttons are independent, each one a preset containing the two footpedals CCs , 2 x CC# * & 5 PCs + 1 midi Note (edit) . . It can be programmed to behave like a guitar footswitchboard by setting up each of the buttons to behave as if part of a bigger single patch but the red active light will only show last switch pushed .
(the UNO chip & firmware makes FCB1010 behave like a guitar footswitch board , & each of the top row switches can be lit together if all assigned fx are on.)
*In addition to the 2 footpedal realtime CCs , each preset can send two CC# values when pressed .However to use the button as a toggle switch , set both to the same CC# with values of 0 & 127 .... so in this use it's 1 CC # per preset / switch .
Cheers @Wally it is all starting to make sense. Actually the 2 CC's per switch is not a bad idea, in fact I could already see it used as mute for two loops in loopy. Not sure if you're familiar with loopy but it doesn't have loop groups so it is hard to have a variation (like a chorus) as switching more than one loop at the same time is a pain. Having 2 per switch one could even press 2 with both feet (of course while sitting down
) and activate 4 loops at once. Pretty powerful.
There's probably hundreds of other creative ways of using that feature.
One bummer for me is that it isn't battery powered like boss FC-50 but I guess the upside is there's no need to keep an eye on the batteries.
@supadom I do use Loopy though I'm yet to get round to wiring it up to FCB1010 seriously. I'm not sure your logic works with the two CCs , unless you always wanted to be turning both loops on & off together .
Actually you made me realise I forgot to mention the midi note ! per preset ( I will go back & edit) , I think some Loopy users prefer assigning the Note to Loopy , & unlike other preset parameters which are sent momentarily I think the Note can be held , so would cover two Loopy bindings .
sorry it's a while since I played with this setup , so I'm going on memory .
FCBFF is primarily an editor. It'll emulate an FCB1010 too -- so you can use it to set up the entire configuration, test stuff out, and then download to the pedal. I use my FCB1010 connected to an old iPhone, and then have that send MIDI across Bluetooth (using, believe it or not, my Apollo MIDI over Bluetooth). The work flow is to tweak things as needed in FCBFF, and then switch over to Apollo to get stuff relayed.
I'm thinking of adding some code FCBFF, though, so that it'll also act as a translator. The FCB1010 sends out a MIDI message when a pedal is pressed, effectively saying what just got stepped on. FCBFF could then take that, and convert it into different MIDI messages, and then relay those along the line.
The reason I'm going this direction -- there's a zillion foot pedals out there. Or at least more than a few. I don't want to write an editor for all of them, and I've been getting requests for Uno support. So -- if the app can do something like MIDI learn, hear an incoming message from any flavor of foot pedal, and then trigger whatever configurable MIDI output you want -- it kills multiple birds with one stone.
Cheers all. Hope this thread will serve its purpose as another FCB knowledge source.
I just connected a simple sustain pedal to my FC-50 and it 'just works' as an additional CC sender and the long press for loopy works like a dream. It's a simple solution to what I needed. At least for now.
I'm sure I'll revisit this thread when I get more control hungry.
This would be great - especially if it's extremely low on IOS resource usage.
I must be the only person in the world who doesn't mind programming using the inbuilt editor!
Ooh. I like this!
Just trying to work out how to integrate the FCB1010 to my setup.
How is it connected to the iPhone? I'm thinking I could use my old iRig Midi 30 pin and an iphone 4 for this.
This could be good.
I ordered the eureka v3 rom chip . It has a mode where everything (including leds) is assignable with midi
I connect to the FCB either with a CCK and a cheap-o USB-to-MIDI adapter (about $5 on Amazon), or through the USB connector on my FocusRite dock. There's regular DIN MIDI out the back of the FCB, and any of the connect-to-iPhone things should work.
Not sue if the iPhone 4 has BTLE -- so you might not be able to use Bluetooth MIDI, but WiFi MIDI should work -- connect the FCB to the old phone, and then set up a wireless MIDI link to an iPad, and you're good to go. I don't do a lot of tweaking of the FCB programming. My initial setup was done entirely in the FCBFF app, and then I downloaded to the pedal once it was good to go.
Hey Patrick.
I've been playing with this setup the past hour. Works a treat, thank you!
FCB1010 > iRigMidi > iPhone4 > Apollo A >>>> Apollo B > iPad Mini 2 > Nanostudio.
Next up is configuring via FCBFF.
Awesome stuff, cheers.
I sometimes use my FCB1010 with the Yamaha MD-BT01 Bluetooth MIDI adapter. That little thing is $50, but I haven't regretted getting it. I also have used it with my Circuit. It's very handy to have around, and works well.