Boss VF-1 Effect Processor

'blur40@...' got very excited and asked loads of questions about my
posting regarding the FCB1010.

WARNING:
I am still working this out myself, so there may be inaccuracies as a result
of my own inexperience - I have several queries outstanding with Behringer
seeking to clarify my own understanding of the workings of the FCB1010 - for
'gospel' answers to your questions you'd best speak with their technical
people (links on their webpage http://www.behringer.com)

I would recommend that you look at the FCB1010 manual on the Behringer
website which I found at
http://www.behringer.com/eng/products/guitarworkstations/fcb1010.htm


>>Does it allow real-time editing like the guys at roland say the 
 fc-200 can do. For exaple...say i'm running a patch, with modulation
 eq, wah, amp setting (distortion)etc... can i turn off one of the 
 effect while playing. You know like say the amp setting, can i turn 
 it on and off with a push of a button on the pedal.<<

Yes it does but I have never used an FC-200 and therefore comparisons are
difficult. Initially I expected the FCB1010 to work as a 'remote control' to
the VF-1 - I expected the VF-1 to change patches when I pressed the 'Up'
switch on the FCB1010 for example. However the FCB1010 is a unit which can
be programmed to send MIDI messages to any MIDI device and what it does when
you select a patch on the FCB1010 is completely programmable.

For example; if you select Bank 0 Patch 1 on the FCB1010 this does not
necessarily mean you will get patch 001 on a remote device (unless that's
how you've programmed it - and it certainly is programmed that way
'out-of-the-box). What you get on the remote device when you select FCB1010
Bank 0 Patch 1 depends entirely on what MIDI messages you have programmed
the FCB1010 to send when you select Bank 0 Patch 1.

The FCB1010 has 100 patches (10 banks - numbered 1 to 0) each containing 10
patches (also numbered from 1 to 0). Each of these patches can be programmed
to send up to 5 MIDI Program Change messages, 2 MIDI Control messages (and
on top of this you can program the 2 expression pedals to provide
continuously changing MIDI control messages once a patch has been selected,
but they'll confuse the issue right now, so we'll come back to them later)

The MIDI Program Change and Control messages are sent as soon as the patch
is selected. There is no point setting FCB1010 patches to send more than one
MIDI Program Change message or more than one Control Change message per
patch since we are only controlling one MIDI device (our VF-1's) and all the
messages are sent as soon as the FCB1010 patch is selected. However this
would be a useful facility if we were controlling more than one MIDI device
as each of the MIDI messages can be assigned to a different channel - so if
we were using the VF-1 with a MIDI controllable guitar AMP we could program
the FCB1010 to send one MIDI message to the VF-1 (to select, say a strong
Chorus effect) and send another MIDI message to the guitar amp (to select,
say, the clean channel with a mid-boost)

Therefore (based on my own understanding at the moment) I think the best way
to use the FCB1010 to control just a VF-1 is to view it's 100 patches as 100
hundred opportunities to EITHER select a specific VF-1 patch OR to send a
MIDI control message which could, amongst other things, turn off one of the
effects components within a VF-1 patch (you mentioned the 'amp' setting as
an example).

>> If the above is possible how many effects of the chain can i modify
 at a time. How many does it support basically for real-time editing <<

Not sure I understand the question - but the number of effects 'components'
you can control is limited only by the VF-1 and the way you choose to
program the FCB1010 patches

>>Whats up with the up and down pedals, do they work properly, or do
 they both do the same function. I dont understand what you're trying
 to say<<

Because I expected the FCB1010 to act as a remote control for the VF-1 I
expected the Up pedal to select the next bank up on the VF-1 and the Down
pedal to select the next bank down on the VF-1. However they select the next
bank up (and down respectively) on the FCB1010

>>this pedal lacks a "ctl" button that is found on the fc-200 do you
 know what that pedal does<<
I don't know what the 'ctl' button does on the FC-200 - however given that
you can program the FCB1010 to send a different 'Control' message for each
of it's patches I'd guess that gives you the equivalent of up to a 100 'ctl'
buttons on the FCB1010

>>how do you use. what kinda of control do you have and how many cables
 did it take to hook it up.<<
Depends how you want to use it - I use just a MIDI lead between the FCB1010
and the VF-1 (plus the mains lead in the back of the FCB1010). 

You can also use the FCB1010 to control a guitar amp (for example if your
amp uses a footswitch to change from rhythm to lead channel and another to
switch the reverb on and off - the FCB1010 can duplicate these functions
internally, but you'd obviously need 2 extra jack to jack leads to do this)

The way I use the FCB1010 currently - and this may change as I learn more
about how it operates, is that I've programmed a number of patches on the
VF-1 and programmed that FCB1010 to send the necessary program change
messages to select each of the patches in turn. (Note that because you can
tell the FCB1010 to send any program change message you like when you select
a patch the patches selected on the VF-1 need not be sequential. For
example, you could program FCB1010 patch 01 - Bank 0 Patch 1 - to select
VF-1 patch 003 and FCB1010 patch 02 - Bank 0 Patch 2 - to select VF-1 patch
027) and to send the necessary control change messages to allow me to
control the VF-1 'Foot Volume' with the left hand expression pedal and one
other 'useful' parameter with the right hand expression pedal.

Here's some examples.

FCB1010 patch 01 sends;
 
one program change message (to select VF-1 patch 001 which I have programmed
with a Chorus effect)
no control change messages
The left-hand expression pedal send MIDI information on Channel 7 in the
range 0-127 (which the VF-1 uses to control 'Foot Volume'(
The right-hand expression pedal sends MIDI information on Channel 14 in the
range 0-127 (which the VF-1 uses to control the depth of the Chorus in
real-time)

FCB1010 patch 02 sends;

one program change message (to select VF-1 patch 002 which I have programmed
with an Octave effect)
no control change messages
The left-hand expression pedal send MIDI information on Channel 7 in the
range 0-127 (which the VF-1 uses to control 'Foot Volume')
The right-hand expression pedal sends MIDI information on Channel 14 in the
range 0-127 (which the VF-1 uses to control the volume level of the 'Octave'
sound in real-time)


I understand Behringer are working on a document that will give more detail
on how the FCB1010 can be used and how it is programmed.

Hope this helps