Bc2000 (for the BCF2000 & BCR2000)

--- In bc2000@yahoogroups.com, Bruno <brunorc@...> wrote:
> I cannot speak for Mark, but MIDI Ox is more a "MIDI swiss-army knife",
> which can find its use with any MIDI device. For instance I use it to
> send/receive SysEx dumps from/to my instruments. Also, MIDI Ox is very
> generic, while BC Manager targets specific device.

Yes, BC Manager does target the BCF/BCR2000, but these devices themselves target "any" receiving MIDI device (hardware/software synth, DAW etc.), which is why BC Manager includes quite a few "generic" tools that can assist in setting up the BCF/BCR2000 for specific devices.

One advantage of including these generic tools in BC Manager (and in many of my other Mountain Utilities editors for specific hardware) is that some MIDI I/O device drivers are "single-client", i.e. they can only be accessed by one program at a time - which can make testing (e.g. via MIDI-OX or my own MIDI Tools) cumbersome.

Several years ago I had developed so many generic tools for my various editors that I decided to collect them into a single, generic program: MIDI Tools.
However, since MIDI-OX was already out there, at first I didn't see much point in publishing MIDI Tools.
But then I thought that people accustomed to these tools via BC Manager (etc.) might find MIDI Tools useful anyway, so in the end I did release it, and it has been growing further after that.

Currently MIDI Tools offers quite a few things MIDI-OX doesn't, such as a MIDI keyboard, a MIDI controller "board" and Mackie monitors.
I'm also very proud of MIDI Tools' facilities for sending and receiving System Exclusive messages to/from any MIDI device.
I also like MIDI Tools' input message monitor window a bit better than the slightly chaotic one in MIDI-OX, but this may be a matter of taste and/or bias...

On the other hand, MIDI-OX offers sophisticated redirection and mapping tools between devices - and since MIDI-OX does so, I've always thought it pointless to simply copy these tools in MIDI Tools. (In MIDI Tools you CAN actually make "thru" connections between MIDI devices, but only passively, and without support for SysEx events.)

One final point for clarification: if I'm not mistaken, BC Manager currently includes all the tools present in MIDI Tools.
However, that may change in the future: in fact I delayed BC Manager 2.4.1 for several months because I was in doubt whether it should include MIDI Tools' new "System messages" window: BC Manager is complicated enough as it is, and it's getting to a point where it might start turning into bloatware...

Mark.