Bc2000 (for the BCF2000 & BCR2000)

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013, rpcfender@... wrote:

>> "So the knob would emit: B8 63 00 B8 62 val"
>
> Did you see if the ESQ-1 would accept a single B8 63 00 message on a 
> button and then B8 62 xx B8 06 val with a different value of xx for 
> each encoder?

No...but the only reason I didn't try that is because most of the delay 
is created by the ESQ-1 updating its display every time a NRPN is 
received to make it select a parameter, switching to a whole different 
screen if necessary, and trying to repaint the screen several times a 
second if the NRPN's come in rapidly.  If I was to put any part of the 
NRPN on the same encoder that's sending the data entry slider CC's, that 
NRPN would get resent for every change of value as the knob turns and 
you'd have the same problem (the display goes bonkers and the ESQ-1 
can't keep up).  It doesn't matter because it seems to need a whole 
MSB/LSB pair anyway, but if it worked with LSB alone, it'd still end up 
repainting the display, just with fewer Midi bytes to get it done.

What would be needed is a feature I don't think the BCR has (BC Manager 
seems to have implemented everything it can do, and I don't see this 
feature anywhere in it):

It would be nice if the BCR let you setup a string of custom bytes *as a 
header*, to be sent once at the beginning of a knob rotation, and not 
repeated again until the knob stops turning.  That would let you have 
your cake and eat it too...  You could have lots of knobs that each spit 
out a single NRPN message (or whatever you wanted) when you start 
turning them, but then they be quiet about the NRPN and just send their 
main code for as long as you keep turning.  If you grab a different 
knob, it sends the header code for that knob, and then does the same 
thing sending that other knob's regular code only instead of putting the 
NRPN code into every single value change.  That's what you'd really need 
to do this.

I think Behringer doesn't allow that because it would create the 
situation where the user would need to be warned that if you setup your 
controller this way, there will be no turning two knobs at once for that 
synth.  You can't blend together two simultaneous tweaks unless every 
single parameter change that gets sent is also paired with a NRPN 
parameter select that lets the target device know what that particular 
parameter change is supposed to be an adjustment of.  It makes every 
parameter change effectively end up being nine bytes long of course, but 
at least then you can grab two knobs at once and tweak yourself silly 
(on a modern synth that can keep up with it, and isn't trying to repaint 
its screen every time it gets a NRPN).  And you can even turn two knobs 
at the same time.  By not supporting a header feature like this, 
Behringer's tech support doesn't have to explain anything because it 
can't do it anyway.

Considering that Behringer won't even fix BCEdit to make it as nice as 
BC Manager is, I think they're basically at the point where they'd like 
to just make money on the BCR and BCF and not really make any more 
improvements, so we're probably not going to see any "header code" 
feature added (or anything else) now.

> Can you change encoders with out having to send another B8 63 00?

I did try that...  It needs a full MSB/LSB pair to select a parameter on 
the ESQ-1, even though the MSB is always zero.  So you send "B8 63 00 B8 
62 val" to select something, and the ESQ-1 updates its display, but 
anything less doesn't do anything at all.

> When you output B8 63 00 B8 62 val with an encoder I would think the 
> ESQ might prepare by changing the screen and wait for the value 
> message to follow. So with your method it is frantically changing 
> pages for parameters you are not interested in changing as you scroll 
> through???

Yes, but at least the way I've set it up now, I have it broken up into 
two different knobs, and only the parameter selection knob does that. 
Once you find your parameter, the other knob just sends data entry, and 
it has no problem with that.  Also I've setup the first knob to have 
only 20 values per rotation in BC Manager, so it keeps me from flipping 
through parameters too fast.

-- 
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