Hi

If you have successfully connected the Behringer BCF2000 fader controller to Sonar can you please help me ?

I am trying to set up the BCF2000 to control Sonar 7. I am using the ACT technology approach recommended by Craig Anderton in SOS May 2007.

I have connected the BCF to my computer via USB, and installed the MIDI drivers. I can see BCF2000 as a device in Sonar, and set it up as an ACT MIDI controller, loaded the BCF2000 preset, and sent the configuration to the BCF.

So far I have got to the stage where moving the faders on the BCF moves the faders on screen in the Sonar console view. However there are 2 major areas where I just can't get the thing to work:

1) Moving the faders in Sonar has no effect on the BCF, which completely negates having motorised faders. How can I get the communication to be two way, so moving a Sonar fader moves the BCF fader ?

2) The BCF faders move the Sonar faders, and the BCF rotary controllers change the track pan settings - but none of the BCF buttons do anything - despite the mapping for the buttons being shown in the Sonar view of the BCF (I think it is called the WAI view). Any advice on how I can get the buttons to work please ?

Thanks
Chris

OK sorted

You're probably better off using Mackie HUI emulation, which you can read about in the BCF manual (from memory though, with Sonar, you need to boot the BCF while holding the fourth button from the left, on the top row, though I could be wrong).

Then make your MIDI assignments etc, and add a new controller in Sonar using the Mackie HUI preset that should already be in the list... Summink like that anyway, but there's a good YouTube tutorial on it somewhere where someone goes into detail on all the shift functions and EQ and compressor effect adjustments etc. You may want to invest in labels...!

Cheers,

Chris

Thanks Korff, that's exactly what I did. The BCF2000 works great in Mackie emulation mode, full dual mode with motorised faders etc. - a bargain at the price

The BCF manual is misleading - it talks about using the Cakewalk Control Surface mode rather than Mackie emulation - best bet is to chuck the manual in the bin and search on the Sonar forums for what users actually did to get the BCF working

The Sonar ACT mode is also useless - needs some significant updating to be of any use at all

Cheers
Chris

Can't say I've used ACT much really, although I've seen it demonstrated and it certainly looked useful — in fact I've been toying with the idea of getting a BCR for soft-synths and such, and using it as a normal MIDI controller with ACT for hands-on tweakery.

The BCF is a great little gizmo though, especially in Mackie mode — though I don't use it for all the plug-in tweaking it's supposedly capable of... trying to remember which keys to hold down at the same time to instantiate a compressor, and then remembering which (unlabelled) knobs control it seems more of a faff than using the mouse! But for level adjustment, panning and transport alone, it's well worth the peanuts it costs.

Cheers!

Chris