Behringer BCF2000

[benunh]

So I've been trying to find a control surface to fit my needs now for quite some time. My only requirements are that it needed motorized faders (lots of 'em), at least 80mm faders, and rotary encoders (touch sensitive be damned!).
I had looked through everything I could, talked to as many people as possible, and gotten my hands on as many models as I could (all in all the best way to decide if you like a surface). I had gotten to the point where I was sure the Tascam US-2400 was what I wanted and I was just getting the funds together $1600 (but with a $200 rebate through Sept.).
But...then I read somewhere on this forum about the Behringer BCF2000 and checked it out. WOW! All the features I needed for an unbelievable price ($200). Sounds too good to be true but I just bought one.
I'm not the kind of person who really posts much on here, I'm just too busy, but I feel the need to redeem the BCF2000 as I have read a lot of peoples' posts that are giving it a bad rap. I bought mine from Zzounds.com (Sweetwater unfortunately doesn't carry it, sorry Robert!) and within 14 hours of clicking the order button, the box was at my door and I paid zilch for shipping! Rock on!
Within 20 minutes of opening the box, it was up and running perfectly with PT.
Now let me explain that before I received it, I read all about the problems people have had and about the fixes suggested so that I wasn't going into installtion blindly. I simply plugged it in, installed with WinXP, then went to the Behringer site and installed the USB and Firmware updates before I even thought about opening PT. Then restarted the BCF2000 in Baby HUI mode and opened PT. Now came the only scare of the whole process...PT did not recognize that any Digi hardware was installed. So I restarted my computer and restarted my Digi002R and then it started with no problem.
All the controls already mapped out perfectly and it all worked wonderfully!
In fact, now that this one works so well, I'm getting 2 more to have the 24 faders I need!

The only complaint I have with it (and I've heard this repeated elsewhere) is that the fader motors are a bit loud. Not like a jet engine or anything, but it's noticable when they kick into gear if you have your monitors muted. So don't be surprised by this. Simple solution (besides not tracking right next to the BCF2000 in the control room) is to keep automation to a minimum while tracking.

Anyway...I give it 5 stars on a price/value scale and highly recommend it.
If anyone has any problems with your setup, just let me know and I'll try to help.

Oh yeah, my setup is:
Pro Tools LE 6.9
Digi002R
Custom built PC running WinXP around AMD Athlon 2400+
512MB RAM
etc. etc.

Rock on!

Ben Blakesley
www.javboyrecords.com
Javboy Records

[Ian-H]

Hey Ben - can you add more BCF2000s and get ProTools LE to see a larger bank - i.e. will HUI mode see 24 faders? Have you tried integrating a BCR2000 (which I was seriously thinking of getting to control Reason.

cheers, Ian

[tha k man]

In my opinion...it is too good to be true. In fact, I think it'sa piece of crap. If you offered me one to work with for free, I'd decline. the offer. Save your pennies, and get something that actually might improve your productivity.
Without trying to sound too harsh, this would be about the worst motorised control surface that I have seen running with pro tools. I guess that sounds harsh...oh well...you get what you pay for.....

[davetron5000]

See, it's posts like the above that are just pointless. The guy posting his love for the BCF had specific details about why he liked it and what it did. great, informative post. Your post amounts to "Nah-ah". If you think it sucks, why? If someone scraped off the Behringer logo, would it be OK then?

Behringer can get thrased for quality, but just because some of their stuff sucks, doesn't mean the hate on all products is deserved.

And also, not all of us have $2000 to spend on control surfaces. In my mind if the BCF *controls protools*, it does what's advertised, and for $200, it seems like a pretty good deal. If PT supports multiple BFCs, it's a great deal, in my mind.

[yavuzj]

Without trying to sound too harsh, this would be about the worst motorised control surface that I have seen running with pro tools. I guess that sounds harsh...oh well...you get what you pay for.....

Can u be more specific? Why?

[yavuzj]

If PT supports multiple BFCs, it's a great deal, in my mind.

Where can we verify this?
Does anyobdy have more than one?
I want to buy 3.

[benunh]

Thank you guys for coming to my defense.
It was posts like the third one that made me hesitant about buying the BCF2000, but I am so glad I did now that I have it.

Regarding using multiples, I will have the answer shortly. I was so pleased with the first one that I ordered 2 more and will have them tomorrow (Aug 30).
I plan on running them all USB straight in and not having to deal with daisy chained MIDI, but we'll see.

I'll try to remember to post the results.
Right now I don't have any plans to get the BCR2000 although I imagine that if using multiple BCF's works, using BCR's would work too.

Rock on

Ben

[yavuzj]

I guess if multiples work, the only thing missing would be touch-sensitivity? Right?
So, which automation mode will be useless then?
Auto-Touch? Or... wil it make no difference at all?

[benunh]

Ok, got some more info for you after working with it a bit tonight.

The non-touch sensitive faders does NOT mean that you cannot use Auto-Touch automation, but it does make it a bit difficult. The BCF has no way of knowing whether or not your finger is on the fader. The only way it know is if the fader is moving so if you stop moving the fader while in auto-touch mode the BCF will think you're done with it and try to move the fader back. And whether or not you let it, PT will automate as if the fader is back in its original position.
The way to avoid this is to constantly keep a slight movement on the fader until you're ready for it to return to its position.
Definitely not ideal, so decide if that's something you can live with or not.

Also, since I'm preparing to add two more units to my setup I bought a USB 2.0 hub as all 7 of my current USB ports are being used.
I figured I would use the hub for all the BCFs to make it easy to know where they are plugged in and in the process learned that they are very particular as to what USB ports they will work with.
When plugged into a port it didn't like, the BCF would slip in and out of communication with the computer rendering it useless.
So I moved it back off the hub and onto the port I had it in originally and it works fine. It didn't like the hub or the ports built onto my motherboard, but works great with the PCI Firewire/USB card I have (luckily it has three USB ports on it, just enough for my upgrade).
So keep that in mind if you're considering buying.

I'll let you all know how it works with 3 units running together.

Ben

[tha k man]

See, it's posts like the above that are just pointless. The guy posting his love for the BCF had specific details about why he liked it and what it did. great, informative post. Your post amounts to "Nah-ah". If you think it sucks, why? If someone scraped off the Behringer logo, would it be OK then?

Behringer can get thrased for quality, but just because some of their stuff sucks, doesn't mean the hate on all products is deserved.

And also, not all of us have $2000 to spend on control surfaces. In my mind if the BCF *controls protools*, it does what's advertised, and for $200, it seems like a pretty good deal. If PT supports multiple BFCs, it's a great deal, in my mind.

Reality check for you.

For a start - I'm not thrashing Behringer as a brand - do you see any reference to any other Behringer products ? Where do you see a comment from me - "hating" all their products ? In fact, I did a live recording on the weekend - 16 splits into a 002 courtesy of a Behringer ADA8000, which worked great. I think that that is an excellent unit, and have recommended it many times.

No, I wouldn't use the BCF2000 if you scraped the label off.
*Clunky drivers and firmware updaters
*Unacceptable control latency
*Useless LED readout.

I have to call it as I see it.