#bcr2000

I got another new piece of equipment, a Behringer B-Control Rotary BCR2000. It’s a cascadable desktop control surface that was released over 10 years ago. So I’m late on this, but I haven’t had the need until now. (I’m aware of Behringer’s newer product range X-Touch, but in short, I do favor the many rotary knobs to a few faders, even if they’re motorized.)

The purpose was mainly to have the BCR2000 act as a programmer for a recently purchased Alpha Juno-2, and it really does open up the synth. Even if I know a thing or two about subtractive synthesis, to have all parameters laid out like this, and being able to make multiple adjustments simultaneously, well that’s just unbeatable.

Not Perfect

Now the BCR2000 isn’t perfect. To set it up and upload custom presets (SysEx) could have been easier. The knobs feel alright, but not as good as the microKORG’s or MiniBrute’s. The illuminated encoders can also be a bit imprecise; there are 15 LED in the ring around each knob, and they transmit values from 0 to 127, which should mean that each light holds approximately 8-9 steps, but in reality the amount jumps, i.e. the first light covers 5 steps and the second 8 steps.

To shift between USB and stand-alone modes, which is necessary in my case using both hard- and software, is a bit fiddly.

I’d also prefer the clumsy thingy to be a little more compact.

Conclusion

Anyway, it’s a great device. And it turns out the BCR2000 also talks to my microKORG, which makes the notorious menu diving redundant. And on top of that it works wonderfully with Live and Reason’s softsynths and features.

There seem to be plenty of resources for the BCR2000 like a Yahoo group and a several threads on Gearslutz.

A live electronic music thing. Lyrics inspired by Clive Barker's "Abarat".

Ableton - Clock and recording Vocals - SM58 into Ableton running a pre-sequenced vocoder clip Sonic Potions LXR (clock from Ableton - clock to BCR2000) - Drums Behringer BCR200 - running Zaquencer 2x Meeblip (through Zaquencer) Access Virus A (through Zaquencer) OP-1 (clock from Ableton. Tape loops and live playing) Post - Crash, reverse crash, elevator, bit of compression / eq

Shot with a Canon 5d mk ii, 60d, and Olympus EP2