Behringer B-CONTROL ROTARY BCR2000

DiMM80
June 25, 2008

Rating: 10/10

Perfect device. I've tried a lot of midi controllers and this one is the best for its' functions, knobs and usefull leds. Great for studio and live stage. I was surprised about great quality, build like a german tank :)

Great price and quality. Recommend to all. If you get unlimited budget get a lemur stuff as add on :)

www.myspace.com/dimm808
www.virb.com/dimm808
www.myspace.com/drshmurgenn

Richard Robinson
April 26, 2008

Rating: 9/10

This is definitely an excellent piece of equipment. And for a number of reasons too. Firstly the price, at just under 100 notes this is well worth the price, and probably has the functions of something worth a lot more.
I bought this as my first bit of kit to use with my PC, and so far it hasn't let me down. If you use reason you are in for a treat because it is so easy to use. Simply 2 clicks on any synth, drum machine, effect, and the BCR2000 will automatically assign each knob for you, lighting the ones which you need to use. Its especially good if you use it with the REDRUM drum computer, because the behringer will act as an efficient drum machine. Alternatively you can program each knob and button yourself for complete control of your tracks. (does not take a lifetime to do at all) This machine is also very efficient using with Ableton, again easily mappable.
I am so happy that I have found this, it really is a great way of extending your interest in music, whether your starting out like me, or a studio pro.
Also look at the BCF2000 to see which machine suits you best. =)
Thank you Behringer for making affordable but quality products.
Arrived very quickly from dolphin also, with excellent support.
I didn't give this a 10/10 because nothings perfect, however I cant think of a reason not to give it top marks!

Pabh
March 3, 2007

Rating: 9/10

This product gets a clear 9 out of 10 for me. The reason it's not a straight 10/10 is the fact that the makers (behringer) leave you to track down your own sysex dump software if you are on a mac.
Not that this is a hard thing to do, its just something they could include in their links to support their product.
Regardless of this however, this is a remarkable product. I use it currently with Propellerheads Reason 3.0.5 and Live 5.2.
What you need to do to do this is to update to the latest BCR2000 firmware via the sysex dump program that you have tracked down.
Once you have done that, then Reason will just automap the device, according to its new remote technology. A breakdown of which can be found on your computer. Which means that the device will be automapped to any and all devices within the reason rack.
This makes working with automation in Reason an absolute breeze.

Under Live, things are a little less preset, but Live works in a substantially more individual way, and so the perfect way for the controller to be set up, is often down to the way that you use the controller. But again, it is very easy to set up and use, and works almost fantastically well.

In both situations however, the BCR2000 will provide feedback about the things it is controlling. This is to say that you assign a knob to a certain parameter, say the volume of track 1, then the led display around that knob, will reflect the live status of that channels level.
So that if you used the mouse to change that level, then the display on the controller would also change.

If you are looking for a versatile, intuitive, robust midi controller, for either editing control or live playback control, I would heartily recommend the BCR2000.

XoNaR
July 19, 2004

Rating: 9/10

This is by far the most versatile controller in this price range. And the coolest.

The unit has 24 rotaries, 8 push-rotaries and 20 push-button controllers, all freely assignable in all midi modes you can imagine, ranging from standard CC to nrpn, to program change and more.
The push-rotaries can be extended over 4 different groups, wich changes the actual 8 push-rotaries to a whopping 32 push-rotaries.
That's 32 rotary + 32 push = 64 midi controllers in the top area alone!
This means you'll have a total of 64 + 20 + 24 = 108 controllers at your disposal.

The controllers are all hi-resolution and all have their own LEDs, which adds to the cool-factor.
The LED patterns on the top 8 push-rotaries can be changed in such a way so that they fit more specifically to a controller. Think of a pan controller for instance, which zeros at midi value 64 rather than midi value 0. You can change the behaviour of the LEDs within seconds.

The layout is cool, the design is cool, there's alot of controlling power at your fingertips and the price is downright unbelievable (185 euros over here in Holland).
An amazing device that gets you hooked on live-controlling the moment you turn that first rotary.

The manual isn't that good however. It's a bit messy and short.
There was no explanation on how to upgrade, nor is everything actually explained.
At time of purchase the box ran on 1.03 firmware but 1.04 firmware was already downloadable from the Behringer site as a sysex file. There's no explanation about this in the manual, nor in the download package. Ofcourse you need to use a sysex send program (Sequencer, MIDI-OX etc) but to those of us lacking that knowledge, it can be a pain to get this figured out.

The manual also speaks of 6 alternate editing modes by using the first 6 push-rotaries. Little did I know until I accidentally turned the 7th push-rotary. It opened up another alternate editing mode (for the LED patterns/behaviour). The 8th push-rotary alternate function enabled a basic On/Off mode.
This is stuff that should have been explained in the manual (or if this occured after upgrade to 1.04, an appendix should have been added in the download package).

All in all, the manual could be much better. The unit itself however is a joy to work with, it has everything you need for true analog feel and control of your soft-synths and hardware gear and an amazing range of controlling power.

Highly recommended.

9/10