path: root/manual/xml/mackie.xml

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<section id="sn-mackie">
  <title>Using the Mackie driver for MCU and BCF2000</title>
  <para>
    For Ardour 2, this will walk you through the process of configuring and
    using Mackie MCU, or a BCF2000 in
    <ulink url="http://www.behringerdownload.de/BCF2000/BCF2000_Emulation_modes.pdf">Logic
    Control emulation mode</ulink>.
  </para>

  <section id="mackie-connecting-device">
    <title>Connecting Device</title>
    <para>
      Make sure your surface is connected and you know which
      <filename>/dev/snd/midi</filename> entry belongs to the device. You
      can do this by saying <command>cat /proc/asound/cards</command> which
      should result in something like
<screen>
 0 [EWS88MT        ]: ICE1712 - TerraTec EWS88MT
                      TerraTec EWS88MT at 0x1140, irq 21
 1 [VirMIDI        ]: VirMIDI - VirMIDI
                      Virtual MIDI Card 1
 2 [BCF2000        ]: USB-Audio - BCF2000
                      BEHRINGER BCF2000 at usb-0000:00:1a.1-1, full speed
</screen>
      in this case the BCF2000 is on <filename>/dev/snd/midiC2D0</filename>.
    </para>

    <para>
      While ardour is not running, edit your
      <filename>~/.ardour2/ardour.rc</filename> (and for now
      <filename>etc/ardour2/ardour_system.rc</filename> and
      <filename>etc/ardour2/ardour.rc</filename>) and add at the top, with
      the other ports:
<programlisting>
&lt;MIDI-port tag="mcu" device="/dev/snd/midiC2D0" type="alsa/raw" mode="duplex"/&gt;
</programlisting>
    </para>

    <para>
      Optionally, there is a way to get udev to assign an attached BCF2000 a
      consistent name under /dev/ however, by adding the following line to
      the udev rules. On some systems, these reside in
      <filename>/etc/udev/rules.d/</filename>:
<programlisting>
KERNEL=="midiC[0-9]D0", ATTRS{product}=="BCF2000", SYMLINK+="midi-bcf2000"
</programlisting>
      This will cause udev to create a
      <filename>/dev/midi-bcf2000</filename> for any BCF attached to the
      system, regardless of which alsa card number it gets assigned.
      Obviously you'd use <filename>/dev/midi-bcf2000</filename> instead of
      <filename>/dev/snd/midiC2D0</filename>.
    </para>

    <para>
      See also
      <ulink url="http://reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html">Writing
      udev rules</ulink>
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="sn-mackie-extenders">
    <title>Extenders</title>
    <para>
      The Logic protocol allows the use of
      <ulink url="http://www.mackie.com/products/mcupro/index.html">extenders</ulink>
      or
      <ulink url="http://www.mackie.com/home/showimage.html?u=/products/mcupro/images/MCU-ExtPro-Top.jpg">Extender
      image</ulink>. Extenders are essentially banks of 8 faders without the
      jog wheel and buttons. Once the code is fixed, it will be possible to
      use either the mackie extenders, or BCF2000 units as extenders.
    </para>
<!--
		<para>
      To do this, add the following lines to
      <filename>~/.ardour2/ardour.rc</filename>
<programlisting>
&lt;MIDI-port tag="mcu_xt_1" device="/dev/snd/midiC3D0" type="alsa/raw" mode="duplex"/&gt;
&lt;MIDI-port tag="mcu_xt_2" device="/dev/snd/midiC4D0" type="alsa/raw" mode="duplex"/&gt;
</programlisting>
      and so on, one for each of your extenders, up to a maximum of 9
      extenders.
    </para>
-->
  </section>

  <section id="mackie-mackie-mode">
    <title>Mackie Mode</title>
    <para>
      If you have a Mackie MCU make sure that you have the following under
      the &lt;Config&gt; tag in <filename>~/.ardour2/ardour.rc</filename>:
<programlisting>
&lt;Option name="mackie-emulation" value="mcu"/&gt;
</programlisting>
    </para>

    <note>
      <para>
        The Mackie must be in Logic Control mode, otherwise the LCD display
        does not work. To put the unit in Logic Control mode: press and hold
        channel 1+2 SELECT while turning the unit on and through
        calibration; and then press the VPOT under whichever mode you wish
        to use.
      </para>
    </note>

    <para>
      In this mode, the button mappings from
      <ulink url="http://www.mackie.com/products/mcu/pdf/MCU_MCU_Overlay.pdf">MCU
      Overlay</ulink> are used. Note that many of the buttons have not yet
      been implemented, mainly because I have no idea what they should do.
      Suggestions welcome.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="mackie-bcf-mode">
    <title>BCF mode</title>
    <para>
      If you have a BCF2000 you must add under the &lt;Config&gt; tag in
      <filename>~/.ardour2/ardour.rc</filename>:
<programlisting>
&lt;Option name="mackie-emulation" value="bcf"/&gt;
</programlisting>
    </para>

    <para>
      The following are different in BCF mode:
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            7 of the 8 sliders are used as route sliders, the remaining
            right-hand one is used for the master slider
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            certain buttons have been remapped from the default Behringer
            settings, which required either both hands, or one-handed
            contortions to do simple things like rec-enable or mute a track.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            The display shows the number of the first switched-in bank or Ar
            if the first bank is in place.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>
      BCF mode bindings
      <table id="tbl-mackie-bcf-key-bindings">
        <title>BCF mode bindings</title>
        <tgroup cols = "4">
          <colspec colnum="1" colname="Strip" colwidth="1"/>
          <colspec colnum="2" colname="Master Strip" colwidth= "1"/>
          <colspec colnum="3" colname="Buttons 1" colwidth="1"/>
          <colspec colnum="4" colname="Buttons 2" colwidth= "1"/>
          <thead>
            <row>
              <entry>
                Strips 1-7
              </entry>

              <entry>
                Master Strip
              </entry>

              <entry namest="Buttons 1" nameend="Buttons 2">
                Buttons
              </entry>
            </row>
          </thead>
          <tbody>
            <row>
              <entry>
                <para>
                  vpot: pan
                </para>

                <para>
                  button: solo
                </para>
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  vpot: jog wheel
                </para>

                <para>
                  button: all solo
                </para>
              </entry>

              <entry namest="Buttons 1" nameend="Buttons 2">
                LCD display
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                mute
              </entry>

              <entry>
                mute
              </entry>

              <entry>
                shift 1
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  loop
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: marker
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 2: punch in
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                rec
              </entry>

              <entry>
                session rec
              </entry>

              <entry>
                shift 2
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  click
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: jog wheel scrub/shuttle/scroll
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 2: punch out
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry morerows="4" valign="middle">
                slider
              </entry>

              <entry morerows="4" valign="middle">
                slider
              </entry>

              <entry>
                rewind
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  ffwd
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: jog wheel zoom
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                home
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  end
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 2: save
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                <para>
                  previous bank
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: previous route
                </para>
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  next bank
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: next route
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                frm_prev (previous marker)
              </entry>

              <entry>
                frm_next (next marker)
              </entry>
            </row>

            <row>
              <entry>
                <para>
                  stop
                </para>

                <para>
                  shift 1: remove last capture
                </para>
              </entry>

              <entry>
                <para>
                  play
                </para>
              </entry>
            </row>
          </tbody>
        </tgroup>
      </table>
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="mackie-connecting-to-ardour">
    <title>Connecting to Ardour</title>
    <note>
      <para>
        Currently (in 2.0.x and 2.0-ongoing), support for the mackie using
        alsa/sequencer ports is not working properly. That is, some MIDI
        messages get through, but some don't. So it's not reliable enough
        for use. Until that's fixed, you're better off using alsa/raw as
        documented above.
      </para>
    </note>

    <para>
      Start up ardour. Go to Options/Control Surfaces. You should see
      "Mackie" as one of the menu items. Turn it on. The faders on the
      surface should jump to the correct positions. The mackie should work
      as normal, except that any buttons not on the BCF won't work.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="mackie-usage">
    <title>Usage</title>
    <para>
      Strips (faders,pots,rec-enable,mute,solo) etc are fairly obvious.
    </para>

    <para>
      The Jog wheel has various modes:
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Scroll mode. Part of the Scrub button cycle. The default.
            Scrolls the playhead. Displays "SC" in the 2 character LED.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            Scrub mode. Part of the Scrub button cycle. Rate of rotation of
            the Jog wheel controls the direction and speed of the transport.
            Displays "Sb" in the 2 character LED.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            Shuttle mode. Part of the Scrub button cycle. Jog wheel controls
            speed and direction of transport. Displays "Sh" in the 2
            character LED.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            Zoom mode. Toggled by the Zoom button. Mutually exclusive with
            the Scrub cycle. Jog wheel controls zoom level. Displays "Zm" in
            the 2 character LED.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>
      When holding ffwd or rew, the Jog wheel will adjust the speed.
    </para>

    <para>
      frm_next and frm_prev will jump to next or previous markers. Markers
      can be set at the current playhead position with the marker button.
    </para>

    <para>
      The pot will pan single panners, and linked stereo panners. It won't
      pan unlinked stereo panners, or 3 or more channel panners.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="mackie-thanks">
    <title>Thanks</title>
    <para>
      Thomas Vecchione for help debugging the mackie LCD display, and
      functionality suggestions.
    </para>

    <para>
      Giso Grimm for help debugging various BCF issues, and functionality
      suggestions.
    </para>

    <para>
      Josh Parsons for the udev configuration and links.
    </para>

    <para>
      Various other people who provided good bug reports and suggestions and
      feedback.
    </para>
  </section>
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