Helix Rack with Behringer FCB1010

[justinjag77]

I've been setting up my FCB with the rack and using snapshots and patch changes with it, just wondering if anyone is interested in how I setup the board?

[rd2rk]

Here's a thread from a while back and includes a demo sysex that I posted:

 

 

Always interested to see how someone else might approach it.

[Digital_Igloo]

Behringer... <shudders> I sure hope you already had one lying around and didn't buy one specifically for Helix Rack!

 

If I had an extra Helix Control in my office, I'd send it to you. It's a good 40-50% of the whole Rack+Remote experience (scribble strips, block selection, RGB rings, customizable names, controller assignment, hands-free Pedal Edit mode, Command Center, a metric ton of additional visual feedback at your feet, dozens of other features...) and over the life of the product would save... weeks or months of programming time?

 

But I'm clearly biased.

[rd2rk]

2 minutes ago, Digital_Igloo said:

Behringer... <shudders> I sure hope you already had one lying around and didn't buy one specifically for Helix Rack!

 

 

The FCB1010 is one of the few good Behringer products from the era that (rightly) caused Behringer's bad rep, though it works best with the UNO Chip mod.

If you buy the $20 UNO_ControlCenter Editor, which works with UNO or the stock chip, it's not nearly as difficult to program as some would have you believe.

 

As for being a good alternative to a proper Floor Controller for the Rack, I absolutely agree.

IF your needs are minimal AND you already have one lying around AND/OR you're really poor, it'll get you by until you can afford the real thing.

I have a Helix Floor, and wouldn't trade for all the reasons you mentioned, but especially the scribble strips.

 

That said, if my Helix goes down, I can use Native with my FCB until it gets back from service.

Though I really hope you get program changes working in Native so it can be used this way outside of the MAC ecosystem - like on PCs with Reaper, Ableton, etc. :-)

[Digital_Igloo]

35 minutes ago, rd2rk said:

 

The FCB1010 is one of the few good Behringer products from the era that (rightly) caused Behringer's bad rep, though it works best with the UNO Chip mod.

If you buy the $20 UNO_ControlCenter Editor, which works with UNO or the stock chip, it's not nearly as difficult to program as some would have you believe.

 

As for being a good alternative to a proper Floor Controller for the Rack, I absolutely agree.

IF your needs are minimal AND you already have one lying around AND/OR you're really poor, it'll get you by until you can afford the real thing.

I have a Helix Floor, and wouldn't trade for all the reasons you mentioned, but especially the scribble strips.

 

That said, if my Helix goes down, I can use Native with my FCB until it gets back from service.

Though I really hope you get program changes working in Native so it can be used this way outside of the MAC ecosystem - like on PCs with Reaper, Ableton, etc. :-)

Clearly our sales guys would disagree, but I'd go as far as suggesting a used Helix Rack+Control over a new Helix Rack plus any other MIDI controller.

 

And as far as I'm concerned, Behringer will always be in a bad rep era.

[justinjag77]

Hey guys, I've had it for years that and my FBV which I already posted a video of here. I will upgrade to the control at some point.

[rd2rk]

20 minutes ago, justinjag77 said:

Hey guys, I've had it for years that and my FBV which I already posted a video of here. I will upgrade to the control at some point.

 

So, you were going to post YOUR FCB sysex? Mine was just a demo, to show someone the possibilities. I'm guessing yours is a day to day working version?

[justinjag77]

nah just a quick video, but if it's already been done then no

[Papanate]

24 minutes ago, justinjag77 said:

nah just a quick video, but if it's already been done then no

 

 

I'd been interested if you would post it.  I literally hate my FCB - it's very wonky - and I can never get the expression pedals to Zero Out and still go to full. 

[rd2rk]

Just now, Papanate said:

 

 

I'd been interested if you would post it.  I literally hate my FCB - it's very wonky - and I can never get the expression pedals to Zero Out and still go to full. 

 

The Expression pedals on the FCB are definitely a weak point. If you're on the FCB1010 Forum (formerly on Yahoo), searching both the stock FCB1010 and FCB1010_UNO boards will turn up a lot of info on getting them to work right. One of the reasons that the UNO Chip was created was to correct the bad Exp Pedal implementation of the stock chip.

 

https://fcb1010.groups.io/g/main

 

31 minutes ago, justinjag77 said:

nah just a quick video, but if it's already been done then no

 

Like I said, my sysex was just a demo/example "how-to". If you're actively using it to control your rack, I'd love to see how YOU go about it. I only use the FCB with Native.

[SmackedActor]

That's probably the lenses being dirty. Exp pedals on the FCB are optical, so if you open it up and clean the lenses with some alcohol and cottonstick they'll work again. Did it a couple of times with my FCB before I had the floorcontroller.