FL Studio with MTP and my Behringer Motor

Hi! I have a behringer motor device that has 4 banks per 8 motorized faders, per 8 encoders and per 8 pads.

Since the faders and encoders are all of absolute value, I am wanting to achieve how to get bidirectional feedback from DAW FL Studio to my behringer motor using MTR.

I just need 1 control example and I can replicate it to the other controls.

 

Hi,

I believe your Behringer MTR uses MCU Protocol (Mackie Control Universal). I’m not familiar with setup in FL Studio but if you set it to MCU and then move the faders on FL studio, that should do the trick. You can route it through BMT1 and then back to your actual controller using MT Pro if you want to see what is happening and then set FL Studio to talk to BMT 1 instead of your actual device. Below is a screen shot of how it would be set up. Of course my nanoKontrol2 doesn’t have motorized faders so no way to test it.

 

Oh and Mackie Fader control is Ex yy yy where x=MIDI channel-1 (0-F) and yy=fader value (0-7F).

 

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz


Attachments:
![](upload://5UTri39sZVFPCgOj95bOx0bcY2x.png)

Yes Behringer MTR users MCU but I want it to mask as a Nektar Panorama Controller for FL Studio.
I already know the midi informations per controls on the nektar panomarama.
I have done it using a Behringer BCF2000 mask as a Nektar Panorama Controller for FL Studio.
This controller type is deeply integrated w/ FL Studio w/ bidirectional feedback to/fro the DAW and Midi Controller as long as you know which midi infos are send from the controls as well as selecting Nektar Panorama as the Controller type.

I can try to replicate the controls to my Behringer Motor like what I did on my BCF2000 but I have MTP to use as the in between with as much as upto 4 ports where each port is a Nektar Panorama Controller Type.

My point in doing this is that Nektar Panorama can have up to 24 (Bidirectional Feedback) endless encoders and I know Behringer Motor’s encoder led rings and motorized faders will receive incoming info from FL Studio, again just like how I did it on my BCF2000.

The only downside here is that per focused window inside the FL Studio, you are limited by 24 parameters to control because once Behringer Motor or my old BCF2000 masks as a Nektar Panorama Controller Type then midi channels 2-16 will be locked

Which is why I need 4 Virtual Ports for MOTOR1(Midi Mode)
1st Port – Nektar Controller Type for FL Studio
2nd Port – Nektar Controller Type for FL Studio
3rd Port – Generic Midi Type (This means I can use the MIDI MODE in Motor)
4th Port – Generic Midi Type (This means I can use the MIDI MODE in Motor)

MOTOR2(Mackie Control)

OK, that’s a lot to take in. So you want it to behave like a Nektar Panarama for FL Studio instead of a Mackie Controller? You want to send Nektar, fader commands to MT Pro from FL Studio and have them come out from MT Pro as Mackie Fader movements, (and visa-versa as you move faders on your Motor)?

No. There are 3 midi in/out ports
Motor Keyboard
Motor 1 (Midi Mode)
Motor 2 (Mackie Mode)

I want the Motor Midi Mode be connected to 4 BMT Virtual Ports

So that 1 & 2 virtual ports will act as Panorama Controller Type
3 & 4 Virtual ports will act as Behringer Motor Midi Mode

The Hardware Behringer Motor has a Shift Button where I will use as a switcher to the 4 BMT virtual ports

So basically multiplying 1 Motor Midi Mode into 4 virtual ports using a Shift button

and Motor Keyboarf and Motor2 Mackie Mode will stay as is

The image below will give understanding and imagine Nektar Panorama MIDI In as a Virtual BMT x4 for them
http://www.nektar.online/knowledge_base/FL_Studio/Panorama_FLStudio_MIDI_Settings_Win.JPG

OK the picture is starting to form for me now, but’ I’m unsure of a few things. See the below diagram. According to the manual, the controller exposes 4 MIDI ports (2 in and 2 out). What I’m not sure of is if the second pair of ports is used in MIDI mode for control, or whether both control and performance go through the first port in MIDI mode.

Also, the manual recommends against switching between MIDI and Mackie mode during performance. I suspect the reason for this ismay confuse many DAWs.

What you are looking for is to be able to use a control to select between the various MIDI pairs using a “shift” button, allowing you to use the same controls to handle 4 x paramaters.

Basically what you will need is a consistent control type to select among the available port pairs. Each port pair would have two presets (one for each direction) that defines the MIDI routing. I created something for this and attached it below, however I’ve only set it up for 1 direction (out only), so you would need to modify it to handle complete pairs (to control your faders). You would also need to have global variables to “remember” you fader positions for each selections and send fader updates when switching pairs.

Is this the type of thing you are looking for?

 

 


Attachments:
1540221223319_Device-Selector-2018-10-20.bmtp
![](upload://lAnkmzWg95bhPC6VzRogj8rdqKF.png)

Hi! That diagram is perfect except MC Mode will not be part of it since I can just switch it on the Motor hardware.
Behringer does recommend against switching between Midi and MC Mode but it works well w/ FL Studio which means I only need Midi Mode to go to BMT then BMT to FL Studio.
This image link will give an idea.
https://ibb.co/cpF3fq
You can see I/O port enabled for BMT1, 2, 3, and 4.
You can also see the Behringer Motor 49 Keyboard I/O port being Disabled since THAT is the Midi Mode.
My next problem is setting up the Next/Previous Preset which will enable me to switch between virtual ports and as you see on the image, BMT1 I/O is assigned to Port 61 as well as other BMT virtual ports.
So I made 4 Presets each has the REW as Previous Preset Translator and FWD as Next Preset Translator.
The Rew/Fwd buttons are in MIDI MODE so it wont coincide with FL Studio and for this I just changed all 4 Virtual Ports as Generic Controller Type in FL Studio and not a ’Special” Controller type as I posted before so that it will make it easier for me to work this out for now.
Here is the image: https://ibb.co/eRDW0q.
My preset settings are shown on the image as follows
https://ibb.co/ib2PLq
My next problem is everytime I link a plugin parameter, the motor controls being received are coming from the last Port 64 but if I disable this port and redo the linking and move the same motor controls, then Port 63 is being received. So its like the last virtual port is more common to receive the midi data from the plugin parameters as shown on the image below
https://ibb.co/bONNqq

OK, so we take Mackie out of the picture since it will be going directly between Motor and FL.

First of all, I suggest you remove ALL default routings and handle all routing in presets and translators. In the long run, it will make things a lot less confusing (no MIDI messages “sneaking through by default routes”.

The attached is a 2 way router for 2 of the 4 virtual devices you want. You should be able to easily duplicate for the other devices.

I have a timer that when triggered deselects all presets (except for always on) and then disables the two presets (incoming and outgoing) for each device. Each preset has it’s own default inputs and outputs. Within each preset, I have translators for 1, 2 and 3 byte messages that allows them to pass through. No other MIDI messages get through. If you want to also pass through Sysex, you will have to add translators in each preset for any Sysex you want to pass through for that device using the correct “raw MIDI” incoming sysex pattern (and length).

I’ve set up aliases for the devices so upon opening the project, you will need to assign them to your actual Motor device and associated virtual ports going to FL studio.

 

Of course your device selection input messages will need to change based on what you want but since I use timers, you only have to change one translator for each incoming device selection message. I use the global variable ga as the device number and then use that in the translators to tell which presets to enable.

I hope this helps set you in the right direction.

 

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz


Attachments:
1540304229521_Two-Way-Device-Selector-2018-10-23.bmtp

Thank you for this!
I’ve opened it and change ports…
I’ve also change translators
Select Device 1 = Keystroke 1
Select Device 2 = Keystroke 2

Now i’ve opened FL Studio
and midi settings is like this:
Virtual Ports:
BMT1 = 61
BMT2 = 62

Now I try to link 1 parameter and seems whichever is the 1st virtual port which is 61, it is the port that gets to control parameters.

Anyways, I will look into your project and see what I can change and if it still stuck on 1 port then I will get back.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!

My pleasure. Good luck!

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

Hi! Yes the 2 port does work when device selector enabled! Maybe I got it wrong when I keep pressing a keystroke as I thought it would act like an incremental value or cycle device selectors with 1 keystroke but this device selector per keystroke is good enough. But in the future l may use Shuttle Pro Countour to wheel different port device selectors.

Hi, if the button puts out the same value and you want it to increment on each press it, you could do this with a global variable such as

ga=ga+1
if ga==5 then ga=0

Then use the value of ga to select the device. Of course for the project I sent with just 2 devices it would be
if ga==3 then ga=0

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

[0] Project Opened
// Set preset number
ga=ga+1
if ga==5 then ga=0
[1]Select Device 1
ga=1
and so on until Device 4

Is this how I should do it?

Project opened
ga=1
Device Select (next device) (if you want a single button to increment through the available devices.
ga=ga+1
if ga>4 then ga=1
Device Select (next device) (if you want a single button to decrement through the available devices.
ga=ga-1
if ga<1 then ga=4

https://imgur.com/a/12kiGCu
This image is how I set it.
Preset – Device Selector – I’m still having that incremental problem where it goes straight to the 4th device
Other than that I wish to use increment and decrement rules so that I will only use 2 buttons
I am having hard time with using 1 keystroke to increment and having different keystroke per device is also unlikely specially that my DAW uses almost all keyboard keys except the media prev/next keys
Note:I have updated the presets below it such as the virtual in/out for ports 3 and 4 as well as copied the rules and change the value

Since we are now activating presets by name instead of number you are going to need to add translators to the Device Selector Timer Preset and then set them to activate and deactivate 2 separate presets based on the number.

So you need 4 more translators in “Device Selector Timer” preset for the 2 additional devices.

https://imgur.com/a/TCFOE5U
Here is an image showing Preset – Device Selector Timer

Could you post your project file. I will have a look.

I seemed to make the Prev/Next Button to work now with just 3 Translator in Preset – Project Opened
https://imgur.com/a/XkqEazm
Image above
…Now i’m going to test this between DAW – BMTP – Motor
I may as well try Mackie Mode vs Midi Mode which means i’ll need to change input and output at the project level to see if I can multiply the Mackie Control since Motor receives current value from current open plugin inside DAW FL Studio versus using MIDI MODE where the controls are absolute and jumps parameter values when opening an instance of same plugin(but different parameter values as the one before)
Which will be the next problem-solving if there are any
:wink:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AGAIN!~

UPDATE! The Mackie Control x4 Works! But I did have to either press the assigned button for EQ or Track then press “Free Controls” button again to update its port in/out.
Free Controls Button on Mackie Protocol gives me 64 free assignable bidirectional feedback encoders or faders
Which means I have now 64×4=256 Free Controls 😀
I’m SO HAPPY! and I tested it using just 1 fader to control PAN, VOL, MOD X, MOD Y, each parameter is different port of 1 fader and the outcome is that the motorized fader follows suit! I just have to switch back to EQ/Track mode that is then back to the Free Controls Mode…So this will be like the next mission on how BMTP can PING and update to the MOTOR that I have switched preset. Is this Possible?