Behringer B-Control Fader BCF2000 Reviews

this BCF2000 is great. smooth and quiet. it helped me a lot in my mixing.very user friendly but somehow wish that the manual do give few examples or tricks in using it. anyways, it s a great product

The moving faders may not be the quietest around, but at this price the BCF2000 is a great value. And its integration into SONAR using the MCU preset it very well done. 10 seconds of setup time and I have a working control surface. Nice.

Pros: Works seamlessly with Logic Pro 9, very customizable programming, very sturdy unit, and perfectly accurate interpretation of slider and knob movements.

Cons: Bulkier than expected and when automation is played back the sliders' movement is a little bit jittery which doesn't affect anything, but can be a little annoying (may be a software issue with Logic and may not be the same with other DAW's).

Overall it is a great unit. It does exactly what I need it to do. The automation it inputs into Logic is extremely accurate and spot on with the physical movement of the sliders and knobs.

Not necessarily blown away by this product, but it does make mixing a lot more fun in the box. The faders are accurate and the device works without any hiccup. Install, set it up, and you're mixing away. Also, it seems to have a lot of customization with it but I've been just using the Mackie control settings and its perfect. One complaint I seen a lot is the lack of touch faders, yes, it doesn't have touch faders but then again its 200 dollars. And you get quite a device for 200 bucks!

I was skeptical because of the great price, I thought that this was just a cheap - make do - control surface BUT it works well, not only for my intended use - as a surface for Protools but as a controller in Adobe Premiere Pro CC2017. It did take a while to work things out and the instructions are not a 100% clear but with some applied knowledge this device is a great buy that I would recommend. Added to which the sales team at Sweetwater really pulled out all the stops - from advice to super quick delivery thousands of miles away! Cheers guys!

I owned the BCF for a few years. it was a hassle to set up because the instructions are limited but once i got it to work it worked. I used it with sonar8 to mix and do automation. I used it in every phase of the studio experience and it made the production process much faster as well as adding a professional look to my setup. the only problem with my unit was that the eighth fader did not function correctly which probably could have been fixed but i was out of warrenty so i just dealt with it. Over all i loved it and plan to get either this or one of behringers other control surfaces.

My Sweetwater rep turned me on to this as a possible choice as a control surface - I had grown tired of using a mouse to control my DAW, and this seemed like a good value.

First, a disclaimer - my knowledge of MIDI was essentially non-existent when I bought this - I had never used any MIDI gear, so at best I knew in principle how this would interface to my DAW, but far from understanding specifics. So, for me, the learning curve was steep, but eventually, I figured it out (thanks in part to web forums as well as some advice from my Sweetwater rep).

OK, so what about the unit itself?

There are various emulation modes supported, but for me, the Generic Remote mode offered me the most-flexible programming (done within CuBase), plus it allowed me to create specific .xml files that could be recalled (by each individual BCF2000) for various purposes. I suppose this can be done with the other emulations, but for me, the Generic Remote approach was the most straight-forward when it came to assigning DAW commands to specific controls on the surface - your mileage may vary.

Incidentally, the .xml files that I created when using these in XP Pro 32 worked perfectly when I managed to get everything working in 7 / 64. I suspected this would not be an issue (or shouldn't have been), but I was glad to see that my thinking was right about the .xml files.

The faders are motorized, and that's great. Yes, they do (or can) make a racket when the fade rates are high, and the sound they emanate is a bit off-putting (the case isn't all that well damped, so when the faders move, there's no mistaking them for sitting idle). If that really bothers you, then I'd suggest skipping this unit, on the other hand, if you're willing to put up with that then read on.

There are some 'oddities' to the unit that really come down to the drivers more than the unit itself, and what O.S. you are using as well as how many BCF2000 you are using. I have read that the driver-related issues don't exist if you are using unique devices, that is, ONE BCF2000 and ONE BCR2000 (for example), but whe using more than one BCF2000, things can get tricky.

Mind you, if you are using only one of these, it's generally not an issue and you can pretty much use default O.S. drivers, certainly in a 32-bit O.S. However, if you wish to use multiple BCF2000's, you *may* encounter difficulties if you try to rely upon the stock 64-bit drivers (Win 7), and to be honest, running both BCF2000 under XP Pro 32 pretty much required using the Behringer 32-bit driver (it's just a download).

On the other hand, if you download and install the Behringer 64-bit driver (which, by the way you will NOT find on the BCF download page (where you WILL find the 32-bit driver download)...why Behringer did not put the 64-bit download on the same page as the 32-bit download seems pretty odd to me) then Win 7 64, upon reboot, sees the BCF2000 as a device that is classified slightly differently than how it had been classified using the stock Win 7 64 MIDI driver. I did manage to finally get my two units working independently in Win 7 / 64 (I detailed the process up on gearslutz if you really want to know the step-by-step process) but only after having downloaded and installed the 64-bit Behringer driver - I simply could not get both units working independently and simultaneously in 7 64 until I did the driver installation.

You're probably thinking "well of course you idiot...install the 64-bit driver...". In my defense, I have to say that there are many forum posts in which people say they are using the stock 7 64 MIDI driver with no issues, and to be fair, that was the same experience that I had...but only when using one of the two BCF2000 that I have.

Anyway, if you know and understand MIDI protocol, then chances are that setting this (or these) up will be like a walk in the park for you. Again, I wasn't at all versed in MIDI when I bought this, and I still know very little about MIDI, but did manage to make it all work - eventually.

OK, so why did I say I like using generic remote and the .xml approach? It turns out that the editor within Cubase is actually pretty easy to understand once you mess around with things a bit - looking at one of the 'canned' remote files helped me figure out the assignment commands and patterns - and once you do that, you can create specific .xml files that suit your needs.

For example, one configuration that I have is what I refer to as the lower BCF xml file - that file has ch 1 - 8 mapped to the faders etc, but bank 2 acts as the controls for the EQ for a selected channel (Q, Fc, and gain). I have another .xml that I often use with this (for a 2nd BCF2000) that I call the upper .xml. That file I load into the 2nd BCF2000, and the faders then control ch 9 - 16, but the 2nd bank controls a plug-in that I sometimes use for mixes.

I'm pretty sure that there are four banks in all, so I can see how you might want to use bank 3 to control a different plug-in or whatever.

Here's the thing though...were it not for the BCF2000, some of the automated bits in my mixes would have been far, far more tedious had I to do those commands with a mouse and keystrokes. There really is no substitute for having your fingertips on faders or other controls when you wish to automate part of a mix (or all of it for that matter). Now, I am sure that there are better surfaces out there, and ones that offer more features and so on, but overall, I have been extremely happy with these units - especially for the money.

So, in summary...if you understand MIDI already, this should be rather simple for you to undertake. Also, there are surfaces out there that have more features and flexibility, that's for sure. However, if you're after surface that will effectively allow you to pretty much lose the mouse for good, and get your fingertips back onto the faders (where they belong), then I think you'll enjoy using this unit. The only real caveat here is keep in mind what might happen when using more than one of these units and how you'll have to use the proper driver etc. Lastly, I can't say if these issues persist in other DAW code - I only know how CuBase dealt with these when more than one was visible, and when the Behringer 64-bit driver was absent from the build.

Best motorized board at this price point. For any one who owns Cubase products you will need to hold down the third mute button while turning on. This sets it up to a preset. Let it run through its blinking lights then hit the exit button. Fallow the steps in Cubase for adding a controler and you are set to go. Use the page over button and sliders 5 and 6 become track 9 and 10. You can do this for unlimited amount of tracks. No need to buy a second or third BCF2000 to daisy chain them for 16 or 24 tracks.

Very loud and the faders twitch a little bit but for the size and price you can't beat it. Also I wish there were buttons for the automation but again the price is unbeatable

The only negative thing I can say is that the faders are noisy and jittery... but if you're looking for a cheap solution to control your faders and pans... this is it.

I've owned and used the BCF2000 for about 4 years for mixing in-the-box. It has worked quite well without incident. The faders slide easily. They are motorized and correspond to the faders in your software mixer and respond well to automation programming. On my unit they continue to function without a problem after years of use week in and week out mixing pop/rock projects.

The continuous rotary encoders by default function as pan knobs and I use them as such. They also can be pressed inward to access other functions depending on your sequencer controller configuration. I use that pressing function to access the monitoring of playback over the input channels on my software mixer. Again, I've had no problems with this aspect of the unit in durability or function.

The function buttons on each channel are for channel mute, select or solo depending on your specific configuration. I find that these keys as well as the other function keys (bank select, the four transport keys in the lower right, and the other buttons) greatly speed up my channel access and they are arranged in such a way that the most often addressed functions are no more than one or two button presses away.

The transport controls are indeed limited on this unit. They are restricted to play, stop, forward and rewind (with extra levels of control possible though simultaneous pressing of a designated "shift" key). But they do exist and function quite well for basic project navigation. However, I did eventually pair the unit with another USB transport control unit to work side by side simultaneously. The two play well together and the augmented control I added with the additional unit makes up for that lacking depth of transport control available on the BCF alone.

Overall the BCF 2000 is an excellent, very basic control surface. If one is serious about mixing in-the-box then it's a great first control surface that is built well enough (in my experience) to last at least a few years. At just over $200 it's a steal and a relatively small investment for a control surface. It doesn't have all of the functionality of something like a Mackie Control, but that unit is several times more expensive too. But for basic fader and pan control and basic transport as well as channel solo, mute and select it's perfect for the job. I highly recommend it.

Its great for othere software but limited when it comes to propellerhead reason. Most of the racks are automatically mapped but newer racks have to be manually mapped as well as not being able to use the power of presets the bcf2000 has to offer. I was trying to avoid another controller but i am gonna have to get something like akai mpk61. Once i get that than the bcf and a bcr in the near future will work the ssl mixer.

The BCF200 is a decent control surface. It's nice in that you can program the unit to a fairly wide variety of MIDI messages. The faders do feel a bit cheap. But that is to be expected on a unit at this price.

It would be nice if they had a unit with LCD scribble strips for channel labels, but that not only would raise the price, but also mean it would not be as much of a universal control surface, software would have to wirte specific support.

This is 2/3 a great unit, but unfortunately Behringer cut one corner too many! The unit doesn't have a transport panel, so the most fundamental commands, such as record, becomes a pain. A great shame, this could have been at truly awesome unit, at at fraction of the cost of the competitors, but as it is, it's a heart break.