Programming the Behringer X-Touch (MCU Pro)
The X-Touch is a dual-purpose control surface. It can be used to control Behringer and Midas digital mixers in XCTL mode, and work as a fully featured Mackie Control (MC and HUI). The XCTL mode uses an Ethernet connection while the MC protocols use a USB MIDI connection. Which device/mode is being used is switched by pressing the SMPTE/BEATS button at the right side of the timecode display.
From the start I find that a bit of a problem since I often switch between beats and timecode while working on a project. I can switch the display from the ‘Control Surface Setup’ window by toggling the ‘Clock Display’ control. Fine, but too hard.
Which Button to Use?
The simple answer is the ‘USER’ button directly below the ‘SMPTE/BEATS’ button. It doesn’t appear to do anything when pressed. I will be looking at what the button means on a Mackie Control, and may decide to use the other button that does me no good — ‘BUSES’.
Making Life Sane — Delete Previous Attempts
I put the control surface back to default mode before attempting a programming effort.
- Quit Logic Pro X
- Power off the X-Touch
- Remove control surface preferences — ‘rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic.pro.cs’
- Power on the X-Touch
- Open Logic Pro X
Changing the ‘USER’ Button
NB I need to have a project open to alter the control surface buttons (don’t ask me why.)
- Open ‘Control Surfaces>Controller Assignments…’ (⌥⇧K)
- Select Zone:Global Views
- Select Mode:User
- Select Control:User (released)
- Select Class:Control Surface Group
- Select Parameter:Clock Display
Now every time I press the ‘USER’ button on the X-Touch the time display toggles between SMPTE and BEATS.
Save the project. Quit Logic Pro X. Copy the preferences file to a safe place. Working up a backup scheme. That was a bust…back to work.
Removing the Select Screenset Commands From the Function Buttons
I don’t switch screen sets often, and don’t want the function buttons to change them. I need to find out which zone/mode contains the definitions for the keys.
- Open ‘Control Surfaces>Controller Assignments…’ (⌥⇧K)
- Select Zone:Control Surface Mackie Control
- Select Mode:No Mode
The relevant buttons are found labelled ‘F1’ through ‘F8’.
- Select Control:F1
- Select Class:Mode Change
- Select Mode: Global Views: None
Repeat for F2 through F8.
Logic Pro 9 Manual(s)
The world makes so much more sense if I read the Logic Pro 9 manual on control surfaces. All of the use of zone, and mode were removed from Logic Pro X manual. Much better view of the world from here…
Le Sigh.