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Introduction
Once upon a time, there were only a few routes you could take when wanting to mix together your favourite tracks – but even a modest spec computer can thread together a mix with relative ease nowadays. Digital download services mean budding djs from all over the world can get quick and easy access to fresh tracks too.
But, we are all human after all, and very few are content with control purely through mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts. It’s certainly possible, but a few knobs and sliders can always help. Some of us old timers have also been conditioned with hands on control, so a bit of familiarity is always welcome.
Welcome to the world of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), a protocol that is still going strong since its inception in the early 1980s. It’s a standardised way for equipment to talk to one another, and tell each other what to do. For most purposes this is all you really need to know, but if you want to learn more I would suggest the excellent articles from the Sound On Sound archive (in the August to December 1995 issues – http://www.soundonsound.com ).
The BCD2000 falls broadly into the category of MIDI controller, but it also features a built in audio interface and comes bundled with some software for DJing too. Therefore, with a suitable PC and some kind of monitoring system, you are good to go (some music would be useful too….)
Audio
As well as the MIDI controls, the BCD2000 doubles as a 4-in / 4-out soundcard – though the channel input set-up is a bit strange. The outputs are fairly straight forward; you have a pair of RCA connectors at the rear of the unit as well as a headphone output on the front. These are your stereo pairs of CH1-2 and CH3-4 respectively. You can flip these around in the software control panel if you like (using the ASIO drivers in ‘Advanced Mode’). There are actually two pairs of RCA connections for the input section, but also a balanced XLR microphone input too. The mic input has a level control, 2-band EQ, talkover switch and an ‘on air’ switch which routes the signal to the master output.
RCA input A is phono level, whereas input B is phono / line switchable – which seem a lot more sensible in this day and age. Quite why Behringer decided to have only one channel switchable is beyond me, and seems a strange design decision. I can’t think of a good reason. The eagle eyed amongst you will realise that there are more input sections than the 4-in spec will allow. So software input A is actually shared between the phono level RCA connection and the XLR microphone input. You have to choose which you are going to route into the PC with the software control panel.
MIDI
The MIDI is transmitted over the USB connection, so don’t go hunting for physical connections for MIDI cables! The BCD2000 comes with plenty of sliders, switches and rotaries. All the standard CD player style transport controls are there, as well as extra buttons for looping and FX control. In around these are the mixer controls – gain, EQ, crossfader and channel faders. The symmetrical layout seems a bit counter-intuitive but I don’t think there is a way around this seeing as there are mixer controls too in a very compact space. Separating the transport controls in a more logical way would take up a lot more room. The markings match up to software controls in the supplied B-DJ package, which is developed by Xylio ( http://www.xylio.com ). I didn’t really get on too well with the B-DJ software, so decided to ditch it in favour of trusty old djDecks ( http://www.djdecks.be ).
Technically, any piece of software which responds to MIDI control should be useable – but can take a bit of effort to set-up if support for the BCD2000 isn’t ‘native’ (i.e. someone else has done the hard work so it’s more plug and play). Most applications will have some kind of MIDI learn function, and then you can save the control settings as a template. I managed to assign most of the controls to Native Instruments Traktor DJ Studio without too much hassle, with the exception of the jog dials. I’m getting too old to be spending time using intermediate MIDI control applications to get the results I want, so I stuck with djDecks instead.
In Use
From a personal point of view, using software apps with MIDI control to mix is really strange. The unit certainly doesn’t feel great, and it’s kind of like a plastic replica of a ‘real’ mixing surface. But then you can spend nearly the price of this whole unit on just one fader for your average scratch mixer. I think this is the case with a lot of the lower end MIDI equipment. Do you want to spend masses on something that just controls a software slider? Why not get a comprehensive audio interface and a real audio mixing surface. It’s a bit more complicated than this, so we’ll leave the deep philosophical musings to the internet message boards. But although the controls are functional, they certainly aren’t inspirational. It also reinforces the notion that controls such as EQ and effects are now part of the software you choose to use, not the mixer you would traditionally pick. This takes a bit of getting used to, especially constantly checking where your EQ controls are actually set because the markings on the BCD2000 are impossible to see! So you need to be happy with your software choice, as well as your controller. The main output quality from the unit seemed fine to me – no real complaints there for the price.
The ASIO drivers installed and worked fine for me (make sure you get the latest update from the Behringer website). The slider for the ASIO buffer size doesn’t go below 4ms for me – not sure if this is specific to my system, which means if you wanted to use the inputs for vinyl emulation software you will probably end up near the edge of comfort for scratching purposes. The BCD2000 would theoretically be workable for those wishing to do vinyl emulation control, but would obviously necessitate using the headphone output if you want to use another external mixer – which isn’t ideal.
Final Thoughts
Having the luxury of using higher end dj equipment all the time makes it a strange feeling going back to something that is really targeted at the budget conscious beginner, but I’ll admit I had some fun using the BCD2000.
For the price, it’s staggering how much functionality you get – a control surface and soundcard in one for near to £100. Not bad at all. There are obvious compromises that have to be made to get to that price point, but it’s still great value.
Ratings
Build Quality - 7/10
Reflects the price point, some scratchy and uneven controls.
Sound Quality - 7.5/10
Fine to my ears – but remember the software choice plays an important part too.
Features & Implementation - 8/10
Plenty of MIDI controls but strange choices for the analog inputs.
Value For Money - 10/10
Has everything a new budget conscious digital DJ needs.
The Bottom Line
The first steps into mixing are more accessible than ever, with flexibility to use the BCD2000 with any software that supports MIDI control.