Bitwig

sw1fty · Post by **sw1fty** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:42 pm

I have a Tascam FW1884 which I keep just as a control surface. I use a different interface for audio.
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the FW1884. It works pretty good in Mackie emulation mode with the MCU script in Bitwig but I am hoping it is possible to create a script for this to work in the FW1884's midi control mode. This would enable me to abandon the firewire connection and run it through midi cable. Does anyone have any experience with this controller?

ThomasHelzle · Post by **ThomasHelzle** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:04 pm

Sorry, can't help you much with this one.

But out of curiosity: Does the MCU script only work when you use the controller through firewire and not when you use it via midi?
Firewire should give you much better performance than a Midi Cable, so I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble? What bothers you about the firewire cable?

Cheers,

Tom

sw1fty · Post by **sw1fty** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:19 pm

The Tascam is quite old now and although it has Win7 drivers, It's not entirely stable. Over firewire I often experience loss of sync glitches which make the controls stuttery. I have tried the MCU script in midi control mode and it doesn't work.
The Tascam can only go into Mackie emulation mode when connected by firewire.
In midi control mode, I can create a generic keyboard and most of the faders will be recognized on midi learn but not the master fader and not transport.

ThomasHelzle · Post by **ThomasHelzle** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:37 pm

Do you have scripting/JavaScript experience?

Cheers,

Tom

sw1fty · Post by **sw1fty** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:38 pm

No I'm afraid not. None at all. I really wanted to try and find out here first if this was even possible before attempting to learn what's needed to script this.

ThomasHelzle · Post by **ThomasHelzle** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:50 pm

Possible: yes.

Basically you would start with inserting the line:

Code: Select all

printMidi(status, data1, data2);

In whatever script you are using as the first line in the

Code: Select all

function onMidi(status, data1, data2) {

function.
If you then open your View -> Show Control Script Console and select the controller from the list on the left, you will see all the midi that is sent from your controller.

It's possible that transport is sent via SysEx, then you would need a bit more code to make that visible as well. Let me know if nothing shows up in the console when you hit those buttons.

Maybe check out my very basic tutorials:
http://blog.thomashelzle.de/category/tutorials/
Start with number one and see if you can somehow connect to what scripts do.
For some people it's easy and natural, for others it's unsurmountable...

The Tutorials were written for version 1.0 of BWS, but the basics are still valid.

Also check this thread: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 8&t=424463

Cheers,

Tom

sw1fty · Post by **sw1fty** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:10 pm

You kinda lost me on those 2 lines of script there. I didn't understand where to paste them. This may be something that's just too difficult for me to grasp but I do know that I can use the Tascam control panel to change controller numbers for each of the controls.
How I apply that, I don't know. Are there default numbers for each of the controls in Bitwig?

sw1fty · Post by **sw1fty** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:15 pm

As I look over those tutorials, I can already tell that I am probably not going to be able to understand that any time soon. I guess my best best bet is to hope that somebody else needs this and figures it out. I very much appreciate the advice though. Thank You.

ThomasHelzle · Post by **ThomasHelzle** » Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:58 am

You're welcome

Cheers,

Tom