Hello to all the experts out there,
Is the current Behringer FCB1010—in its stock configuration, without any modifications—a good choice in general, and specifically for use with Cantabile? I need sustain and expression pedals, as well as the ability to assign notes or chords to the pedals and switches without needing a university degree to figure it out. Are there good editors available for the Behringer? Or are there significantly better alternatives? Thanks for your helpful thoughts.
I use the FCB1010 extensively, but I modified it with EurekaPROM after being dissatisfied with its stock configuration.
In its stock configuration it works with Cantabile and I’m not aware of any significantly better alternative with equivalent functionality (number and spread of buttons, two expression pedals). Note that it does not have a sustain pedal; both pedals are expression pedals.
The aspects of the stock configuration that I disliked are:
- The stock configuration requires you to manually program each button, and the programming process is extremely tedious and frustrating. If you don’t like TechTalk, you won’t like programming it.
- The stock config doesn’t allow you to send it any midi messages that change its LED display. So for example, you can’t make it say “3” when you switch to song #3, etc.
- Some buttons (“up” and “down”) are not programmable in the stock configuration.
EurekaPROM solves all this, and I found installing it easier than trying to program the stock configuration. (I just followed the installation video on the EurekaPROM site. Only tool needed was a screwdriver.) Once installed, it has a mode that makes the FCB1010 just send a simple cc message for each button. This allows you to do all the programming in Cantabile and never mess with the device again.
–Kevin
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I’ve been using the FCB 1010 with Cantabile for years, and I have the stock eprom. The short answer to your question is yes. However, you are missing out on a lot of functionality by avoiding programming. There is a fantastic, simple editor. I’m away from my gigging PCs but I’m pretty sure it is simply called FCB 1010 editor by Ed Dixon. The Ed Dixon part is key because there is another editor made by a company that has a very similar name as Ed’s but it is completely different software and not nearly as good. I believe this link is good but double check… If it’s the right software then it will definitely mention Ed Dixon somewhere, probably in the readme file. https://behringer-fcb1010-midi-pc-editor-utility.software.informer.com/download/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
In fact I have three FCB units, one for gigging in my winter location, one for practice in my bandmates studio, and another for my summer location. I was able to use that editor software to get all three exactly the same. If you’re on win 10 or 11 it runs best in Windows 7 compatibility mode.
There are a couple different ways to use the editing software but I use the “page” where it shows the layout like it’s the physical foot pedal. There is another screen where you can select two different CC commands or program changes for each button… do that first, then using the foot pedal layout it will be faster and easier. It’s literally as easy as typing in the CC you want and then saving. Initially it takes a few tries to make sure it’s sending and receiving data but once you have that down the rest is quite easy. I’m pretty sure there are some tutorials and whatnot but if you get stuck just post and I will try to help you. FWIW I tried a bunch of the most popular pedals before I settled on the FCB years ago. And I don’t even carry a backup anymore, in the 10 plus years or so since I’ve been doing it this way it has never let me down. But to each their own!
Tom
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