Sending Midi commands to Behringer XR18

Jooobs

Apologies if the answer is obvious, but I’m thinking of buying a Behringer XR18 and would like to know if it is possible to send midi commands to change faders on the XR18 via the USB port?
The use case is that our drummer will press play to start a song in Stage Traxx and a midi command would be sent (from an iPad Pro connected via USB to the XR18) to mute the audience\ambient mics…. At the end of the song a midi command would be sent to unmute the audience mics.
Does anyone know if this is possible? Or is there a better way of doing it that I’m not aware of perhaps?

peter

I don't think you can change faders via simple MIDI commands on the XR18. It would need Sysex which ST3 does not support. Maybe check the midi implementation documentation for the XR18.

Jooobs

Thanks for the reply Peter,
The Behringer website seems to suggest it can be done…

Assuming it can, do you think it would it be possible to do from an iPad running ST3 via the USB port?

Jooobs

Actually here’s some more info, I would assume that if you disabled the pass thru option and ensured the USB Rx option was selected, it should in theory work…

peter

OK, in that case it should work.

Gene

Hello all, I've been using this masterpiece with Helix for about 3 years and even forgot where my presets are since everything is switched by Stage Traxx.
However now I'm stuck with Behringer Wing. Can anyone drop me a hint of what should the line [midi....] for scenes change be meaning it's described as MIDI Scene Change (on MIDI CH7)
bank (MSB only), PC 1..128 → Scene number 1..1000 B60000..B60008, C600..C67F

AnthonyB

Gene If someone has a WING, they might be able to give you a specific answer.

I have an X32 and have spent some time delving into the weirdness of Behringer mixer MIDI and OSC over Sysex so am sort of familiar with what might work...

I found this document to be a little clearer - https://cdn.mediavalet.com/aunsw/musictribe/ZUwX-Z1Sn0mIn3n2KAt4fQ/68jQRA4CpEW9-Lx22AA6vg/Original/WING%20Remote%20Protocols%20FW%203.0.6.pdf
Go to p182

CH7 CC0 (bank MSB), CH7 PC 1..128 → Scene number 1..128, number 129..256 on bank MSB 1, etc.

A lot of this depends on how many Scenes are in your Show. Assuming less than 256, then what you might try testing first is something like..

To load scene 1
[midi: CC0.0@7,PC1@7]
To load scene 129
[midi: CC0.1@7,PC1@7]

The Bank MSB part is the value after the CC0 (bank change). I'm assuming it is a value of 0 for Scenes 1-128 and a value of 1 for scenes 129-256.
I've always found you have to keep trying variations, and documenting what you see change on your mixer (if anything), until you find the correct combination.

The last column in the reference table (B60000..B60008, C600..C67F) seems to indicate some form of conversion from something to get to that value, but it's not coming to me first thing this morning. Maybe someone else can answer that or you'll find a reference somewhere.

Worst case, post your question in the Unofficial Behringer forums (https://behringer.world/viewforum.php?f=5), being very specific on the questions (e.g. what would be the specific MIDI command (no OSC/Sysex) to load Scene 2, and/or where do these values "B60000..B60008, C600..C67F" come from? are they visible in the WING UI? Are they a value converted from something else? Is there a table I'm missing that has the conversions?)

Gene

Hi Anthony, many thanks for such detailed and comprehensive reply! Really appreciate your help. I've tried to just replicate the line
[midi@: CC0.0@7,PC1@7]
as per your advise it didn't work, it even didn't turn blue as active. Then I added timing as I used to for my tracks like
[midi@00:01.02: CC0.0@7,PC1@7]
also didn't work. Then I changed it to
[midi@play CC0.0@7,PC1@7]
again no result. I created 3 scenes moving the fader of the 1st channel to see if there are changes but seems there weren't any. I turned on midi remote control via DIN in all the scenes saving them accordingly. I'm connecting my iPhone to the Wing via wireless BT dongle DoReMidi which as per use in the past is quite reliable and not glitchy.
I previously downloaded "WING Remote Protocols FW 3.0.6" but that totally Greek for me.
Assume I'm doing something wrong. The only question is what exactly.((

Gene

Have new info. I've tried to enable my iPhone to listen to the Wing loading scenes. So here's what it "heard" for those 3 scenes presets:
[midi: CC12.37@1]
[midi: CC12.22@1]
[midi: CC12.73@1]
Again, nothing changes when played back with these lines.
Noticed it works quite sensitive, records not from the first take.

However, I managed to record cc of moving the fader of the first channel which works just perfect! At least something..

Gene

Bet there must be some people here with xr18 or 32 who know the secret.

AnthonyB

Possibly 🙂

Until then, I've found most device's MIDI documentation (let alone the implementation) ranges from appalling to woeful, so keep trying variations in the meantime, and keep copious notes on what didn't work, until you find something that does work.
E.g.
I've had devices (Line 6 Helix's) that needed the PC to always be a 3 digit number, i.e. PC001 instead of PC1.
Some devices start their numbering at 0 while others start at 1. So don't assume the Bank MSB should be 0 (i.e. CC0.0). Try CC0.1, try CC0.001, etc.

Gene

Yes, I was thinking of adding 0s. Will try today again.

peter

Adding 0s will not help. The binary midi command is the same whether you prepend with 0s or not.

Gene

I've had a very constructive (at least for now) conversation with chat gpt who told me to split the commands
[midi@00:00.00: CC0.1@7]
[midi@00:00.50: PC75@7]
as he thinks that hardware part of Behringer could be not fast enough to eat the commands properly.
Looking forward to come home to check.

Gene

I continued my intellectual talks to AI and surprisingly it resolved my issue! It turned out I was concentrating on scenes where it rather directed me to shows. So it was a matter of creating a show, adding scenes into it and what is important tagging them with numbers #1, #2 etc. Then BW finally managed to start changing the scenes. I've daisy chained Helix and BW (Helix is the first in the chain as BW has no midi through). And all the patches and scenes of both the units are perfectly synced!

Gene

Many thanks to all for help!!!