This page is dedicated to the great MIDI controller BitStream Pro created by the french company WaveIdea

CONTENT

NEWS
MAILING LIST
REVIEWS
LOBOTOMY
DOWNLOADS
LINKS

BitStream Station 1 NEWS

• 12/09/01 - Received my OS1.3 and did the upgrade - read my detailed photo story

• 09/22/01 - Uploaded the SoundDiver adaption V0.6 - new layout & better usability

• 09/19/01 - Got a mail from WaveIdea with very good news concerning the next firmware

• 09/19/01 - Took some photos and added them to the review

• 09/17/01 - The mailing list is up and running - come and join us!

• 09/16/01 - The first BETA release of a SoundDiver adaption for the BSPRO is online

• 09/16/01 - My review "Hands on the BitStream Pro" is online - see below

• 09/14/01 - Created this page

BitStream Station 1 MAILING LIST

We have created a public mailing list for people who have a BitStream Pro, are interested in the BitStream Pro or just want to talk about the BitStreamPro. Here are the relevant e-mail addresses:

More information at the mailing list site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bitstream

BitStream Station 1 - REVIEW SECTION

Review "Hands on the BitStream Pro" - by Michael 'Mickey' Lauer

INTRODUCTION

Hi!. My BitStream Pro just came along the long way from France to Germany. After using it for some days, here is my review:

WHAT IS IT?

The BitStream Pro is a MIDI controller - intented to control various devices by sending MIDI messages to them. Useful especially for the popularity gaining software synthesizers (VST instruments) but also for hardware synthesizers without or with too few physical controllers. In addition to the knobs, sliders and buttons, the BitStream features a programmable LFO and basic MIDI merge/filtering capabilities. The BitStream Pro comes with a windows software for programming the MIDI messages sent by the controllers.

HARDWARE

The BitStream Pro has quite a bunch of controls on board of the nice greyish surface. In detail there are

• 35 rotary knobs, 32 of them which are programmable

• 8 programmable 45mm fader

• 12 buttons, 8 of them which are programmable

• 1 A/B switch, switching between controller modes: user programmable / preset

• 2 A/B/C switches, one for the integrated LFO and one for the three logical fader groups

• 2 leds

On the back side there is a MIDI In/Out pair (neccessary), On/Off switch (good) and a plug for the wall-wart (not good) power supply.

OPERATING

Operating the BitStream Pro is very easy: Basically, the controls operate in two modes: user programmable and preset mode. In the preset mode, all the controls send standard MIDI controller numbers between 000 and 127. Because of only 48 physical controls, there is an A/B/C switch which selects one of three logical fader groups. Choosing group A lets the controls transmit MIDI controllers 000 - 047, group B transmits MIDI controllers 048-083 and finally group C transmits MIDI controllers 084-127.

In the user programmable mode, each of the 48 controls can be assigned to a unique MIDI message. Apart from standard MIDI controllers, you can use RPN, NRPN or even SysEx messages. Each message can be programmed up to 24 bytes (see below).

The rotary knobs have a pretty good resolution - it's possible to go exactly to each value from 000 to 127. Although the space between the buttons is not very wide, medium-sized hands can operate two adjacent knobs.

The fader resolution is a bit low - 45 mm for 128 values makes 0.35 mm for one number, which is very tough to position :-)

Whenever you turn a knob, slide a fader or touch a button, the display shows the current description string (up to 16 chars individually for each control!), the value, the fader group (A, B or C) and the MIDI channel. So you always know what you're doing - very good.

The integrated LFO can be adjusted from 0.01Hz to 10Hz. Unfortunately, in the display there are only abstract values (000-127) shown. It would be better to see the real frequency here. The amplitude can be adjusted in 64 steps (although the front panel reads 0-64) and additionally an offset can be adjusted between 31 and 93 (although the front panel reads 32-96). As far as I know this integrated LFO feature is unique - I have not seen it on another MIDI controller device in the same price region.

To conclude this section with one thing which should be seen as a minor drawback - but at least for me, it's a big one: Though one can set the minimum and maximum value a physical controller will send, there is no scaling over the whole physical range implemented. This is crazy: Instead of using the really good resultion of the BitStream knobs by scaling the logical range so that you can do really slow sweeps and have smooth movement, they only transmit data, when the physical position is within the range of the logical one. This should be taken care of. Unfortunately though, the firmware is within an unflashable ROM. However, it sits in a socket, so it could be exchanged manually, when an updated ROM comes out.

PROGRAMMING

The BitStream Pro comes with a Windows software to program the controls. The Windows software is nothing to talk about much, it's ok - it does its job. For people with a larger setup, there is a free SoundDiver adaption in the works (created by me, your faithful reviewer - see the screenshot at the end of this page :-)

Thankfully, a complete description of the SysEx messages and dump structures is included in the online manual. When I read this, I immediately noticed two quirks: At first, WaveIdea seemingly didn't contact the MMA (Midi Manufacturers Association) to get their own approved MIDI vendor ID. In the current implementation, WaveIdea uses the approved vendor ID of Oberheim/Gibson Labs. This calls for some problems! Second, the SysEx implementation is very minimal and somehow limited. What I'm missing for instance is a SysEx request/dump pair to read the status of a programmed controller.

Using the Windows software is a breeze and I must stress how fine it is to have a programmable 16 character ASCII description for each of the 48 controllers. This is great and should be followed by all competitors.

However, as they already included a 32 character display and enough sliders, knobs and switches, it should be possible to program the BitStream Pro without additional software and without hardware modifications - maybe in the next firmware revision?

COMPETITORS

There is nothing really comparable to the BitStream Pro. The Doepfer Drehbank comes nearest - it has twice the amount of rotary knobs, but no switches, no sliders and no display at all - especially no user programmable strings(!) ;-)

CONCLUSION

The BitStream Pro is a very attractive MIDI controller with a good price/performance ratio which can bring your softsynths to live:

PROS:

• lots of controls, including push buttons and switch buttons

• 16 character description string for each control

• integrated LFO

• price

CONS:

• no scaling implemented

• wall-wart power supply

• some SysEx quirks

• low fader resolution

• not programmable without computer

RATING: 9 out of 10 ( * * * * * * * * * X )

Feel free to comment either on the mailing list or via private e-mail.

Yours, Michael 'Mickey' Lauer

• 09/16/01 - created

• 09/18/01 - added a bunch of pictures & screenshots

BitStream Station 1 - DOWNLOAD SECTION

• BitStream Pro SoundDiver 3 Adaption BETA V0.6: bitstream_pro_sd_adaption.zip

BitStream Station 1 LINK SECTION

• WaveIdea - corporate site of the BitStream Pro manufacturer

• WaveIdea Forum - official web based discussion forum

• BitStream Station 1 mailing list - unofficial mailing list

• BitStream Station 1 - user supported site