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James... « For this price it's gleefully amazing »
Published on 08/25/11 at 20:51Ah yes. The FCB 1010. Brings back memories from high school...when rack systems were new and fresh! Okay, enough nostalgia. This is a midi controller of course. In fact my first ever midi controller was an FCB. Since then I've used about 6 or 7 different ones. This one, obviously was by far the least expensive. As I recall my rack consisted of a mesa studio preamp, a Digitech GSP unit, and a Mesa power amp of some sort. It was quite heavy.
Anyway, let's get to the review.
What are the features? Well the FCB has bank switches for something like 128 presets. There are 10 presets to a bank. You can use CC or PC commands. If you are familiar with midi this is straightforward stuff. It has a whopping 2 expression pedals which I don't think I've seen on any other unit. Now I know some people complain about the feel of these, but honestly considering the price and the fact that they are functional, I think it's fine. I used one for volume and one for wah. Never failed and never felt that cheap. The switches inevitably get criticized too. But I will say they feel great and never broke on me. It's true you get a more tactile response with the metal "switchcraft" style buttons you see on higher end units but hey, if you stomp on it who needs a tactile response? One function that is very cool is the relay switches. I used these with my Mesa Studio to switch channels and effects loops on and off. I was a bit surprised to see a function like this one a unit this cheap because a lot of the nicer midi controller I own don't even do that. Impressive.
What I really loved about the FCB is its reliability. I abused mine badly and it never gave me any trouble. Furthermore, the unit FEELS very strong which is surprising given the brand. People I know bash Behringer all the time, but I have used a handful of their products and find I'm usually surprised by what they can do for the price. The FCB though is far and away an impressive piece of work. Feature wise, it spanks units at 3 times the cost. If you want better buttons and expression pedals, prepare to pay.
Anyway, let's get to the review.
What are the features? Well the FCB has bank switches for something like 128 presets. There are 10 presets to a bank. You can use CC or PC commands. If you are familiar with midi this is straightforward stuff. It has a whopping 2 expression pedals which I don't think I've seen on any other unit. Now I know some people complain about the feel of these, but honestly considering the price and the fact that they are functional, I think it's fine. I used one for volume and one for wah. Never failed and never felt that cheap. The switches inevitably get criticized too. But I will say they feel great and never broke on me. It's true you get a more tactile response with the metal "switchcraft" style buttons you see on higher end units but hey, if you stomp on it who needs a tactile response? One function that is very cool is the relay switches. I used these with my Mesa Studio to switch channels and effects loops on and off. I was a bit surprised to see a function like this one a unit this cheap because a lot of the nicer midi controller I own don't even do that. Impressive.
What I really loved about the FCB is its reliability. I abused mine badly and it never gave me any trouble. Furthermore, the unit FEELS very strong which is surprising given the brand. People I know bash Behringer all the time, but I have used a handful of their products and find I'm usually surprised by what they can do for the price. The FCB though is far and away an impressive piece of work. Feature wise, it spanks units at 3 times the cost. If you want better buttons and expression pedals, prepare to pay.