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Recently I've got an old Evolution UC-33e controller which seemed pretty functional to me. However, it was quite painful to connect it to Bitwig, since Bitwig doesn't have built-in support for it. The built-it generic controller support also failed to help since it only offers 8 knobs assignment (comparing to 24 on UC-33e) and no buttons assignment at all. So I started to look for a solution.What I actually found out is that I can emulate other controller and map midi signals from UC-33e the same way as they are mapped on controllers which actually are supported by Bitwig.
Most posts on the web suggest to emulate Mackie Control or BCR2000, but there are some messages that not all knobs are working in this case, can't assign Pan etc. So I've chosen to map my controller as Livid Instruments DS1 since they look pretty similar (DS1, of course, has 2 more knob rows and more buttons).
Finally, I've got my UC-33e working as a Bitwig mixer with fader support, pan/send1/send2 knobs, transport buttons, solo/mute and even clip launch buttons.
Long story short:
To use UC-33e as Bitwig mixer you will need:
1. A software (free) called Enigma - this is official tool for programming a lot of Evolution / M-Audio Devices. For some reason it's quite difficult to find it these days, but I've found it. Here's a download link https://www.dropbox.com/s/1s671shck8nsk ... 2.exe?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/1s671shck8nskrx/Enigma_Ver_1_2.exe?dl=0).
2. A file I've made with proper mappings to use with Enigma. Download it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhdmlb61nctqg ... d.xml?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhdmlb61nctqgze/UC-33e%20Bitwig%20Enabled.xml?dl=0)
You can also download it all as a single archive with preset scheme:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ej4bjaxpdeby4 ... g.zip?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ej4bjaxpdeby43f/UC-33e%20with%20Bitwig.zip?dl=0)
Here's a step-by-step guide:
1. Connect UC-33e to your computer and turn it on.
2. Open Enigma.
3. Make sure that Enigma detects your UC-33e (Options -> Refresh devices).
4. Load preset (File -> Load).
5. Choose preset and click on 'send' button (or File -> Send to Device). Your UC-33e's display should start blinking for a few seconds with some symbols.
6. Turn off UC-33e. Then turn it on.
7. Press 'Recall' and then press 1 or 2 for preset 1 or 2. See picture attached for detailed description on what does each preset do.
8. Open Bitwig.
9. Go to Options -> Preferences -> Controllers. Click 'Add controller manually' and select Livid Instruments DS1. Note: For some reason there're two DS1s on the list. With one of them (first in my case) you won't be able to control knobs. So I choose the second one, but you may try both.
10. Set In and Out to UC-33e.
That's it!
Now in details:
Faders' CC are 41 to 49.
Knobs:
Pan: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 for each channel.
Send S1: 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36.
Send S2: 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, 32, 27.
Original DS1 we're emulating has 2 more knob rows but I don't know what they're for. However, it seems that they can be mapped like the rows we've already did: starting with 3 or 4 and then advancing by +5.
The hardest part was the buttons.
In DS1 buttons send note signal, not like knobs and faders. So I've had to emulate it. This is why you can't just assign button from UC-33e and need Enigma - only Enigma has the ability to map note number on button.
Button note numbers are:
Mute: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14.
Solo: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15.
Transport buttons note numbers are:
16 - Play / Pause
17 - Clip Up
18 - Clip Down
19 - Stop
20 - Scene Launch
21 - Automation
22 - Record
23 - Overdub
DS1 also has 3 modes in which almost each button has different behaviour.
Apparently, there're more buttons than UC-33e has. So I've decided to split them in two presets. See the picture below. Unfortunately, we can't map button to be, for example, Mute / Select / Clip Launch. They can be mapped only the way shown in these presets.
So, here's the picture: P.S. I'd like to thank people from Livid Instruments for providing MIDI mappings for their products. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do this work.
