Behringer BCD2000
by Chris Hafner | Published August 2007 | In the Mix Archives

The first question I have to answer - "What is this thing?!" - will be the hardest. The Behringer BCD2000 is part CD player, part mixer, but it does much more than that, and might be totally essential for someone mixing from digital or non-vinyl media these days. Think of this device as an "add on" - another tool designed to make the digital mixing environment just a tad closer to the analog way of doing things.

Now a bit of backstory: the BCD2000 was originally released two years ago, but was very hard to find, and it appears that Behringer severely underestimated the demand for an inexpensive product like this. Behringer also didn't release drivers to support connections with Mac computers, though individual users came up with some that are released for free on the internet and work reasonably well with some exceptions. The company just released the newer, revised BCD3000 which will take care of Mac support, but that means that this product - which was severely underrated when it came out in my opinion - will be available for a good price, and the market is now flooded, which is good for you.

Here's how it works. The BCD2000 plugs into your computer via a USB port. Like a joystick for gamers, it was created to replace or enhance the keyboard and mouse with the knobs and faders of the DJ experience. The knobs, faders, switches and buttons do exactly what you can do with your keyboard, but make it (in most ways) more like a console. It works with Cubase, Traktor and most other audio software (it also comes with decent software called Behringer B-DJ), is fully customizable and also works with other devices - say, a synthesizer or effects processor - as a kind of hub at the center of an array. You can assign a knob or fader to automatically do what usually takes several clicks and pull-down menus to do. In addition, it handles the usual duties of a mixer - cueing, pitch bending, etc. - just like the device it's meant to emulate.

I can tell you this: the BCD2000 beats the hell out of any desktop "metaphor" software, in which the turning of knobs is replaced by pointing a mouse at different things on your screen and moving sliders around. For those bred on analog mixers, it's extremely intuitive once you get it up and running. Some computer experience would be useful for assigning values to the various knobs and faders here, but there's no reason that a smart DJ couldn't figure it out right out of the box. Outside of DJs, however, this is a very inexpensive way to mix podcasts or even sit at the center of a home studio. The BCD2000 should not be dismissed as a low-end toy.

On the downside, the scratch wheels - supposedly a major selling point - are really too small to do much with. But the pitch, EQ, cueing and crossfade are the real deal - this is just what it was like before computers took over and we gave into our appetite for mp3s.

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