X-TOUCH HUI MIDI Messages using Pro Tools 11

If anyone is interested in re-programming the X-TOUCH button

functions, I have reverse engineered all the HUI MIDI messages for
the buttons (button DOWN/UP) and LEDs (LED ON/OFF). See
attached file.

I have successfully re-programmed my X-TOUCH for Pro Tools 11

running on a Mac Pro (Mavericks) using the Bome Software MIDI
Translator (MT). Using MT, it is pretty easy to catch MIDI messages
and re-send MIDI or keyboard short-cuts to Pro Tools.

Here are a few things that I have done to improve the X-TOUCH's
behavior:

1. Re-programmed the GLOBAL VIEW button to toggle between the

EDIT and MIXER window.
2. Re-programmed the SAVE and UNDO buttons (so that they work
as expected).
3. Re-programmed all of the FUNCTION keys (F1 thru F8) to
perform various tasks (like track height up/down and edit mode
cycling).
4. Re-programmed the TRANSPORT section so that I have the
functions I use most often (like, play from start of edit section, etc.).

The possibilities are really endless using Pro Tools keyboard

shortcuts. Just catch the MIDI message from the X-TOUCH
(swallow it) and send a keyboard shortcut to Pro Tools.

On my system (using PT 11), the MARKER button functions as

Quick Punch; so I left that one alone and just re-labeled it. I
reasoned that since my computer keyboard is sitting in front of my
X-TOUCH and the keypad "enter" button is big and at the far right, I
can easily remember that this is the MARKER button. Although, I
guess some Mac keyboards don't have the keypad...
For edit modes, I found it easier just to re-program one of the
function keys (F7 in my case) to cycle thru the edit modes. I used
Bome and sent the ` shortcut (the button below the "esc" key). And,
BTW, the F8 button on the X-TOUCH cycles the edit tools by
default. So, I left that one alone -- that seemed like a reasonable
function!

The way I can see the timecode MIDI is to define a virtual MIDI port
in Bome and send the output from Pro Tools to the virtual MIDI port
(into Bome), then have Bome pass that MIDI to the X-TOUCH MIDI
INT port. It is like having Bome sit between Pro Tools and the X-
TOUCH which then can monitor and translate/filter the MIDI
message being sent to the X-TOUCH or simply pass the MIDI thru.
The reverse is true too: set up a second virtual port to connect back
to Pro Tools. Then, commands sent from the X-TOUCH to Pro Tools
can be watched, translated, filtered, or passed thru.

You can also watch MIDI messages to/from applications with

something free like the Snoise MIDI monitor (http://
www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor). Although, you have to interpret the
MIDI commands to their raw hex HUI equivalent which I found time
consuming.

Yes, there is a lot of MIDI chatter when the timecode and meter
data is being sent to the X-TOUCH. Dissecting that might be
painful. Bome seems to handle the load just fine. I've only had
problems when I'm changing the translators on the fly when it is
running doing the translations. I don't blame it for crashing then -- it
reminds me that I am expecting too much from what is already an
excellent tool! Ha!

1/ Can we actually select and control Plug-Ins / Inserts (I don't see

any dedicated button)?
I have not found a way yet, and am looking forward to when I can
do that.
2/ What Button do "In" and "Out" buttons stand for (amonst the 6
VPot Assign buttons), seem old stuff from the original HUI (never
used anymore, label error ???)
Not sure, they seem to be arbitrary in PT
3/ Can we select more than Sends A-B-C (=> E-F ? and G-J ?)
using one modifier key (shift, ...)?
Can't even select one, unless I am missing something.
4/ Does modifier keys interact properly with faders (ex :
ALT+touching a fader to reset it, CTRL**+touching a fader to
ungroup a fader)?
Alt+touch and Ctrl+touch do nothing on my PT10.3.10 and likely
later versions as well, anyone care to confirm?
5/ Same questions with modifier keys of the Mac/PC keyboards +
Faders (NB : The original HUI used to allow this).
Same as #4
6/ Same question with buttons (CMD**+Rec to disable the rec
button, CMD** + Solo to ignore Solos, etc)?
Cmd+Solo works, Cmd+Rec works
7/ Can we interact (even basically) with a Pro Tools message pops
up (OK, cancel, escape) without using the keyboard or the mouse?
Only Cancel, and it's not even the Cancel button, it's F8 on the X-
Touch. Bizarre.

Not specific to Pro Tools and HUI :

8/ Is there a way to calibrate the faders (not the display, but to set
maximum and minimum positions for each fader)?
Unknown
9/ Is there a way to put the motors off (without disconnecting the
unit). For example, if we don't want to hear (or have) fader
movements during playback or recording, but still want to access to
the remaining functions (transport, mute, solo pans, send, etc.)?
Would be a nice feature, but my current 1.04 X-Touch does not
have a menu option for that.

*name of buttons are the ones from HUI Layout (not the one on the
actual unit).
** "CTRL" on mac = "START" on PC / "CMD" on mac = "CTRL" on
PC

Seems only sends A,B,C can be assigned to the rotary knobs, and
flip does not work at all unfortunately, so sends cant be assigned to
faders. Being able to flip sends to faders is pretty crucial. Also meter
LED's seem to be broken which is a bit of a drag.

Are you saying with HUI, Plugins dont work, and therefore will never
work via HUI into PT? Is plugin parameter control only possible
through MC?

HUI protocol CAN control plug-in but uses some dialog message to
select an insert (plug-in), navigate into pages of parameters (banks
of 8 paramaters), etc....

(some) Limitations of HUI :

- track name display is limited to 4 characters (with MCU it is 6 or 7
characters)
- HUI has been developed when Pro Tools version was PT4, at this
moment there were only 5 inserts and 5 sends, so I'm pretty sure
you cannot access to sends and inserts F-H. But if X-Touch is
limited to only 3 sends, it's not enough. And the In/Out button is
useless to my opinion (I don't remind the feature behind those ones,
but it's old).
- With older Digi control surfaces (incl. the C8), there is a plug-in
mapping feature, but HUI protocol doesn't provide plug-in mapping
(with Eucon, I don't know yet). Instead, plug-ins parameters are
displayed with pages of 8 parameters. But the order of the
parameter cannot be modified. So display depends on how the
plug-in developer used to sort its parameters (most 3rd party
developers don't take care of this kind of details) and you can have
a lot of pages for 1 plug-in.

Also, the original HUI used to have 2 LCD displays (1 for indiviual
track names, another one for plug-in parameters and user dialog
screen) so I don't know how Behringer dealt (or will deal) with the
dialog system (through the indivual track name display I suppose).

Hi,

I finally decided to purchase an X-Touch unit. To be honest,

Behringer can thank Harrison's work and video which convinced me
to put a bet on this unit (HUI and MCU compatibilty is the key
criteria that make me choose).

Here are my 1st impression (I will only talk about HUI mode here,
MCU mode is Off topic). I tested with Mac OSX.8.5 and OSX.9.5 (I
will test OSX.11 later), Pro Tools 10.3.10 and PT12.4.

Positive points :
- very well built (it is a bit taller and far heavier than I thought)
except the jog wheel. Case frame is in metal (only the side panels
are in plastic).
- button are soft and quiet.
- all 3 interface modes are working (MIDI, USB AND Ethernet) for
both HUI and MCU protocol and can be use straight away (no driver
needed on Mac).
- HUI's buttons are pretty well implemented and consistent (leds are
reflecting the actual status of each button and interaction with Pro
Tools is close to perfect)
- possibility to change automation modes track per track (but also
for all tracks, for selected tracks etc)
- the 4 arrows to edit/zoom implementation is great (I will post more
details if you want)
- lots of good surprises (see my own answer to my "01-13-2016"
questions below)
=> including a good interaction with modifiers keys and buttons
- also few disappointement (see negative points below)

Neutral :
- fader are neither very noisy, nor very quite => a motor off option
would be useful (but I found a workaround using hide/show tracks in
Pro Tools if I need to focus on a single track, or to listen to the full
mix without having fader movements).
- metering is working (but sometimes it disappear, I don't know
why), clip leds do NOT work though.

Negative points (mosty everything we already talk about here) :

- no flip mode for sends, pan, etc... => very important to me
- no access to send E and F (Note : AFAIK Send G to K is not
possible with HUI protocol) => very important to me
- no access to inserts (plug-ins) => less important but would be
handy
- the scribble displays only show 4-char names in 1 row (the display
is different with MCU mode that is using 2 rows). When selecting
sends, it only briefly show send name then get back to track names
(it is cool to see track names, but still display Pan, Send A, Send B
and/or setting value could be useful too).
- the scribble colors could be used to reflect per-track automation
modes (off, read, write, etc) see this topic
- lots of keys are unused (F1 to F7 does ????, modifiers+lots keys
don't do anything)
- cheap quality of the jog wheel (and it is not very useful with HUI
mode, except for srubbing)
- not a big fan of the V-Pot (quite cheap compared to the rest of the
unit but better than the jog wheel)

Scott Brewster already reply to most of my initial questions but I

wanted to add :
1/ About plug-ins : confirm it's not working

2/ "In" and "Out" buttons are simply displaying the input and output
routing. While it may be useful, it is far less important than
controlling all sends. Maybe Behringer could reallocate Encoder
assignment buttons, and use modifier keys to access to in/out
routing display.
(for example :
- shift+Track => "In"
- option+Track => "Out"
- Track => pan left/right
- all other buttons => Sends A to E
- shift + all other buttons => Inserts A to E

3/ Another suggestion for Encoder assignment :

- button Send+ F1 to F5 to select sends A to E
- button Plug-ins+F1 to F5 to select insert A to E
4/ Actually, while alt+touch does nothing (it could be cool to reset a
fader with it), CTRL + touch correctly ungroup the fader (=
CTRL+clic on a fader), and we can also ungroup ctrl+mutes,
ctrl+solos, etc..) =>

5/ Actually, interaction with mac keyboard modifiers works very well.

We can either use one (X-touch mods) or the other (Mac keyboard
mods) without any differences.
For PC users, if you're not sure what the modifier are standing for,
simply hold one of the shift/ctrl/alt/start key and the corresponding
modifier key should lit up on the X-Touch. =>

6/ already answered => works

7/ F8 does exactly the same as ESC key : Cancel for sure, but also
cycles through the Edit tool modes =>

It is funny we all complain about the lack of manual from Behringer

while I had to make a deep search to find how HUI protocol works
with Pro Tools : the most recent documentations I could get comes
from PT6.1 and don't talk about the MCU unit at all (only HUI and
Motor Mix). I also found a Mackie Control for Pro Tools User's guide
( (with Mac OS 9 screenshots )which can be useful for the zoom/
edit/transports buttons. But, finally, we (users) still need/have to
experiment to find out what button and modifiers are actually doing.