22 TASCAM FW-1884 Owner’s Manual
4 – Control Surface Modes and Operation
As mentioned previously in this manual, the FW-
1884’s control surface actually functions in three differ-
ent control modes: COMPUTER Control Mode,
MIDI Control Mode or MONitor MIX Mode. While
all three modes share certain global functions, each
mode is quite different in its functionality and focus.
Bank Switch Behavior Each mode has a dedi-
cated illuminated key, labeled COMPUTER, MIDI
CTRL, and MON MIX, respectively. Only one of
these keys may be selected and illuminated at one time.
Pressing one of these keys activates its designated mode
and illuminates its associated LED.
In COMPUTER Control mode, the host application
interprets the banking keypresses and controls the
BANK LEDs. Therefore, the number of banks imple-
mented and the specific actions in response to BANK
key presses are application-specific. (For example, a
control surface plug-in may use the bank switches to
navigate between 4 sets of 8 faders so that you can
manage the settings of a 32-input mixer defined within
the software.)
In MIDI CTRL mode there are always four banks of
user-defined messages. Refer to section 4.2, “MIDI
Control Mode – (General Notes)”, for more details.
In MON MIX mode there are three banks which corre-
spond to different groups of FW-1884 audio inputs.
Refer to section 4.3, “Monitor Mix Mode – (General
Notes)”, for more details.
Each control surface mode recalls its most recently
selected bank when you return to it. For example, if
you have bank 2 selected in MIDI CTRL mode, and
switch to COMPUTER control mode where bank 1 is
selected, when you next return to MIDI CTRL mode,
bank 2 will be selected.
4.1 Computer Control Mode – (General Notes)
As its name implies, COMPUTER Control mode is
designed to communicate with the host computer, to
control your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) appli-
cation software. When the FW-1884 is in COM-
PUTER control mode, all fader and encoder
movements and all keypresses are transmitted to the
host computer and interpreted by the host application
software (with the exception of certain global keys like
control surface mode controls).
In addition, the host computer can send information
back to the FW-1884 to update fader positions and
light LEDs.
In COMPUTER Control mode, the FW-1884 can
communicate with the host computer in a number of
different protocols (e.g. Native Mode, Mackie Control
Emulation Mode, etc.). General details of each of these
modes can be found in the sections which follow. For
more specific details refer to the Application notes for
your software.

4.1.1 Native Protocol

Native Protocol is the FW-1884’s default CONTROL
surface mode. In this mode, the FW-1884’s controls
transmit MIDI messages as detailed in the documenta-
tion on the CD-ROM.
Select Native Mode protocol when using the FW-1884
to control applications with native support and a sepa-
rately-installed software plug-in; these include Cake-
walk SONAR, MOTU Digital Performer and others.
Some applications are supported in Native mode only,
others in Mackie Control emulation mode only, and
some are supported in both modes. We recommend
you check the TASCAM website at www.tascam.com
for current information and support status.