is br-1600cd safe to buy right now???

[bruno]

So I think the BR1600 is a great machine - but the price seems to have doubled since I bought mine. I payed £550 around 2 to 3 years ago. The same machine now is £950 - crazy. If mine broke - I would replace it for £550 but not for £950.

On the plus side - 8 XLR or normal inputs. Great on board COSM, dead easy to use. Mastering is good, v-tracks are great, and generally a sweet sound unit.

-ve
Boot up time - and track change time is slow
Tuner is crap,
the vocal harmony thing is pretty useless.
No count-in function (looked ages for this - couldn't believe it didn't have it.
Can't create your own pedal patches, have to use default templates.

but on the whole - a great machine.

B.

[AndyR]

Where'd you get it for £550 you lucky bar-steward?!!  

Mine was £950 two years ago - I looked at various buying options, and that was the going rate online at the time...

With what I know now - how brilliant it is for how I want to work - if I found them at £550 I'd buy two and keep one as a back-up in case they're discontinued when the first one dies!

[Blooby]

I'd buy two and keep one as a back-up in case they're discontinued when the first one dies!

I am pretty sure you can slave one to the other.  Don't know how the mixdowns would occur, but I seem to remember reading this somewhere.

Blooby

[Hook]

I'd buy two and keep one as a back-up in case they're discontinued when the first one dies!

I am pretty sure you can slave one to the other.  Don't know how the mixdowns would occur, but I seem to remember reading this somewhere.

Blooby

crap, now I want 2! I just saw a br 1180 at a pawn shop for $170  and wondered if I should get it. No money now but perhaps in a week or 2 if it's still there. I'm putzin' around on my new 3 track...I want to swim with the sharks instead I'm bouncing with the guppies!

[Hook]

Oh yea, I want to use Flash Harry's new toothbrush!

[Blooby]

Oh yea, I want to use Flash Harry's new toothbrush!

Well played, Hook.  Well played indeed.

[bruno]

Where'd you get it for £550 you lucky bar-steward?!!  

Mine was £950 two years ago - I looked at various buying options, and that was the going rate online at the time...

With what I know now - how brilliant it is for how I want to work - if I found them at £550 I'd buy two and keep one as a back-up in case they're discontinued when the first one dies!

Had to go and find the receipt - actually it was £625 - Sept 2009, from Nevada Music in Portsmouth (UK). Not sure where the £550 came from - that may have been the price of the 40G one, which was sold out. It was the time they went from a 40G to 80G drive - mine is an 80G drive.
B.

[T.C. Elliott]

I really wanted a 1600. I tried buying a used one and avoided being scammed so settled for a brand new br900. I love my 900 but the CD is useless to me. If they made a BR with 8-12 track simultaneous recording and hardly any bells and whistles, I'd get it in a heart beat. I just can't justify the price of a new machine when I'd only use the multiple inputs a couple times a year.

That being said, I've started looking at what will replace the 900. It has stood the test of time pretty well, but is starting to show slight signs of age. I'm debating on selling it before it becomes obsolete but have yet to find something I just 'have to have' at a new price.

[64Guitars]

The new TASCAM DP-24 looks pretty nice for only $700. You could buy two of these for the price of a BR-1600 and still save $100! But there's no need to buy two because, from what I've read, one DP-24 seems much better than a BR-1600.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DP24

http://tascam.com/product/dp-24/

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=13468.msg176878#msg176878

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=13468.msg177883#msg177883



I hope that Roland will soon discontinue the BR-1600 and replace it with a more modern recorder that can compete with the DP-24 at an affordable price.

[chip]

May I ask why Tascam do not have on board drum machines in their products. All the other brands do but Tascam don't. I find that a little difficult to fathom out. Is there a glaringly obvious reason for this?