Boss br532 Which Br do i upgrade to?

[jules metcalfe]

Hi guys! I want to upgrade my BR532 having spent the last year on Apple Logic.  Logic is ok, but i cant get the same kick like i do from the Boss machine.  Could anyone give me some advice on the best, i thought maybe the 600 or 900cd? Or is the 800 worth a look, does it have copy/paste etc? Any advice would be good, Love J.

[64Guitars]

Which recorder is "best" depends on your needs and expectations. Also, are you looking for a new recorder or a used one? The only Boss multitrack recorders that you can get new are the BR-80 and the BR-800. The BR-600 and BR-900CD were discontinued a long time ago. You can still find them on eBay, Gumtree, etc. but they'll most likely be used unless somebody's got some old stock.

The BR-600 and BR-900CD are good recorders and may have a few advantages over the BR-800 in certain areas. For example, the BR-600 has velocity-sensitive drum pads and the BR-900CD has a built-in CD recorder. The BR-800 has neither of those features. But the BR-800 has a lot of features that aren't available on the BR-600 and BR-900CD. For example, the BR-800 can be used as an audio interface and control surface for a software DAW such as Logic or the included SONAR LE. It also has more effects and a few other features. And the BR-600 and BR-900CD have a major limitation in that they can only access 1 GB of storage. It is almost impossible to find 1 GB CompactFlash cards nowadays and even if you do find one they're usually very expensive because there's little demand. The BR-800 uses SD or SDHC memory cards rather than CompactFlash and can address up to 32 GB. These cards are widely available at reasonable prices.

Aside from Boss, there are some good recorders available from other manufacturers too. I quite like the TASCAM DP-24. If I were buying a new recorder today, that's probably what I'd get. But then my needs may not be the same as yours. Another great recorder that a lot of people like is the Zoom R-16 and R-24. I don't have any personal experience with Zoom recorders but I'm impressed by their features and price.

Another thing to consider is portability. All modern recorders are portable to some degree. But the Micro BR and BR-80 are extremely portable. A lot of people here consider this an important advantage over other recorders such as the BR-800 or Zoom R-16, for example. But, again, it really depends on your needs. Some people like the Micro BR and BR-80 because they can hold it in their hand and sing into it. It would be pretty hard to do that with a BR-800. And some people like the Micro BR and BR-80 because they can carry it around with them so they can record whenever inspiration strikes - at work, on the bus or train, while out walking, etc. If those kinds of things are important to you, then look at the BR-80. It's a great recorder for its size and price. But if those things are not important to you, then the small size could actually be a disadvantage. It is to me, for example, because I'm only interested in recording at home and I don't sing. So I'd much rather have a larger recorder that will stay put on the table and has room for important features like fader controls and and other controls, switches, connectors, etc. A larger recorder is often easier to use too because the controls are larger and spaced further apart. I would imagine that the tiny switches on a Micro BR or BR-80 might be difficult to use for someone with big fingers and/or bad eyesight.

Since you have Logic, I would recommend looking at a recorder just for your audio tracks (guitar, bass, vocals, etc.) and continue using Logic for your editing, mixing, mastering, and MIDI tracks (keyboards and perhaps drums). Then you have the best of both worlds. A standalone recorder is best for recording your audio tracks because it's quick and convenient, and unlike computers, it doesn't get in the way of your creativity. But once those tracks are recorded, a software DAW is more powerful and more convenient than a hardware recorder for mixing, editing, etc. (once you get comfortable with the software). I find software more convenient for creating drum tracks too. And if you have a MIDI keyboard controller or other MIDI controller, you can record MIDI sequences onto a MIDI track in the DAW. This gives you a lot more control over editing than if you were to record the audio output of your keyboard to a hardware recorder or an audio track in your DAW.

If you take my advice and use a combination of hardware recorder and software DAW, then that will have some bearing on which recorder you choose. For example, you might find that you don't need quite as many tracks as you thought you did. I generally use my BR-864 only for guitar and bass tracks, so I seldom need to bounce. Eight tracks is usually enough. I do the drums and keyboards on the computer. And I'm not a singer, so I'll usually get a vocal track from one of the other members here at Songcrafters and load it directly into my software DAW - there's usually no need to put it on the BR-864. And you might want to consider one of the newer recorders such as the BR-800 or Zoom R16/24 that can act as an audio interface and control surface with your DAW. Actually, the audio interface part isn't very important if you're going to record your audio tracks on the hardware recorder (which I'd recommend), but the control surface is a nice feature. It lets you control track levels, panning, etc. in your software DAW using the real faders and other controls on the hardware recorder. It also acts as a transport control so you can start, stop, rewind, etc. the tracks in the DAW using the appropriate buttons on the hardware recorder.

[64Guitars]

Or is the 800 worth a look, does it have copy/paste etc?

Yes, the BR-800 has copy/paste, etc. It always did. I suspect you asked that question because you've read some complaints about the BR-800's editing capabilities when it first came out. That's because the editing was initially limited to whole tracks. You could copy and paste entire tracks, for example, but you couldn't copy part of a track like you could on older BRs such as the BR-900CD or Micro BR. Roland assumed that users would want to do most of their editing in the included SONAR LE DAW rather than in the BR-800. Because so many users complained about this, Roland released a firmware update that gave the BR-800 full editing capabilities just like the earlier BRs. If you buy a new BR-800, it will already have those capabilities. And if you buy a used BR-800 with the original firmware, you can download the new firmware from the Roland website for free and update the BR-800 to give it full editing capabilities just like a new one.

[jules metcalfe]

Thanks man, good advice. Cheers. J

[Hook]

The br900 is a rock solid machine if the 1G card doesn't hold you back. Very intuitive & great functionality but the br800 uses sd cards up to 32 & has 4 inputs so that really makes it a no brainer... if you can afford one, are they still going for $250?
Rock On!