Which recorder(s) do you currently use?

[Geir]

Hey, that's great Geir!  I think the BR-800 and BR-80 are a good combination. One for the home studio and one for anywhere.

I think so too. Just started a new track yesterday and discovered how much I've been missing my mbr. So when I left for work today my MBR80 was in my shirt pocket, so I can do some drum-programming in my lunch-break. and maybe stop on the way home to record some vocals at a bus-stop

[Bucketfreak68]

Well looks as if this pole speaks for its self I'd been reading around and after years of jerking around with latency laden crappy software's that boasted more smoke than steam I decided I needed an interface to do the translating between ones and zero's for me and in December I got what was suppose to be an NOS Micro-BR.
When I opened it up I found it was anything but NOS there was only one real problem that was the fact that the demo song was missing from the card other than that the cosmetics were fine and I've actually used it to record a rather tasty sounding acoustic guitar track using only the Micro-BR and a cheap microphone from a karaoke machine,and true to the idea the sound came out as if it were done by a professional studio.
I've yet to learn to control the arrangement segment of the rhythm(drum machine)part but I can say this it sure beats most of the midi drum tracks I've found in cakewalk etc,but on the other hand there are a couple things that I don't care for most of it deals with the instruction manual they are not very clear as to what steps you have to take to set up the drums and really recording a general track.
At any rate I'm new to this forum and glad there's a place I can go to get general information on this micro studio thanks to everyone who is here and have taken the time to help out new guys such as myself.      

[64Guitars]

I've yet to learn to control the arrangement segment of the rhythm(drum machine)part but I can say this it sure beats most of the midi drum tracks I've found in cakewalk etc,but on the other hand there are a couple things that I don't care for most of it deals with the instruction manual they are not very clear as to what steps you have to take to set up the drums and really recording a general track.

Drum programming is pretty easy once you understand it. The three biggest obstacles for new users are:

1) Each step in an arrangement repeats until the Starting Measure of the next step. So if you want the first step to play its pattern for four measures, you'd set the Starting Measure of the second step to 5 (step 1 always starts at measure 1).

2) Patterns are generally several measures long (see page 120 of the Micro BR manual where the rightmost six columns show the length of the pattern in measures). The reason that the patterns are several measures long is that they contain variations on the basic pattern to keep it interesting. So you don't need as many fills as you might think. But to hear all of the variations, you have to make sure that the length of the step is at least as long as the pattern. For example, if the pattern specified in step 7 is 4 measures long and starts at measure 34, then you probably want step 8 to start at measure 38 (or 42, 46, 50, or some other multiple of 4). Otherwise, the pattern will stop before the last of the four measures plays. There may be times when you want that to happen. But usually you'll want the whole pattern to play. The mistake that beginners often make is to make step 2 start at measure 2, step 3 at measure 3, step 4 at measure 4, etc. If you do that, you'll never hear the full pattern, and you'll quickly run out of steps. Your arrangement can have a maximum of 50 steps. If you set the starting measure of each step to the step number, then each step is only one measure long which means your song can only have a maximum of 50 measures. To avoid running out of steps, make sure you set your Starting Measures correctly so that the steps will each play for several measures.

3) The last step of an arrangement repeats until you press the STOP button. So, how do you end your arrangement? By setting the last step to pattern P327:BREAK. This pattern plays nothing. So, even though it repeats until you press STOP, you won't hear anything, so the arrangement effectively ends at the start of that step.

More info here:

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/Rhythm_Guide_Intro.html

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/Arrangement_Example.html

It's not specifically for the Micro BR but they all work basically the same.


You might also find the Micro BR DVD video tutorial helpful. Here's a short extract from it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5og5FoQRic

You can purchase the full DVD video for only $29.95 here:

http://www.proaudiodvds.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Micro%2DBR&Click=2040

[Bucketfreak68]

Thanks for the info 64guitars BTW stopped by your site this morning or yesterday morning good stuff man looks like I came to the right place for this particular rig. 

[sanfi4u]

Here's my vote. I like my BR-800 pretty much. And I still owe an extra effort to start using Sonar LE DAW too. I wish I have more time for recording .

[Rockatron]

I have a Micro-Br which I've had tons of fun with.  Just got the Br-80 and my dad will inherit from the Micro!  Amazing to share those wicked tools within the family!

[Geiri]

I'm currently using the micro br 80 as an audio interface into Garageband. Love the sounds in the br 80 and the simplicity of Garageband.

I'm happy.

[64Guitars]

I'm currently using the micro br 80 as an audio interface into Garageband. Love the sounds in the br 80 and the simplicity of Garageband.

Another option is to record all of your tracks on the BR-80, then export them to WAV files using the BR Wave Converter software and bring them into GarageBand for final mixing and editing. The advantage is that you don't need to be near a computer while laying down your tracks (the fantastic portability of a pocket-sized recorder like the BR-80 is lost when it's tethered to a computer). And you still have the convenience of GarageBand for assembling your tracks, editing, mixing, and mastering.

You can download the Mac version of BR Wave Converter here:

http://www.roland.com/support/article/?q=downloads&p=BR%2D80&id=62121892

[Geiri]

Thank you 64guitars

Yes I see the advantages in that and this is the reason I initially bought the br 80. But while we are on the subject, I'm on somewhat limited budget right now and would like a few more i/o options when using the br in conjunction with a computer.

My local music shop has offered me a br 800 at a very decent price and they will even take the br 80 as a part of the payment.

I can not afford both at this moment so the question is, how much am I gaining by upgrading ? Especially regarding doing more work on the br and less on the computer ?

I really like the form factor of the br 800 as the portability but to be honest, probably majority of my editing will be done in a computer albeit I haven't really learned to operate the br proberly so I can not say for sure.

Any thoughts and all input is valid and appreciated.

Geiri

[64Guitars]

There are a few trade-offs between the BR-80 and BR-800. Although I personally would prefer the BR-800, it doesn't win hands down. It depends on the needs of the user. For example, many people love the small size of the BR-80 and consider that one of its greatest advantages over the BR-800. I, on the other hand, don't like tiny gadgets and consider the BR-80's small size a disadvantage. I much prefer the larger size of the BR-800. The larger controls are easier to use, and the BR-800 is more likely to stay put on the tabletop and not be dropped as easily as the BR-80.

The BR-800 is a year older than the BR-80 and this has some consequences. For example, the BR-80 is the first Boss recorder to include USB 2.0. All previous models, including the BR-800, have the much slower USB 1.1. Of course, this is only a factor when you're transferring files directly between the BR and your computer. You can also transfer files by removing the memory card from the BR and inserting it into a USB 2.0 (or even USB 3.0) card reader. In that case, the speed is dependant on the card reader and your computer, so it doesn't matter which version of USB is in the BR.

The BR-80 comes with SONAR X1 LE, while the BR-800 comes with SONAR 8.5 LE, which is a slightly older version (if you do decide to trade in your BR-80 for a BR-800, make a copy of the BR-80 DVD-ROM so you'll still have SONAR X1 LE).

One big advantage of the BR-800 over the BR-80 is that you can use the BR-800 as a Control Surface for SONAR and other DAWs that support Mackie controls. You might be able to use it to control GarageBand.

http://ilivingtheilife.blogspot.ca/2009/04/unknown-to-many-users-of-apples.html

The advantage of a control surface is that it allows you to mix in your DAW with real fader controls (on the BR) instead of dragging virtual sliders with the mouse. You also have real transport controls for STOP, PLAY, REC, FF, REW, etc. These real controls can make the DAW a lot easier to use.

The drum machine in the BR-80 is a bit easier to use. In the BR-800 and earlier BRs, you had to specify the Starting Measure of each step of your drum arrangement. This was hard to relate to and could be difficult, especially when inserting new steps into an existing arrangement. With the BR-80, you specify step length (in measures) instead of the starting measure. This is much more practical and matches the way we naturally think of drum arrangements (a 2-measure intro, followed by 8 measures of this pattern, then 4 measures of another, and so on).