Micro BR-80

[KKerrick]

I'm not a fan of micro and miniature sized gadgets.

I agree that for the primary recording and mixing platform, PC/MAC and, full sized DAW systems are far superior. The niche that this fills is for when you want to go unplug and get an idea down or just practice without being mired in right brained madness of web browsers, plug-ins and options. Once I get that idea down though, I just want to get back to the real studio and refine it. The BR-800 seems to fill the bill as well but, it doesn't fit in my guitar case so, I cant take it to the park and practice while supervising my daughter playing.

[64Guitars]

The BR-800 seems to fill the bill as well but, it doesn't fit in my guitar case so, I cant take it to the park and practice while supervising my daughter playing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there isn't a need for micro and miniature recorders. The huge popularity of the original Micro BR proves that there is. I'm just saying that they're of no interest to me personally. I have no need or desire to carry a recorder in my guitar case or shirt pocket.  I only record at home and my BR-864 is in the same room as my guitars and keyboard, which is ideal for me. I'll occasionally take the BR-864 upstairs to my computer room but it's small enough that I can do that easily. Or sometimes I'll just pop the CompactFlash card out and take that upstairs instead of disconnecting all the cables from my BR-864. The point is, a smaller recorder would be of no benefit to me in my current situation. And there's a price that must be paid for the small size of tiny recorders. A smaller display, smaller and fewer controls, lack of faders, etc. So, for my purposes, I'd much rather have a fullsize recorder.

But I realise that I'm in the minority here. Most people seem to love tiny gadgets and I have no wish to rain on their parade. Although, I am a bit disappointed that all of Roland's recent releases have been small recorders. The last fullsize recorder they released was the BR-900CD in 2005. I think it's about time they released a new fullsize recorder with more modern features like USB 3, support for SDHC cards, audio interface and control surface capabilities, better effects and drum machine, etc.

[KKerrick]

I think it's about time they released a new fullsize recorder with more modern features like USB 3, support for SDHC cards, audio interface and control surface capabilities, better effects and drum machine, etc.

I'm convinced the market exists. It's like a weird tech limbo. The PC/MAC based DAW's are where the development is at. A music focused stand alone device does the audio capture better at a lower price with less of a learning curve but, development is so behind the times. One of the things that gave me some hope is the Alesis I/O dock for the iPad. It's kind of a merge of the simplicity of a portable device with the software market of the PC/MAC world. I'm not going to jump on it yet, I want to see how it pans out. I find that for some odd reason the music device manufacturers are late to the tech game.

The BR-80 is like a step back in time to the BR-8 but smaller so, if your looking for a tech forward device I would not recommend it to anyone. It's good for getting feet wet for beginners but, if the eband mode and the extra 4 tracks aren't needed I would advise people to look at eBay for the old Micro BR. It's like the Soviets built these things. The look like they are ten years to late, they are built like tanks and, get the job done through brute force of will.

I initially purchased the Micro BR and returned it as, the BR-80 came out a week after. I find, for practicing with the eband mode, it is golden. I really like the improved speed and pitch adjustments. It is the ultimate guitar trainer. The COSM effects are adequate for practice but, do not compare to the Line6 Pod Farm plugin I use with Sonar. It does export its audio very well with the provided software so, I can just move my recording into Sonar with just a few small steps.

I would hate to try to master songs with this thing although, with strong enough resolve you could. I'm from the old reel to reel days with a multi-bus mixing panel on the front end. The lack of physical faders would kill me. Even with my Sonar based PC, I use an old Roland SI-24 (Also Soviet in nature) to give myself real automated faders and pan dials. Implementing that was hell but, it works really well.

[The Reverend 48]

Guys, please stop.

Let's keep this thread to discussion about the BR-80. Thanks.

Agreed .........it does seem to have wandered off topic

[Tony W]

In all due respect 64, you have not spent a dime on any of these new recorders so why would it bother you that features/functionality are missing?

I have clearly stated that none of the issues I brought up are NOT a deal breaker, and I was fairly sure that I wasn't overly negative on the product. In fact I'm quite happy with it.

This is a forum, this product is open for discussion, and everything I have pointed out thus far has either been changes from previous models, or problems that I've had difficulty understanding. I could rave about everything I like about the BR-80, which there are many things I like, no problem. What I fail to understand is how I'm classified by a glass is half empty type by bringing up the downsides to the device? The reality is, I've spent money on a product which I had certain expectations of.

I would like to believe that I could help both my fellow forum members to make an educated decision on purchasing a product, and potentially help Roland to develop the product a little more on future firmware updates. I have considered this thread part of the product research, to learn the device as well as I can. There is a great bit of information here.

If everyone was so dismissive of the track editing capabilities in the 800, would a firmware update have encompassed the changes? I don't think so.

I'll resign now from the thread now, because I'm seeing a trend of "if I don't have something good to say...."

[BuleriaChk]

I've had more time to play with the BR-80 now, and for me, its primary use will be to play back looped backing tracks, with a modestly variable tempo, the drawback being the inconvenience of chaning i/o volume in real time under pressure and on a dark stage.  I would like to see an eBand playback unit with knobs for each of these functions (time stretch, input sensitivity, output level)....  (Maybe to scrape music off of CD's also, but I have Ableton Live for that; and to capture "in the moment" audio on rare occasions....) The guitar effects are a nice addition, but again are untweakable in live circumstances. 

That said, it is a great little practice device (and portable live performance device), with the above limitations, and for that alone is worth the investment ...

My feeling is that is a waste of time to try to do meaningful editing and mixing in the BR-80, since DAW's are far and away better and more convenient, so for me the MTR mode is irrelevant, at least at this stage.....  I would much rather Boss ignore the MTR aspects, and concentrate on the live/backing/guitar effect aspects of these devices

[alexestremi]

Hello everyone, I apologize for my English  (I'm writing from Italy).

I bought the Boss BR-80 but i found the following problems:
The wheel is awkward to use (you have to use nails) and does not rotate well as seen in the demo video.
The effect of octave bass (guitar to bass) and robots (voice effect), does not work well.

I would like to know if you experience the same "defects".

I would also ask if there is the possibility of a delay before you start recording.

Bye,
Alessandro.

[64Guitars]

The effect of octave bass (guitar to bass) and robots (voice effect), does not work well.

The Guitar to Bass effect only works with single notes. If you play two or more notes simultaneously (intentionally or otherwise), it will produce strange noises. This is normal. Also, you need to play very cleanly. Finger noise, pick scrapes, fret buzz, etc. can trigger glitches. You might find that it works better with your neck pickup than the bridge pickup (or vice-versa), and adjusting your guitar's tone and volume controls might help as well.

I would also ask if there is the possibility of a delay before you start recording.

There's an auto punch feature which allows you to specify the precise time or measure at which recording will begin. See pages 61 and 62 of the BR-80 manual.

But I'm not sure if that's what you want. Perhaps what you're really asking is how to create a count-in so that you can begin playing and/or singing one or two measures after pressing the Record and Play buttons. You can easily do that with the BR-80's built-in drum machine. Just create a drum progression where the first step plays a metronome pattern or some other suitable count-in pattern for one or two measures (see page 69). When you press Record and Play, the pattern will begin playing immediately. Listen to the pattern and start playing or singing after one or two measures. Later, when you master the song, you can edit your drum progression and change step 1 to the BREAK pattern so that the count-in pattern won't be recorded. You can also specify a start location when you master to exclude the count-in measures (see pages 80 and 81).

[Gnasty]

Okay i was fooling around with this and didn`t see it in the manual(maybe it is) but I accidentally stumbled upon something with listening to vox with external mics with effects and if someone has already written this i`m sorry but don`t want to read all the way back.

First turn down the volume so you don`t scare the shit out of yourself like i did,
 thats if you have your rec level high.

Press Cosm effect button- Pick any vocal patch and then press the Menu button

Then press Input Sensitivity, adjust your volume and Voila! ..You can hear what the patch sounds like.

The only problem is i think you can`t change them randomly after that. You have to do it all over again
individually. I`ll see if you can.

i really like the double and triple voicing. Don`t know about the harmonies but probably sounds great with music.

[henwrench]

blah, blah, blah.....

             simple question, I ain't got much time...

                                         BR 80....

                                                           yes or no.....?


                                                                                                henwrench