Poll: BR-900 or BR-800: Which one is best? Why??

[DannyB_KY]

BR800: With usb2, up to 64gb SDHD memory, 4x record and stereo mics built in, what is not to like? How about no input sens, and few controls on top as most are buried in menus and apparently designed for the user to use software.........no midi....there are more pros and cons...

BR900: with usb1, up to 1gb CF memory and 2x record.......has input sens and many controls on top, apparently designed to be true stand alone recorder....and contains "recording engineering features" left out of the BR800....has midi....there are more pros and cons....

I'm sincerely interested in everyone thinks.

Per the original question, which one would you choose AND why?

[cuthbert]

I don't know a whole lot about the BR-900, but I do know you can't buy them new anymore unless it's new old stock. Of course, you can probably pick up plenty of used units, but caveat emptor.

Also, the BR-800 still uses USB-1, sadly. But it does have input sensitivity available as on-board pots for each channel. But otherwise, there are certainly fewer faders and pots, and more menu-based controls on the BR-800 than BR-900. Also, the BR-900 has a CD-R/W drive onboard, if that kind of thing appeals to you.

I chose the BR-800 because I got it brand new at way below the list price from Best Buy ($257.39). Although I haven't used it much yet, I understand you can also use its controls on your DAW via USB.

[64Guitars]

BR800: With usb2, up to 64gb SDHD memory, 4x record and stereo mics built in, what is not to like? How about no input sens, and few controls on top as most are buried in menus and apparently designed for the user to use software.........no midi....there are more pros and cons...

BR900: with usb1, up to 1gb CF memory and 2x record.......has input sens and many controls on top, apparently designed to be true stand alone recorder....and contains "recording engineering features" left out of the BR800....has midi....there are more pros and cons....

As you said, there are pros and cons to both. So which one is best is something that only you can answer. It depends on which features you consider important for your needs and the way you want to work.

Which one would I buy? Probably the BR-800. Not because it's better but because it's newer. To me, that means it's going to have a longer useful life. For example, the 1 GB CompactFlash cards needed for the BR-900 are already extremely difficult to find and that problem's not going to get any easier. Plus, I'm interested in some of the new features of the BR-800 like using it as a control surface or audio interface.

[Hook]

I owned & loved my BR900 but I do think that the 800 might be a better machine. The sd card alone is worth it, 1 gig cards are very hard to come by & more storage is nice. It really depends on what you want out of a recorder, the br900 might be more of a all in one machine while the br800 is in nature designed to be used with a daw. The 900 has 6 mono tracks & one stereo while the 800 has 4 mono 2 stereo & I think the 800 fader range is significantly smaller. The cd is a non issue in my opinion, yes it's handy for backing up onto cd but I don't think practical for actual cd pressing, the wav converter is much faster & PC much more efficient. I don't know it's a toss up, both are great machines. How does the 800 go for "Drive busy" errors? That's my biggest complaint with the boss machines.
Good luck brother!

[DannyB_KY]

Nice responses folks!

I own both the BR80 and the BR800. I don't like the idea of having to finish a song in DAW. I am toying with the idea of a like new, barely used Br900 in the box with all accessories. They are pricy, but I'm willing to pick up a few 1gb cards for it. It may be visions of grandeur but MIDI is real appealing ..


This is why I posed the questionable of if it's free, would you take a alike new, barely used 800 or 900?

FWIW, I'll be selling my BR80 and keeping the BR800. But I do have gas for a like new 900.

So if it's free, what's your pick?

[cuthbert]

If I'm going to do MIDI, it's going to be in a DAW, where I can also uses tons of soft synths and samplers as well as recorded tracks, so the BR-900 wouldn't really appeal to me just because it has MIDI support. I do most of my recording on the MicroBR because it's simple and highly portable, with built-in microphone. I save the fancy mixing for my DAWs (Cubase Essentials 5 when using MIDI, otherwise Audition CC).

I'd also agree with the notion expressed by 64G & Hook that 1GB or smaller CompactFlash cards will just get more and more difficult to find. Therefore, I consider the BR-800 to be more future-proof than the BR-900 at this point in time.

So for me if it was between the BR-800 and BR-900, I'd still choose the BR-800.

But that's just what I would choose. You have to choose which is right for you. 

[Geir]

No input sens? The br800 has separate input sens for 4 inputs + rec level.

[T.C. Elliott]

The 800 is better. I chose the 900 because it is what I've got and I know it. No learning curve and I like it. If I had an 800 I would probably like it better. Except that dreaded learning curve.

[64Guitars]

I own both the BR80 and the BR800. I don't like the idea of having to finish a song in DAW.

You don't have to finish your song in a DAW. I think it's a good idea to finish your song in a DAW but it's not mandatory. The BRs provide all the tools you need to produce a finished stereo master in WAV format. Of course, if you want it in MP3 format for posting here, for example, then you have to do that conversion on the computer. But, as I've yet to see a digital recorder that can upload directly to Songcrafters , you're going to need the computer for that anyway, so converting from WAV to MP3 on the computer shouldn't be a problem.

Am I missing the point? In terms of finishing a song, I can't think of anything that the BR-900 can do that the BR-800 and BR-80 cannot.

It may be visions of grandeur but MIDI is real appealing ..

I have mixed feelings about MIDI in a recorder. I have it in my BR-864 and I used to use it quite often to sync my recorder to the 16-channel sequencer in my Yamaha keyboard. But it's been a few years since I've done that. I guess things really changed for me when I got my AKAI MPK25 controller keyboard. With it I have access to many, many software synths and other tools on my computer, so I find it much better to create my keyboard tracks there. Consequently, I haven't used the Yamaha in a long time.

MIDI in the BR-900 (and BR-864) is pretty limited. You only have MIDI Out - there's no MIDI In. That means when you're syncing to another MIDI device, the BR always has to be the master and the other device has to be the slave. For me, that worked out okay but, as I said, I don't do that anymore because I'd rather do all my MIDI keyboard stuff on the computer. About the only other thing you could use the BR-900's MIDI Out for is to send the MIDI data from your drum arrangements to an external sound module such as your keyboard, a hardware drum machine, or the computer. But I really have no desire to do that. I find it much more convenient to create MIDI drum tracks on the computer and I have a big variety of drum samples to choose from.

Having said all that, I think it's a crying shame that manufacturers like Roland don't include full MIDI in every music product they make. The circuit literally costs them about one US dollar, so there's no excuse not to include it, in my opinion. The more devices you have that include full MIDI support, the more you can do with MIDI. So every electronic music product should have full MIDI support.

But I don't think I'd choose one recorder over another just because it has MIDI, especially if it's only MIDI Out.

[DannyB_KY]

Geir is right, there's a bunch of sens adjustments.......not sure what I was thinking, other than the input on the 800 was overly senstive on the input and can be burned out. May be I had too much bourbon one night and imagined it. As Agent 87 used to say, "Sorry about that Chief!"





......even free, except for one, most everyone would choose the 800. Thats interesting.....