BR80 wishlist (for firmware upgrade)

[norlesh]

Thanks 64Guitarist! Holding down the buttons works... Now if only I could find the hidden track effects easteregg 

[Rob1964b]

Bought my BR-80 4 days ago. Wishlist so far:-
 1) Ability to record dry and apply effects afterwards. -
That was one of my favourite things about my BR.
 2) Bring back  "plug-in power on off" option so I can still use my sony stereo mic
 in the 3.5mm line-in input -This also enabled me to record vocals and guitar on
 seperate tracks simultaneously using the left n right channels and an adapter lead.
 3) My old BR songs don't seem to work on the BR-80. Tried copying them across but they don't
seem to appear on the BR-80 in any of the lists. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It would be really
handy to be able to do this as I have loads of stuff from my old BR that I'd like to re-mix on the BR-80.
  Basically - Make the BR-80 do everything that the BR could do - and more. 
  Maybe there's some clever software people out there who could help. I doubt if Boss would want
to upgrade the BR-80 software because it might stop people buying their more expensive machines.
Firmware upgrades seem to be mainly to iron out glitches rather than introduce (or re-introduce) new features.

 

[Hook]

Welcome to site. Boss really screwed the pooch with the Br80 in my opinion. those are just a few of the many serious changes and/or lack of features.

Basically - Make the BR-80 do everything that the BR could do - and more.   

That's exactly what they should have done but they didn't even come close. I changed up my recording kit and haven't regretted it. Sadly as much as I like the MBR which I just recently traded for a nylon string guitar, I doubt very seriously I would upgrade with boss; unless of course they offer an excellent revamp of the BR1600!
I did notice the MBR's are going for about $30 bucks on ebay, so maybe I'll pick up another...
Good luck, I look forward to hearing what you record.
Rock On!

[64Guitars]

3) My old BR songs don't seem to work on the BR-80. Tried copying them across but they don't
seem to appear on the BR-80 in any of the lists. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It would be really
handy to be able to do this as I have loads of stuff from my old BR that I'd like to re-mix on the BR-80.

I'm not sure if any of the BR-80's files are compatible with other BRs. Certainly, the files for drums and effects would be incompatible. If anything's compatible, it will be SONGINF2.BR0 and the TAKE_*.BR0 files which hold all of your track audio.

Probably the best way to move your songs to the BR-80 is to first export each track from the old BR as a WAV file. You can then import those WAV files into the BR-80 for mixing, etc.

BR Explorer makes the task easier because it lets you access your backups from your hard drive and it allows BR Wave Converter to work with those backups without having to move them to a BR memory card.

[bostjan]

I know this thread is a bit old and a little dusty, and I highly doubt Boss is interested in pushing this product any more, but why not post my wishlist anyway...

In no particular order:

Firmware:

1. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but there seems to be no native master fade out option.
2. Importing MIDI to rhythm tracks was a very useful feature.  But when I program in time signature changes, the device works fine until the end of the part of the pattern, then it either deletes beats or adds silence to make up back to 4/4.  Maybe this was already fixed with the last firmware update.
3. I, personally, would really like two crashes, a ride bell, or a china cymbal added to the rhythm functionality.  I've tried using the bell tone (A#0) listed in the manual and it makes no sound at all after being imported.  Having only one accent cymbal is okay for some songs, but really limits what you can do with the imported patterns.
4. I am pretty impressed with the guitar COSM.  I cannot stress enough how flexible it is and how pleased I am with the quality of sound.  On the flip side, I am quite let down by the bass COSM and the vocal effects.  As others have mentioned here and in other threads, having been limited to applying COSM and effects (besides the reverb, which I'll get to) only to the input and not to any recorded channels is limiting.  When I plug a guitar into the device, I feel like I have a complete arsenal of amps.  After the guitar is recorded, that honeymoon comes to a screeching halt.
5. The built-in reverb doesn't seem to make any audible difference to anything.  Maybe I'm using it wrong, but if that is the case, the manual is misleading.
6. Something that surpresses pops when I am using the built-in mic's and I press record to punch in would be very nice.
7. Ok, this is a big one, but while I am dreaming big, certain aspects of recording with such a small device are tedious.  This is to be expected, considering the size of the device; however, the functionality seems to be 99% of the way there.  Anyway, anything I could do to copy and paste sections of an arrangement would save me hours of sequencing on the tiny screen with limited controls.  For example, if a song has the following patterns:
 Verse pattern starting with a crash
 Verse pattern
 Alternate verse pattern
 Verse fill
 Alternate verse fill
 Chorus pattern
 Bridge pattern
And I have to sequence P1 P2x2 P4 P1 P2x2 P5 P1 P2 P3 P4 P1 P2x2 P5 P6x4 P1 P2x2 P4, etc. doing all of this with the jog wheel is kind of nuts.  If I could copy and paste the first section of four patterns, then modify it, boom, I've saved about twenty minutes on one song.

Hardware:

Well, okay, since none of this will likely happen in a world where I can download a dozen half-functional apps on my tablet or phone for recording for $5-10 each, I'm just dreaming:
*. How about a device like a micro BR, but a little bigger.  It could still fit in a guitar case, but maybe not in a pants pocket (who would but a multitrack recorder in a pants pocket anyway?), but have proper COSM on two or three or even four channels.  Heck, you could make the entire thing have a mic input, two guitar inputs and a bass input, and maybe even some kind of e-drum input.  It'd be like "Rock Band" except in real life instead of a video game.  Or, even better, something just like the Micro BR-80 for guitar, but with a link-up port, so more than one person can link up.  Then make another version for bass and another for vocal.  For bass, have some decent bass amps to model: Ampeg SVT Classic, Fender Bassman, Mesa/Boogie, SWR, whatever punk guys use (Peavey?) etc., maybe an active/passive pad on the input, and mandatory effects like an envelope follower and a good compressor.  For vocals, have a mic input with phantom power with a nice warm preamp simulator, some decent reverb, and whatever kind of compressor vocalists use.  Then make it so that the thing can record each instrument linked up to it on an isolated track, and, if they are discrete devices, implement a way for people to be able to email each other tracks. 
It'd be really neat to be able to record something on guitar and then email it to an online buddy who is a good bass player and have him layer stuff onto it.  With the current micro BR-80, there is no incentive for a bass player to buy one.  With an iPhone app or Samsung or whatever phone app, I can record stuff with iRig and email it to a bassist and have him do just that.  The trouble is that I refuse to give into the smartphone revolution.  Besides that, there are compatibility issues if buddies have different brands, like Apple and Samsung.  Also, I've played with apps for recording and I just generally don't like them.  There is a market gap.  Whether it's profitable or not is really debatable.  I'd be interested in whichever modules there were for such a system.  If something like Micro BR-80 was available with some decent bass and vocal capabilities, then I'd be interested in that as well.

If Boss does not support these products anymore, I might as well get a tablet and set it up with whichever app is the most functional, get a couple iRig modules and start learning that.