G'day Songcrafters, I humbly seek your wisdom.

[64Guitars]

The BR-800 DVD Owner's Manual is well worth getting for anyone who's new to the BR-800 and wants to learn it quickly without having to study the printed manual. It's 2 hours and 32 minutes long and covers everything you need to know about the BR-800. The demo video that Geir posted only covers pattern editing. In the DVD, he also goes into song arrangements and drum kits. The entire BR Rhythm Editor section of the DVD is about 13 minutes long. There's also a 12-minute long section on playing the BR-800's preset patterns, creating/editing arrangements, and selecting drum kits directly on the BR-800 (without using the Rhythm Editor software).

http://proaudiodvds.com/store/roland-dvds/roland-boss-br-800-dvd-tutorial/

[CaptainJimbo]

Many thanks Gentlemen,
I will have to get around to ordering that DVD.
I have worked out how to write and import midi grooves whilst the BR-800 is connected to the computer, however I can't quite work out how to save them to the BR-800.
I have written both into the patterns pane and also the arrangement pane, then I have no luck finding them in the BR-800.

So many hurdles upon the mountain of knowledge.

[64Guitars]

Have you read the BR-800 Rhythm Editor manual? You can access it from the Help menu of the Rhythm Editor software or by looking in the "Manual" folder where the software is installed. Or you can download it here:

http://www.boss.info/support/by_product/br-800/owners_manuals/8258

As described on page 3 of the manual, here is an overview of the procedure for creating or editing the drum track of a song:

1) Make the connection to the BR-800, then start BR-800 Rhythm Editor.

2) Read in a song from the BR-800.

   Perhaps you've skipped this important step? You must select a song before you start working with the software as your selection here tells it where to write the data when you click any of the three WRITE buttons in the software. After you've finished working with the software and disconnected, you'll hear your completed drum track when you press PLAY on this song on the BR-800. Each song on the BR-800 can have up to 100 user patterns and 5 user arrangements. So it's important to know which song you're working with when using the Rhythm Editor. Otherwise, it will be hard to find your completed drum track on the BR-800 later. Also, you can't easily copy patterns or arrangements from one song to another, so you should make sure you select the correct song here before you start editing the patterns, arrangements, and drum kits.

3) Edit the pattern, then click the PATTERN WRITE button to write the pattern to the selected song on the BR-800. You'll be prompted to select a pattern number from S001 to S100. When you later want to play this pattern back in pattern mode on the BR-800, you'll have to make sure that the same pattern number is selected.

4) Edit the arrangement, then click the ARRANGEMENT WRITE button to write the arrangement to the selected song on the BR-800. You'll be prompted to select an arrangement number from S01 to S05. When you later want to play this arrangement back in arrangement mode on the BR-800, you'll have to make sure that the same arrangement number is selected. Usually, you'll only have one arrangement per song, so you can simplify matters by always selecting arrangement S01. The other four are just extra slots where you can store alternate arrangements if you want to try several different arrangements without erasing your earlier efforts. Then you can decide later which of your arrangements you like best and use it when you master your song.

5) If desired, edit the drum kit, then click the WRITE button at the lower-right of the drum kit section. You'll be prompted to select a drum kit number from S01 to S05. As with arrangements, you'll probably only use one of these, so always select S01 to keep things simple.

6) Disconnect the BR-800. It's important that you perform this step as described in the manual to properly close the files you've written. Otherwise, the files may be incomplete and unusable.

[CaptainJimbo]

Aaahh...

This makes sense.

[CaptainJimbo]

God Damn it, man!
It works!!!

I am truly in your debt, sir.

[CaptainJimbo]

I have so far made many leaps and bounds with this impressive black box..
I can write and import midi drum grooves, I can convert files to WAV and export them to my computer at will.

But, my next obstacle is this; when I put said WAV files into my DAW (Ableton Live , all the tracks are out of sync. I made sure that the tempo in my DAW was set to the same as the original recording (110bpm) on the BR-800 but each track was out of sync, not by a lot, but enough to start banging your head against the wall with mild force.

I could go in and match up each track but that might get a bit tedious if I have to do this each time I import a new song.

Is there an easy work around that I'm missing?

[Oldrottenhead]

That's very strange. Are you sure the tracks are all correctly line up. Ie they all start at zero. I use cubase 5 and have never had that problem. But only when I have not lined the tracks up correctly.
Also I have not done any editing to the tracks. Straight from br800 via the wav editor then imported straight to Cubase.

[CaptainJimbo]

I just don't know why the tracks won't line up?

So, I've done my first mixdown on the BR-800 and man it was easy!
I then loaded the mixed take into sound forge and this is what I got, (I'll have to put it up as a you tube clip as I haven't worked out how else to put music on this site).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dFPbghzWFE

It's  pretty standard rock fare using Rock 1 V1 drum pattern throughout. It's a bit of a classic AC/DC type feel with a bit more intricate bass line, (kinda makes me think of a rhythm section of Malcom Young with Paul McCartney on bass).
What really impresseds me is the guitar sound you can get out of this black box. All the guitar parts were played on a Squire Classic Vibe Tele using the P38 Bluesy patch with the volume and tone rolled off a bit, left side is back PUP and right side is middle PUP. There's a nice little guitar solo coming in at the 2 min mark which also using the same P38 Bluesy patch.

I'm quite pleased with the sound for a very quick basic mixdown.

[CaptainJimbo]

Oh dear, I have a new problem.
I've tried to lay down some vocals on this track after bouncing a leass than satisfactory mix to track 5/6, and I had forgotten to move the original 1 & 2 tracks to other V Tracks. A few vocal takes later I'd realised what I'd done and went scarlet with shame! Too many tracks to hit redo I believe.

I have actually backed up the original tracks as WAV files to my PC but I'm not quite sure how to get them back onto the BR-800.

Any tips, chaps?

[64Guitars]

I've tried to lay down some vocals on this track after bouncing a leass than satisfactory mix to track 5/6, and I had forgotten to move the original 1 & 2 tracks to other V Tracks.

You don't have to move tracks to add more. Just switch to an unused v-track and record your new vocals (or whatever) there. For example, let's say your original tracks were recorded on v-track 1 of tracks 1 through 4 and the mix is on v-track 1 of tracks 5/6. You could then set tracks 1 through 4 to v-track 2 which is empty (assuming you only used v-track 1 for your original recordings) and leave 5/6 on v-track 1 so you can hear the mix while you're recording. Now you can record new stuff on tracks 1 through 4 v2 while listening to the mix on 5/6 v1.

See my tutorial on v-tracks for more information. It's a bit out of date but the basic concepts still hold true.

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/V-Tracks_and_Bouncing.html

I have actually backed up the original tracks as WAV files to my PC but I'm not quite sure how to get them back onto the BR-800.

The easiest way is to use the BR Wave Converter software. Just select the song, click the Import button, select one or two empty tracks (depending on whether the WAV file is stereo or mono), then click the GO button. It will then prompt you for the WAV file you wish to import to the selected track.

Windows: http://www.boss.info/support/by_product/br-800/updates_drivers/5412

Mac: http://www.boss.info/support/by_product/br-800/updates_drivers/5411