BR800 multitrack DAW question

[IanR]

Hello BR geniuses,

Does anyone know if the BR800 can be used as a recording interface to record four separate track simultaneously in a DAW (Sonar)?

The maximum number of simultaneous inputs into the BR800 is 4 using the mic inputs.  I want to record those directly into Sonar. This cuts out the need to go the through the wave converter process. 

Currently, I can get the the four tracks to record in Sonar but only as a single stereo track.

Is there a setting I don't know about that will enable each of the 4 tracks to be recorded separately in Sonar?

Ian

[64Guitars]

Is there a setting I don't know about that will enable each of the 4 tracks to be recorded separately in Sonar?

As far as I can tell, no. It seems that you can only send 2 tracks over USB when using the BR-800 as an audio interface. There's a setting called "OUT POSITION" which is described on page 129 of the BR-800 manual. For the "REC LEV" setting, it says "When "INPUT 1–4" has been set for INPUT SELECT (p. 37), only the signals for INPUT 1, 2 will be output." The only other setting is "MASTER" which outputs "the signal as it is immediately after passing through the [MASTER] fader". In other words, the stereo mix of all selected inputs.

So, it would seem that you can either have inputs 1 and 2 separately or a stereo mix of all 4 inputs, but you can't have all 4 inputs separately.

[Hook]

That all seems like Incredibly stupid design. I thought that whole interface thing was a big selling point for the br800 (not for me but... )
Regardless how hard would it have been to make each track accessible. Do you think it's oversight or do they just not want to make a machine that does it all? When I think about the (what appears to be) conscious choices that went into my br80s design and the 800 apparently, tascam has done it the same thing with different features. I think the br900 (yes 900) was a pretty all incompasing recorder, keep all the original features!, make it a bit smaller, change to sd, make it an interface and it's perfect. How hard is that?
Rock on!

[IanR]

Thanks 64 Guitars.

I get a bit confused by the language in the manual, so thanks for dipping in again to find the answer. 

I went to a high-end music shop here in Melbourne yesterday and asked if they had a "machine" that could audio interface and record multi-tracks into a DAW and then act as a control surface so that I could mix with it in the DAW.  Apparently, there is no machine that does this unless you want to spend thousands.

There are examples such as API's "The Box" and the Neve Genysis, but these are very expensive and out of my league.  Allen and Heath, and even Behringer, have some great "cheaper" mixers that also audio interface but like the BR800, they only transmit the stereo track from the master bus.

This is a gap in the home studio market and Roland should fill it.

In the mean time, I will see if what you found in the manual can improve things. Recording two tracks is twice as good as what I could do before.

cheers,

Ian

[Flash Harry]

Ian,

Have a look at some of the interfaces available on eBay, such as the Scarlett series, or maybe the creative emu 1616's which give you lots of input configurations.


I have the 8i6 and the PCMCIA verion of the 1616 and they are both pretty neat..

There's the Saffire pro stuff too if you're fortunate to get it a a good price and if you can get a usb enabled mixer then you're sorted.

eBay is your friend....

[dave1z]

There is this:

M-Audio ProjectMix I/O Firewire Audio Interface

There's one currently available on Reverb. Looks like what you are looking for.

Hope that helps.