Old Boss BR for parts

[T.C. Elliott]

I've been browsing at Shopgoodwill.com and they had an old BR machine (possibly the 864?) for cheap (broken, for parts only) and I was away at the close of the auction and didn't get it. But I sure could use something like that (or an old 900) for parts. Mine is slowly deteriorating. I've already moved some of the buttons around to keep it working. So I'm keeping my eyes open. Anyone else do the same? Or do you think it might be time to move on to a new machine, or way of recording?

Speaking of which, I got a simple, cheap M-Audio PC interface. So I might be trying to record directly to computer (again.) Hopefully with more luck... or maybe not hopefully, as I love my BR-900 but I have a feeling its days are limited.

Also I got a 60+ key midi controller on the way and a small xylophone that actually sounds pretty damn good. All for cheap. But I may have to curtail my shopgoodwill browsing time if I want to save any money.

[Oldrottenhead]

get a br800 

when i think what i paid for my old fostex four track tape deck back in the day, maybe in 1985 or thereabouts was £600. FMGWABP. what would that be at today's prices. £2000 maybe. but you can get a decent digital 8 track for around £200 today.

Go on get a new one, there will be a learning curve but the principles are the exact same as they where for the old four track portastudios, except there is no hiss when bouncing 

[T.C. Elliott]

That's not exactly what I need. Encouragement to buy more recorders. (Especially since I only need a slight nudge to do that, anyway.)

In other words, you're probably right.

[T.C. Elliott]

So I've purchased two items from shopgoodwill. The first is an older M-Audio M-track. If it works with this laptop I will be able to record straight into Reaper. And the second is a BR-532. They say it powers on but they haven't tested it any further. Even if it doesn't work I it looks like I can keep the 900 going for another decade or so barring major internal glitches. (In other words, I can keep replacing the buttons etc., as needed. And even replace the non working ones if I want.)

[T.C. Elliott]

BR-532 report:

It works. I initialized the card (someone left a couple of guitar parts on it) recorded one track each of guitar, bass and vox to a prebuilt rhythm arrangement so I have a 20+ second "song" on there. Kinda cool. I don't see a way to get the music off the machine, but then again, I won't need to as I'm going to end up tearing it apart and using the buttons to fix my BR-900 when the time comes. (I've already had to move buttons from one spot to another in order to keep it working.)

So... is it worth $40? Probably not. Will it be worth it when I need to fix the BR900? Yup. To me it will.

[64Guitars]

I don't see a way to get the music off the machine

You need a memory card reader for your computer that supports SmartMedia. BR Wave Converter will work with files from the BR-532.