Review of the Roland DVD Owner's Manual for the BR-600

[64Guitars]

The owner's manual that comes with the BR-600 is actually quite accurate, complete, and reasonably well written (contrary to popular opinion). However, I've noticed that most BR users have a lot of difficulty understanding the manual. I think this is largely because it addresses many unfamiliar concepts that are overwhelming to the new user. It seems that, the more a user reads, the more confused he gets. Most people will find it much easier to learn about their BR-600 if they are shown how to use it rather than just reading a boring and seemingly incomprehensible owner's manual.

That's why I think that every new BR-600 user (and even some of the more experienced users) should watch the Roland DVD Owner's Manual for the BR-600 from ProAudioDVDs. This video will gently introduce you to all of the features of the BR-600 and show you how to use those features to get the most out of your recorder.

You can purchase the DVD for $29.95 (U.S. dollars). Or, you can purchase a subscription which lets you view any videos online as often as you like. Subscriptions start at $29.95 for 30 days, which should be plenty of time to learn the BR-600 and become quite comfortable and proficient at using it. ProAudioDVDs makes video tutorials for many Boss and Roland products (not just recorders), as well as products from Korg and TASCAM. If you're only interested in the BR-600, then the DVD might be best for you since you can watch it in full-screen, high-resolution on any DVD player or on any computer. But, if you're interested in more than one product, then the subscription is more economical. I have a subscription since I'm interested in all of the BRs, as well as several other products such as the Boss multi-effects units (which have a lot in common with the BR's effects), Boss drum machines, TASCAM recorders (out of curiosity and for comparison), Roland GR-33 Guitar Synth, Roland V-Drums, MIDI, and Home Theater.

I hope to post full reviews of each of the BR videos eventually, but I'll start with this review of the BR-600 DVD Owner's Manual.

The video has six sections:

1) Introduction (7:22) - In the introduction, David Wills, a professional with several decades of experience in the music industry, briefly describes some of the features of the BR-600. He then gives a brief overview of the front panel layout and shows you what some of the buttons do. Next, he shows you how to load the demo song and play it. Finally, he shows you how to move around in the song: a) by using the Zero, Rewind and Fast-Forward buttons; b) by moving the cursor around the display and using the Time/Value wheel to change the hours, minutes, seconds, measures, or beats; and c) by setting a Locator point to return instantly to a point in the song.

2) Your First Recording (21:51) - David shows you how to create a multitrack recording from scratch, laying down a bass track and two guitar tracks to the metronome tempo. Along the way, he uses Auto-Punch to correct a mistake, and AB Repeat to loop a section on playback. He also uses v-tracks to record an alternate take of one of the guitar tracks, then shows you how to switch between the two takes on playback so you can compare them and decide which one you'd prefer to use in your final mix. Other topics covered in this section include recording modes (HiFi/Std/Long), setting input sensitivity and record level, using the built-in guitar tuner, using insert effects, the difference between "insert" effects and "loop" effects, removing the default reverb from the input, and using microphones.

3) Rhythm Section (18:33) - In this section, David talks about the BR-600's built-in drum machine, and shows you how to create a drum arrangement then edit it. Next, he shows you how to create your own custom drum patterns in both Realtime mode (by tapping on the drum pad buttons) and Step mode (marking the drum/cymbal hits on a pattern grid). Finally, he shows you how to choose one of the BR-600's nine preset drum kits, or create your own custom kit by importing drum and cymbal samples. Here's a sample clip of the latter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48IpLOtHcA

He also shows you how to copy samples from one preset drum kit to another. You can import samples into a drum kit using the Toneload feature of the BR-600 too, but David chose to discuss that in section 5 (USB Functions) rather than here.

4) Track Editing/Mixdown (30:27) - This section begins with a demonstration of Track Edits (copy/move/erase/exchange). Then he shows you how to use Scrub mode to locate the beginning and end of a sound for very precise editing. Next up is mixing, which includes setting fader levels, pan, and EQ. He also shows you how to use the Mute button to instantly mute tracks during playback so that you can solo a particular track, for example. Then he goes into more detail on loop effects (reverb and chorus/delay/doubling). Next comes a detailed discussion of Bouncing. The section ends with a discussion of Mastering which includes a very good explanation of compression.

5) USB Functions (8:56) - Here David shows you how to backup and restore your BR-600, and import or export WAV/AIFF files. Then he shows you how to import a standard MIDI file into a drum pattern. He wraps up this section by showing you how to import drum and cymbal samples into a custom drum kit using the Toneload feature.

6) Additional Settings (7:12) - To wrap up the video, David begins this section with a discussion of Vocal Pitch Correction, including an example of a Pitch Map. Then he goes through the options in the Utility screens, including Song Information, Song Protect, Song Optimize, LCD Contrast, Drum Pad Sensitivity, Foot Switch, Expression Pedal, Line In Sub Mixer, AB Quantize, Remaining Info, Power Save, Scrub Preview, and Initialize.


David presents the information in a very clear and concise way that I think most BR-600 users will find easy to understand. He goes through each topic pretty quickly, but that isn't a big problem because you can rewind and play each section as many times as you need to until the concepts are crystal clear.

I've always found that the most difficult concepts for most BR users to grasp are V-Tracks, Drum Programming, and Effects Editing. I would have preferred if David went into more detail on these topics in the video, but I suppose that might have made it too long (its total length is 94:21). The thing to remember is that this video will help you to become very comfortable with all of the basic concepts very quickly. It clears up all of the confusion that new users often experience, and gives you the proficiency and confidence you need so that you can concentrate on your songs instead of the recording technology. Then you will find that the printed Owner's Manual is much easier to comprehend and you should have no difficulty mastering the more advanced details by reading the relevant sections of the manual.


You can learn more about the Roland DVD Owner's Manual for the BR-600 here:

   http://www.proaudiodvds.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BR%2D600&Click=2040


If anyone has any questions about the BR-600 DVD Owner's Manual, I'd be happy to answer them here. As I said, I hope to eventually post reviews of the other BR videos too. If you have questions about those, please post in the relevant boards rather than here in the BR-600 board.

[grolschie]

Thanks for the review. I was considering buying the DVD, but have figured out alot of the features now. At some stage I want to figure out drum programming and punching in/out though.