BR1200CD......transfer of files to PC

[bazz-bass]

Returning to using this desk after long period of recording to Audacity.

Question:-

The Boss Knowledge Base page says that if I wish to transfer all tracks of one song to PC I should select USB, select Export and turn Value knob until it reaches " ii"......but on my unit the farthest it goes is 11/12 v16 which means having to transfer each track separately, or mix/master on the 1200 and transfer the final stereo track

Realising that we are now miles past upgrades, have I missed something en route to relighting my love affair with this much loved old boy.

[64Guitars]

The Boss Knowledge Base page says that if I wish to transfer all tracks of one song to PC I should select USB, select Export and turn Value knob until it reaches "*-*"......but on my unit the farthest it goes is 11/12 v16 which means having to transfer each track separately, or mix/master on the 1200 and transfer the final stereo track

I'm not certain but from looking at the manual it appears that the "*-*" option only appears when exporting your tracks via the CD drive. So you might not be able to do it over USB unless you export one track at a time.

See pages 233-235 of the manual under the section "Copying audio track waveform data to computers (WAV/AIFF Export)".

Realising that we are now miles past upgrades, have I missed something en route to relighting my love affair with this much loved old boy.

It looks like the last update was version 1.20. If you currently have an older version and you want to update to version 1.20, you can get it here:

https://www.boss.info/uk/support/by_product/br-1200cd/updates_drivers/

Note that you'll need a CD to perform the update. And I don't know if it will add the "*-*" option to USB exports. I suspect that it won't.


You might want to contact Roland Support and ask them if the part about "*-*" in their knowledge base article is a mistake, or if you need to update to version 1.20 to get that option for USB exports.


Also, I noticed on their knowledge base article that it says:

Compatibility Note:
Due to the age of the product, the BR-1200CD was last compatible with Window 7 and Mac OS X 10.15. Later operating system are not compatible and sadly will not work properly."

So, unfortunately, you might have to use the CD method anyway unless your computer's operating system is Window 7 or Mac OS X 10.15.

[bazz-bass]

thanks for looking at this for me.

regards

bazz

[Woodlake]

Hi Bazz,
You do have a couple of other (outside the box!) options for transferring audio to your PC if you need to:

1. Remove the HDD from the unit and plug it directly into the PC or use an inexpensive caddy and connect via USB2/3 (much faster than the USB1 on the BR's).
You can then use free software to convert the Roland proprietary format tracks to WAV.
You can find the software here:

https://github.com/mushketer888/br1600_wav_converter.

It works very well and converts the tracks very quickly. The only downside is that it converts the files using the same arbitrary number sequence names that the original tracks use, so you may have trouble identifying what the tracks are, especially if you have a song that has a lot of them.

* there is also another option for software that can do the conversion, but it's not free.

2. Us an audio interface to connect the digital out of the BR to the PC and transfer the tracks losslessly to the PC. This will require you do them in real time with a max of 2 tracks at a time.
However, you can sync the BR to a DAW (I use Reaper) using midi, and all your tracks will then line up with each other as they should.
I use a fairly inexpensive NI Komplete Audio 6 interface to connect the digital and midi between the BR and PC. Also works very well

*note - this is on a BR1600, but I'm pretty sure it will be exactly the same for the BR1200.


 

[SteveB]

This is what I've used in the past with my BR1200. Haven't done any recording in a number of years, and since the last house move, this disc is still sitting somewhere in a box...somewhere. But it does work, wonderfully. I bought it direct from Top Sounds in the U.S., and had no problem with them or the disc. It's worth investigating.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231130614780