BR1600/BR1200/BR900 - Final Sunset or Brand New Dawn?

[SteveB]

Didn't want to clog up the individual thread in the Original Songs forum, so brought my musings to here. I've put these 3 BR models together, because they all seemed to appear about the same time, and originally they had their own threads on whatever Songcrafters was at the time: 2009/10-ish.

So, prompted by comments over time from such as StevieM, Pine, Bruno, Chapperz66, AndyR etc who have also had encroaching problems with their machines, I find myself sitting on the patio (rather than porch), staring out beyond the trees to my own personal Rubicon. My BR1200 has been a fantastic machine for nearly 20 years, and it still works – mostly.

But time is moving on, and 20 years' old (and more), technology will not cut the mustard forever. I've spent several hours over the last few days just scrolling through various [non-song] threads on SC, and was actually shocked to see and remember some of the names from the past who either are no longer with us or simply no longer post. When I logged-on here tonight, there were apparently 98 other people viewing threads – er, just what are they all doing? There are only about 8 people ever post on SC nowadays – I exclude myself from that number, I mean the regulars who keep the Forum going. Making music is a lot of fun, but sometimes you just run out of road.  (Hollywood-style platitudes in reply rejecting this scenario are better left untyped).
Apparently the Tascam Model 12 retails for roughly the equivalent of what I paid for the BR1200 nearly 20 years ago, and seems to have a more-than-generous features set. But is it worth going there?

(I'm sorry other-duties claim my attention. But I will continue this. I include a photo of some of the journey I made. It will perhaps mesh with others. Deffo more later).

[Oldrottenhead]

I started recording on a double cassette ghettoblaster, moved onto a four track fostex cassette player. Then I got a the original microBR. I then moved up to the BR800.
However for the last few years I rarely touch any of my remaining standalone recorders.i got a MacBook and a focusrite scarlet 2i2 interface and have never looked back. I use GarageBand which came free with my MacBook but only costs about £5 if you have to pay. Not sure if it still comes free. The scarlet works with windows too and with any daw.
If someone said to me back in the day I'd be using a daw I would have laughed in their face. Ok there is a learning curve for every new move but it's all basically the same principles. I love that I can see the wav files as I record and play along with its a great visual cue, especially for when I'm recording vocals.

[Ted]

20 years' old (and more), technology will not cut the mustard forever.

I've been planning to replace my Micro BR with a better device for about 10 years now. I also use GarageBand on my Mac, but I increasingly avoid it. So it kind of depends on where you are. If I could devote as much time to music as I'd like (about 100 times more than I do) I'm sure that I would not be satisfied with the Micro BR, and the clunky workflow that I have when I use it.

But for me, now, I'm content to use this ancient tech until it fails.

If someone said to me back in the day I'd be using a daw I would have laughed in their face.

As committed as I am to my Micro BR, I certainly can't argue with your musical output. I just hate working on my computer all day, and then when I want to have fun with music, still be stuck on the damn computer.

I not only worry about the death of my Micro BR, I worry about the death of my Mac (which has seemed imminent for about a year now). I like have GarageBand when I get a little more ambitious than what I can do on the Micro BR. The problem is I don't want to give Apple any of my money anymore (for environmental, political, and human-rights reasons). But I'm now thinking that the death of my Mac and/or my MBR might have a simple solution: a second-hand iPad.

[Oldrottenhead]

If you get a second had iPad go for tenth generation it has a usb c connector. I have a plan to sneak one by Mrs rottenhead