A message from the dark ages.....

[Clayhead]

Hi....
I am looking for advice from those of you who transitioned from Roland 880 or 1680 equipment to Boss equipment. I've used the Roland equipment for 10 years and know all the quirks of my 880EX and how to use it well. Having said that, I just finished a cd and once again found the machine to be cumbersome and clumsy as usual. I'm looking at the Boss line and thinking they have to have improved over the mid-late 90's Roland machines. Any comments? If they're better....how are they better?
Thanks

[OsCKilO]

Buy a Micro Br Friend.......


Check out the MBR section on this site.....


It is all you need and fun to master!

[Clayhead]

I'll check it out. Thank you.

[64Guitars]

I just had a quick look at the VS-880EX manual and it seems to offer at lot of nice features that aren't available on the Boss BR series. What is it about the VS-880EX that you're not happy with?

As far as I can tell, the 880 doesn't have a built-in drum machine. So that might be one benefit of the BR series. Another is USB, which the 880 seems to lack. You can use the free BR Wave Converter software to export BR tracks to WAV files via USB, or import WAV files from your computer into BR tracks. There is also a free Drum Editor available for the BR series.

You might want to wait a week and see if any new recorders are announced at Summer NAMM in Nashville.

[guitarron]

just have a listen to what you hear on this site created by the br family of recorders

[Clayhead]

Thanks. The 880EX is very good.....but as far as technology is concerned, it was developed 15 years ago. The drum machine issue is not enough to switch to a newer device. When I first got it, fortunately I had a mentor who had mastered the 1680 to guide me thru using the operator's manual. It had been translated from Japanese to English very poorly, adding to the learning curve problems for customers. But, thats ancient history. What I am hoping to find here, is that the newer machines have had many of the recording steps streamlined. How have the internal cd burners held up in the Boss line? I go thru external cd burners every year or so....they just die and I have to buy them used off ebay if I can find them. The automix function of the Roland series is quirky and inconsistent. The other night I was mixing final stereo tracks for burning a cd and had set up automix to do a fadeout at the end (as I have many times) and the left, final mixed down stereo channel would not do it. It worked fine the next day. If you punch out of automix to work on something and then punch it back in, you have to momentarily readjust the faders (slightly move them) to regain sound out of those channels. Thats the same with the 1680. There are a lot of nuisance design flaws with these units that make recording/mastering/cd burning frustrating. Yes the final product is excellent, but the process is full of frustration.

[64Guitars]

What I am hoping to find here, is that the newer machines have had many of the recording steps streamlined.

I'm not familiar with the VS series, but I doubt that the recording procedures have changed much.

How have the internal cd burners held up in the Boss line? I go thru external cd burners every year or so....they just die and I have to buy them used off ebay if I can find them.

I don't know how well the BR CD drives hold up (my BR-864 doesn't have one), but they really aren't necessary anymore, thanks to USB. It's very easy and quick to transfer files between the BR and your computer via USB for backup or track import/export. And you can burn the files to CD or DVD on your computer if you wish. So the CD burner is superfluous, though they still include one in the high-end models. I wish that they would drop it completely and lower the prices accordingly.

The automix function of the Roland series is quirky and inconsistent. The other night I was mixing final stereo tracks for burning a cd and had set up automix to do a fadeout at the end (as I have many times) and the left, final mixed down stereo channel would not do it. It worked fine the next day. If you punch out of automix to work on something and then punch it back in, you have to momentarily readjust the faders (slightly move them) to regain sound out of those channels. Thats the same with the 1680. There are a lot of nuisance design flaws with these units that make recording/mastering/cd burning frustrating. Yes the final product is excellent, but the process is full of frustration.

The low-end BRs (Micro BR, BR-600, and BR-900CD) don't have automix or scenes. To get those features, you'd need a BR-1200 or BR-1600. Automix is now called AutoScene. It lets you assign scenes to markers so that they can be recalled automatically during playback. There are separate functions for Auto Fade In and Auto Fade Out in the Mastering Tool Kit.

The automix problem you described sounds like it could be from a bug in the 880's operating system. Have you installed the latest system update (version 2.014)? If not, it might be worth trying to see if it fixes the automix problem. You can download it here:

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=482&tab=downloads&skip=true

[Clayhead]

Hey....thank you. Your info is valuable. Just the fact that there is a mastering toolkit with the fade functions separate from the autoscene functions is exactly what I'm looking for. Other than the internal cd drive, do the lower models also have the mastering toolkit and autoscene functions? I presume the upper models have the USB capability to link to a PC should the internal drive fail? As I recall, there is no compatability to transfer data between the Roland 880Ex and the Boss products (?).
Thanks again. I appreciate your time.

[64Guitars]

Other than the internal cd drive, do the lower models also have the mastering toolkit and autoscene functions?

All of the BRs have a Mastering Tool Kit, but the low-end models don't include Auto Fade or scenes. Instead, fades, panning, etc. are done manually in real time during mastering. I prefer to export my final mix to a WAV file and import it into Audacity to do the fades.

I presume the upper models have the USB capability to link to a PC should the internal drive fail?

All of the current BRs, from the Micro BR to the BR-1600, have USB. The low-end models use flash memory for storage, while the high-end models use internal hard drives. In both cases, it's a good idea to frequently backup your data via USB.

As I recall, there is no compatability to transfer data between the Roland 880Ex and the Boss products (?).

The data files are probably not directly compatible. However, if you can export your VS-880 tracks as WAV files, you'll be able to import them into any BR series recorder using the BR Wave Converter.

[Clayhead]

Excellent! Regarding Audacity.....I have a producer friend in LA who just recommended Audacity for home recording. How has it helped you?