New BR model - the BR-800

[Saijinn Maas]

I just jumped on the 800 bandwagon. I think it's making me play better

Cool! I just got mine last week! I would think it's that damn PRS that would be "making you play better". I have to say... I am not one to succumb to envy, but I have never been more jealous of anyone over a guitar as I am of you with that PRS. And now you have on your sig so I have to look at it all the time now!

[Tony W]

I'll derail this thread if I start talking about the PRS, so I'll keep it short. I tried a lot of PRS models before settling in on the 513. It plays better than it looks and the voicing is nothing short of incredible. 5 single coils with a 3 way and 5 way blade. The 5 way works like a strat, the 3 way selects single coil, medium humbucker or full humbucker ( bridge or neck depends on the 5 way).

Back to the 800....

I've only recorded one little snippet with it, using the onboard mics and a classical guitar. I am very much satisfied thus far. It's fairly easy to operate. There are so many cool features now. I've read about half the manual so far, I figured I'd try to learn the gear this time, before going headlong into it. I can't wait to finish the book then get deep into the hands on.

Retry button - my favorite feature.

[Geir]

Welcome to the 800-club Tony and Saijinn !!

[jerrysimon]

Thanks for the welcome this seems like a friendly place.

Ok I picked mine up yesterday after work. In many ways I wish I hadn't as I am now in a bit of a delema about which to keep, this or the Tascam DP-008  

I don't mean to make this a DP-008 comparison with the BR-800 but I now have both so I hope you won't mind if I post my thoughts if only to help me decide.

Anyway intial impressions :

Pros

1. The unit is smaller than I thought and actually looks very nice.
2. The touch sensitive buttons actually grow on me even though I thought I would hate them.
3. Its not as easy to use as the DP-008 but still pretty intuitive.
4. I like the song sketch and EZ Rec which get you started quickly.
5. Nice big bright screen.
6. Has bars and beat display as well as real time.
7. The effects are amazing and great fun to use. I even had my wife singing into the harmony effects which she thought were great. I also like the acoustic guitar effects though as I use a Taylor guitar this already sounds nice micd.
8. After a lot of messing around I managed to get it to work as a control surface with the inlcuded   Sonar LE (nice to get some free software). Set your Driver Mode to ASIO in the audio setup and then select the generic Macki mixer as a control surface.
9. Nice that it comes with a power supply, Tascam charge extra  
10. The internal mics are actually not bad, though I think perhaps there is some processing going on as they still sound slightly processed for a bright sound, even when you record dry. As I was playing acoustic this actually makes my guitar sound nice. I will try and do a test sound from both units mics and post them.
11. Has a built in drum machine  
12 Almost forgot the 8 virtual tracks for multiple takes is a plus once I figure out how to use them lol
13 The tuner implementation on the BR-800 is better than that on the DP-008

Cons

1. The unit is very plasticy compared to the DP-008, which feels much more solid and better made.
2. Its about £80 more but probably worth that given the amazing effects and drums included  
3. The DP-008 is a true 8 track mono unit unlike the BR-800 which is more like 6 with the last 2 pairs split into two stereo pairs. Having said that the DP-008 would use up one for its drum/percusion backing which the BR-800 would not.
4. Looks like there is a larger learning curve to get to the bottom of all the features, though as with all things I can see the effort for the results you will get is definately worth it.


I will add to the above as I use it more over the next couple of days.

Couple of questions :

1. Setting inputs is a little strange in that you don't pick them one at a time but rather select them from a menu of mulitiple options. I have been plugging my acoustic in on the front Guitar/Bass input but I don't see anywhere that you adjust the volume/gain of this input ?

2. On the effects what is the purpose of the BANK:Simul in that they seem to duplicate the others ?

3. What is the best effect to get a BASS sound with an acoustic plugged in ? use the Guitar to BASS effects ?

I am primarily an acoustic guitar player and singer, have done very little recording and always play solo. These recorders have suddenly enabled me to play against a backing track which is really opening things up for me and quite exciting. I was initally looking for a simple, easy to use multi track (non PC) device  to lay down two or three tracks of me singing and playing. The DP-008 fits this very well but what I have noticed is the BR-800 may infact make me branch out a little more, to using backing drums and guitar/vocal effects and make me more creative. I tend to do mainly covers and don't write my own stuff.

If I am going to pay more I don't want to then find in a few months down the line I don't use half the features. That said I can see that the BR-800 offers me more room to grow with all the effects, drum editing and software/PC connectivity. Sorry for the long post this is really me just thinking out loud. Maybe I should buy both and then sell the one I use least lol

Ok I am off to play with the drums on the BR-800  

Regards

Jerry

[Geir]

The touch sensitive buttons actually grow on me even though I thought I would hate them.

I had the same feeling. And they're a great feature when you do punch-in's when using the internal mics (no button noise)

1. Setting inputs is a little strange in that you don't pick them one at a time but rather select them from a menu of mulitiple options. I have been plugging my acoustic in on the front Guitar/Bass input but I don't see anywhere that you adjust the volume/gain of this input ?

You can't. It's a bit annoying, but for and acoustic with a preamp not really a big issue. Just lower the volum on the guitar a tad. For electric it's a bit more of a deal if you don't have a good guitar with a really good volumecontrol. Still managable, but I wish it was possible to adjust.

2. On the effects what is the purpose of the BANK:Simul in that they seem to duplicate the others ?

The SIMUL bank means you get two effectchains simultanously. One for guitar and one for microphone.

3. What is the best effect to get a BASS sound with an acoustic plugged in ? use the Guitar to BASS effects ?

That guitar-to-bass feature is really good. I've used it on a couple of songs already (when I didn't have the bass with me) and used right it sounds fantastic! It's a bit sensitive to high peaks from the guitar but with some volum/tone adjustment from the guitar you'll get a sound almost undistinguishable from a real bass.

[jerrysimon]

Geir,

Thanks for you prompt and helpful reply.

Glad I wasn't going nuts re the guitar input gain. My acoustic (Taylor 512)  has a very hot passive K&K pickup fitted with no preamp adjustment. I guess I could plug it into one of the other inputs ?

As its very hot the volume is not too bad anyway.

I am really torn between these two. I am going to try them both for the next few days. I love the portability, build quality and simplicity of the Tascam unit. With the Tascam its just a case of plugging in and away I go. Less feature for sure, but it means I can get on with recording and laying down the song reportoire I have built up over the years.

At the moment overall I think because I am a beginner to all this recording, I am tempted to stick with the DP-008 and then move up later to the Boss or equivalent speced unit if I find I really exhaust the DP-008 in terms of my creativity.

Regards

Jerry

[jerrysimon]

Well I think the BR-800 is going back and I will be keeping the DP-008.

I really wanted the BR-800 to be the solution having purchased the DP-008 and then later having come across the this BOSS unit.

On paper, in reviews and watching some Youtube clips it looked like it ticked all the boxes. In the end to quote another reviewer, it seems to be a proverbial mix of compromises.

The USB interface seemed to be a very good option. Its not bad, but its hardly full integration. The ability to uses hardware faders on the unit to move the faders on the associtaiated software and the transport buttons to start and stop playback/recording is interesting, but not much more than a gimmick really. I didn't try but I guess it also gives you the ability to use it as a 2 track in and 2 track out interface which for many may be a big selling point, but I own a mixer already that does that. I can also see how some would be drawn by the inbuilt drums and ability to edit patterns which is quite neat. The interface is certainly getting there, but still falls short of full integration. I also detest the clunky way it inports/exports recorded tracks to and from the PC.

The effects are a mixture of the VERY impressive, interesting and gimicky with many, I suspect, being of more use to some than to others.

Again as already stated, I feel the unit is let down by poor build quality when comapred to the DP-008 which for my requirement is an effective easy to use unit, with none of the don't-needs.

PS Re-reading my post maybe I am being a little harsh as I guess a few years ago, people would have killed for either unit  

Regards

Jerry

[Saijinn Maas]

Now that I've had a week or so to play with it...

I am liking this a lot. Some of the things that bother some don't bother me at all. I was never one to edit the tracks anyway, so the loss of some of the editing features doesn't bother me at all.

The two things that really stand out to me is:
1. The quality of the effect, especially the distortion, is REALLY good.
2. The touch sensitive buttons are nice since they make no noise when pressing during recording.
3. The pre-amps seem to be much better and have much more head room than the br600. I was constantly having to lower the input volume just to not cause any clipping. I seem to have much more control over that with the br800.

The one thing that bothers me so far...

The damn touch sensitive buttons around the dial. There is a more noticeable difference in the resistance while turning the dial than there was on the br600. When I am using the dial to go through the menu or effects, I keep hitting the arrow buttons and it sends me into another selection. :/

One last thing I find... not really wrong, but still annoying...

I wish it was just 8 standard tracks... period. This combining the last two into stereo pairs is something I DO NOT see the need for. We should have the ability to set up two tracks in stereo as a recording option and not have it forced. That's just nitpicking though.


That's my two cents! Loving everything else about it so far! I do think it was worth getting over my br600.
 

[jerrysimon]

I am glad you are happy with yours.

At the end of the day its great we have choice to purchase and use these great little digital gizmos  

Regards

Jerry

[BuleriaChk]

I agreee with Jerry; I think the BR-800 is almost a solution looking for a problem.  I have a BR-600 and a BR-900CD, and I was really tempted by the LCD screen, but no MIDI (especially with an acoustic interface into a DAW) was a deal breaker, and its use as a control surface is extremely limited. 

I think the BR-600 and the BR-900CD's are a real winners, especially with the Toneload function, which is essential for me.  And the effects are almost as good as the BR-800...

Like the DR-880, the BR-800 is so close and yet so far........  I just said to heck with it, though, and dedicated a Netbook to basic recording/backing tracks with Live.... Works fine with a GuitarPort....

I am glad you are happy with yours.

At the end of the day its great we have choice to purchase and use these great little digital gizmos  

Regards

Jerry