New BR model - the BR-800

[64Guitars]

I've tried copying the pattern.br0 file from one song to another on the BR-800, but the custom patterns just don't copy over.

Custom patterns are stored in PATTERN.BR0 and can be copied to other song folders. Try it again. Perhaps you copied from the wrong song on your earlier attempt. I suggest you give your songs and patterns unique names so you can positively identify them. And use BR Explorer to help identify the songs. It lists the song name and folder name for each song so you can be sure of which folder contains the song with your custom patterns. It also lists the custom patterns for each song. If you've named your patterns, you'll be able to recognise them easily.

[Pashmee]

64Guitars,

I have named my songs in the BR-800 and I've named the custom patterns in Rhythm Editor. When I open the BR-800's song data folders on my PC they have only numbers rather than names.

I have tried to be sure that I'm copying the correct files. When I select "Read Song" (or "Song Read"?) in R.E., it shows me which song names go with which song numbers, so I should be copying the correct files.

I've noticed one odd fact -all pattern files are the same size (I think 41.8 kb). That doesn't seem correct. Is there another folder location I should be copying from? I've been using the folder that contains a song folder and a sketch folder on the BR-800. This location opens automatically when I connect the BR-800 and engage the USB connection. I open the song folder and the various songs each have their own folder with the song and pattern data.

[64Guitars]

I have named my songs in the BR-800 and I've named the custom patterns in Rhythm Editor. When I open the BR-800's song data folders on my PC they have only numbers rather than names.

That's why you should use BR Explorer. It will list all of the songs on your BR-800 and tell you which SONGxxxx.BR0 folder each song is in. Then you can copy the PATTERN.BR0 file containing your custom patterns into the correct song folder.

I've noticed one odd fact -all pattern files are the same size (I think 41.8 kb). That doesn't seem correct.

That's correct. Most of the files in the BR are pre-allocated, so they will always be the same size regardless of their contents. The size of the PATTERN.BR0 file is 42,864 bytes. It contains a 64-byte header, pattern info for 100 patterns at 28 bytes per pattern, plus space for 5,000 notes at 8 bytes per note.

 Header:      64 bytes
Patterns:   2,800 bytes  (28 * 100)
   Notes:  40,000 bytes  (8 * 5000)
           ------------
  Total:   42,864 bytes

Is there another folder location I should be copying from? I've been using the folder that contains a song folder and a sketch folder on the BR-800. This location opens automatically when I connect the BR-800 and engage the USB connection. I open the song folder and the various songs each have their own folder with the song and pattern data.

The data for each song is in a folder named SONGxxxx.BR0, where 'xxxx' is a number from 0000 to 9999. These folders are stored in the /ROLAND/BR0 folder.

Perhaps an example would help. Suppose I've created six custom patterns for one of my songs. I've named that song "Follow-2". I've named the custom patterns "Lead-in", "ROCK1-V1", "Count In", "V1wCrash", "Fill 001", and "Fil&Crsh". I've also created a new song and named it "Autumn2". I want to copy my custom patterns from "Follow-2" into "Autumn2".

I load BR Explorer and select the song named "Follow-2" in the Song List section. In the Song Details section, I click on the Patterns tab. I see all of the six names I gave to my custom patterns so I know I've selected the right song.



From the Song List section, I can see that "Follow-2" is in the folder "SONG0014.BR0" and "Autumn2" is in the folder "SONG0018.BR0". I can now copy the PATTERN.BR0 file from /ROLAND/BR0/SONG0014.BR0 to /ROLAND/BR0/SONG0018.BR0. All six patterns will then be available in that song as Song patterns S001 through S006.

[Pashmee]

64Guitars, thanks for your very clear example and instructions. I believe that I have followed this exact formula (minus using BR Explorer which I have to get) without success. I'll try it using BR Explorer and post back my results.

[64Guitars]

Here's one more thing I thought of which might not be clear to a beginner.

When you're editing the steps of your arrangement, the screen looks like this:



This step is currently set to pattern P314. The 'P' indicates that this is a preset pattern. The cursor is highlighting the "314". Turning the wheel only changes the number so you can cycle through all of the preset patterns. But to select a Song pattern, you have to press the Cursor Left button to move the cursor to the 'P'.



Now you can turn the wheel to change the 'P' to an 'S'.



If you press the Cursor Right button to move the cursor back to the number value, you can cycle through the 100 Song patterns for this song.

Is it possible that the reason you couldn't find your custom patterns is that you didn't realise that you have to change the 'P' to an 'S'?

The same thing applies to Pattern mode. When selecting the pattern, you have to move the cursor to the 'P' and change it to an 'S' if you want to select a Song pattern.

[Pashmee]

64Guitars - you're the man!

I used BR Explorer and it worked. Hee Hee hee!!!

I actually did know about the "P" and "S", but thanks for making sure that wasn't the issue.

I'm now thinking that I'll probably keep the BR-800. One nice thing is that it's relatively easy to copy a growing list of custom patterns into new songs as they're created so they're always there to use during recording. Eventually one could have a large custom pattern library ready for each new song.

[64Guitars]

Glad you got it working. I think you'll enjoy the BR-800. It's an excellent multitrack recorder. One minor shortcoming is that the USB port is the old, slow USB 1.1. I wish they'd made it USB 3 or at least USB 2. But it's not a big deal. You can always pop the card out and put it in a fast USB card reader. To your computer, it will look exactly the same as the BR-800. So you can use any of the BR software with it (BR Rhythm Editor, BR Wave Converter, BR Explorer, BR Song Librarian) at much faster speeds than you'd get by connecting the BR-800 directly.

[dave1z]

Man, what can I say? I have been using computers for recording for the last ten years and haven't even thought about a stand-alone unit since back in the day when I used a Tascam Portaone. I bought this little unit on a whim and have been smiling ear-to-ear ever since! We could only dream about the things this can do, way back when. If I knew things like this existed (I have known about digital recorders for a while now) that can do the things this thing can, I would have bought one a LONG time ago. In a way, I'm glad I waited. The BR-800 has more features than I could ever ask for and more. There is a bit of a learning curve, but in only a week I think I have a pretty good grasp on what it can do and how to run it. Kudos to all of you here for the great info that you have imparted over the years. I have read ALL of your comments and have gained quite a bit of insight about how things work on the BR-800. A big Thank-you to all of you, and I hope to be able to share some of the stuff I come up with on my new toy. Take care.

[64Guitars]

Welcome to Songcrafters, dave1z. Although I haven't had the opportunity to try a BR-800, I think it's a great recorder. My favourite of the current Boss product line. I only wish they'd included MIDI and USB 3.0. Oh well, we can't have everything.

[Oldrottenhead]

i am extremely jealous dave, get yer feet wet and post something you have done on your 800 and welcome to our little forum.

i so want a br800 and a br80

send your dontations to the getorha br800/br80 fund lol.