Boss Digital Multrack-studios

I've spent 30 some years on the road in music and entertainment. Mainly an acoustic guitarist, and a 12-string specialist. Now in my old age (just turned 50) I still play regularly, but have settled down to running my project studio and publishing company. I have a well equipped PC-based project studio, but wanted to do some live remote recording of local music groups. The BR-1600 seemed like the best bang for the buck. $1400 at Musiciansfriend.com. This highly portable box, about the size of a small briefcase, has robust features; way more than I can list here. Including: 8 XLR mic/line inputs, each with trim control. 8 tracks of simultaneous recording. A large bank of vocal, guitar, bass, and other effects based on the same circuits as Boss's excellent stand-along products. E.g., the unit includes the Boss GT-6 guitar effects. CD burner--you can actually record, mix and master a complete CD all inside the unit, complete with good FX. My first project was a live recording of a youth music group at a big church. The BR-1600 worked perfectly recording 8 tracks. The backlit LCD display is a bit primitive, but adequate with good-enough VU indicators. I moved all the tracks to my PC for editing in Sonar. The resulting project has won me raves among my musician friends here in Duluth. The "plastic" feel of the box makes me wonder how will it will travel over time. I keep it in a foam padded suitcase, and a few bumps have done no harm so far. The controls are fairly arcane. You really need time with the manual even to do the basic recording. I haven't attempted to do much with it's editing and mastering functions. The LCD display is very primitive. And there's no option for an external display. Slow response time for loading and saving projects. Apart from it's over-all plasticness, it's seems to be made well. It's been reliable for me for almost a year. One thing about Boss, they maintian a long product cycle. That is, their units change slowly and are supported for a long time. So once you have one, you won't feel it's obsolete over night. Despite limitations, at the prosumer level the BR-1600 is the best bang for the buck in it's class. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought the unit in Germany for 500 Euros, this included (a non original Boss power supply). The portablility and the ease of use I like best, also the sound quality is very good. I take theunit everywhere I want and can even run it for a long time on batteries. Because of its portability and easy of use it promotes what it is all about ; your creativity making music. The biggest shock is that you don't have software to convert the recordings on your PC, you have to convert your tracks on the unit itself to .wav or .aif format before you can export it to the PC. The conversion on the unit takes a lot off room on the Compact Memory card so the included 128 Compact Flash doesn't get you very far. It is super frustrating that after your recording you find out that you can't convert it because your Compact Flash card is full. It is strange because the BR-8 and the BR-532; which are older machines do have the software to convert on the PC. I contacted Roland; they have no plans providing the software. The internal microfone is also noit very good; using a good external microfone ( I use a Shure SM58) works very well and is recommended. Also; one can only plug one guitar in and one microphone; I would have liked extra inputs. The Boss-Br864 feels pretty solid (better than the Fostex). The knobs and functionality are similar from the ofther (bigger) Boss multitrack recorders so when you upgrade the learning curve you have with this unit transfers easilly. Overall; for guitarists / song writers like myself a recommendation; unit which you have years of recording learning and flexibility. The lack of software conversion is a big minus; recommend to get the 1 GB Compact Flash. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i was looking for a multi track recorder and did some home work before i boought. This Br8 does everything i want it to do. the multi effect patches are great, the modeling is good, it has effects for my Electric, acoustic, bass, keyboard and mic. the v track is great to use. the drum mach is a little to be desired but still good to keep yo uon track. the punch in & out saves time when you mess up. If it used 250 zip disks would be better, i can get about 2 song tracks on one 100meg disk, so you gotta have a bunch of disk but you can get them cheap on Ebay fro little nothing. I some times go play with other guys and use my br8, if i go to just drummers house i just stick a disk in cut out the track i wish to play and have the rest of the song to jam with. this suite me fine. great value and great piece if equipement. Wish it used 250 meg zip disks instead of 100 meg disk. could have a better rythum section. except for that love it. built good, sturdy, easy to learn to use. simple yet will do it all. everything in good view and labled well. easy to manouver through the screens. Great value, a professional recoder, easy to learn to use. the manual on video helped along with the printed maual. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Boss BR532 has great quality recording for a small price: only $667 at a local guitar shop. I purchased this product so that I could more conveniently record my songs. Before owning the Boss digital recording console I had trouble remembering my ideas and I had a lot of paper clutter. Now all my songs are recorded and neatley stored on discs. Its compact size and ability to run off of battery power makes the BR532 portable so you can record almost any place you want to. The bass simulator and amp modeling effects give you the sound that you need without needing to buy all of the expensive equipment. The batteries do not last as long as I would have liked, making the power cord a neccesity, but the power cord is not included with the purchase of a BR532. Video instructions are not included with the product but can be bought seperately. It has a surprisingly crisp and clear sound quality. It is built to last and easy troubleshoot. Its relatively light weight makes it very easy to transport from place to place. This product was exactly what I wanted but more than I would have expected for such a low price. You can record all your song ideas without the hassle, expense, or waiting involved with booking time at a recording studio. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased at Freehold Music Center in NJ when it first came out for about $900.00. You might be able to get if for less. All in all, AWESOME! I have to say that I am, by far, no expert in Recording equipment, but I have had two pieces before this one. If you're interested in recording songs in your home and burning them to CD's, this is a great toy. It has built in effects which were better than I expected, a built-in drum kit which is okay, excellent sound, excellent edit features, and it is very simple to use. I have spent hundreds of hours using this thing, and I'm still learning new things about it. No mechanical bugs, no problems like that whatsoever. My only request would be for the unit to allow more options with percussion. It has a large variety of beats (more than I could ever use)and you can control the tempo. There are some beats though that are in my head that I have not been able to replicate with the machine. Excellent! Well worth the money if you're into this stuff. Ten tracks with each having eight virtual tracks is more than enough for me. I can't recommend this product enough. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com