Roland VS-880EX

lumstar

New member
I came across a used VS-880EX for under $100 and at that price it looks like a steal! I think I would really use it as more of a real time mixer than as a recorder. Does anyone have this and know if that's possible? Can you apply effects and mix in real time with this unit? Or can effects and mixing only be done on tracks after recording?
 
Wouldn't there be some latency there if you were applying effects? That might make it hard to use in live situations. I've not used this model, but I've used others but just can't remember if there were latency issues when applying effects in real time.
 
I've got one......

Even though its a dated unit, effects can be applied in real time without latency because they work off their own independent chip as if they were an outboard processor (unlike a PC where effects often hog resources). Also the 880ex has a send and return for additional outboard effects if needed

As a mixer the only real drawback is always having to scroll through a tiny menu screen just to make simple EQ adjustments per channel as well as apply effects but you can apply them all live to your source material. One really cool feature is once everything is set how you want you can save that particular mixing "scene" to recall later.

Not something I'd recommend for a live gig where you might want to make a lot of quick tweaks, but for a stationary home environment, or to hook up digitally in front of PC it's a lot of bang for under a hundred bucks. (just be prepared to initially spend a bit of time buried in the manual till you get the swing of it all)
 
I picked up one a while back to run alongside my Korg D1600. Not as easy to use as D-series Korg and the converters aren't quite as good however very usable and this is a good price if it's all working properly.
 
I know this is an old thread & people do not appreciate these VS machines anymore but

I picked up one a while back to run alongside my Korg D1600. Not as easy to use as D-series Korg and the converters aren't quite as good however very usable and this is a good price if it's all working properly.

I find the Roland VS-1680 and upper models very easy to use without a manual most of the time, unless of course you are doing a lot of editing and recording your effects on tracks. Also the Roland VS line has excellent MIDI capabilities, for example one can use them for their computer DAW controller interface.

That said, you are right about the steep learning curve on the Roland VS-880 model, and up to the VS-890 model. Not that it is impossible to learn, it's just not as easy to learn as the big boy Roland VS-1680 model and upper models. These higher end model machines have a much larger screen size, intelligently labeled layout, so you can see allot of information at one glance without having to constantly go back and read the manual.

Plus the menu system and buttons are more intuitively laid out on the VS-1680 model and up. I find the more expensive VS models are easier to use, almost 3 times as easy as any other brand out there. Plus they are very powerful and feature deep as far as what you can do with them, a much more capable, more useful, portable and a more self contained multi track recording machine on the used market today.

And as far as the Korg D series go, I find them to be a bit more confusing to use and to learn on than the Roland VS-1680 model and up. The VS-1680 and above models have a really nice button layout that is clearly labeled to what each button does. Most digital multitrack machines I have used today are either clunky in their design, or are way too small to be functional with that many options, and most buttons and menus are not labeled clearly and or logically laid out. Which then requires allot of manual reading and frustration.

And as far as the A/D to D/A converters go, on the Roland VS-890 and upper models all have really good 24 bit converters throughout, and 24 bit internal processing or higher. And they sound every bit as good, clean, and full as other 24 bit recorders. And if you do still have 16 bit converters on your recorder then the sound should be almost as good as CD. As long as you don't use the audio track compression modes.

You can however increase your sound quality more by using higher quality front end mic preamps, and of course good quality microphones. Quality in equals quality recordings.

I do like mixing and mastering on the Roland VS-1680 and higher up models because you can remember many mix setting scenes in memory to recall later, for example pan levels, EQ levels, volume levels, and effects levels etc. Master mix recall is a God send and a time saver. You can not do that on most analog mixers and digital multitrack recorders.

With the VS models you can re-route input signals to any track number including virtual tracks, the Roland VS and Boss BR models really shine when it comes to many multiple levels of Undo and allot of virtual tracks. So you can do many different takes using only one track and then recording several virtual tracks, so when you are happy with that one good take out of several takes, you can then switch to the one you would like to use. Dispose of the other virtual tracks or keep them for later use. As long as you have enough hard drive memory the sky's the limit.

But of course sound editing is much easier to do inside a computer. However, for portable quick scratch demo's and to get your ideas recorded fast before they are lost forever, I prefer to use the Roland VS recorder and on occasion the Boss BR recorder. With these you can get a quick master mix of your song(s) burned to a CDR quickly to listen to it later, and or in the car. So you can get a good rough idea of how your musical ideas sound, and whether or not they are gelling together. You can then make finer adjustments to the master mix in your computer if it is needed.

Allot of times I just ended up using what I recorded on, on my VS-1824. I just go out of my VS-1824 digital output to my computer sound card digital input, I then record the master mix from my VS-1824 in stereo wave format to my computer hard drive and then burn it to a CDR on my computer. You can do all your VS master mix backups this way.

With the Roland VS-890 and up, you have more line inputs you can use to record live all at once. Most of the other brands and models of digital multitrack machines do not have enough line inputs to record all of their tracks live at once, including in that list is the Boss BR models. Although on the plus side the Boss BR recorders are much smaller in size and much more compact with allot of features crammed in.

That is why the Roland VS recorders are really good for live band recording sessions where you need to get allot of audio tracks recorded down all at once without the hassle of using a computer, reel to reel, and or some clunky old tape machine with limited track inputs. The VS recorders are good for backing tracks for live concerts. And they sync accurately with on stage MIDI sequencers and DAW's as well.

I find the Roland VS and the Boss BR models work both reliably and consistently. And both models have great sounding effects and most of them are already built in. But they are expensive if you have to add an effects module plug-in board for your VS recorder, the effect plug-in chip module may cost as much as the VS machine does by itself, and or more than, so please keep that in mind when buying one used. A Good idea is to buy a VS machine with the effects card(s) already installed, to save you money in the long run.

And yes you can add effects before or after recording your track(s). You can easily print an effect on your dry track permanently after you recorded it too, in other words you still have a choice of either recording dry and or adding effects later live and in real time, and or burning the effect on to your track permanently when you record first, and or it can be done later on. Your choice.

I like to copy my raw dry track(s) (so I don't ruin my original dry track) (without any effects recorded on them) then make several virtual track copies of my dry track(s) so I can print different effects on to my different virtual track copies, I can have either live in real time effects on my tracks (which makes my amount of effects options much less) and or print effects permanently on to my tracks in order to have more effects available to me later on.

I like to both hear and test out which track sounds the best (dry or wet) when I play it back while listening to it with all my other music tracks playing together. Sometimes effects do not blend well with all the other tracks playing together.

I recommended for you to first record your track(s) dry then add some live effects after, and then print the wanted live effect onto your dry virtual copied track permanently, you are not using your original dry track so you will not ruin it. This is after you know and test the sound effect first to see if it all works and plays together nicely with all your other tracks played back & mixed.

There are Many useful effects on the Roland VS and BR recorders. Most VS and BR recorders have mastering effects like compression and limiting, which is nice for a much louder Master track mix that will be burned to a CDR. Roland really does make a nice self contained portable music recording studio all in one, with most of what you will need to get the music done.


The only other things you may need are some sort of backup SCSI drive for the Roland VS models. Because most of the older VS recorders do not have a USB download capability to a computer. However if you can get a SCSI zip drive, and or hard drive for both your computer and for your Roland VS model. And or burn a CDR from your VS machine, you then can get the VS raw track info into your computer for backup and editing. You can transfer all the VS track info(with volume, pan settings and timing data etc.) all at once into your computer using the Reaper DAW VS conversion plug in software. With VS audio data you will need to convert it first before using computer software to edit it. Reaper DAW fortunately has a program called Roland VS plug-in converter to do this. It converts all of your VS raw audio data into Reaper wave audio data, so that you can use your computer to edit all your VS audio tracks. It is good for backing up all your VS raw audio data to your computer hard drive, much faster than burning all your VS data to a Roland VS CDR.

You can also do your audio track transfers and backups through the Roland VS digital outputs to your computer digital input 2 tracks at a time. And or you could do more tracks transferred out at once using the good old VS analog outputs, hooked up to your computer's analog inputs. Analog works well, just like the old school analog mixing board transferred to a computer. If you have a good A/D converter on your computer, you will not lose much in sound quality at all.

But you are right, I find the Korg D series are much easier to learn than the lower end Roland VS series and Boss BR recorders, i.e the Roland VS-880/VS-880EX/VS-890 etc. They have much smaller viewable screens and more intensive button pushing through many menus that can make you lose your patience and then pull your own hair out in utter frustration.

However I have not experimented with the other brands like Tascam, Fostex, and or Zoom multitrack recorders. I wonder if anyone here has experience with any other brands of compact digital multitrack recorders versus the Roland VS line ? ........ Anyone ??
 
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