Any difference between Expanded 880 or new 880EX?

jackibar

New member
I'm considering purchasing a used VS-880 that's been "V-expanded" and just wondered if there's any difference between this machine and the new "VS-880EX" - ? Are all the same effects on both machines? Do both allow SCSI connections? Midi connections?

Thanks!

Jacki :)
 
Hi Jacki,

Hmm. The only differences that I am aware of is the back-lit display, the A/D D/A's and the digital outputs. A regular Vs880 that has been V-Expanded will not have the back-lit display, whereas the VS880 EX will have the back-lit display. I actually used to own a Vs880 myself that I V-Expanded with the upgrade, but I recently got rid of it because it was turning into more of a dust collector in my studio. The A/D D/A's on the regular VS880 are 16-bit as opposed to the 20-bit on the VS880EX, and they have also added optical I/O on the digital end of things with 6 balanced TRS inputs (as opposed to 4 on the old VS). The vS is a great little portable unit for starters and even for garage band type applications, although beware: The VS line still records everything in a "compressed" mode as far as I know by default (very similar to mpeg3 compression). You can toggle this off of course, but the result is that you lose several tracks (for example on the old VS880 with the V-Expansion once you turn off compression you're down to 6 tracks, from 8).

Hope that helps!

Ryan.

--
Sonic Control
www.soniccontrol.com
.the on-line interactive community, news and information resource for musicians and composers.
 
Oops..

Ooops, and yes, as far as I know the FX are the same on both machines and both allow SCSI and MIDI.

Ryan.
--
Sonic Control
www.soniccontrol.com
.the on-line interactive community, news and information resource for musicians and composers.
 
Hi, Ryan! Thanks so much for the response... This does help quite a bit in my decision making! For my purposes, which are mainly just making personal CD's of my own music to give out to people and possibly make mp3's to put on my web site, it sounds like the V-Expanded 880 might be all I'd need as long as it does contain all the same effects!

When you say it uses "compression" - is this a bad thing? I'm assuming there would be some sort of sound quality loss in a compressed file - is it a major difference from a non-compressed one? And when you say it brings it down to 6 tracks, do you mean for recording or mix-down, or both?! (I'm very new at digital recording, though I've been reading till my eyes are crossed, so forgive these very basic questions!)...

The person who's selling the machine also has the original Roland CDR, which I'm also trying to decide whether to get or to get a newer CDR - Do you (or does anyone!) know if any CDR will work with the 880?

And lastly... Do you know if the software that runs the 880EX will work for the V-Expanded one?

Thanks a bunch!

Jacki :)
 
You're welcome, Jacki. :)

Yes, as far as I know it should contain all all of the same effects, since when you upgrade the regular vs880 with the V-expanded software, it adds several new FX algorithms as well.

For most typical use, I doubt the compression will be extremely noticeable, although it will affect the quality of your recording to some degree. I originally bought my VS880 some time ago on a whim basically, and I used it mostly as a means for getting musical ideas down. So, for that purpose I simply left compression on all of the time. For final mixes I would always turn compression off because I'm always a stickler for using the absolute best quality for the final mix.

Once you turn compression off you're left with 6 tracks that you can use for recording and/or playback. It has been a while since I've recorded with a v-expanded VS880, but I do believe you can record 6 tracks at the same time (if not 6, four for sure). The EX upgrade is certainly a step up from the original VS880, especially in the department of recording capabilities since the original would turn the VS into a 4 track recording/playback unit once compression was turned off!

I haven't had a chance to use the Roland CDR, although I have heard that it works great with the VS. I doubt that any 3rd party CD writers will work with the VS880, since the Roland CDR probably needs some proprietary software/drivers to function properly. I always prefer to use a CDR in a computer simply because they are much more flexible. Depending on how much the person wants extra for the Roland CDR, I would suggest picking up a CDR for your computer, transferring the audio from the VS880 to your computer via s/pdif and then burning with a dedicated redbook program such as Red Roaster, Sonic Foundry's CD Arch. or similar. It might cost a little bit extra, but in the long run I think it would be worth it!

Or...if you have a fairly powerful computer already and you don't need the portability that a VS880 will offer you, you could go completely computer-based with your multi-track recording and eliminate the need for a 880 altogether...

:-)

Ryan.
--
Sonic Control
www.soniccontrol.com
.the on-line interactive community, news and information resource for musicians and composers.
 
Hi, Ryan! Thanks for the further explanation of all this! I'm getting closer to making my decision now...

Okay, what does "s/pdif" mean?! Is this just the standard audio ins/outs from my computer? I have a PowerMac G3/300, BTW, that does have stereo ins/outs. Would doing it this way cause me to lose the digital aspect, though, since they're analog inputs (or I'm assuming they're analog...??!)

The Roland CDR is $300 extra for the used package I'm thinking of getting... It is the older one, though, not the new CDRII. This is still where I'm confused. Roland said I couldn't burn onto any CDR with the 880 but that the Roland CDR would work on a computer. It seems that if the 880 has a SCSI port, it should be able to back up to any CDR...? Or is the problem with having the software to do this? He did say you could hook up a Zip drive or Orb for backup - but then don't those require software too?

If I got a computer-based CDR, would I still be able to back up the 880's data format or only audio?

And lastly (for now anyway!) - what about the VS/Link software that controls the 880 from a Macintosh - if this works through SCSI, then doesn't that mean the 880 just hooks into the SCSI chain as a "peripheral" - ? Roland said "no" but I"m confused about how the software would drive the 880 if this weren't the case!! I'll also search the archives on this subject... but I sure do appreciate the help!

Thanks,

Jacki :)
 
I have the 880EX.It has 6 balanced inputs as opposed to 4 unbalanced inputs on the older machine.It also has MTK (Mastering Tool Kit) algorithms which allow multiband compression on mixdown,and it has the speaker modeling function which gives you an idea what your mix will sound like on various types of speakers.I believe it also has more FX algorithms than the older machine,such as more amp and mic models and a few others.
 
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