Boss BR-1180 or VS-880ex

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ArgonLightray

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Hello,
I have a Roland VS-880EX but feel like it may but too much machine for me.
What can ya'll tell me about the Boss BR-1180 or the BR-8?
From what I understand they are much more straight forward machines.
I understand that the 880 is more complex and can be used to create very good sounding demos and even mastered CD's
But would it be worth it to sell the 880 for BR-1180 with a cd burner?
Or should I consider myself lucky to have the 880 and just figure it out and shut up?
Thanks for any and all input.
Argon Lightray
 
I don't know anything about the VS-880EX, but have tried the BR-8, BR-532 and the BR-1180CD and have pretty much decided to buy the 1180CD in the next couple of weeks. It's my understanding that the BR-8 has been discontinued and replaced by the 532. I have a singer/songwriter friend in England who uses the BR-8 and is quite happy with it and likes the effects and ease of use. I liked it also, but really wanted something a little more and capable of burning cds.

When I demoed the 532 I didn't like it much. It may have been that I was using it in a strange environment (music store) and without my guitars, but I was less than thrilled by it and the effects I tried didn't sound that great.

There are a couple of other folks on this board who recently bought the 1180CD and maybe they can offer more information. When I tried the 1180CD I was impressed by the effects and also the ease of use. The manual, like all BOSS and Roland manuals leaves a lot to be desired, but the unit itself looks like a good investment for someone wanting decent sound for a limited budget.
 
Really depends on what you're doing... E.g. how many inputs do you need?

I would not want to have the BR instead of my VS, simply as I record our band and do not wanna submix the drums to two inputs... Very often you can easily eliminate candidates by properly stating your requirements...

Ciao,

Axel
 
The BR-1180 only has 2 inputs? Hmmm, the VS880EX has 6 with preamps. When you look for the specs of the BR-1180 at the Roland website, they have the specs for the BR-532 posted. I’d be a bit leery of that. The BR-1180 samples at 44.1 khz, the VS880EX can sample at 48 khz. Since they don’t show the true specs on the Roland site, I don’t know if you can synch two units together like the VS880EX. If you ever needed more tracks, you could pick up a used 880EX for $500 or less and double the tracks and effects and capacity. The effects in the VS880EX are pretty amazing in themselves. I don’t know what they are like in the BR-1180 because Roland doesn’t seem to want anyone to know until after they buy the unit. I know that with the 880EX there are tons of parameter adjustments for tweaking the effects. I’m not saying one is any better. Like volltreffer says, it depends on what you’re going to do with it. I’ve had my VS880EX for several years and I think it’s one of the coolest things Roland ever produced. I was going to sell mine last month, but realized the extra money I was going to pay for a VS890HD wasn’t giving me anything I didn’t already have with the 880EX. I did a side-by-side comparison, and I could hear no difference even though the 890HD is supposed to have 24 bit converters. I also discovered just about any laptop hard drive will work in the 880EX, as long as the screw patterns match…would work even if they didn’t for that matter. I picked up a used HD at the swap meet for $20 and it works great. I bought several since then so now I can have as much storage as I would ever need. Back to the effects; the 880EX has around 200 or more effects patches that are all tweakable. It’s worth it to keep for me just for the effects alone. By the time I bought mine, I had already read about people using tracks from them in movies and major productions. That was enough to convince me it would be worth it. I haven’t seen anything like that regarding the BR-1180, but I haven’t been looking. Buy the BR-1180 before you get rid of the VS880EX and do some side-by-side experiments. If the BR-1180 doesn’t seem cool, return it. That’s what I did with the VS890HD. Or keep them both?
 
Thanks Monty - The lack of information about the 1180 from Roland/BOSS itself is the only reason I've waited to purchase the unit. It bothers me that the info they have is inaccurate. I've requested their brochure for the 1180, but they haven't responded. The PDF version available at musiciansfriend.com is impossible to read unless you want to blow it up and cut & paste it. For my needs and budget the 1180 CD looks good, but I'm going to wait until they provide some information that makes sense.
 
The BR8 has been replaced by the 1180. The 532 is a 4 track machine, the BR8 of course 8, and the 1180 has 10 tracks, two for mastering. Think of it as a BR8 with 2 extra tracks if that helps. I've heard that the BR8 has about the same cosm effects as the 1180, but the 1180 has better internal percussion sounds. I would say that you'd be happier with the 1180 if you record alone (or just want to make work tapes or demos) and aren't altogether concerned with 24 bit sound quality, and if you want to make more serious and high quality recordings, or record more than 2 inputs at a time go with the VS. In a nutshell, the VS will do everything the 1180 will do, but the 1180 can't do everything the VS can. Apples and oranges. BR's and VS's are in different leagues.
 
The Roland has a whole lot more flexability. I have monkeyed with both, and owned the 880ex. Far larger hard drive, more inputs, editing options and more so exporting the tracks to PC. The effects arnt half bad either.
 
thanks for the wakeup

I am sorry....
:o
I should not have taken it for granted.
If I really want something else I should try like a 1680
Ya know one of biggest complaints really about the 880 so far is the little screen.
I cant really figure it out yet.
I have times when I lose a track and can't figure out what I did and then it mysterously pops back in. ?
I cant read the little bar graph I am unsure with what settings I have on what, I dont quite get the routing process, etc...
My step dad had a 1680 which is much better to read and actuall has a pixel type screen and I guess I just am having a hard time with the little LCD display.
And of course roland manuals.........well you know what I mean.
Thanks again,
And I promise to just keep experimenting.
:)
 
That's the spirit! The screen on the BR8 isn't any bigger anyhow. :)
 
I just purchased a BR118CD and being brand new to recording, I found it extremely easy to use. Having limited time to experiment, I was still able to complete recordings and burn CD's within the 1st few days. At first I found that the COSM guitar modeling sounded pretty thin, but when you add it into the mix it all seems to balance out (especially if you layer guitar tracks with different models). The bass simulation sounded kind of screwey(guitar overtones changed the pitch of the notes on certain strings or positions of the neck) when I plugged the guitar directly into the unit, but when I useed the emulated output on my Marshall AVT50 and played though the clean channel it sounded awsome.

The drum machine sounds decent and is easy to program. You also have the option of downloading .wav files via the CD drive. It also comes with a drum sample disk, using live drum samples that can be added in as loop recordings......

There is tons more that you can do with this machine....Just need the time to get to it. Any other owners of the unit with tips?
 
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