Boss BR-1180 vs. Tascam 2488

[ReMoss85]

Hello all. I have had a BR-1180 for three years now and for the last two years or so, it has had increasingly problematic freezing issues. Whenever it has too much music on it, it begins to freeze and you can't record anything without it freezing. It's to the point now where I can't get a full song recorded. Question number one is - is this typical of BR-1180's? I don't know if I just got a lemon or if replacing the hard drive would do the trick. I'm considering getting a Tascam 2488 to replace it. Anybody have any experience with it? I'm hoping it has a better reputation for quality. I'm also kind of hoping the BR-1180 has a bad reputation for quality, because if it doesn't, that would mean its problems might be my fault, or that the 2488 might end up doing the same things. I'm strictly concerned about quality and reliability here, because any other negatives about the 2488 I will work around. I just need something that won't freeze, and 24 tracks for $1200 is always nice. Thank you.

 

[aspirin]

I don't have any experience with these recorders, but have you ever tried to reformat the HD? They do get fragmented over time that slows down HD access, and may not be able to keep up with a steady stream of data being recorded.
Drives could also develop bad spots on the disk surface. Your recorder should have a format utility that does a surface scan which usually deallocates any bad sectors from future use.

I would find a way to back up the important stuff and reformat the drive first before spending big bucks on a new recorder.

 

[CoolCat]

i went with the 2488 for track qty. increase. and the 24bit thing was a technical plus, tho i can't hear a difference.

i stressed over it for sometime due to the QC issues (freezes, lockups etc..), and the quality issues were huge imo.
the software has fixed these, in my exp., and you don't see many issues anymore. read around, note the dates.

Big negative would be the 2488's very plastic, as with many things these days, so i wouldn't take it on the road. handle with care.
the sliders are shorter, and i think the guitar effects suck. there is also a drum machine in there but i've never used it. you can't stick in a consumer/store bought CD and copy it to the HD if you want..the CDR is only for burning from tracks. (you can get around this by bring a CD player into two tracks/channels).

Big positive ...the versaitlity and all this unit offers is truly amazing.
at $1100...hell, the original 4-track cassette 144 was ~$1100.
I've had the 2488 about a year not one issue.

+++ the 24 track, 24bit or 16bit if you choose...with a CDR burner/compressor-EQ mixdown internal (alleviated my Masterlink craving), back up function by burning CDR's keeping the raw tracks intact and freeing HD space, decent reverb effects and like almost all the DAW is much more user friendly these days. basically a green, red, and yellow setup.
and the SPDIF optical port is very easy to switch to and from.
its been great for tracking. Has the USB function too to hookup to a pc easily.
(but can't be used as a Pro-Tools type mixing board).

being a hobbyist mixing head,
I can understand the benefits of mixing and editing on a 21" monitor with a pc. but all DAW's are tiny compared to a monitor, of course. washout.

for $1100 a "thumbs up", but if you get a used early model upgrade the software (which takes about 5 minutes).

i tried the pc based studio, but my kids started using the new pc for internet and games.....so a standalone it was.

good luck.

 

[ReMoss85]

I don't have any experience with these recorders, but have you ever tried to reformat the HD? They do get fragmented over time that slows down HD access, and may not be able to keep up with a steady stream of data being recorded.
Drives could also develop bad spots on the disk surface. Your recorder should have a format utility that does a surface scan which usually deallocates any bad sectors from future use.

I have tried the surface scan many times and it always freezes during it. It's never gotten all the way through it. I'm not sure what some of this terminology means, like reformatting the hard drive. I'm guessing it's different than doing a surface scan. Could you explain how it's done?

 

[aspirin]

I have tried the surface scan many times and it always freezes during it. It's never gotten all the way through it. I'm not sure what some of this terminology means, like reformatting the hard drive. I'm guessing it's different than doing a surface scan. Could you explain how it's done?

Based on your description I would say you have a hard drive problem.
I looked at the BR-1180 manual, it talks about re-initializing the hard drive, probably the same thing as re-formatting. Also, under "NORMAL" it talks about surface scan.
I don't know how extensive is that surface scan on the BR-1180, but you can try several things to fix your drive. I suggest doing the following steps:

1. Reinitialize the drive, also do a surface scan unless it's already part of reinitializing. See if it works this time.

2. If you still have a problem, take your drive out of the recorder, install it in your PC and reformat there. You can also check for bad sectors using chkdsk from a command prompt. The command would look something like this "chkdsk /F D:" The /F switch would fix errors on the disk.
Put your drive back in your recorder, reinitialize it again because of the proprietary Boss format and try recording again.

3. If it still freezes, install a new drive, they are dirt cheap. Find the smallest size, since the manual says it will only recognize 20G no matter how large the drive is.

4. If it still fails, you probably have more serious problems with your recorder, and time for either sending in for service or replacement.

Just don't panic man, you can probably fix it. Good luck.

 

[jeffree]

ReMoss, I had the same concerns three years ago when I was researching various standalones for my small home studio. The best-reviewed brand I found was Yamaha, and my daily experience with the 16G has been as good as I'd hoped. In fact, there's a good-sized group of us over at the 16G forum who've shared any problems we've had during these past few years, and technical problems have been pretty rare--typically just the occasional freeze when someone's working too fast for the G's operaring system. I've generally been very impressed by the rarity and insignificance of such reported problems. And as Coolcat mentions, the build quality of Yamaha machines, with their aluminum casing, doesn't hurt their reliability if used on the road.

From all I've seen and tried, including my experience with my G, I'll definitely go with a Yamaha when I buy again. The new 24-bit 1600 and 2400 models look like excellent machines that build upon the 16G, 4416, and Yamaha's mixer line. I expect that their reliability remains high.

You can read more about the 16G and new 1600, including any problems reported here: http://forum.dijonstock.com/

Good luck,
J.