Boss DR5 question

[mutt]

I'm thinking a buying a DR5 as a recording tool but also to use live as a backup band. It does drums,bass, and other voices (4 tracks) but only holds 20 songs - not much if you're doing 3 to 4 hours worth of music.
Does Roland (or anyone else) make a similar machine that can do 4 tracks of different voices, but have more songs in the internal memory?

 

[Rhoadz]

I don't know of any machines with more memory, but...

Lately i've just been triggerin my DR-5 with my computer. I don't know how feasable this is for you, but if you programed your tunes on a cakewalk or other midi sowtware, the DR-5 will still trigger the 4 tracks you wanted for back up. Just haul along a computer.

Midi software will store and transmit stuff the DR-5 can't store, such as pitch bend, or modulation. (The DR-5 can play it, but can't store the info)

 

[jimimac]

I may be wrong but I think roland makes the mc-500mk11 and the mc-50k11 sequencer that sends and recives info for the dr-5.
I use the dr-5 myself for recording its a great tool. its my band it will do anything I want it to do, without any hassel or arguements.it comes with a 50 or 60 page manual its user friendly though. ive never used it for backup playing live ,and 20 s0ng storage is not enough room. but the sequencers i mentioned may be your answer.

jimimac

 

[Bob Sordahl]

I've found that you really have a lot of room for songs, but not nearly enough for the patterns (specially if they are complex). So the trick really becomes making the patterns as multi functional as possible. In a 12 bar blues for example, you can use the same pattern for the first 4 bars then transpose up 5 steps for the next 2
bars then transpose back down 5 steps for the next 2 bars then transpose up 7 steps for the next bar, down 2 steps for the next bar and down 5 steps for the next bar. You will need a seperate pattern to do the final bar. There you have it...virtually an entire song using only two patterns. Since you can control the relative volume of the tracks independantly in each bar, you can make it sound much more complex than it really is. Hook it to your computer and burn a CD. Now all you need is a portable CD player connected to your PA and you've got 60+ minutes of live accompanyment!