BR-8 users

S

Snowdog

New member
Okay, Now I'm considering a BR-8 and would like some opinions from users if I may? How is the 2 level(lo and hi) EQ?
Would I be able to mix down into wavlab lite in my CPU to burn to CD? My Cd burner is in my CPU.
Is anyone using the Pod 2.0 with their BR-8? If so how does it handle recording the high gain amp sims?
I see it has 3 recording modes(MT2,LV1 an2), Is there a significant sound quality change between these? The Boss site says at LV2 you would get 75 minutes of track time divided by 8. Is this true? Most of my arraingments run 5 to 7 minutes and I'd hate to run out of time on the 100 mb disk, Thanks
 
Snowdog, I recently picked up a BR-8 and am quite pleased with it. I also had the question of burning to CD within my PC, but didn't find an answer. After recording a few trial songs, (very easy to do) I connected the RCA line outs from my BR-8 to a Radio Shack adapter that goes from 2 RCA (male) to 1/16th inch TRS (make sure it has this if you want to record in stereo). That is plugged into the 1/16 inch input on my Soundblaster. I then fire up Sound Forge on my PC, hit record, then press play on the BR-8. I then save the file on my PC, and use the Adaptec software that came with my PC to burn a CD. I'm certain there are better ways to connect to my Soundblaster, such as buying the Optical Digital daughter board, but my present configuration works sufficiently for me. Regards.
 
My responses...

Hey, Snowdog...

I recently bought the BR-8, and my responses to your various questions are as follows, based on my limited experience:

The 2-level EQ is so-so...just as you might expect from a 2-level EQ. In other words, it's as good as a 2-level EQ can get...but a 2-level EQ is certainly going to leave something to be desired, comprende?

Next, it is very simple to mix into your PC, and to burn a CD from there using your PC's burner...you bet. There are various methods of so doing...it's not difficult.

I don't use POD, so I can't respond to that question.

And finally, as for the time issue regarding the zip disks, I'm personally finding it to be a problem. Recording at the highest level (which I WANT to use, of course) just doesn't give me enough time/room to orchestrate my pieces as I wish. I hate this feature/fact of the BR-8...absolutely hate it. I'm considering taking it back, based on this problem, in fact. It ALMOST stopped me from purchasing a BR-8 in the first place...I wish it had, with the hindsight.

As for losing sound quality when moving to the recording levels which give you a longer running time, you bet you lose sound quality. I find it significant, personally. But I'm not good at mixing, so perhaps there are ways to beat that problem of which I am unaware. I have a friend who always records his stuff using the lower levels, and his stuff sounds great. Trouble is, we're putting down really different stuff. So I'd have to say that it might depend some on what it is that you're recording...what instruments, vocals, etc.

I know that yesterday I attempted to put down 8 tracks, which included three-part harmony, on a song which comes in UNDER 5 minutes, and by track 7 I'd run out of space on the zip disk. Not good. It was my greatest concern as I considered whether to purchase the BR-8, and it proved to be a worthy concern.

If you have the money, I'd say go for one of the other Roland recording units. If you don't, well...how about beefing up that PC and using it for your digital recording needs?

Hope this helps somewhat.

Julia
 
Julia/Snowdog, this may be a foolish question, but it's something I stumbled upon when quickly losing disk space. Are you aware that there is a feature under the 'song' icon called 'optimize'?
It's explained well enough in the manual, but the gist of it is that every time you record a track, it's retained on disk, even if you record over the same track again and again. The optimize feature removes the non committed takes of that track/s from the ZIP drive, freeing up a significant amount of space.
Hope this helps.
 
Well...

rdean, thanks very much for your response/suggestion.

Actually, I've been removing all unused tracks manually, just for the very purpose of freeing up space, and I STILL don't have enough time/space on the disk to do what I want. :(

Thanks for the thought, though. Your time is appreciated.

I'll take any further suggestions you have regarding recording using the BR-8.

Have a great day.

Julia
 
Hey Julia, well, for your sake and the sake of many other users, let's keep our fingers crossed for the 250MB ZIP upgrade that's spoken of. It hasn't been a limitation to me yet, as all I'm doing is putting a rhythm track, a couple guitars and some vocals with maybe two part harmony. And they're mostly under four minutes, to boot.

A handy site that I've discovered is listed below, and they also speak of the upgrade. (look under the 'news and updates' section)
Good luck.

Ross

http://members.tripod.com/ocomain/index.htm
 
Thank you Julia! I was afraid that I would be severely limited on time at 100mb. That pretty much crosses the BR-8 off my list. Now leaning towards a Tascam 788
 
Apology to readers of this thread...

Ladies and gents, I have to just say that I wrote the above posts regarding my disappointment in the BR-8 PRIOR to realizing the gift of the "song optimize" feature on the BR-8 unit. Using this feature saves a tremendous amount of disk space, and when I intially recorded my first work using the BR-8, I was unfamiliar with the feature, and therefore ran out of disk space using the highest quality recording level and 8 or more tracks.

I have recorded something else using a number of tracks, and I have disk space left over, indeed. The song is only 4:01, but I probably could have gotten another minute on there had it been necessary or desireable.

Just wanted to update my complaints and let you know that I had made them too soon. Consider me standing in the corner.

Good luck.

Julia

P.S. It's a real nice unit...for the money, you probably can't beat it.
 
Julia,
BR-8 users will forgive you easily. One of the most frequently-made mistakes with this unit is failure to understand and use the Optimize function, according to the Boss tech team. I called them for background back when I was researching the BR-8.

For a chronicle full of similar mistakes, you might visit my site, br8page.editthispage.com
Me, I love the BR-8 and have yet to exhaust its possibilities.

a
 
Thank you...

a2fay, thanks so much for your response. I appreciate it very much. I am very interested in accessing your page for my further BR-8 education, but I cannot connect to the link you refer to in your post. It doesn't open to the site at all. I was hoping you might have a look at it to see if perhaps there's an error noted in the link your post provides?

Again, thank you.

Julia
 
To a2fay...

Hello again, a2fay...and thanks for the url to your site, which I've just finished reading thoroughly. I have a couple of questions, after reading through your site.

1.) You refer to recording your "african talking drum", and I'd love to know how you mic and record your live drum sounds. I, too, use the DR-5 self-programmed, but I am a drummer/percussionist and would love to record live drums. I'd love your thoughts on your experience in this regard, using the BR-8.

2.) Can you please tell me the advantage/difference of using the BR-8's "undo" feature as opposed to the "erase" feature if any. Does undo simply erase what you JUST did in the very immediate past...i.e., the very last thing you recorded, you didn't like or you erred on...hit "undo", and it's gone...start over. Seems quicker than the erase function, but is it in some other way more efficient?

Also, how does one join the BR-8-related egroups mailing list you refer to?

Again, thanks for your shared thoughts/suggestions/experience! I found your site informative.

Julia
 
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