BR-864 Has anyone heard *ANYTHING* else about this?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jsd5150
  • Start date Start date
Or is it BR852?
THe Roland UK site has something on it.
www.roland.co.uk
Its an 8 track 532 but uses Compact Flash. Not a true 8 track I think since it only has 6 faders!
 
zZounds website says they will have more available by June 15. That makes it sound like the unit is on the street, but out of stock at zZounds.

The literature I read says it you can have 8 tracks of simultaneous playback. So, I'm guessing two of those six faders are left and right masters, and the other four have some kind of dual action to save space.

I don't know. I'd like to see one up close.
 
Okay, I looked at the picture again. One of those faders must be for the rhythm guide, just like on the BR-532.

I still don't know how they get 8 tracks, but they say they do.

It definitely is a hopped up 532, for only $100 more. Too bad I already have a 532. So it goes in the world of electronics.
 
8 Tracks

Looking at the picture, it looks like each fader is assigned to 2 tracks. Sort of like a shift-key function. Fader1:1&5, Fader2:2&6, Fader 3:3&7, Fader 4:4&8 with Fader 5 being for the rhythm guide. My biggest question is the recording quality vs. card size. I'm still very curious how Boss is getting so much more recording time out of a 128 card without sacrificing quality...
 
The 864 has the same data compression modes as the old BR8 - MT2, LV1 and LV2. The max time on a 128meg card compares with the BR8s original 100meg zip.
I think it was shortsighted not to include the VS840 MT1 mode, which is significantly cleaner. Thanks to the demands of the Digital Camera market, Compact Flash cards are getting bigger and cheaper all the time. In a few years, 1gig cards ought to be at "pocket money" levels (128meg already is - Boss aren't being that generous). So not only is MT1 feasable, but uncompressed recording too! It's interesting to realise that the original VS880 shipped with a fixed 540Meg hard drive and the FX was optional.

However it shapes up - it's got to be better than cassette tape.
 
I'm considering selling my 880ex and my Zoom RT-123 for a BR-864, mainly cos I do most of my recording onto a PC with Cubase SX and the Zoom is just a click-track player at the moment.

Question (I've been looking everywhere for an answer to this): Does the BR-864 record in 16-bit or 24-bit?

Thanks.
 
Almost certainly the recordings are only 16bit @ 44.1khz. It's a portastudio type product, not a production DAW. It's highest quality MT2 is (I think) the same as the 880 MT2 mode.
880---864
MAS---no
MT1---no
MT2---MT2
Live---LV1
no-----LV2
Hope I got the 880 mode names right. Working from memory :)
 
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