Br1600cd
Hey Blackwiz, your question of BR vs VS has generated alot of replies and I'll throw in my 2 cents worth too
I was originally persuaded to the concept of a computer and software but my final decesion was based on how much spare time I had to learn how to use it and money available. After I heard the BR1600 demos and had a demo by Boss rep, I felt it was capable of excellent results and was going to be a simpler learning curve than the likes of a VS model or Cubase or Pro Tools. This has proved true for me.
Keep in mind that results will be dependent on the quality of your microphones and instruments (and on how you use them). Get a good condensor mic. I've been getting good results from an AKG C1000s and
a Rode NT2a. There are higher priced (better?) mics ~ I cant justify at the moment and then you can get into a debate about mic preamps etc but the person who debates this point probably wont buy a BR1600 ;-)
If you are working mostly alone then the drum machine, bass line, and sample loop sections are really useful as you construct and experiment with your song arrangements.
I write out a map plan for my songs i.e. how many bars, tempo variations, chord progressions and then in the arrangement mode put in the drum/bass/loops. Als, if you dont have a bass player or dont know 600 bass line clichés you may find the bass presets work for you; and they will follow the cord progressions you enter. You can edit these or programme them from scratch. You can of course use up to 8 inputs simultaneously for live recordings ~ once again results will be dependent on your mics, room, placement etc).
The machine is capable of a lot of fancy editing and as you get the knack of mixing and mastering you can vastly refine your results ~ thats an art in itself ~ how to eq, compress, master etc.
However as quite a few folks have said it's not visual so if you are cutting and pasting bits of pieces its not as easy as click and drag but you can mark points in the song and move, insert, copy etc with relative ease.
You can programme mix scenes too when you get to the final stages ~ you dont have the motorised faders but you can put marker points thru the song and have the track levels, panning, loop effects, eq, compression etc change so thats a great feature instead of trying to juggle it with two hands and some of those functions you could not access quickly doing a 'live' mixdown.
The effects/amp models etc are good ~ I've got great guitar sounds just plugging in. There are plenty of good presets (100 or 120 if you've got Ver2)and they are easy to edit. I was going to get a POD but the guitar effects/models in the BR are fine to my ears so that's money saved and less gear plugged in.
The drum machine is good although I prefer the 'real' sound quality of sample loops and you can import loops (WAV or AIFF). M-Audio have the Pro Sessions Loop library which is worth checking out or you might have friends with a harddrive full of drum loops who could burn them onto a CD for you. Loops can be edited to a degree in the BR e.g. you can alter tempos and resave.
The vocal pitch correction is not that great in my opinion so I'll have to improve my singing :-/ The vocal harmonizer is a little synthetic but it will follow your cord progressions and I've used it to good affect as a texture in the background of mixes.
In summary, if your main focus is writing and recording your songs and you dont want to get to distracted by the technology get the BR1600. If you are into the whole artform of mixing, mastering, editing, re routing signal paths through external processors etc etc then go for a VS or computer with Protools but expect I much much longer learning curve.
Frambo out
As MK says: "...models are discontinued now...."