# Anyone here tried the Boss BR-600 recording unit?



## NB_Terry

I'm thinking of picking one up. 

Tks


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## Starbuck

NB_Terry said:


> I'm thinking of picking one up.
> 
> Tks


If you do, let us know cause I'm thinking on asking Santa for one! :smile:


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## Canman

I had one, easy to use, intuituve. I did not like the way the drum machine had to be programmed into the song you are creating. Although the drum patches are real good sounding samples. I figured away to shorten the process but in doing so found it became limiting. But I am a very impatient man. I should have just hired a drummer to program the thing. Also the inputs are limited and basic.

For the bread it is great for demos and uncomplicated mixes.
I did nine instrumental original improv practice tunes with it using the drum machine, bass and guitar. Loads of fun.
Good sound quality. If you're interested in hearing something PM me and I could email a mpcut or 3.


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## fretboard

I've got a BR-1600CD that I've had for a couple years now and I love it. It's easy to use and for what it cost, it offers just about everything I'd want for home use.

This one does have 2 headphone jacks which I find useful when recording someone else doing vocals.

The drum patches do take some time to program - but that doesn't get under my skin. 

Never had to get it serviced and I'm probably on it for 10 hours a week or more. 

Having it all self-contained and being able to burn discs with it, it's all I could ask for. Not sure I'd go for one of the zip/flash drive ones, but that's just me. I'm still impressed with the bang-for-the-buck it offers, and would buy it again if something tragic happened to mine.

I got it Walter's Music on Yonge Street when they were having a "moving sale" and heading down closer to Davisville from where they were between Lawrence and Eglinton. Got the recorder, a pair of Edirol MA-15D digital monitors and a Studio Projects C3 condenser mic for $1,900 out the door. Certainly got my money out of it by this point.


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## Canman

Terry---The good thing about the 600 is the USB to PC interface-and the ability to upgrade the flash card memory as high as you want-I cant remember but I used the one from the wife digital camera which gave me like 6+ hours of stereo recording time-plus its small and portable/lite and I got about 4 hours of stereo recording using the batteries-


I mailed you the mp3 of a bunch of samples of guitar and bass going right into the unit using the factory patches and onboard drummer--The onboard stereo microphones were real good too. The music was just fooling around with the thing to learn how it worked -


-the sound quality wont be as good as I converted it to mp3 for the email-the originals were wav's. 

It was 5 megs so if its too big to receive let me know and Ill cut it up and resend-


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## Canman

*new compact flash cards*

You're right I looked and new 1 G cards are hard to find- the one you have more than likeley will work-

if screen reads "unsupported format" this does not mean the card wont work it just needs formatting-

when installing a new card you must initialize and format it-

to do this go to utilities/systems/card/initialize and enter 

it should complete and then will read creating new song after you exit back to the main screen.

Let me know how you make out and if I can be of any more help


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## NB_Terry

I bought a CF card that should work, yet it doesn't, and the BR won't even let me format it. 

There's a chart I found on the net that lists the CF cards that will work. So I've ordered a SanDisk, and I hope that will do the trick.

Yesterday I saw the next model up from the BR-600 on ebay for only $395. After tax, and all the money I've spent on memory cards, I should hav ejust gone for that.


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## Canman

Well as I said I sold the 600 I had last year and I tried a bunch of others by renting and I think its still the best for what I do-so I went out and bought another.
I figured If I went to the higher version I'd lose the portablility-and I dont want to take a genegrator camping 


Other than the mundane but not that bad really-step recording of the drums I find it very cool to be able to sample and put them into the drum kit-

as in the samples I sent you- Remember the mp3's are not like the final disc's in sound quality-the 600 can records in wave
Although its only 16bit
You can get pretty good digital sound.


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## jcayer

I bought a BR-600 last june (2007).

All I wanted is something that I could record some rythm track and play solo over it. I got more than I asked for... And I'm glad about it :smile:

Mainly, I wanted to be totally independant from the computer. I wanted to be able to record and play without being in front of a computer. PLUS I wanted the possibility to import some songs and put them on one track while jamming on another track. And to export my recording to a computer.

There are lots of amp/effects model that you can chose from. You can also modify all their parameters. And I'm beginning to plug my Roland Cube-60 thru the line-in connectors, so far sound is not too bad...

I'm not familiar with all those recording machines and all the studio technics but for me, a closet player, it's more than enough.

I know that there are more sophisticated models on the market but for the price ($389 (Br-600) + $20 (dc adap)) and my needs: It's perferct.

If you wish you can go to the link below and listen to some recordings I did... 
I'm still figuring out the features so the recording (*not mentionning the playing*) is not perfect.

On the left side of the page, are some "backtracks" for the guys in my guitar class so they can solo over it, and on the right side is some "tests"... some with backtracks, other I did all the tracks...

www.jcayer.com/musique/musique.htm All the recordings where done with a solidbody guitar (Godin Exit-22 *LEFT HANDED*  )


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## jcayer

You might be interested in this...
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=297003&highlight=br600


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## pulper

jean - i really like your recordings. money from pink floyd was great. did you get some of the music on the br-600 from the cd and the line-in, or did you do it all with the br-600?

another question - have you ever used the xlr-to-1/4" adapter with a mic, and if so, did you find it to be better or worse than the quality of the mics in the unit?

thank!

paul


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## jcayer

pulper said:


> jean - i really like your recordings. money from pink floyd was great.


Thanks. It's not perfect but it was fun :smile:




> did you get some of the music on the br-600 from the cd and the line-in, or did you do it all with the br-600?


Actually I found a web site with lots of backtracks. http://www.guitarbt.com/index.php?page=dl_list 
There are two ways to IMPORT .wav files in the BR-600. You can use the USB port or plug the compact flash card directly in a card reader and use the "BRWC" program from Boss (downloadable from the Boss website). The later is much simpler to use. You need to convert mp3 files in WAV format prior to import them in the BR. 

So for Money (and Time), I've used backtracks. 



> another question - have you ever used the xlr-to-1/4" adapter with a mic, and if so, did you find it to be better or worse than the quality of the mics in the unit?
> paul


I've just received a microphone. So yes I have used the xlr to 1/4" adapter. I use the microphone to mike my amp and record from it. So far I like the results. But to get some good tone from the amp I have to set it a little bit too loud for the wife and kids... So I have to wait when they are away to really test it...

I have never really tried the unit's mics so I don't know... But from what I've read in the past, people are getting good results using them.


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## allthumbs56

I just picked up a used BR600 off ebay last week. Finally got to spend some time with it on the weekend. I'm pretty impressed so far.

There's just a few fundamental questions I have yet to answer and I wish that the manual did a better job explaining them. The one that I'm most curious about right now is using channels 5/6 and 7/8 to get one track on to each so that it's a full 8 tracks.

The other thing that's a bit of bother is locating compatable CF cards. I hit quite a few stores before I found a pretty good supply at Radio Shack.

So far so good - the recording quality and features seem excellent for the money and it sure beats the heck out of my old Fostex.


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## NB_Terry

Finding compatible cards for the BR-600 is difficult. 

In fact, Roland had a promotion where they sent you a free CF card if you bought a new BR-600, they sent a card that was NOT compatible. 

I ordered 2 cards from ebay that I thought would be compatible, but they weren't. 

I think tracks 5/6 and 7/8 can only be stereo tracks

If you go to www.roland.ca there's a section where you can post questions on the BR-600, and someone will respond within a day or so. 

Overall, the BR-600 is best $350 I've ever spent. 

Terry


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## allthumbs56

NB_Terry said:


> I think tracks 5/6 and 7/8 can only be stereo tracks
> 
> If you go to www.roland.ca there's a section where you can post questions on the BR-600, and someone will respond within a day or so.
> 
> Overall, the BR-600 is best $350 I've ever spent.
> 
> Terry


I think I figured it out - you can bounce two mono tracks (1 - 4) to 5/6 or 7/8, pan one hard left - the other hard right. The only downside I see to that is that you've then locked in the relative levels for those two tracks. For 300 bucks I can live with that.

Now the only thing missing is some material worth recording


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