Topic: Roland Mirco BR?

[BayTaynt3d]

Anyone ever seen this thing?

http://www.roland.com/products/en/MICRO_BR/index.html

[papazano]

Due to be out in November, pre-selling for $229.99
Here's a link to the brochure:

http://www.rolandus.com/uploads/CMS/Downloads/1869/micro_br_brochure.pdf

[papazano]

...from Harmony Central

"BOSS Ships Micro BR Digital Recorder
October 26, 2006

BOSS is now shipping the new Micro BR Digital Recorder. The palmtop guitar companion and recording studio is only slightly larger than an iPod. The Micro BR offers the ability to load and play back MP3 files, time-stretch MP3s in real time without affecting pitch, has an onboard guitar multi-effects processor, built-in rhythm patterns, and offers 32 recording tracks (V-tracks) with four simultaneous playback tracks. USB compatibility allows loading or uploading of MP3 files for play-along, rehearsing, jamming, or data exchange with a computer. The recording media of choice is the internationally recognized Secure Digital (SD) Card which can be easily found in electronics stores across the country.

For more information, visit their web site at www.bossus.com."

...and from the boss website:
http://www.bossus.com/?pg=1&tmp=157  -  Check out the "interactive tour"

ok, so maybe not "taper" quality but a damn useful tool for getting ideas down.

[Nick's Picks]

looks to be 16bit only, and 44.1kHz at that.
24bit a/d and d/a, but no recording at that resolution

[papazano]

the owners manual is now on boss' site: (Must have a login)

http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=111&tmp=12

[papazano]

I bought this to get ideas down, not to capture a professional recording.  For the money and what it does, I say it kicks. 
Not immediately intuitive but after going through the manual, relatively easy to use.  Four-track (32 virtual tracks) recording (drums are on a fifth track).  Can only record one source at a time.  Comes with a 128mb card and (per the manual) supports up to 1gig.  80 guitar effects that are ok, 293 preset drum patterns, each with intros, 2 verses, a chorus and fills, a few kits to choose from.  The unit is small, lightweight and sharp-looking.  I set it ontop of my a/e guitar, plug in the guitar and the headphones and walk around recording.  Battery life isn't that great and the a/c adapter is purchased separately, but I throw in some rechargeables and some extra in the case as a back up.  I am going to record my band practice this week using the on-board mic and an external sony stereo condenser and I'll modify this post. 
papazano 

ok. 
recorded the rehearsal.  In order to have separate tracks for each song, i had to stop the recording and then go through the process of creating a new song (about 20 seconds).  Recording quality was ok with the condenser mic given that it was done on the poorest quality setting.  Navigating through songs sucks, don't plan on using this as an mp3 player.  The process is utility-song-sel-(navigate to song name)-exe and wait for the song to load (5 sec).  Want to skip to the next song, sorry no skipping, repeat the aforementioned process.  so a rehearsal should probably be recorded as one track so you can just fast forward to get where you want.  fast forwarding is actually really quick as there are a couple of options - hour or min or sec.  Other downside, when mastering to mp3 or wave, you select the starting point but if you start on the 20th second you'll have 20 seconds of silence before the music starts - I'm hoping that I'm doing something wrong here - I'll update this if I work it out.  Again, use this to get ideas down, it's great for that.

[manleyf]

I just bought the Micro BR yesterday at GC in STL, but have not had any time to use it yet.  I did play with it for about an hour in the store though.  I exchanged my Korg Pandora for it.

I can tell you this right away, its absolutely not a serious taping tool, no way.  As the previous post have mentioned, its an awesome tool for a guitarist to track out some rough song ideas, or practice to drum patterns, backing tracks, or chord sequences.

Last week I bought the M-Audio multitrack for live show recording, open taping as a bit bucket for my V3, stealth audio as well.

Now the MT IS a great little live recording device, but for the majority of the users on TS, the Micro BR, is absolutely not the proper device to choose as a back end recorder.

Looks to be quite kick ass for guitar players though......

[El Caballo]

manleyf: any updates?

Also, can anyone compare the recording quality to other micro solid state recorders like the Edirol R-09, the Zoom H4, or the M-Audio?  The Micro BR is actually about the same size as an R-09 (it's longer but thinner), it apparently has plug-in power, and it costs a lot less than the R-09.  Do the preamps sound any different than those in the R-09?

[manleyf]

I've had a chance to use it some now, and I love it.  This is really a completely different animal than the MT and other recorders.  Its really a guitar players tool and has no business what so ever acting as a back end recording device IMO.  In other words, in will never replace or even substitute for my MT.  I'd use my JB3 for back end before I'd consider the Micro BR.

However, for a pocket guitar amp, practise tool, and scratch recording tool, I'd say the Micro BR will give the Korg Pandora, Zoom and other similar tools a run for there money if not blow them down for its recording features.  These recording features are well suited for song writting and practising though, not concert recording.